Appendix A - Biographies

Independent Investigator

Sheila Weatherill, C.M., B. Sc.N.

Ms. Weatherill earned her B.Sc. in Nursing and post-graduate Diploma in Public Health from the University of Alberta.

She has occupied a number of positions in the administration and delivery of health services prior to becoming President and CEO of Capital Health (Edmonton, Alberta) from 1996 to 2006. Capital Health is one of Canada's largest integrated, academic health systems, providing health services to over one million residents in Edmonton and area and complex tertiary/quaternary services to two million people across central and northern Alberta and northern and western Canada.

Her most recent initiatives include the development of the Mazankowski Alberta Heart Institute, Western Canada's first heart institute; the Edmonton Clinic, a new patient-centred approach to ambulatory care, education and research; and netCARE, Alberta's first electronic health record.

Ms. Weatherill is active in community and professional organizations. She is currently Vice-Chair of EPCOR's board of directors as well as serving on the board of directors for Shaw Communications. She is an Associate Member of the Faculty of Nursing at the University of Alberta. Ms. Weatherill has previously served on the boards of the Conference Board of Canada, the Canadian Institute for Health Information, the Association of Canadian Academic Health Organizations and the Edmonton YMCA.

Ms. Weatherill was named one of Canada's 100 Most Powerful Women by the Women's Executive Network in 2003, 2004, 2005 and 2006 and admitted to its Hall of Fame in 2007.

In July 2006, Ms. Weatherill was appointed a Member of the Order of Canada. In November 2006, she was appointed a member of the Prime Minister's Advisory Committee on the Public Service, and in May 2008, she received the degree of Doctor of Laws honoris causa from the University of Lethbridge.

Expert Advisory Group

John Carsley MD CM MSc CCFP FCFP FRCPC

Dr. John Carsley is a Medical Health Officer for the Vancouver Coastal Health Authority in British Columbia, medical consultant to the Infant, Child & Youth Program in Vancouver, and School Medical Officer for BC School District 39.

A Community Medicine Specialist, Dr. Carsley is a graduate of Yale University and the McGill University Faculty of Medicine, where he received his medical degree and a Master's degree in Epidemiology and Biostatistics. After completing residency training in both family medicine and community medicine at the Montreal General Hospital, he worked for the Department of Community Health of the Montreal General Hospital (le Département de santé communautaire de l'Hôpital générale de Montréal) and the Public Health Department (la Direction de santé publique) of the Montreal Health and Social Services Agency (l'Agence de la santé et des services sociaux de Montréal).

In his twenty-five years in this urban public health setting, he worked in primary care organization, immunization programming and evaluation, communicable disease prevention and control, and environmental health, spending the last ten years in Montreal as head of the health protection sector. He has been involved in the investigation of, and response to, many significant outbreaks of communicable disease at the local, regional and national levels and has served on a wide variety of regional, provincial and national expert committees on communicable disease prevention and public health program development, practice and policy.

As well, Dr. Carsley has had a long career as a public health teacher, both in McGill University's Faculty of Medicine, as associate professor in the department of Family Medicine and the department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics and Occupational health, at Université de Montréal, and, since moving to Vancouver, for the community medicine post-graduate education program at the University of British Columbia. He is a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada and the College of Family Physicians of Canada.

Walter F. Schlech III, MD

Dr. Schlech is a graduate of Williams College (BA, Poli Sci) and Cornell University Medical College (MD). He is certified in Internal Medicine and Infectious Diseases and currently Professor of Medicine in the Dalhousie University Faculty of Medicine and a member of the Division of Infectious Diseases. He has been involved in listeria research since 1980 when as an Epidemic Intelligence Officer at CDC, Atlanta, his team helped investigate the Maritime listeriosis outbreak in 1981, the largest at the time, and established for the first time that listeriosis was a foodborne disease. He has subsequently carried out work in both the pathogenesis and epidemiology of foodborne listeriosis. He organized the XIIth International Symposium on Problems of Listeriosis (ISOPOL) which occurred in Halifax in 1998.

As a clinical researcher, his other interests include research in a wide variety of infectious diseases including HIV.He is a past president of the Canadian Infectious Diseases Society, a past member of the National Advisory Committee on AIDS in Canada and CDC Atlanta's Advisory Committee on HIV, STD, and Tuberculosis. He is a principal investigator of the Canada-Africa Prevention Trials (CAPT) Network with partnerships in Uganda, South Africa, and Kenya. Dr Schlech is also Governor for the Atlantic Provinces of the American College of Physicians and a member of its International Advisory Committee.

