CGHR Toronto

TORONTO DIRECTORY

Lukasz Aleksandrowicz
Paul Arora
Desiree Bernard
Onil Bhattacharyya
Luka Ding
Hana Fu
Samir Gambhir
Cindy Gauvreau
Marvin Hsiao
Prabhat Jha
Ann Montgomery
Shaun Morris
Joy Pader
Michael Palmer
Usha Ram
Chinthanie Ramasundarahettige
Peter Rodriguez
Wilson Suraweera
Kevin Taing
Maki Ueyama

 

LUKASZ ALEKSANDROWICZ, MSc – Project Coordinator

Lukasz Aleksandrowicz is a project coordinator at CGHR. He recently took a year-long leave to finish his master of public health degree at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, and ran a brief study on water and sanitation in Bangladesh for Médecins Sans Frontières. He currently works on improving verbal autopsy systems for collecting information on causes of death in India. Lukasz’s research interests also include food security, climate change, and environmental health.

Lukasz Aleksandrowicz – Publications

 

PAUL ARORA, MSc – Graduate Student

Paul Arora is a doctoral candidate in the Division of Epidemiology at the Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto. He has worked as a research fellow at CGHR, an epidemiologist for the Public Health Agency of Canada, and as a technical consultant for HIV surveillance projects internationally. Paul’s work at CGHR involves providing technical input into CGHR’s India Science and Technology Partnerships project, which aims to develop and test a novel method for surveillance of sexually transmitted infections in high-risk populations. As part of his doctoral work on HIV in India, he is leading an evaluation of the impact of HIV intervention programs, conducting a systematic review of sexual risk factors for HIV, and quantifying HIV transmission within couples.

Paul Arora – Publications

 

DESIREE BERNARD – Senior Administrative Assistant

 

ONIL BHATTACHARYYA, MD, PhD, CCFP – Associate (Clinician Scientist)

Onil Bhattacharyya is a clinician Scientist at the Li Ka Shing Knowledge Institute of St. Michael’s Hospital and assistant professor in the Department of Family and Community Medicine at the University of Toronto. He has an MD from the University of Montreal, a PhD in Health Policy, Management and Evaluation from the University of Toronto and he was a Takemi Fellow at the Harvard School of Public Health. Onil is a co-principal investigator of the District Evaluation Study on Health, which is a randomized trial using evidence to improve the implementation of disease control priorities targeting policymakers in every district of India. His research interests are knowledge translation, performance measurement, and innovative health service delivery models.

Onil Bhattacharyya – Publications

 

LUKA DING, MSA – GIS Technician

Luka Ding works as a Geographic Information System (GIS) technician at CGHR. She earned a bachelor’s degree in GIS from the University of Western Ontario and a master’s degree in Spatial Analysis from Ryerson University. Her work at CGHR is to provide spatial analysis support for the Centre’s ongoing studies. Her current research work focuses on the road traffic injuries project.

 

HANA FU, MSA – GIS Technician

Hana Fu is a Geographic Information System (GIS) Technician at CGHR. She earned her master’s degree in Spatial Analysis from Ryerson University, Toronto. Her current research focuses on spatial distribution of tobacco users in India. She also works on mapping for research projects at the Centre.

 

SAMIR GAMBHIR, BAch, MCRP - Geographic Information System (GIS) Specialist

Samir Gambhir works as a Geographic Information System (GIS) Specialist at CGHR. His work involves mapping, spatial analysis and web-GIS development for research projects at the Center. Before joining CGHR, Samir worked as a Senior GIS Research Associate at the Kirwan Institute for the Study of Race and Ethnicity at the Ohio State University. He holds a master’s degree in City and Regional Planning from The Ohio State University. He earned his bachelor’s degree in Architecture from India in 1992.

 

CINDY GAUVREAU, PhD – Postdoctoral Fellow

Cindy Gauvreau is a health services researcher specializing in economic evaluation, with a PhD from the University of Toronto’s Institute for Health Policy, Management and Evaluation. She has worked in Canada and abroad as an economist for the engineering and financial health services sectors and as a programme officer for Unicef. Cindy’s research interests lie in economic development, immunization cost-effectiveness, and evidence-based policy-making. At CGHR, she is active in the vaccine-preventable diseases working group and provides economic evaluation support to the international Disease Control Priorities Network.

 

MARVIN HSIAO, MD, BSc – Graduate Student

Marvin Hsiao is a general surgery resident physician at the University of Toronto. He is pursuing a Master of Science degree at the Institute of Medical Science through the Surgeon Scientist Program/Clinician Investigator Program. His research interest is in the intersection between surgery, global health, and public health. He is developing methods to quantify and characterize the burden of surgical diseases using the Million Death Study database.

 

PRABHAT JHA, MD, DPhil – Director

Prabhat Jha is the founding director of CGHR. He is also the Inaugural University of Toronto Endowed Professor in Disease Control, Canada Research Chair at the Dalla Lana School of Public Health, co-investigator of the Disease Control Priorities Network, and expert advisor to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation on HIV/AIDS control in India and to various governments around the world on disease control strategies.

Prior to founding CGHR, Prabhat headed the World Bank team responsible for developing the Second National HIV/AIDS Control Program in India. He also served as a senior scientist for the World Health Organization, where he led the work on health and poverty for the Commission on Macroeconomics and Health. Prabhat has published widely on tobacco, HIV/AIDS, premature mortality, and the health of the global poor. Two of his ground-breaking publications on tobacco control policy led to the first-ever global treaty on tobacco control, now signed by over 160 countries.

