Current Researchers

  • Kelley Lee

    Professor, Canada Research Chair Tier I

    Simon Fraser University

    Kelley Lee (MPA, MA, DPhil, FFPH, FCAHS, FRSC) is Professor and Tier 1 Canada Research Chair in Global Health Governance.  She was previously Professor of Global Health Policy at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.  Trained in International Relations and Public Administration, she has previously analysed the global governance of pandemic influenza, HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, cholera and other communicable diseases. She contributed to two major donor-led studies of WHO reform, and assessments of the global response to SARS (2003–2004) and Ebola virus (2014–2015). She has published 15 books including The World Health Organization (Routledge,2009), Global Health and International Relations with Colin McInnes (Polity, 2012), Historical Dictionary of the World Health Organization, 2nd edition with Jennifer Fang (Rowman & Littlefield, 2013), and Oxford Handbook of Global Health Politics with Colin McInnes and Jeremy Youde (Oxford University Press, 2020).

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Julia Smith

Assistant Professor

Simon Fraser University

Dr. Julia Smith is an interdisciplinary social scientist trained in policy analysis and political economy, with a focus on gender and health inequities. She has over 15 years' experience working with health and development programs in Canada, Europe and Africa, and frequently works in consultation with government and civil society at both the local and global level. Her research has been funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Canadian Institutes for Health Research, Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, and US National Institutes of Health, among others. She has authored dozens of peer reviewed articles, chapters and reports as well as the book Civil Society and the Global Response to HIV/AIDS. She is a Faculty Member at the Centre for Gender and Sexual Health Equity and alumni of the Rotary Peace Fellowship.

Research Interests

Dr. Julia Smith's research centres around the social, political and commercial determinants of health, often applying an intersectional feminist and critical political economy lens to better understand the intersections between policy fields and how they structure health inequities. She is deeply interested in the care economy, gender dynamics of the health and social assistance sector, intersectionality-based policy analysis and Canadian foreign policy. A qualitative researcher, Julia has worked with mixed methods team to conduct robust and innovative analysis of pandemic response, Indigenous Peoples' health, tobacco control policy and global health governance.

 

Catherine Worsnop

Assistant Professor

University of Maryland

Catherine Worsnop is an assistant professor at the University of Maryland School of Public Policy and a research fellow at the Center for International and Security Studies at Maryland (CISSM). Her research sits at the intersection of international relations and global health security with a focus on the World Health Organization’s International Health Regulations. Her work on these topics has been published in a range of peer reviewed outlets including the Review of International Organizations, The Lancet, International Studies Perspectives, Health Security, and Global Health Governance. Other ongoing projects address international cooperation in the areas of climate change and human trafficking. Worsnop has served on expert committees for the World Health Organization and previously worked with the Roundtable on Value &Science-Driven Health Care at the National Academies. She holds a PhD in Politics from Brandeis University and a BA in Government from Colby College. ‍

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  • Julianne Piper

    Research Fellow, Project Manager

    Simon Fraser University

    Julianne Piper is a Project Manager for the Pandemics & Borders project, and a Research Fellow with the Pacific Institute on Pathogens, Pandemics and Society (PIPPS), under the supervision of Dr. Kelley Lee in the Faculty of Health Sciences at Simon Fraser University. Julianne holds a Master in International Affairs from the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies, Geneva and a Bachelor of Arts in International Relations from the University of British Columbia. Her research interests include global health governance, health security and development. Prior to joining SFU, Julianne worked in senior administration at UBC’s School of Public Policy and Global Affairs, and as a Research Officer for the Global Health Centre at the Graduate Institute in Geneva.

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  • Miranda Nonis

    Research Fellow, Project Coordinator

    Simon Fraser University

    Miranda Nonis is a Research Fellow and Project Coordinator for the Pandemics and Borders Project. Miranda holds a Master of Science (MSc) in Global Health from the Brighton and Sussex Medical school and a Bachelor of Arts (with Distinction) in Health Sciences, a minor in International Studies, and a specialization in International Security and Conflict from Simon Fraser University. Her master’s thesis looked at patterns of sexual risk behaviours during and after extreme weather events. She is passionate about environmental determinants of health, sex and gender based analyses of health policy, and global health security. Prior to her work at SFU, Miranda worked as a Policy Analyst with the Public Health Agency of Canada.

