Members

Dr. Tom Perry,
MD, FRCPC

Dr. Tom Perry, MD, FRCPC

Clinical Associate Professor, Department of Anesthesiology, Pharmacology & Therapeutics, Faculty of Medicine, UBC

Specialist physician, General Internal Medicine and Clinical Pharmacology

Co-Chair, Education Working Group, Therapeutics Initiative

Editor in Chief, Therapeutics Letter

Member, Scientific Information & Education Committee, Therapeutics Initiative

No conflict of interest.- Form

Tom graduated from McGill University Medical School in 1978.  After a rotating internship at Dalhousie University and internal medicine residency in Vancouver, he achieved Fellowship in the Royal College of Physicians of Canada.  He took additional training at the Karolinska Institute Department of Clinical Pharmacology in Stockholm 1986-87 and at UBC until 1989, when he was elected to the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia.  Tom served as Opposition Health Critic from 1989-1991, then as Minister for Advanced Education, Training & Technology from 1991-93, and as a government MLA from 1993-96.  These experiences alerted him to the importance of getting good value for money in health care, in order to maintain an effective universal health service in Canada.
After returning to clinical medicine in 1996, Tom practiced general internal medicine with sick patients at Delta Hospital, UBC Hospital and Vancouver General Hospital until 2014.  Until the end of 2021, he maintained an outpatient internal medicine practice focused on pharmacological treatment of chronic pain and reducing polypharmacy (deprescribing).  He continues to teach clinical pharmacology through seminars, lectures, special courses, and webinars presented throughout British Columbia. Tom has a special interest in the use of videography to teach students and health professionals about drugs and about human pathophysiology.

Tom co-chairs the Education Working Group and is Editor in Chief of the Therapeutics Letter. His other interests include wilderness canoeing and hiking, environmental conservation, peace and social justice issues, music, reading, and his wife (an experienced RN) and two children (geologist and NP). He likes continuous thinking and learning about medicine and drug therapy, and especially enjoys our interactions with smart and dedicated health care colleagues (students, MDs, pharmacists, NPs, nurses, PAs, and others) throughout B.C. and around the world.  As of early 2022 he’s helping vaccinate British Columbians against Covid19 and hoping that the benefits of good medical science are extended rapidly to everyone on Earth.

Member of:

Dr. Aaron M Tejani,
BSc (Pharm), PharmD

Dr. Aaron M Tejani, BSc (Pharm), PharmD

Researcher and educator, Drug Assessment Working Group and Education Working Group, Therapeutics Initiative, UBC

Clinical Assistant Professor, Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, UBC

Medication Use Evaluation Pharmacist, Lower Mainland Pharmacy Services, Vancouver, BC

Member, Scientific Information & Education Committee, Therapeutics Initiative

 

No conflict of interest.- Form

Dr. Aaron M Tejani, is a researcher/educator with the Therapeutics Initiative (co-chair of the Education Working Group, member of the Drug Assessment Working Group), clinical assistant professor with the Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences (University of British Columbia), and Medication use evaluation pharmacist with Lower Mainland Pharmacy Services (Vancouver, BC). He completed his BSc(Pharm) at UBC (Vancouver) and Doctor of Pharmacy degree at Creighton University (Omaha, Nebraska).

Aaron is particularly interested in teaching healthcare professionals how to critically appraise evidence for medical interventions and how to use evidence in clinical practice/policy development. He is an author of a number of Therapeutics Letters.

Member of:

Dr. Anat Fisher,
MD, MHA, PhD

Dr. Anat Fisher, MD, MHA, PhD

Research Associate, Department of Anesthesiology, Pharmacology & Therapeutics, UBC

Co-Chair, PharmacoEpidemiology Working Group, Therapeutics Initiative

Member, Scientific Information & Education Committee, Therapeutics Initiative

No conflict of interest.- Form

Dr. Anat Fisher has extensive experience using administrative health care databases to evaluate pharmaceutical policy changes and the long-term effects of medication. She also conducts systematic reviews of the efficacy and safety of new and established drugs. Anat has been a member of the Therapeutics Initiative since 2006, and is currently Co-Chair of the PharmacoEpidemiology Group (PEG). She completed her PhD in Pharmacology and Therapeutics with a focus on pharmacoepidemiology at the University of British Columbia. Her PhD thesis examined the comparative persistence of tumor necrosis factor alpha antagonists in patients with rheumatoid arthritis. Anat also holds an MD from the Hebrew University in Israel, and Master’s in Health Administration from the Tel Aviv University in Israel.

