Our Team
CAREX Canada is a multidisciplinary team of researchers based at the School of Population and Public Health, University of British Columbia, working in collaboration with researchers at the Spatial Sciences Research Lab, based in the Geography Department at the University of Victoria. The team has expertise in epidemiology, occupational hygiene, geographic information systems, and knowledge transfer and exchange.
Leadership
Hugh Davies, Principal Investigator
Hugh, the principal investigator of CAREX Canada, specializes in occupational hygiene and exposure assessment and modeling. He led the largest cohort study of the impact of noise exposure on heart disease, and was the first to incorporate sophisticated exposure measurement and true heart disease outcomes rather than measures of hypertension. His work has received international recognition, and he is co-chair of the International Commission on the Biological Effects of Noise.
Paul Demers, Scientific Director
Paul is both the scientific director of CAREX Canada and the director of the Occupational Cancer Research Centre (OCRC) housed at Cancer Care Ontario. He moved to OCRC from the University of British Columbia, where he was a Professor in the School of Environmental Health. As well as being Director of the OCRC, he is also a Professor with the University of Toronto’s Dalla Lana School of Public Health. He has an MSc in Industrial Hygiene and a PhD in Epidemiology, both from the University of Washington in Seattle. Paul is internationally recognized for his expertise on the health effects of workplace exposures and sits on many expert panels, including the International Agency for Research on Cancer working groups that evaluated carcinogens such as dusts and fibres, firefighting and formaldehyde. Over his academic career he has held numerous research grants, supervised many graduate students and has published extensively.
Anne-Marie Nicol, Executive Director
Anne-Marie is the executive director of CAREX and an assistant professor in the School of Population and Public Health at UBC. Her areas of research include knowledge translation, occupational and environmental health and risk assessment. Anne-Marie's work also includes exploring novel ways to communicate information to the public, including the use of popular culture as a vehicle for creating and disseminating risk messages. For example, her award winning video project Wash with Care used a Bollywood approach to educate about pesticide exposure. Anne Marie holds a BA in Communication from SFU, a MES degree from York University focused on Environmental Communication and a PhD in Epidemiology from UBC.
Cheryl Peters
Cheryl is the lead scientist for CAREX's occupational exposure project. She started working with CAREX Canada at the beginning of the project in 2007. She is also a graduate student in the School of Population and Public Health at UBC, studying occupational exposure assessment for solar ultraviolet light, and the effects of sex and gender on occupational carcinogen exposures. She completed her MSc in occupational and environmental hygiene at UBC in 2007, where she studied the effect of early-career exposures in the construction trades on subsequent lung health, including asthma and chronic bronchitis. Cheryl also holds a BSc in earth and ocean sciences and geography, and her interest in environmental and occupational health stemmed from her work as a geologist in northern BC and the Yukon.
Eleanor Setton
Eleanor is Co-Director of the Spatial Sciences Research Lab and an Adjunct Assistant Professor in the Geography Department at the University of Victoria. From 2008 - 2012, she led the development and implementation of the risk-based environmental indicators, the eRISK tool, the Emissions Mapping Project, and all associated web design, web content, training manuals and tutorial videos. Eleanor continues to provide advice to the Environmental Exposures team in the ongoing development and updating of the environmental indicators and tools, in their dissemination through training and collaboration with a wide range of user groups, and also leads the First Nations knowledge translation activities through the Spatial Sciences Research Lab.
Staff
Calvin Ge
Calvin is part of the occupational exposure team. He produces occupational estimates, manages the CAREX carcinogen profiles, and provides technical support for managing the CAREX website. Calvin joined CAREX as a student researcher in 2009 and has since completed his MSc in occupational and environmental hygiene in the School of Population and Public Health in the University of British Columbia. Calvin also holds a BSc in microbiology and immunology.
Alison Palmer
Alison is CAREX Canada's communications director, managing CAREX's strategic communications, outreach, and knowledge translation programs. She comes to CAREX from PrioNet Canada, a Networks of Centres of Excellence in protein folding diseases, where she translated collaborative, interdisciplinary research discoveries into stories accessible to all, and developed training programs to support the next generation of research leaders. Prior to this, she was the lead science writer at the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research in Toronto, where she covered everything from nanotechnology and quantum computing to personalized genomics and climate science. Her route to science communication involved a valuable detour in the chemistry lab; she earned an MSc in chemical biology from McGill University and a BSc in chemistry from the University of British Columbia. She is also a graduate of the renowned Banff Centre Science Communications Program.
Karla Poplawski
Karla is based at the University of Victoria and has been part of the environmental team since 2008. She has collaborated in the design and development of the risk-based environmental indicators and the associated web design and content, as well as the pesticide use estimates. Karla also develops and delivers training on the environmental indicators and tools. Her particular interests are in effective knowledge translation of spatial data and information on environmental health. She is a key member of the CAREX team working with First Nations across Canada.
Past Staff and Contributions
We would like to acknowledge the significant contributions of many CAREX team members who have moved on to other assignments:
Caitlin Blewett Pesticides and para-occupational exposure literature review and risk assessment protocol.
Alejandro Cervantes Outdoor air environmental estimates; geographic information systems.
Roz Cheasley Food and beverage environmental estimates; video tutorials, training manuals and web content.
Philip Chen Substance profiles, data cleaning and analysis for occupational exposure team.
Yat Chow Occupational estimates.
Steeve Deschenes Large spatial datasets; land use regression models for outdoor air modeling; substance profiles and video tutorials.
Negar Elmieh Pesticide policy in Canada.
Anders Erickson Emissions Mapping Project (EMP) database and methods assessments and emissions estimates; EMP training for First Nations groups.
Nichole Garzia Surveillance methods for estimating agricultural pesticide use and exposure.
Amy Hall Development of CWED, substance profiles, occupational estimates.
Kristin Hodgins Research and review of historical news coverage of asbestos issues; development of an asbestos policy timeline.
Christie Hurrell Knowledge translation; communications and website design.
Perry Hystad Indoor and outdoor air environmental estimates, exposure modeling.
Sarah-Nelle Jackson Website design; substance profiles.
Barbara Karlen Implementation of needs assessment survey; project management.
Anya Keefe Partnership building; communications; government relations.
Barbara Lang Occupational estimates.
Jennifer Matthews Website development; knowledge translation strategy.
Alison McKenzie Pesticide estimates; development of the Workplace Exposures Mobile Tool.
Tyler Morgenstern Design of occupational estimate tables.
Katie Raso Data visualization of exposure estimates; graphics and design.
Brian Sloan Systematic review of risk communication research on asbestos and radon.
Matt Tomlins Spatial data to support the environmental indicators.
Basil Veernman Technical implementation and website design of Emissions Mapping Project.
Cloe Whittaker Tutorial videos and training manuals; content management of CAREX and EMP websites; French translations.