Leadership & Governance

Meet the members of CanPath’s Leadership Team, Operations Committee, National Strategic Advisory Council and more.

Scientific Directors

The Leadership Team provides guidance and leadership to CanPath’s pan-Canadian strategic directions, scientific priorities, continuing development and oversight of operations, including the development and approval of strategic plans, and approval of operational work plans that guide CanPath’s establishment, implementation, usage and sustainability.

Operations Committee

The CanPath Operations Committee is composed of the Scientific Directors and Operations Leads from each regional cohort, the CanPath Executive Director, the Ethical, Legal and Social Issues Standing Committee Chair, the Harmonization Standing Committee Chair, and the Biosamples Standing Committee Chair.

It provides operational input on strategic plans and scientific priorities while determining work plans for CanPath Committees, Working Groups, and potentially ad-hoc Task Forces as needed, in consultation with the Leadership Team.

Operations Committee Members

  • Jennifer Brooks
    Executive Director, CanPath
  • Philip Awadalla
    National Scientific Director, CanPath; Executive Scientific Director, Ontario Health Study
  • Trevor Dummer
    National Scientific Co-Director, CanPath
  • Victoria Kirsh
    National Scientific Coordinator, CanPath
  • Parveen Bhatti
    Scientific Director, BC Generations Project
  • Isabel Fortier
    Harmonization Standing Committee Chair
  • Simon Gravel
    Co-Scientific Director, CARTaGENE
  • Shandra Harman
    Strategic Director, Alberta’s Tomorrow Project
  • Jason Hicks
    Executive Director, Atlantic PATH
  • Vikki Ho
    Co-Scientific Director, CARTaGENE
  • Travis Hrubeniuk
    Project Lead, Manitoba Tomorrow Project
  • Catherine Labbé
    Scientific Lead and Director of Operations, CARTaGENE
  • Guillaume Lettre
    Co-Scientific Director, CARTaGENE
  • Kelly McDonald
    Program Manager, Ontario Health Study
  • Treena McDonald
    National Biosample Coordinator, CanPath; Project Manager, Biosamples, BC Generations Project
  • Kathleen Murdoch
    Research Operations Lead, Alberta’s Tomorrow Project
  • Sara Nejatinamini
    Research Lead, Alberta’s Tomorrow Project
  • Jean-Baptiste Rivière
    Executive Director, CARTaGENE
  • Ellen Sweeney
    Director, Strategic Research Initiatives, Atlantic PATH
  • Donna Turner
    Scientific Director, The Manitoba Tomorrow Project
  • Robin Urquhart
    Scientific Director, Atlantic PATH
  • Jennifer Vena
    Scientific Director, Alberta’s Tomorrow Project
  • Peter Watson
    Biosamples Standing Committee Chair
  • Ma’n Zawati
    Ethical, Legal and Social Issues Committee Chair

Advisory Boards & Committees

International Scientific Advisory Board

The purpose of the ISAB is to advise CanPath on mechanisms to maximize the scientific value and merit of the platform, including providing advice to ensure CanPath activities meet high international standards of scientific excellence.

  • Stephen Chanock, Chair
    National Cancer Institute
  • Naomi Allen
    University of Oxford
  • Jessica Bell
    University of Warwick
  • Nancy Cox
    Vanderbilt University
  • Marc Gunter
    Imperial College London
  • Teri Manolio
    National Human Genome Research Institute
  • Alison Motsinger-Reif
    National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences

National Strategic Advisory Council

A forum for sponsors, funders and key national organizations to provide advice and recommendations to the Executive Leads on the strategic direction of CanPath.

  • Christine Williams, Co-Chair
    Ontario Institute for Cancer Research
  • Wendy Beauchesne
    Alberta Cancer Foundation
  • François Bénard
    BC Cancer
  • Patrick Blondin
    Genome Quebec
  • Adalsteinn Brown
    Dalla Lana School of Public Health
  • Eileen Denovan-Wright
    Dalhousie University
  • Craig Earle
    Canadian Partnership Against Cancer
  • Karen Efthimiou
    Saskatchewan Cancer Agency
  • France Gagnon
    Dalla Lana School of Public Health
  • Brenda Hubley
    Alberta Health Services
  • Sachin Katyal
    CancerCare Manitoba
  • Jacques Michaud
    CHU Saint-Justine
  • Alexa Parry
    Alberta Health

Access Committee

The Access Committee reviews and makes approval decisions on research applications submitted for CanPath data and/or biological samples. The committee is composed of 7 independent members from across Canada who have expertise in such relevant fields as biostatistics, epidemiology, and genomics.

Biosamples Standing Committee

The Biosamples Standing Committee provides sample counsel and input that have impact at the pan-Canadian level, as well as enhancing the level of sample coordination and best practice sharing at the regional level of the project.

It ensures that biosamples are collected, processed and stored in each CanPath region according to a core set of operating procedures that reflect as much consistency across the Regions as possible.

Ethical, Legal and Social Issues Committee

The Ethical, Legal and Social Issues Committee (ELSI) Committee is responsible for advising on governance issues and emergent ethical, legal and social issues.

It produces Statements and Discussion Papers to be disseminated within CanPath nationally and regionally. Statements and Discussion Papers covered by the mandate of the ELSI Standing Committee include, but are not limited to: governance of the CanPath project, linkage, data management and sharing in the era of systems thinking research, ethics & scientific communication, the return of results & incidental findings, and, re-consent.

Harmonization Standing Committee

The Harmonization Standing Committee coordinates cohort data activities, provides recommendations on issues that impact data harmonization and data quality at the pan-Canadian level, and establishs the expected level of coordination and best practice sharing on matters related to harmonization at the regional level.