Member of:

Dr. Greg Carney,
BSc, PhD

Dr. Greg Carney, BSc, PhD

Chair, PharmacoEpidemiology Working Group

Research Program Manager, Dept of Anesthesiology, Pharmacology and Therapeutics, UBC

Member, Scientific Information & Education Committee, Therapeutics Initiative

No conflict of interest.- Form

Greg Carney completed his doctorate in Pharmacology and Therapeutics, with a focus on pharmacoepidemiology at the University of British Columbia. His PhD thesis examined the comparative safety and effectiveness of medications commonly used to aid smoking cessation. Greg has worked for the Therapeutics Initiative since 2003, and is currently Co-Chair of the PharmacoEpidemiology Group (PEG). Greg has 20 years of experience in analysing health care databases to evaluate pharmaceutical policy and program changes, and in conducting drug safety and effectiveness studies. His current research focus is on the implementation and evaluation of physician audit and feedback programs using randomized designed delay trials.

Member of:

Dr. Jessica Otte,
MD, CCFP

Dr. Jessica Otte, MD, CCFP

Family Physician

Clinical Assistant Professor, Department of Family Practice, UBC

Educational Outreach Coordinator & Family Practice Liaison, Therapeutics Initiative

Member, Scientific Information & Education Committee, Therapeutics Initiative

No conflict of interest.- Form

Dr. Jessica Otte is a family physician in Nanaimo, BC. She has always been passionate about helping patients find the right health care according to the evidence and their needs and values, and she practices this daily with a focus on care of the elderly and palliative care. Dr Otte is deeply engaged in sharing this approach through continuing medical education, policy and medical leadership work, an active social media presence (@LessIsMoreMed), and teaching family practice residents.

Together with clinical expertise and patient values, Dr. Otte champions the values of the Therapeutics Initiative – rigorous and unbiased review of evidence –  in her quality improvement, policy, clinical guideline, and health technology assessment (HTA) contributions at the provincial and national levels.

Member of:

Dr. Vijaya Musini,
MD, MSc, DPH

Dr. Vijaya Musini, MD, MSc, DPH

Assistant Professor, Dept of Anesthesiology, Pharmacology & Therapeutics, UBC

No conflict of interest.- Form

Vijaya Musini has conducted and supervised over 200 systematic reviews and meta-analyses on prescription drug therapy. She is an Editor of the Cochrane Hypertension Review Group and has been actively involved in teaching Cochrane Collaboration systematic review methodology and critical appraisal skills on evidence based drug therapy to undergraduate, graduate, medical students and residents.

Dr. Musini graduated from Mumbai University Medical School in 1982. After completing her rotating internship she joined the Department of Community Medicine in 1984 and graduated with a Diploma in Public Health from Mumbai University Medical School in 1985.

She has worked as a Family Practitioner and as a Medical Officer in primary health care centres in Mumbai, India for several years. She also worked as a research assistant in the Departments of Gynaecology and Obstetrics, and Health Care and Epidemiology, Faculty of Medicine, Kuwait University. She immigrated to Canada in 1996 and graduated with a Masters Degree in Pharmacology and Therapeutics from the University of British Columbia in 2000.

Member of:

photo of Dr. Anshula Ambasta
Dr. Anshula Ambasta,
MD, MPH, FRCPC

Dr. Anshula Ambasta, MD, MPH, FRCPC

Assistant Professor, Department of Anesthesiology, Pharmacology & Therapeutics, Faculty of Medicine, University of British Columbia

Member, Scientific Information & Education Committee, Therapeutics Initiative

No conflict of interest.- Form

Dr. Ambasta is a general internist with a research focus on healthcare quality and patient safety. Having completed a medical degree and post-graduate training in general internal medicine at the University of Calgary, Dr. Ambasta pursued a Masters in Public Health at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health with a focus on Clinical Effectiveness. She is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Anesthesiology, Pharmacology and Therapeutics at the University of British Columbia. Her overall research program focuses on reduction of low-value services in health systems. She is a member of the Choosing Wisely Canada national expert group dedicated to reducing unnecessary laboratory testing. Her research work in low-value laboratory testing has been funded by Alberta Health Services, Choosing Wisely Alberta, Canadian Society of Internal Medicine, Alberta Health Services, and Canadian Institutes of Health Research. Her ongoing research projects include implementation of a multi-modal intervention bundle to reduce low-value laboratory testing across hospitals in Alberta and British Columbia, collaboration with a patient and family advisory council to engage patients with reduction of low-value use of health care resources and describing linkages between low value use of diagnostic testing and therapeutic use in healthcare systems.

Member of:

Ms. Aneesa Khan,
BSc

Ms. Aneesa Khan, BSc

Research Assistant, RePORT Study

No conflict of interest.- Form

Aneesa is a research assistant primarily working with Dr. Anshula Ambasta on the RePORT study, focused on patient engagement and reducing laboratory test overuse. She recently graduated from UBC with a BSc in Microbiology and Immunology, with a focus on topics in virology. Aneesa is enjoying working in health research while considering a future in medicine. Having worked for 3 years at the BC Emergency Medicine Network (UBC Department of Emergency Medicine) and on a number of health projects, her research interests span a variety of topics, including health equity, women’s health, and incorporating patient voices.

