About Us

Steven is the Dahdaleh Distinguished Chair in Global Governance & Legal Epidemiology, Director of Global Strategy Lab, Director of the WHO Collaborating Centre on Global Governance of Antimicrobial Resistance, and the Vice-President of Data & Surveillance with the Public Health Agency of Canada. His research leverages various methodological approaches to craft global strategies that better address transnational health threats and social inequalities.

Susan leverages her extensive experience in global AMR policy to oversee the development and implementation of the Accelerator’s program of work. She is an epidemiologist with significant experience engaging policymakers and mobilizing interdisciplinary teams to improve policy implementation, evaluation and decision making at national and international levels. Susan also holds leadership positions with the WHO Collaborating Centre on Global Governance of Antimicrobial Resistance and the International Network for AMR Social Science (INAMRSS).

Kay-Ann enjoys coordinating operations of the Policy Accelerator team to ensure excellence. She is an administration professional with fourteen years of work experience. Kay-Ann has a BSc (Hons) degree from the University of Toronto and a certificate in HR Management from Humber College. She is currently pursuing a MEd in Adult Education and Community Development at OISE. 

Cimoan provides key financial support by advising on best practices and emerging issues related to financial management, analyzes financial data for quarterly and annual reporting and prepares financial forms for processing.

Cimoan graduated with an Honours Bachelor of Arts degree in International Development and African Studies at York University and has field work experience with non-profit organizations and university research groups.

Julia focuses on strategic planning and decision-making, operations, and building meaningful partnerships. Julia has substantial experience in strategic leadership and in setting up and running programs on maternal, child and adolescent health in Sub-saharan Africa. She is passionate about working towards ensuring good health and well-being for all. Julia holds a JD from Queen’s University and an LLM from the University of Cape Town.

Fiona supports the lab’s antimicrobial resistance policy research. Her previous research experience focused on improving One Health approaches to global food security and infectious disease surveillance. She has previously worked with Veterinarians Without Borders in Kenya, WorldFish in Cambodia and livestock and virology research groups in Australia. She still works as a veterinarian in downtown Toronto.

Shajoe is an international health attorney, providing strategic advice on the design of evidence-informed strategies to address transnational health threats. Shajoe has significant experience advising governments and NGOs in the Caribbean and Latin America on non-communicable diseases law and policy, and previously counseled UK, US, and Caribbean insurers on health-related tortious liability cases.

Clare is a 1st-year Master of Science in Public Health student at McGill University and earned her Bachelor of Health Sciences from McMaster University. She is interested in health inequities and health promotion, especially as it relates to antimicrobial resistance. Clare held previous research assistant roles at the University of Toronto and the Population Health Research Institute in Hamilton, Ontario. These roles harnessed her understanding of research methodology, critical appraisal and knowledge synthesis.

Sumali is an MSc in Epidemiology student at the University of Ottawa having previously completed a degree in biochemistry at McGill University. Over the course of her undergraduate studies, she developed an interest in AMR. Currently, she is interested in studying AMR epidemiology, international AMR governance and AMR policy research focused on the integration of One Health principles. Prior to the Global Strategy Lab, Sumali has worked across academic research groups, tele-health companies and within the public sector. At the GSL, Sumali supports the lab’s ongoing health policy research, working closely with the AMR Policy Accelerator and the Public Health Institutions teams.

Ranjana supports the lab’s health policy research with her interdisciplinary training. She has previously worked across academic research groups, biopharmaceutical companies, and consulting. Ranjana graduated with an MSc in International Health Policy from the London School of Economics and Political Science.

Suzanne has a Master of Science in Human Security from Aarhus University and a Bachelor of Science from McMaster University where she majored in Biology and minored in Psychology

She has worked at the National Institute for Research in Tuberculosis (NIRT) and Aarhus University (AU) where she studied antimicrobial resistance in low-income individuals undergoing TB treatment in India. Built off her work at NIRT and AU, she developed her master’s thesis on examining the health and economic insecurities low-income households experience when receiving TB treatment through India’s public and private sectors.

Most recently, in her role at Health Partners International of Canada, she worked with international, Canadian, and local NGOs to develop emergency response projects in low-and middle-income countries (Somalia, Malawi, Ethiopia, Ukraine, and Iraq).

Sam’s previous policy and research experience has focused on antimicrobial resistance containment strategies, access to medicines, and medicines for children. Sam has consulted for the Fleming Fund on One-Health antimicrobial consumption in Pakistan; the Bayelsa State Drug Distribution Company on Medicines Quality Assurance in Nigeria; and WHO, as well as led or collaborated on projects in Bangladesh, Jordan, South Africa, and Yemen. A pharmacist and academic, he has also taught and supervised students in Nigeria and the UK.

