Dr. Burchell is a scientist with MAP Centre for Urban Health Solutions in the Li Ka Shing Knowledge Institute of St. Michael’s Hospital, and Research Director of St. Michael’s Department of Family and Community Medicine. She is a Canada Research Chair in Sexually Transmitted Infection Prevention. She is also a scientist with ICES, an associate professor in the University of Toronto’s Department of Family and Community Medicine (Faculty of Medicine and the Division of Epidemiology) and Dalla Lana School of Public Health, and an adjunct professor in McGill University’s Division of Cancer Epidemiology.
A national leader in HIV/STI research, she uses epidemiological data to improve prevention and health care services for STIs and minimize the complications of STI-associated diseases, including HIV, human papillomavirus (HPV), syphilis, gonorrhea and chlamydia.
Dr. Burchell is co-lead of the Co-infection and Related Conditions Core of the CIHR Canadian HIV Trials Network. She holds a University of Toronto DFCM Non-Clinician Scientist Award and is a past recipient of an Ontario HIV Treatment Network Endgame Leader Award.
Dr. Anna Yeung is the research manager of the ESTIMATE Lab. She completed a PhD at the University of Melbourne on chlamydia testing in Australian general practice and was a research associate on a large-scale sexual behaviour study at the University of New South Wales.
Her work encompasses both qualitative and quantitative research methodologies in a wide range of fields including primary care, sexually transmissible infections, sexual behaviour, epidemiology and community-based research.
Her current work involves overseeing the administrative and research components of many projects at the ESTIMATE Lab, including the HPV CBR Catalyst Grant (#iCruise, Engage-HPV and HPV-SAVE), ESSAHM and the HIV CBR Catalyst Grant.
Ioana Nicolau is a CIHR-funded doctoral candidate at the Dalla Lana School of Public Health, a CANOC Scholar and an ICES trainee. She obtained an MSc in Epidemiology from McGill University, a Graduate Certificate in Population Health Risk Assessment and Management from University of Ottawa and a BSc in Health Science with a Major in Psychology from Carleton University.
Ioana’s previous research experience includes working in cancer research for the Division of Thoracic Surgery, Montreal General Hospital and tuberculosis research for the McGill International Tuberculosis Centre. Her interest in both infectious and chronic disease epidemiology led her to seek supervision from Dr. Ann Burchell and to develop a PhD thesis focused on cancer and HIV co-morbidity.
Her PhD research is funded by the Ontario HIV Treatment Network Endgame Funding Program and aims to characterize the burden of cancer in people living with HIV in Ontario and to explore factors such as immune function and engagement in HIV care that could reduce the burden of cancer. Ioana hopes the findings from this research can inform next steps on how to best integrate HIV care and services with cancer prevention to provide holistic care and long-term support for people aging with HIV in Ontario.
PhD Student
Catharine Chambers is a Vanier Scholar and PhD student in Epidemiology at the Dalla Lana School of Public Health at the University of Toronto. She completed a BSc in Microbiology and Immunology in 2007 and an MSc in Health Care and Epidemiology in 2009, both from the University of British Columbia. Catharine has over 10 years of experience coordinating and conducting applied public health research using cross-sectional and longitudinal participant surveys, surveillance data, and linked administrative databases. Her research interests include communicable disease epidemiology, vaccine program evaluation, and sexually transmitted infections.
She is currently working on the Engage-HPV study of human papillomavirus prevention for gay, bisexual and other men who have sex with men in Vancouver, Toronto and Montreal. Catharine’s PhD thesis will investigate the effectiveness of human papillomavirus vaccine against anal infection in young gay men under the supervision of Dr. Ann Burchell. Through this work, she hopes to develop a program of applied research for communicable disease epidemiology in Canada and find more effective ways for transforming scientific evidence into public health practice.
Community Investigator
As a Community Investigator with the ESTIMATE Lab, Joanne’s research and community education focuses on the link between HIV, HPV and cancer risks for positive people, while talking with community groups about HPV Literacy and “Protecting Ourselves from HPV-related Cancers.”
She has held a variety of research, community education, training and program positions within Toronto’s HIV sector since 2012, and, when not at SMH, has initiated a community based peer support research project with a peer team at the Toronto People with AIDS Foundation (PWA). She is a member of CIHR HIV/AIDS and Sexually Transmitted Blood-Borne Infections (STBBI) Research Advisory Committee (CHASRAC) and is a Board member/Treasurer with CATIE and with Wellesley Central Residences Inc. (WCRI). Joanne has an MES degree in Community Development (York: Environmental Studies) and a Graduate Diploma on Community Engaged Research and Evaluation (McMaster: School of Social Work).
