Annual Report 2015
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McGill University Department of Microbiology and Immunology 2015 Annual Report Submitted by J. Madrenas, MD, PhD, FCAHS Canada Research Chair in Human Immunology Professor and Chairman On behalf of Primary members of the Department of Microbiology and Immunology Section I Introduction A. Executive Summary 2015 was an exciting year in the life of the Department of Microbiology and Immunology at McGill. During 2015, we had an External Cyclical Review of the Department, the first review of its kind for (at least) the last 22 years. This process identified key strengths and challenges for our unit, and coalesced different strategic initiatives in consultation with the leadership in the Faculty of Medicine and the Provost office. In 2015, the department welcomed Dr. Corinne Maurice arriving from Harvard University. Corinne started as a tenure track assistant professor on January 1. Her arrival was the fourth recruitment in the context of departmental faculty renewal in the last three years. In addition, we completed the selection process to recruit a Virologist to the Department: the selected candidate was Dr. Jacques Archambault, who will be joining on August 1, 2016 as a Full Professor with tenure. We successfully completed the promotion to Full Professors of Drs. Ciriacco Piccirillo and Donald Sheppard and the 3 yr. reappointment process for Dr. Selena Sagan, and initiated the promotion to Associate Professor with tenure for Dr. Jorg Fritz (a process successfully completed in May 2016). In Research, our members were very successful in attracting high calibre awards. Dr. Mark Wainberg was a 2016 Canadian Medical Hall of Fame inductee. Dr. Maurice was awarded a Tier II CRC. Dr. Sagan obtained a CIHR New Investigatorship and submitted her application for a Tier II CRC (which was successful in April 2016). Drs. Maurice and Richer received substantial CFI grants for the establishment of their laboratories. Research output from our members was illustrated in 83 publications, attracting over $7M in peer-reviewed finding and contributing to close to $15M in collaborative funding. Relocation of three members of the department to the Glen Campus was completed in 2015. The Microbiome and Disease Tolerance Centre (MDTC) at McGill, a multi-disciplinary and trans- departmental Centre that includes a significant number of our researchers, organized the International Symposium on Human Immunity and the Microbiome in partnership with Cell Press-Elsevier and the Canadian CIHR Human Immunology Network (CHIN). This meeting gathered over 325 delegates in Montreal on September 27-29 and was unanimously evaluated as a very successful meeting by partners and attendees. Thanks to fundraising efforts, the Department continued to offer internal grants to fund innovative collaborative projects both to Departmental members and MDTC members. These grants for this year totalled $30,000. In addition, we were fortunate to receive a donation of a flow cytometer from a corporate partner (Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc.). In terms of Education, the department excelled at the creation and delivery of novel undergraduate and graduate programs. We celebrated the announcement that Dr. Samantha Gruenheid received the 2015 SALTISE Best Practices & Pedagogical Innovators Award –4 University level, an award that recognizes educators who stand out as leaders in the promotion of academic excellence, use of innovative pedagogies, and support of their academic communities. To solidify our commitment to the educational mission, we secured the recruitment of Dr. Claire Trottier as a Teaching Specialist in the Contract Academic Staff category, starting on August 1, 2015. With Dr. Trottier’s leadership, the department continued the process of undergraduate and graduate program redevelopment. The first class of the new BSc-MSc track Integrated Program was welcome into the department. The departmental success in fundraising allowed us to offer two Steinman Summer Undergraduate Research Awards, and one Wares Family Post-doctoral Fellowship award to support under-graduate and post-doctoral training in our department. Finally, in terms of Service and Administration, the department embarked in a Beautification Program for the Duff Medical Building to make the physical environment more appealing and functional. We produced a Handbook of Policies and Procedures for the Department, accessible through our departmental webpage, and continued to optimize the administrative operation of the department with the Administrative Excellence Centre #2. Community outreach was also very active with engagement of local schools as well as international universities and corporate partners including the Universite d’Evry Val d’Essone, Tabuk