Susan I. Barr, PhD, RDN, FDC, FACSM is Professor of Nutrition at the University of British Columbia. She completed her undergraduate degree at the University of British Columbia, and obtained her PhD in Human Nutrition from the University of Minnesota and the Mayo Clinic. Her research interests focus on cognitive dietary restraint (the perception of constantly limiting food intake), and she has demonstrated important associations among high levels of dietary restraint, menstrual disturbances, and bone health in young women of normal weight.
Lara Briden, ND is a naturopathic doctor and a passionate communicator about women's health and alternatives to hormonal birth control. Her book Period Repair Manual is a manifesto of natural treatment for better hormones and better periods and provides practical solutions using nutrition, supplements, and natural hormones. Now in its second edition, the book has been an underground sensation and has worked to quietly change the lives of tens of thousands of women. Lara divides her time between Christchurch, New Zealand and Sydney, Australia, where she has her consulting rooms. She's helped thousands of women find relief for period problems such as PCOS, PMS, endometriosis, and perimenopause.
Lori Brotto, PhD is a Professor in the UBC Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, and Head of the Division of Gynaecologic Specialties, as well as a registered psychologist in Vancouver, Canada. She holds a Canada Research Chair in Women's Sexual Health (2016-2021). She is the director of the UBC Sexual Health Laboratory where research primarily focuses on developing and testing psychological and mindfulness-based interventions for women with sexual desire and arousal difficulties and women with chronic genital pain. Other major lines of research include exploring psychosocial versus hormonal predictors of women's sexual response, asexuality, sex and cancer, and genital self-image. Dr Brotto is an Associate Editor for the Archives of Sexual Behavior, has over 100 peer-reviewed publications, is the Sexual Health expert writer for the Globe and Mail, and is frequently featured in the media on topics related to sexuality.
Frances Chen, PhD is an Associate Professor in the Department of Psychology at the University of British Columbia. Her research combines approaches from health psychology, social psychology, and neuroendocrinology to investigate how our social lives are connected to our mental and physical health. Her work examines how loneliness and social contact “get under the skin” to affect our physical health, and how hormonal changes during puberty affect teenagers’ social and emotional development.
Hélène Côté, PhD is Associate Professor of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine at the University of British Columbia and a member of the UBC Centre for Blood Research and the Women's Health Research Institute. Her training is in biochemistry and molecular biology. Her research program focuses on cellular aging in the context of HIV infection and its treatment. She currently leads the pan-Canadian CARMA cohort study.
Tom Elliot, MBBS, FRCPC, has been a faculty member at the University of British Columbia since 1992 where his current rank is Clinical Associate Professor. He is also Co-Director of Undergraduate Medical Education for the Division of Endocrinology. Dr. Elliott is the former Chair of the Endocrinology & Metabolism Society of BC, the professional body representing all BC endocrinologists and diabetes specialists. Since 1992 Dr. Elliott has been on the active medical staff at Vancouver General Hospital, has conducted a busy private office practice in Internal Medicine, Endocrinology & Diabetology, and maintained an active research and clinical trials program. Dr. Elliott will continue his research program as director of clinical trials at bcdiabetes.ca.
Michelle M. Epstein, MD is an allergist and clinical immunologist at the Medical University of Vienna in Vienna, Austria. Currently, she is a research scientist studying the differentiation and maintenance of T-helper lymphocytes in experimental models of allergic diseases.
Siri Forsmo, MD, MPH, PhD, currently Head of Department at the Dept. of Public Health and General Practice, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway. Her training is in gynaecology & obstetrics, community medicine and public health. Her research is mainly in epidemiology, notably in the fields of female cancer, osteoporosis and fractures, health services and medical technology assessment. She is also involved in several interdisciplinary projects in medical history and bioethics.
Azita Goshtasebi, MD, MPH, PhD is a Family Physician with interest in women’s health and earned her MPH and PhD in Mother and Child Health from Tehran University of Medical Sciences. She became a Fellow of the European Society of Sexual Medicine in 2014 and was awarded an Osteoporosis Canada Research Fellowship in 2018 to study the relationship between reproductive hormones and fracture risk in perimenopausal women. She has participated in designing, conducting and publishing research projects in Iran and Canada. Her research focuses on women’s reproductive and sexual health.
Janet E. Hall, MD, is Clinical Director of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS). She was a Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School and the Associate Chief of the Reproductive Endocrinology Unit, Endocrine Division, Massachusetts General Hospital. She is an internationally recognized physician-scientist who studies human reproductive physiology and pathophysiology with a view to translating this information to benefit women with reproductive disorders. She has had significant experience helping investigators across disciplines to design translational studies.