With ESTIMATE Lab, Joanne is currently involved with “The burden of cancer and the role of engagement in HIV care in mitigating cancer risk in people living with HIV in Ontario” and the HPV Community Based Research (CBR) Catalyst grant.
Postdoctoral Fellow
Nasheed Moqueet is a CTN (CIHR Canadian HIV Trials Network)-funded postdoctoral fellow, working with Drs. Ann Burchell and Sharmistha Mishra on the epidemiology and mathematical modeling of HIV-Hepatitis C (HCV) co-infection in the context of HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) implementation and changing sexual mixing patterns.
Funded by the CIHR and Canadian Network on Hepatitis C (CanHepC), she completed her PhD in Epidemiology from McGill University where her dissertation focused on the genetic and immune markers of HCV progression in those with HIV-HCV co-infection. She also holds an MPH from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.
Her research interests include longitudinal study design and methods; transmission models of infectious diseases and STIs (especially HIV and HCV); clinical and molecular epidemiology; and public health of key populations like people who use drugs and men who have sex with men.
Research Coordinator
Ashley Mah is a research coordinator with the ESTIMATE lab and Department of Family and Community Medicine (DFCM) at St. Michael’s Hospital. She recently completed a Master of Public Health in Epidemiology at the University of Toronto’s Dalla School of Public Health. She was previously a Canadian Immunization Research Network Trainee where she received awards for the presentation of her research on HPV.
While much of her previous research is rooted in various aspects of cancer and survivorship, Ashley aims to address social inequities in health with a keen interest in knowledge translation use throughout the research process.
Currently, much of her work includes project coordination and data analyses for several of ESTIMATE’s STI-related projects, as well as supporting research activities of DFCM staff and residents.
PhD Candidate & Research Coordinator
Ramandip Grewal is a PhD Candidate at the Dalla Lana School of Public Health (DLSPH), University of Toronto and Trainee/Research Coordinator with the ESTIMATE Lab. She holds a Master of Public Health degree in Epidemiology from the DLSPH.
Ramandip was first introduced to STI/HIV research while completing her master’s degree, and having developed a passion for the field, took on the role of coordinating Dr. Burchell’s growing research program shortly after graduating. During her four years in this role, Ramandip also contributed to evidence on STI prevalence, incidence, screening and risk factors among people living with HIV through publications and presentations.
Her doctoral research focuses on human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination among gay, bisexual and other men who have sex with men and is funded by a Canadian Immunization Research Network Trainee Scholarship. Ramandip is also involved in a number of other ESTIMATE Lab projects as either a co-investigator, or through project coordination, conducting data analysis, and more.
PhD Candidate
Jennifer Gillis is a CIHR-funded PhD candidate in Epidemiology at the Dalla Lana School of Public Health (DLSPH), University of Toronto, working under the supervision of Drs. Ann Burchell and Janet Raboud. Jennifer has a Bachelor of Science in Toxicology (University of Guelph) and a Master’s of Science in Biostatistics (University of Toronto).
Jennifer has been working in the field of HIV research for almost a decade. In all her work, Jennifer places emphasis on meaningful engagement of community, ensuring her work is community-informed and focused on supporting the health and well-being of people living with and affected by HIV. Her commitment to the field was recently recognized with the Randall Coates Epidemiology Prize (DLSPH, 2019).
In her thesis work, Jennifer is examining prevention of human papillomavirus (HPV)-associated cancers, such as anal and cervical cancer, among people living with HIV using data from the Ontario HIV Treatment Network Cohort Study and the HPV-Screening and Vaccine Evaluation (HPV-SAVE) Study. Her thesis work is funded by an Ontario HIV Treatment Network (OHTN) Endgame Student Leadership Award, and she was also awarded the Bernard Duval Foundation Vaccinology Student Research Program Award (Canadian Immunization Conference, 2018) for this work.
Research Coordinator & Medical Student
Jayoti Rana is a medical student at University of Toronto and a research coordinator in the ESTIMATE lab at St. Michael’s Hospital. Jayoti obtained an MPh in Epidemiology from University of Toronto and a BSc Honours from McMaster University.
Previously, Jayoti was a full-time research coordinator for the ESTIMATE lab where she was involved in numerous projects including the HIV Community Based Research Catalyst Grant. This grant aimed to identify potential interventions to improve bacterial STI testing for gay, bisexual and other men who men have sex with men.
In her current role, she continues to support the team on ongoing STI projects. Jayoti is working towards uniting her interest in research with primary care and prevention as part of her medical training.