University, and King Saud University. I would like to thank Drs. Sylvie Fournier and Ciriacco Piccirillo, Chairs of the Departmental Graduate and Undergraduate Education Committees, Ms. Maria Babiak, Associate Director of AEC32, and Ms. Lana Kobeici, Executive Assistant, for their help in the elaboration of this report. It is a true privilege and honor for me to submit the 2015 report documenting the excellence of the members of the Department of Microbiology and Immunology at McGill. Yours in service, J. Madrenas, MD, PhD, FCAHS B. Faculty Listing 1. List of Faculty members with primary appointments in the Department Professors Dr. Joaquin Madrenas (Chairman, 2011-present) Dr. Albert Berghuis (jointly appointed with Biochemistry) Dr. Greg Matlashewski Dr. Robert Murgita Dr. Martin Olivier (jointly appointed with Medicine) Dr. Mary Stevenson (jointly appointed with Medicine) Dr. Mark Wainberg (jointly appointed with Medicine) Dr. Ciriaco Piccirillo Dr. Donald Sheppard (jointly appointed with Medicine) Associate Professors Dr. Dalius Briedis (jointly appointed with Medicine) Dr. Benoit Cousineau Dr. Sylvie Fournier Dr. Samantha Gruenheid Dr. Herve Le Moual (jointly appointed with Dentistry) Dr. Greg Marczynski Assistant Professors Dr. Jörg Fritz Dr. Irah King Dr. Connie Krawczyk (jointly appointed with Physiology) Dr. Corinne Maurice Dr. Martin Richer Dr. Selena Sagan Academic Associate Dr Claire Trottier 2. List of Faculty with secondary appointments Associate Members Dr. Jack Antel (Department of Neurology, Montreal Neurological Institute) Dr. Amit Bar-Or (Department of Neurology, Montreal Neurological Institute) Dr. Marcel Behr (Division of Infectious Diseases & Medical Microbiology, MUHC) Dr. Miguel Burnier (Department of Ophthalmology, McGill University) Dr. Nicolas Cermakian (Department of Psychiatry, McGill University) Dr. Ines Colmegna (Department of Medicine, Royal Victoria Hospital) Dr. Andre Dascal (Senior Physician, Jewish General Hospital) Dr. Maziar Divangahi (Meakins-Christie Laboratories, McGill University) Dr Anne Gatignol Dr. Philippe Gros (Rosalind and Morris Goodman Cancer Research Centre) Dr. Sabah Hussain (Critical Care Division, Royal Victoria Hospital) Dr. Armando Jardim (Institute of Parasitology, MacDonald Campus) Dr. Antonis Koromilas (Department of Oncology, Lady Davis Institute for Medical Research) Dr. Arnold Kristof (Critical Care Division, Royal Victoria Hospital) Dr. Chen Liang (Lady Davis Institute for Medical Research) Dr. Rongtuan Lin (Lady Davis Institute for Medical Research) Dr. Vivian Loo (Department of Medicine, Division of Infectious Diseases, MUHC) Dr Judith Mandl (Department of Physiology) Dr. Andrew Mouland (HIV-1 RNA Trafficking Laboratory, Lady Davis Institute for Medical Research) Dr. Momar Ndao (Department of Medicine, Division of Infectious Disease) Dr. Dao Nguyen (Department of Medicine, Montreal General Hospital Research Institute) Dr. Kostas Pantopoulos (Lady Davis Institute, Jewish General Hospital) Dr. Joyce Rauch (Department of Rheumatology, Montreal General Hospital) Dr. Michael Reed (Medicine, Infectious Diseases, Montreal General Hospital) Dr. Petra Rohrbach (Institute of Parasitology, MacDonald Campus) Dr. Maya Saleh (Department of Medicine, McGill Life Science Complex) Dr. Jose Teodoro (Rosalind and Morris Goodman Cancer Research Centre) Dr. Michel Tremblay (Rosalind and Morris Goodman Cancer Research Centre) Dr. Christos Tsoukas (Immune Deficiency Treatment Centre – IDTC, Montreal General Hospital) Dr. Bernard Turcotte (Hormones & Cancer Research Unit, Department of Medicine) Dr Silvia Vidal (Department of Human Genetics) Dr Donald Vinh (Department of Medicine ) Dr. Brian Ward (Montreal General Hospital) Dr Jianguo Xia (Institute of Parasitology) Dr. Ji Zhang (Biomedical Sciences, Faculty of Dentistry) Adjunct Professors Dr Petronela Ancuta Dr. Jacques Archambault Dr. Cheolho Cheong Dr. Albert Descoteaux Dr. Andres Finzi Dr Matthias Gotte Dr George Kukolj Dr. Peter C. K. Lau Dr. Sylvie Lesage Dr. Shan-Lu Liu Dr Woong-Kyung Suh Affiliated Members Dr. Catherine Paradis-Bleau Dr. Naglaa Shoukry Mohamed 3. Departmental Non-Academic Staff Jennifer Di Massimo, Student Affairs Administrator Monica Toribio/ Bobbie Carin, Student Affairs Coordinator Patrick Ritchie, Senior Administrative Coordinator Elisa Torres, Administrative Coordinator (Accounting & Finance) Aghdas Zhamani, Course Coordinator (Teaching Laboratories) Shan Hong Zhang, Laboratory Technician (Media Laboratory) Richard Arthur, Course Technician (Teaching Laboratories) Tom Ringer, Technical Assistant 4. Staff of Departmental-Associated Administrative Excellence Centre Maria Babiak, Associate Director, Administration Amy Arnott, Human Resources Advisor Inna Roo, Human Resources Administrator Suzanna Kafadar de Rodriguez, Financial Officer Jackie Krebs,