Salta Zhumatova

Postdoctoral Researcher

Simon Fraser University

Salta Zhumatova is a Postdoctoral Fellow in the Faculty of Health Sciences under the supervision of Dr. Kelley Lee at Simon Fraser University. Salta's research focuses on comparative public policy, immigration and citizenship, immigrant integration, and quantitative methods. Her dissertation analyses the effects of 'mainstreaming': centering attention to the needs of vulnerable or underrepresented groups such as immigrants, in broader policy areas such as health, education, and employment. Salta has a PhD in Political Science from the University of British Columbia and an MA in European, Russian, and Eurasian Studies from the Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy at the University of Toronto. She has over five years of experience teaching applied statistics, including econometric evaluations of policy effects at the University of British Columbia. Prior to joining the Pandemics and Borders Project, Salta had affiliations with the Institute for European Studies and the Centre for Migration Studies at UBC.

Zoe Hong

Graduate Research and Administrative Assistant

Simon Fraser University

Zoe is a PhD student with Kelley Lee in the Faculty of Health Sciences at SFU. She is also a graduate research and administrative assistant for the Pandemics and Borders project. She completed her MA in International Studies at SFU and her BA in History at Kwantlen Polytechnic University.

Amanda Hodges

Research and Project Assistant

Simon Fraser University

Amanda is a Research and Project Assistant with the Pandemics and Borders Project. She is currently a senior undergraduate student at Simon Fraser University working towards achieving her Bachelor of Arts (Hons.) in psychology.

Collaborators

Eric Werker

Professor

Simon Fraser University

Eric Werker is the William Saywell Professor at the Beedie School of Business at Simon Fraser University and a non-resident fellow at the Center for Global Development and the United Nations University – World Institute for Development Economics Research. He has researched the economic impact of epidemics, including the West African Ebola epidemic, as well as the political economy of other natural disasters, and is currently advising the tourism sector in British Columbia on the impact of COVID-19. He earned an AB and PhD in economics from Harvard.

William Hsiao

Associate Professor

Simon Fraser University

Dr. William Hsiao joined the Faculty of Health Sciences at Simon Fraser University as an associate professor in September 2020. He is also an affiliated scientist at the BC Centre for Disease Control Public Health Laboratory (BCCDC PHL) and at Canada’s Michael Smith Genome Sciences Centre, and a genomic consultant with the BC Ministry of Agriculture Animal Health Centre. Prior to joining FHS, Dr. Hsiao was the chief bioinformatician and a senior scientist at the BCCDC PHL for 8 years and a clinical associate professor at the University of British Columbia. Dr. Hsiao obtained his PhD in the Department of Molecular Biology and Biochemistry at Simon Fraser University followed by a postdoctoral fellowship at the Institute for Genome Sciences at University of Maryland School of Medicine. During his formal training, his research focused on microbial genomics and metagenomics. During his time at the BCCDC PHL, he incorporated data science and knowledge engineering into his research and developed expertise in public health data sharing, integration, and harmonization. With experience conducting and applying genomics and data science research both in academia and in government laboratories (public health and animal health), Dr. Hsiao brings to FHS a special perspective on integrating basic and applied research to improve our public health system.

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Beate Sander

Associate Professor, Canada Research Chair

University of Toronto

Beate Sander, RN MBA MEcDev PhD, holds a Canada Research Chair in Economics of Infectious Diseases, is a Scientist and Acting Director of the Toronto Health Economics and Technology Assessment (THETA) collaborative at the Toronto General Hospital Research Institute, University Health Network (UHN), and Associate Professor at the Institute of Health Policy, Management and Evaluation (IHPME), University of Toronto. Her research focuses on assessing infectious disease interventions using simulation modeling and on estimating the burden of infectious diseases using population-based data. She spearheaded the linkage of laboratory and reportable disease data with administrative data in Ontario, enabling novel approaches to study the economic burden of infectious diseases. Dr. Sander is an expert to national and international advisory bodies, including Canada’s National Advisory Committee for Immunization (NACI), where she chairs the Economics Task Group and co-chairs the Economic Guidelines Task Group – a group tasked with developing national guidelines for the economic evaluation of vaccines, which will set the standard for conducting economic evaluations for vaccines in Canada.