Arne Ruckert is the Director of Policy at The Global Strategy Lab’s AMR Policy Accelerator. His previous academic work revolved around understanding how social determinants of health are driving global health inequities, using political economy and social sciences approaches. More recently, he has researched the governance and surveillance of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) drawing on the One Health approach, as well as the role of equity considerations in the Canadian policy response to the Coronavirus pandemic. From 2019 to 2023, Arne directed the research activities of the Global One Health Network, and was the Managing Director of the Globalization and Health Equity Research Unit at the University of Ottawa.

Uswa Shafaque is a fourth-year Kinesiology and Health Science student who has recently joined the Global Strategy Lab as the SAFE Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) Governance RAY Assistant. With a deep-rooted passion for healthcare and research, Uswa aspires to commence her Masters in September 2024, where she intends to explore the intricate intersection of sociocultural implications and healthcare access on a global scale within the realm of academia.

Beyond her academic pursuits, Uswa actively engages in collaborative efforts such as the Age-Friendly University project with YURA and groundbreaking research into an adapted Bingocize program tailored for children with autism. Uswa’s initial attraction to her current role was sparked by the Global Strategy Lab’s innovative approach to tackling AMR.

Enthusiastic about the opportunity to work with this dynamic team, Uswa is excited to contribute to real-time policymaking changes that have a global impact.

Demetria oversees communications leveraging over 20 years of marketing and communications experience across the private, public and non-profit sectors. Her areas of interest include strategic communications, participatory product development and translating research into plain language for a diverse range of audiences. Prior to joining the team Demetria oversaw the communications department of a policy research network focused on women’s economic empowerment.

Sahar supports strategic planning, decision-making, execution, and partnership cultivation and management for the Accelerator. Sahar has a consulting background, and significant strategy and finance experience in both for-profit and nonprofit settings. Prior to GSL, she was managing strategic initiatives and finance for a social enterprise serving smallholder farmers in Rwanda. Sahar holds an MBA in Financial Management from Wilfrid Laurier University.

Isaac Weldon is a PhD Candidate in Political Science at York University. Before coming to York, Isaac completed a Master of Science in International Health Policy (with Distinction) from the London School of Economics and Political Science. He also holds a Bachelor of Arts (First Class Honours) in History, Political Studies, and Economics from the University of Manitoba.

Isaac’s research focuses on using political and social science methods to reveal strategies for improving how the world responds to global health challenges. He also researches how domestic public and social policy can be improved by addressing the political nature of knowledge use in policymaking.

Specifically, Isaac is working on applying critical approaches in political science to better understand the causes and consequences of today’s global health challenges; applying interdisciplinary (e.g., international relations, political economy, economics, history, law, and global governance) approaches to improve the global response to AMR by drawing lessons from past global challenges; and the politics of evidence use in policy making – where part of his research is focused on striking an appropriate balance in policymaking between technical concerns for good evidence use (using evidence appropriately to achieve desired outcomes) and political concerns for good governance (ensuring that those desired outcomes are determined and operate fairly). 

Lindsay is an epidemiologist with experience in a wide range of clinical topics, including substance use research, preterm birth surveillance, and barriers to immunization. She is currently a PhD candidate at the University of British Columbia, where she is writing her dissertation on the use of opioid agonist therapies among pregnant people with opioid use disorder. Lindsay previous worked as a Dahdaleh Research Fellow, conducting research into the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on global antimicrobial resistance.

Mathieu Poirier is the Co-Director of the Global Strategy Lab, York Research Chair (Tier II) in Global Health Equity, and Assistant Professor of Social Epidemiology at the School of Global Health. His research ranges from evaluating international law to developing health equity metrics and generating policy-relevant research on socially and politically determined inequities in health. Mathieu is a member of the WHO Collaborating Centre on the Global Governance of Antimicrobial Resistance, has worked throughout Latin America and the Caribbean, and has previously directed vector-borne disease research for the University of Notre Dame Haiti Program.

Patrick Fafard is a Senior Investigator with the Global Strategy Lab and Full Professor cross-appointed to the Faculties of Social Science and Medicine, University of Ottawa. Earlier in his career he served as a senior executive with the governments of Canada and Saskatchewan. His current research focuses on public health policy and governance and the role of scientific evidence in the making of public policy.

Dr. A.M. Viens is York Research Chair in Population Health Ethics and Law and Inaugural Director of the School of Global Health at York University. He is also a member of the WHO Collaborating Centre for Global Governance of Antimicrobial Resistance. He has degrees in philosophy and law from the Universities of Toronto, Oxford, and London. A key area of his research focus centres on demonstrating how philosophical analysis, legal epidemiology, and regulatory theory should shape how we approach antimicrobial resistance.
He is the co-author of Public Health Law: Ethics, Governance, and Regulation and has co-authored the most cited paper in the world on ethics and AMR.