The application of her research has helped many women with hypothalamic amenorrhea (HA), polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS) and acquired hypogonadotropic hypo-gonadism (AHH) to conceive. Dr. Hall is the Past-President of the Endocrine Society, which has over 17,000 members worldwide. She also has served on numerous NIH Special Emphasis Panels and numerous Editorial Boards.
Carol Herbert, BSc, MD is the former Dean of the Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry at Western University (1999-2010), former Head of UBC Department of Family Practice (1988-98) and has been a member of the Institute Advisory Board for the CIHR Institute of Gender Health.
After practising full-service Family Medicine in Vancouver at REACH from 1971-82, then at UBC Campus Family Practice Teaching Unit until 1999, Dr Herbert moved to Ontario to take up her position as Dean.
She was a pioneer in developing services for sexually abused children and in 1984 co-founded the still-operating Vancouver Sexual Assault Assessment program. She has done participatory research in sexual assault, family violence and clinical health promotion, including projects on diabetes and ecosystem health with Indigenous communities in BC, Ontario, and Africa.
Dr Herbert is a Fellow of the College of Family Physicians of Canada, Fellow and current President of the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences and an International Member of the National Academy of Medicine.
Suzanne C. Ho, BA, MSc, MPH, PhD is Professor of Community and Family Medicine at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. She is also Director of Postgraduate Programmes in Epidemiology and Biostatistics and Women’s Health Studies. With background in physiology and trained in public health and epidemiology, Suzanne’s research interests are in ageing, women's health, nutritional epidemiology and osteoporosis.
Patricia Janssen, PhD is a Professor and Director of the Master of Public Health Program and Co-theme leader, Maternal Child Health in the School of Population and Public Health at the University of British Columbia. Her areas of Specialty are: Maternal/Fetal/Newborn Health, Women's Health, Population Health, and Clinical Epidemiology/Clinical Trials. She is currently researching; Reducing cesarean section rates in BC, Health trajectories among women leaving prison in BC, Updating standards for intrauterine fetal growth, Impact of exposure to interpersonal violence on pregnancy outcomes, Management of early labour and Outcomes associated with home birth.
Shirin Kalyan, PhD earned her doctorate from the University of British Columbia in Experimental Medicine investigating the pivotal mediators of inflammation in the context of toxic shock syndrome. Her research interests include dissecting the pathophysiology of disease rooted in immune dysfunction, especially those that interact with endocrine function(such as osteoporosis and chronic inflammation associated metabolic disturbances). After obtaining her doctorate, Shirin furthered her inter- and cross-disciplinary training with Professor Jerilynn Prior in clinical endocrinology where she studied the role of ovarian hormones in the context of inflammation, oxidative stress, ovulatory disturbances and osteoporosis. Shirin was subsequently awarded a fellowship from the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation to carry out research in Germany on the adverse immune effects of nitrogen-bisphosphonate therapy, the most common treatment of choice for disorders of bone fragility such as osteoporosis and cancer-associated bone disease, which led to her discovery that some of the drug's bizarre rare side effects, such as ostenocrosis of the jaw, were associated with its disruption of immune homeostasis. Whilst away from the lab and research, Shirin can inevitably be found indulging in discussions on the politics of science, the environment, and philosophy and/or her joy in trekking through exotic unscathed locations at high altitudes.
Heather Macdonald, PhD is Associate Director of Research for the Bone Health Research Group at the University of British Columbia and the Centre for Hip Health and Mobility. She received her PhD from the University of British Columbia in Exercise Science and went on to complete a postdoctoral fellowship in bone imaging at the University of Calgary. Her main research interest is the relationship between physical activity and bone health across the lifespan, with a particular focus on how physical activity affects bone growth and development in healthy and clinical populations as measured using state-of-the-art bone imaging techniques. Heather also has a keen interest in promoting physical activity and healthy living in elementary and secondary schools and has been involved with intervention trials that have led to changes in provincial policies related to school-based physical activity.
Graydon S. Meneilly, MD graduated from the Medical School at the University of Saskatchewan in 1978. He did a rotating internship at the Royal Jubilee Hospital in Victoria and subsequently went to the University of Toronto to pursue residency training in Internal Medicine where he was a Chief Resident. He then went to the Harvard Medical School and did a Fellowship in Gerontology and Diabetes. He stayed on the Faculty at Harvard for a number of years. He returned to Canada and took a Faculty position at the University of British Columbia in 1988. He was head of the UBC Department of Medicine from July 1, 2002 until January 15, 2017. He is currently Physician-in-Chief at Vancouver General Hospital and Regional Department Head for Vancouver Coastal Health and Providence Health Care. His research and clinical interest for the last 30 years has been in the area of Diabetes and carbohydrate metabolism in the elderly. He currently runs a specialized multidisciplinary clinic for diabetes in the elderly.