Laurie Trautman

Director of the Border Policy Research Institute

Western Washington University

Dr. Laurie Trautman is the Director of the Border Policy Research Institute at Western Washington University, where she engages in a range of research activities focused on the U.S. – Canada border, and the ’Cascadia’ region between Washington State and British Columbia. In addition to working with faculty and students, she collaborates with the private sector and government agencies to inform policy solutions and advance cross-border collaboration. Laurie actively serves on a number of working groups that are engaged in the U.S. – Canada relationship, and co-chairs committees for the Pacific Northwest Economic Region and the Future Borders Coalition. Dr. Trautman is also on the steering committee for the Cascadia Innovation Corridor. She is a Global Fellow with the Woodrow Wilson Center’s Canada Institute and a Fellow with the Canadian Global Affairs Institute. She holds a Ph.D. in Geography from the University of Oregon.

Zohaib Anwar

Postdoctoral Research Fellow

Simon Fraser University

Zohaib Anwar is a Postdoctoral Researcher under the supervision of Dr. William Hsiao in the Faculty of Health Sciences at Simon Fraser University. Zohaib’s research focuses on Bioinformatics workflows and algorithms, Microbial Genomics, Public Health and Environmental Microbiology. He is involved in several projects that are studying various pathogens and their genomic variants including SARS-CoV-2.He is a part of Data Analytics and research Collaborations workgroup in Canadian COVID Genomics Network (CanCOGeN). Before joining Dr. Hsiao’s lab in2020, Zohaib was a Marie Curie PhD Research Fellow at Aarhus University, Denmark. He also visited University of Bristol and Northumbria University as a Visiting researcher during the Marie Curie Network.

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Alice Mũrage

Research Fellow and PhD Student

Simon Fraser University

Alice Mũrage is a Research Fellow at the Pacific Institute on Pathogens, Pandemics and Society, with a focus on the Health and Social Inequities Theme. Her research investigates societal impacts of health emergencies with the aim of informing pandemic preparedness and responses to better address health and social inequities exacerbated by pandemics. Alice has previously collaborated on the multi-country Gender and COVID-19 Project researching gendered dynamics of the pandemic and gaps in preparedness and response; her study focus was on Canada, Kenya, and Nigeria. Alice is also a PhD student at the SFU Faculty of Health Sciences: Her PhD research will examine the intersections of precarious work as a social determinant of health and health emergencies among people of African ancestry. She is an affiliate member of the Centre for Gender& Sexual Health Equity and the Women’s Health Research Institute. Alice also facilitates the African Ancestry Project, a community research and dialogue project aimed at bringing awareness to the diversity of Black people in British Columbia. Her Twitter handle is @AMuragz

Haaris Tiwana

Research Fellow

Simon Fraser University

Haaris Tiwana is a PhD student at the faculty of health sciences, specializing in population and public health, currently serving as a Research Fellow within the Health and Social Inequities theme at PIPPS. He has an interdisciplinary academic background, with a Bachelor of Dental Surgery from Pakistan and a Master of Public Health from Western University, blending clinical insight with public health acumen. He has worked on integrating equity-based and intersectional approaches into pandemic preparedness and addressing disparities in the healthcare sector. In his previous roles across non-profit and academic institutions, his focus has been on leveraging research for stakeholder understanding of equity, diversity, and inclusion issues in strategic planning, and policy evaluation. These diverse backgrounds fuel his commitment to leveraging research for stakeholder understanding of social determinants of health.

Ben Taylor

Senior Operations Research Analyst

Defence Research and Development Canada

Dr. Ben Taylor is a senior operations research analyst with a 33-year career, which has spanned the UK defence industry, the UK Ministry of Defence, and the Canadian Department of National Defence. He currently works in the Strategic Planning Operations Research Team at Defence Research and Development Canada, where he supports work on the planning of the future capabilities and structure of the Canadian Armed Forces. Dr. Taylor has also worked extensively with colleagues in allied nations and is currently the chair of a NATO research task group investigating approaches to determine development plans for armed forces facing novel 21st-century challenges. Dr. Taylor has a particular interest in the use of war games and simulations to support strategic planning decisions and in recent years has been collaborating with researchers outside of the defence and security domain to explore new applications of gaming techniques. Dr. Taylor holds a BSc in Combined Studies and a Ph.D. in Physical Chemistry, both from the University of Leicester in the UK and is a Fellow of the Operations Research Society.