Among other projects at CGHR, Prabhat is currently leading one of the world’s largest prospective studies of premature mortality called the Million Death Study.

Prabhat Jha – Video Profile (University of Toronto)
Prabhat Jha – Journal Publications
Prabhat Jha – Books & Chapters

 

ANN MONTGOMERY, Registered Midwife, MSc – Graduate Student

Ann Montgomery is a graduate student at CGHR, using verbal autopsies and India’s National reproductive child health surveys to estimate risk and cause of maternal death. She has been a registered midwife in Canada since 2000, following completion of a Bachelor of Health Science in Midwifery. She has also worked in Nepal, Haiti, and Canada’s remote north.

Ann Montgomery – Publications

 

SHAUN MORRIS, MD, MPH, FRCPC – Pediatrician, Infectious Diseases, and Research Fellow

Shaun Morris is currently a research fellow at CGHR and in the Division of Infectious Diseases at The Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids). He completed his medical degree at Queen’s University, his Master of Public Health degree at Johns Hopkins University, and his clinical training in pediatrics and infectious diseases at SickKids and the University of Toronto. He also holds a diploma in tropical medicine from the Gorgas Memorial Institute and Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia Instituto de Medicina Tropical in Peru and certification from the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene.  His research interests include child mortality in India with a focus on infectious and vaccine preventable diseases.

Shaun Morris – Publications

 

JOY PADER, BSc – Research Assistant

Joy Pader is currently a research assistant at CGHR. Prior to joining CGHR, she earned a bachelor of science degree in health studies and integrative biology from the University of Toronto. Her work at CGHR focuses on global tobacco, performing data and literature searches, and data entry.

 

MICHAEL PALMER, BSc – Research Assistant

Michael Palmer is currently a research assistant at CGHR. He earned an honors bachelor degree at the University of Toronto in health care ethics, a healthy mix of biology and philosophy. A member of CGHR’s working group on alcohol and tobacco, Michael’s research interests have so far centered on India. Additionally, he is coordinating the development of educational training materials for various programs at CGHR. Working at the Centre marks his first foray into the field of global health.

 

USHA RAM, PhD – Postdoctoral Fellow

Usha Ram is currently a postdoctoral fellow at CGHR under the HOPE Scholarship Program. She is working as an associate professor in the Department of Public Health and Mortality Studies at the International Institute for Population Sciences (IIPS), Mumbai (India). As a post-graduate in economics, Usha has completed her doctoral degree from Mumbai University in demography and also completed diploma in population studies and certificate in population studies from the IIPS. Usha has coordinated several large scale studies at IIPS as the principal investigator, including Concurrent Evaluation of National Rural Health Mission and Youth in India: Situation and Needs Study. Usha has experience of supervising candidates at the PhD, MPhil and Master’s levels.

Usha Ram – Publications

 

CHINTHANIE RAMASUNDARAHETTIGE, MSc – Research Assistant

Chinthanie Ramasundarahettige is currently a research assistant at CGHR. Prior to joining CGHR, she earned a master of science degree in epidemiology and biostatistics from the University of Western Ontario and a second master of science degree in statistics from the University of Windsor. Her work presently focuses on determining the effects of alcohol on cause-specific mortality in India, burden of suicide in India, and social inequality in smoking-attributable mortality in US counties. Chinthanie has an avid ambition to apply her knowledge in statistics and biostatistics to analyzing complex epidemiological data.

 

PETER RODRIGUEZ – Senior GIS Specialist

Peter Rodriguez obtained his bachelor degree at the University of Toronto (Ecology) and his master degree at Ryerson University (Spatial Analysis). Peter’s research interests include spatial epidemiology, species/vector distribution, geostatistics (kriging), spatial databases and conservation GIS.

 

WILSON SURAWEERA, BSc, MSc – Research Fellow

Wilson Suraweera is a research fellow at CGHR. Wilson’s current work at CGHR includes research in adult and Child mortality with special focuses on neglected tropical diseases, injuries, burdens and avoidable deaths due to chronic and infectious diseases.   He leads the management of  the Million Death Study database and analyzing of study data.

Prior to joining with Professor Prabhat Jha in 2006, he served as the head of the Management Information Systems (formerly Planning and Research) department at University Grants Commission, a senior research analyst and an academic at Sri Lankan university sector. He also pioneered the establishment of the Sri Lankan Cancer Registry and served as a bio-statistician to the national Cancer Control Program. Wilson holds a master of science degree in applied statistics from the University of Colombo, Sri Lanka.

Wilson Suraweera – Publications

 

KEVIN TAING, MSc – Graduate Student

Kevin is a doctoral student in epidemiology at the Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto, and will be pursuing his thesis work on blood pressure, body mass and CVD in India.

 

MAKI UEYAMA, PhD – Research Fellow

Maki Ueyama is a research fellow at CGHR. Prior to joining CGHR, she held various positions in India, including assistant professor in health financing and health economics at SRM University (Kattankulathur, Tamil Nadu) and Vice President (Research) at the IKP Centre for Technologies in Public Health (Chennai, Tamil Nadu). She has a master’s degrees in Public Administration, Policy Analysis and Management, and a Ph.D. in Policy Analysis and Management, all from Cornell University. Maki’s research interests are primarily in the fields of health economics and health policy, with a focus on public health issues in developing countries. At CGHR, she is currently a part of the District Evaluation Study on Health (DESH) project.

 

 

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