Dr Mansel W. Griffiths

Dr Griffiths was born and raised in Swansea, S. Wales. He took his BSc degree in Applied Biology at North East London Polytechnic and his PhD was obtained from Leicester University where he studied the biochemistry of thermophilic microorganisms under the supervision of Sir Hans Kornberg.

Dr Griffiths was appointed to the staff of the Hannah Research Institute, Ayr, Scotland in 1974 and, in 1980, he was appointed head of the Dairy Microbiology group. In 1990 Dr Griffiths was appointed Chair in Dairy Microbiology in the Food Science Department at the University of Guelph. Dr Griffiths' position is funded jointly by the Dairy Farmers of Ontario and the Natural Science and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC). Dr Griffiths is Program Chair for the M.Sc. in Food Safety and Quality Assurance being offered at Guelph and is the Director of the Canadian Research Institute for Food Safety.

His current research interests include rapid detection of foodborne pathogens; factors controlling growth and survival of microorganisms in foods; and beneficial uses of microorganisms. Dr Griffiths has authored more than 250 peer-reviewed articles and appears on ISI HighlyCited.com.

Dr Griffiths is an Editor of Applied and Environmental Microbiology; an Associate Scientific Editor of the Journal of Food Science, a member of the Executive Editorial Board of Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture, and serves on the editorial boards of Food Research International, Journal of Food Protection, International Journal of Food Microbiology and Foodborne Pathogens and Disease. He is a member of the International Dairy Federation working group on milk-borne pathogens and is chair of the Canada IDF Coordinating Committee on Food Safety. He also serves on the Expert Scientific Advisory Committee for Dairy Farmers of Canada. He is Chair of the International Advisory Board of the EU 6th Framework Project entitled "Biotracer". He was the recipient of the International Association of Food Protection Maurice Weber Laboratorian of the Year for 2002 and served on the Ontario Meat Inspection Review, Expert Scientific Advisory Committee in 2004. In 2006 he was appointed Visiting Professor at Jinan University, China.

R. Bruce Tompkin

Bruce received his Ph.D. in microbiology from Ohio State University in 1963 and started as a research microbiologist with Swift & Company in 1964. He became Chief Microbiologist in 1966 and retained that position until 1993 when he was promoted to Vice President Product Safety for ConAgra Refrigerated Foods. He and his colleagues investigated how to control pathogens in a wide variety of foods and food processing environments, new processing technologies, the use of additives to improve food safety and the role of sodium nitrite in controlling Clostridium botulinum. From 1987 until his retirement approximately 70% of his time was devoted to managing Listeria in ready-to-eat food operations. During that time the company grew to include over 200 packaging lines for ready-to-eat meat and poultry products in more than 25 plants. A significant portion of his time involved sharing best practices with others in industry, government and academia. He has contributed more than 175 publications, presentations and 30 book chapters.

Bruce was a member of the US National Advisory Committee on Microbiological Criteria for Foods for 10 years and the International Commission Microbiological Specifications for Foods for 20 years, serving as a consultant to the Commission for an additional 7 years. He helped define the principles of HACCP, the concept of a food safety objective, the role of microbiological testing in food safety management systems and the significance of harborage sites as a source of Salmonella and Listeria in food operations. He retired from ConAgra in 2002 and continues to promote food safety through participation on committees and other means.

Michael P. Doyle

Dr. Michael P. Doyle is a Regents Professor of Food Microbiology and Director of the Center for Food Safety at the University of Georgia. He is an active researcher in the area of food safety and security and works closely with the food industry, government agencies, and consumer groups on issues related to the microbiological safety of foods. Dr. Doyle is a graduate of the University of Wisconsin-Madison where he received his B.S. degree in Bacteriology, and M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Food Microbiology. He serves on food safety committees of many scientific organizations and has served as a scientific advisor to many groups, including the World Health Organization, the Institute of Medicine, the National Academy of Science-National Research Council, the International Life Sciences Institute-North America, the Food and Drug Administration, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the U.S. Department of Defense, and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

He has more than 350 scientific publications and has given more than 700 invited presentations at national and international scientific meetings. In addition, he has received several research awards from academic and national scientific organizations, is a Fellow of the American Academy of Microbiology, the International Association for Food Protection and the Institute of Food Technologists, and is a member of the National Academies Institute of Medicine.