Jennifer Bettis

Research Program Manager

Border Policy Research Institute

Jennifer is the Research Manager at the Border Policy Research Institute. She heads research efforts including: fieldwork projects, data & policy analysis, and pursuing new research trajectories with faculty and students. She manages the portfolio of BPRI's research initiatives and grant funded projects; facilitates the publication of BPRI reports and briefs; conducts media outreach & manages social media. Jennifer Bettis' research background is in political science and public policy. Her research interests include cross-border regionalism, cross-border media, environmental policy & law, cross-border trade, and political institutions. She holds a Master's degree in Political Science, and a BA in Social Science - both from CSU Chico.

Former Team Members

Karen A. Grépin

Associate Professor

University of Hong Kong

Karen A. Grépin is an Associate Professor at the School of Public Health at the University of Hong Kong.  She is a health economist and a health systems researcher.  Dr. Grépin's research focuses institutional factors affecting the demand and supply of health services, the politics and effectiveness of development assistance for health, and the role of routine health information systems in strengthening health systems. She has a PhD in Health Policy (economics) from Harvard University and an SM in Health Policy and Management from the Harvard School of Public Health.

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Andréanne Bissonnette

Post-Doctoral Research Fellow

Border Policy Research Institute

Dr. Andréanne Bissonnette is a Post-Doctoral Research Fellow at the Border Policy Research Institute. Her research focuses on reproductive health access in the United States, with a focus on the intersections of ethnicity, immigration status and geographical position. More broadly, she engages in research on the US-Canada and US-Mexico border dynamics, with a focus on health. Her research interests include health policies, US politics, international migrations and contemporary geopolitical issues. She currently serves on the board of the Association for Borderlands Studies and is book review editors for the Journal of Borderlands Studies. She holds a Ph.D. in Political Science from the University of Quebec in Montreal.

Jennifer Fang

Research Fellow, Project Manager

Simon Fraser University

Jennifer Fang was a Research Fellow and Project Manager with the Pandemics & Borders Project, and a Research Fellow with the Pacific Institute on Pathogens, Pandemics and Society (PIPPS). Jennifer holds a Master of Public Health from the University of Liverpool and a Bachelor of Science in nutritional sciences from the University of British Columbia. Jennifer was previously known for her research on the Chinese tobacco industry. Before joining SFU, she worked in Bejing, in the field of China-Africa health collaboration.

Lara Hollmann

Research Fellow

Simon Fraser University

She is a Research Fellow and PhD scholar at the Pacific Institute on Pathogens, Pandemics and Society at Simon Fraser University, Canada. Her research investigates feminist values and power structures in global health governance processes.

Previously, she was a political adviser at GIZ (Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit), where she consulted the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) on One Health and pandemic prevention, preparedness and response. Prior to this she worked at Chatham House, the European Commission and at an NGO.

She completed a M.Sc. in Global Health with a specialization in Disaster Risk Management from the University of Copenhagen, Denmark, with time spent at Kilimanjaro Christian Medical College in Moshi, Tanzania, and a B.Sc. in Development Studies with a major in Human Geography from Lund University, Sweden.

She is a contributing member in the Gender & International Politics Working Group at Polis180.

Samuel Nass

Research Assistant

University of Maryland

Samuel Nass is a Master of Public Policy candidate at the University of Maryland, College Park. Along with the Pandemics and Borders project, he has worked as a research assistant at the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), assessing economic and food security impacts of COVID-19 response policies in Central Asia.

Matthew Nguyen

Research Assistant

Simon Fraser University

Matthew Nguyen is a M.Sc candidate in Bioinformatics at the University of British Columbia, working on genomic analyses of bacterial and viral outbreaks. He is working on using genomic distance as a measure of impact for cross-border measures during the COVID-19 pandemic. He previously completed his B.Sc in Bioinformatics at Simon Fraser University working on the development of genomic analysis tools for investigating outbreaks and using machine learning for understanding and predicting bacterial drug resistance.