April 29 – May 2, 2012

Speakers

Sean Egan

Anny Fortin

Anny Fortin is an Adjunct Member of the Department of Biochemistry at McGill University and the Director of Research at Dafra Pharma R&D in Belgium, a pharmaceutical company specializing in the development and sales of drugs against infectious diseases on the African market. She holds a doctorate in Biochemistry from McGill University, during which she specialized in host response to infections and the study of complex genetic diseases. Her Ph.D. work was attributed the Governor General's Gold medal for most outstanding McGill graduate receiving a Ph.D. in Natural Sciences and Engineering in 2002-2003, and the Thomas Haliburton Henry Award. Dr. Fortin has now accumulated 10 years of experience in the corporate sector in the field of genetics, drug target identification and anti-infectious drug development. She is also present on the academic scene through numerous publications, presentations and training of graduate students. Since 2008, Dr. Fortin is a board member of the Canadian Gene Cure foundation where she is works at promoting research in the field of genetics.

William D. Foulkes

Dan Frank

France Gagnon

Dr. Gagnon’s research is focused on identifying and characterizing genetic and epigenetic determinants of chronic diseases in specific populations, with efforts geared toward developing novel study designs integrating emerging genetic and epigenetic technologies and sophisticated statistical methodologies. Through an enhanced understanding of the genetic architecture and underlying biological mechanisms of chronic diseases, the ultimate goal of her research program is the prevention and management of these complex conditions. Dr. Gagnon’s current research includes the study of venous thromboembolism and hemostatic traits – a group of traits that influence individuals’ risk for several common chronic disorders including cardiovascular disease and metabolic syndrome.

Dr. Gagnon is committed to community and capacity building in genetic epidemiology in Canada and abroad. She is the nominated Principal Investigator and Co-Director of the CIHR training program STAGE - Strategic Training for Advanced Genetic Epidemiology, Canada’s first formal and comprehensive training program in Genetic Epidemiology and Statistical Genetics. She is also a founding member of the Scientific Advisory Committee for the Montreal School of Population Genomics and Genetic Epidemiology, and serves as Canadian Ambassador and member of the Board of Directors of the International Genetic Epidemiology Society.

Steven Gallinger

Dan Goldowitz

Jinko Graham

Jinko Graham is an Associate Professor of Statistics and Actuarial Science and a member of the Statistical Genetics Working Group at Simon Fraser University. Her research is directed towards the development of statistical methods for inference from genetic data, with a focus on genetic association studies. One question of interest is incorporating the gene genealogies underlying genotypes at multiple markers to fine map traits. Another question is the unbiased display and inference of statistical interaction between genes and the environment in complex diseases of early onset, using data from cases and their parents. Much of her research involves complex data structures and so has a strong computational component.

Celia Greenwood

Dr. Greenwood is Senior Investigator at the Lady Davis Institute of the Jewish General Hospital in Montreal, and Associate Professor at McGill University in the Departments of Oncology, and Epidemiology, Biostatistics and Occupational Health. She is a statistician with an interest in methodology for the analysis of genetic and genomic data. Her methodological work spans family studies looking for patterns of inheritance of disease-causing genes, case-control studies looking for associations between anonymous markers and disease status, gene expression studies examining differences between patient groups or tissues, and estimation of copy number variation in the genome. Currently, she is working on methods for the analysis of rare genetic variants, such as those identified by sequencing studies, and also on methods for characterizing genomic abnormalities in tumours.

Philippe Gros

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