Barbara Mintzes, PhD is a Senior Lecturer in the Faculty of Pharmacy and Charles Perkins Centre at the University of Sydney, Australia, and an Affiliate Associate Professor with the School of Population and Public Health at the University of British Columbia (UBC). She worked with the Therapeutics Initiative, a UBC based research group, from 1999 to 2015, to carry out systematic reviews of the effectiveness and safety of new drugs. Dr Mintzes also researches the effects of drug promotion, including direct-to-consumer advertising of prescription medicines, on prescribing, medicine use and thresholds for disease diagnosis. Dr Mintzes holds a doctorate in epidemiology from UBC. She has also worked for many years with consumer and women’s health organizations, in Canada and internationally.
Millan Patel, MD obtained his Medical degree and Masters in Genetics at the University of Alberta and completed residency training in Medical Genetics at the University of Toronto. Millan studied bone physiology in post-doctoral research at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas. He is a co-founder and Research Director for the Rare Disease Foundation and is a clinical assistant professor in the Department of Medical Genetics at the University of British Columbia. He was the co-director for British Columbia for 7 years of the Canadian Multicentre Osteoporosis Study. His current research includes studies on rare bone disorders, osteoporosis genetics, Adams-Oliver syndrome, CMTC, preterm birth and rare eye disorders.
Carol Petersen, RPh, CNP is an accomplished compounding pharmacist with decades of experience helping patients improve their quality of life through bioidentical hormone replacement therapy with Women’s International Pharmacy. She graduated from the University of Wisconsin School of Pharmacy and is a Certified Nutritional Practitioner. Her passion to optimize health and commitment to compounding is evident in her involvement with organizations including the International College of Integrated Medicine and the American College of Apothecaries. She was also the founder and first chair for the Compounding Special Interest Group with the American Pharmacists Association.
Moira A. Petit, BA, MS, PhD is co-founder and president of Activ8, Inc. (www.activ8-u.com) a company that supports organizations and communities in creating physically active, healthy and high performing cultures. She received her doctorate in Exercise Physiology from the University of British Columbia in 2000 where she published articles on physical activity, bone health and ovulation. After serving on the faculty at Penn State University, she moved to the University of Minnesota, founding the Laboratory of Musculoskeletal Health (LMH) and was the associate director of the Laboratory of Physiological Hygiene and Exercise Science (LPHES). She became an Associate Professor and received Tenure in 2009. Dr. Petit has published on issues related to sports medicine, health and physical activity with over 50 peer-reviewed journal articles and book chapters.
Sheila M. Pride, MD is a reproductive endocrinologist and Clinical Assistant Professor of Gynecology at Vancouver Hospital and the University of British Columbia. She is particularly interested in the clinical care and consequences for women with long-standing anovulatory androgen excess (also known as "polycystic ovarian disease"). She has collaborated with Dr. Jerilynn C. Prior on menstrual cycle research since the early 1980s. Dr. Pride is the co-investigator in a proposed randomized, double blind placebo-controlled study of cyclic progesterone, low dose birth control pills or placebo in symptomatic early perimenopausal women.
Sarah Purcell, PhD is an Assistant Professor and Tier II Canada Research Chair within the University of British Columbia (UBC) Department of Medicine, Division of Endocrinology and Metabolism and UBC Okanagan Department of Biology. She is also an Investigator with the Centre for Chronic Disease Prevention and Management based at UBC Okanagan. Dr. Purcell completed a BSc in Nutrition and Dietetics and MSc in Clinical Nutrition at Florida State University followed by a PhD in Nutrition and Metabolism at the University of Alberta. Dr. Purcell’s research aims to improve our understanding of the factors that impact human energy balance (i.e., the food we eat and the energy we burn) to ultimately improve nutrition recommendations and interventions for people with chronic disease.
Elizabeth Saewyc, PhD, RN, PHN is the director of the Stigma and Resilience Among Vulnerable Youth Centre (SARAVYC) and a Professor of Nursing at the University of British Columbia. Her research focuses on health issues of youth, particularly how stigma, violence, and trauma influence teens' health, coping and risk behaviours, and what protective factors in relationships and environments can buffer this trauma for young people. For the past 19 years, she has conducted research with many different groups of vulnerable adolescents, including runaway and street-involved youth, sexually abused and sexually exploited teens, gay/lesbian/bisexual/transgender adolescents, youth in custody, immigrants, home-stay students, and refugees, and indigenous youth in several countries. In addition to sexual health issues, her research focuses on mental health issues such as self-harm and suicide attempts, grief and coping, and substance use/abuse. The majority of her studies have been funded by CIHR or the U.S. National Institutes of Health.
Vanadin Seifert-Klauss, MD, PhD, is professor and head of the working group on gynecological endocrinology and osteoporosis at the Women's Hospital of the Technische Universität München (TUM), where she works as consultant of the gynaecological outpatient policlinic and hormone clinics. Several of her publications deal with longitudinal bone changes across perimenopause, her current research also involves the influence of progesterone on osteoblasts in vitro, effects of ovulation on bone markers in healthy women, as well as bone changes with breast cancer therapies.
Tricia S. Tang, BA, PhD, is an associate professor who joined the faculty in the Department of Medicine, Division of Endocrinology at the University of British Columbia in 2011. She completed her undergraduate work at Duke University where she received her B.A. in psychology. After finishing her PhD in clinical psychology, she also trained in behavioural medicine at the University of Chicago and did bio-behavioral breast cancer research at Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York. Before joining UBC, she was on faculty of the Department of Medical Education at the University of Michigan Medical School. She holds many prestigious national research grants. Dr Tang researches innovative psychosocial supports for those with chronic diseases.
Helena J Teede, MBBS, FRACP, PhD is the Director of Research for the Jean Hailes Foundation for Women's Health, Professor of Women's Health and Site Director - School of Public Health and Preventative Medicine at Monash University. Dr Hailes is also Head of Diabetes for the Southern Health region in Melbourne, Australia. Her clinical and public health/women's health research focuses on prevention/management of obesity and its complications, especially the impact on reproductive and metabolic women's health. She has a highly competitive clinical, public health research and knowledge translation track record with international recognition.
Virginia J. Vitzthum, PhD is a Professor of Anthropology at Indiana University (Bloomington) and Senior Scientist at the Kinsey Institute. In 2011, she was elected a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science for her research contributions, particularly for evolutionary models of women's reproductive function, and her international work bridging science and policy. Her research focuses on the environmental, behavioral and sociocultural determinants of individual and population variation in women's reproductive functioning and the consequences of this variation for women's health. Her policy contributions include prevention of mother-to-child HIV transmission and improving contraceptive technologies. She has conducted research in the Andes, Central Asia, Europe and the USA. Most recently, with funding from the US National Science Foundation and the Iceland Fulbright Commission, she and her Icelandic collaborators are conducting a multi-season study of the impact of dramatic seasonal changes in photoperiod on several aspects of women's physiology including ovarian and immune functioning, sleep and activity patterns, and psychosocial well-being.
John D. Wark, MBBS, PhD, FRACP is Head of the Royal Melbourne Hospital Bone and Mineral Service and Broadmeadows Osteoporosis Centre. Dr. Wark is Professor of Medicine at the University of Melbourne, Australia. He has an international reputation in the bone field and is known for his work on vitamin D metabolism; for studying twins of different ages and genders over many years; for the role of physical activity in bone health and for his work with the World Health Organization as a consultant on osteoporosis and menopause. He also works with merino sheep as an animal model of osteoporosis. Sheep are more suitable than many non-primates because they ovulate year-round (like women) rather than sporadically, or once a year.
Monterrey Wigglesworth, BScPharm (honours) from the University of British Columbia is a community pharmacist specializing in women’s health, especially with regards to hormones, nutrition and lifestyle. She has worked with pharmacies in the Lower Mainland of British Columbia. She also lived and worked as a pharmacist in New Zealand and has recently returned there to work in Auckland. Monterrey has been trained in the compounding of hormones in Australia and nutritional medicine in the US. Her aim is to provide reputable resources for the public and fellow health professionals as well as network amongst the professions to help educate and validate the safe and effective practice of hormonal and nutritional medicine. Ms. Marks has become known in the pharmacy community and region in which she works, for having expertise in progesterone. She was a co-investigator in CeMCOR’s Community Pharmacists’ Knowledge of Progesterone study.
Paul Yong, MD, PhD, FRCSC is a gynecologist with a fellowship in Endometriosis, Pelvic Pain, and Advanced Laparoscopy. Dr. Yong is an Associate Professor in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology at the University of British Columbia (UBC); and Research Director at the BC Women's Centre for Pelvic Pain and Endometriosis and UBC Endometriosis and Pelvic Pain Laboratory. Dr. Yong is also Assistant Director of the Women's Health Research Institute, and holds a Canada Research Chair (Tier 2) in Endometriosis and Pelvic Pain.