Member of:

Wade Thompson
Dr. Wade Thompson,
PharmD, MSc, PhD

Dr. Wade Thompson, PharmD, MSc, PhD

Assistant Professor, Department of Anesthesiology, Pharmacology & Therapeutics, Faculty of Medicine, UBC

Visiting researcher, Research Unit of General Practice, University of Southern Denmark, Hospital Pharmacy Fyn, Odense University Hospital

Member, Scientific Information & Education Committee, Therapeutics Initiative

No conflict of interest.- Form

Wade is a pharmacist and researcher working to ensure older persons are taking medications that are necessary, effective, safe, and consistent with their healthcare goals and treatment preferences. This primarily involves developing and evaluating strategies to stop medications when they are no longer a good fit (“deprescribing”). Wade approaches deprescribing and polypharmacy management research with a multi-methods approach, incorporating qualitative methods, pharmacoepidemiological methods, knowledge translation, and implementation science. He is also an investigator with the deprescribing.org initiative. Wade has worked clinically as a pharmacist in long-term care, geriatric outpatient clinics, and primary care clinics.

Member of:

Mr. Ciprian Jauca,
BA, DBM

Mr. Ciprian Jauca, BA, DBM

Chair, Communication and Outreach Group, Therapeutics Initiative

Managing Editor, Cochrane Hypertension

Managing Editor, Therapeutics Letter

Webmaster, Therapeutics Initiative

No conflict of interest.- Form

Ciprian Jauca studied linguistics at the Babes-Bolyai University in Cluj-Napoca, Romania (major in Romance Languages, minor in Germanistic Studies) from 1986 to 1990. In 1991 he earned an International Diploma of Business Management and Intercultural Communication from the University of Osnabruck, Germany. He speaks several languages and has worked as translator and simultaneous interpreter, as well as managing social development projects for non-profit organizations. Ciprian joined the Therapeutics Initiative at its inception in 1994. He is the Managing Editor for the Therapeutics Letter and has been the Program Coordinator for the Therapeutics Initiative from its inception in 1994 until 2018. He created the Therapeutics Initiative website in the late 1990s and has been serving as its webmaster. He has been involved in the international Cochrane Collaboration since 2001, serving as the Managing Editor for Cochrane Hypertension. He has been involved in the International Society of Drug Bulletins since 2003, was elected as a member of the Executive Committee in 2008 and was elected Secretary General of the organization in 2016. Ciprian served as an elected member of the Board of Directors for the Association of Administrative and Professional Staff (AAPS) at the University of British Columbia from 2011 to 2015. Ciprian is currently serving as a member of the Board of Directors of the Laurier Institution, Treasurer and Chief Financial Officer of Colibri Learning Foundation and Vice-Chairman of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’í Community of Canada.

Member of:

Dr. Benji Heran,
PhD

Dr. Benji Heran, PhD

Co-Chair, Drug Assessment Working Group, Therapeutics Initiative

Member, Scientific Information & Education Committee, Therapeutics Initiative

No conflict of interest.- Form

Balraj (Benji) Heran received a B.Sc. (Hon.) in Physiology at the UBC and joined the TI in 2000. He recently graduated from the Ph.D. program in the Department of Anesthesiology, Pharmacology and Therapeutics, UBC. Under the supervision of Dr. Jim Wright, he conducted two systematic reviews of the dose-related blood pressure lowering efficacy of ACE inhibitors and angiotensin receptor blockers for primary hypertension. Benji is also a contributing author of a number of systematic reviews and protocols published in the Cochrane Library. From 2003 to 2009 he has served on the editorial team of the Cochrane Collaboration Hypertension Review Group as the Trial Search Co-ordinator, since 2009 has been an Editor with the Cochrane Hypertension Group and a Postdoctoral Research Fellow with the Cochrane Heart Group. He has a keen interest in cardiovascular research.

Member of:

Ms. Amy Cox,
MA, BA

Ms. Amy Cox, MA, BA

Research Coordinator, Therapeutics Initiative

No conflict of interest.- Form

Amy Cox is a Research Coordinator at the Therapeutics Initiative. She holds a Master of Arts in Sociology from the University of Victoria and a BA (Honours) from the University of British Columbia. She has a background in public health, palliative care and educational psychology research.  She is passionate about knowledge translation, implementation science and evaluation in research and evidence-based health care.

Member of:

Mr. Stephen Adams,
BSc

Mr. Stephen Adams, BSc

Research Assistant, Drug Assessment Working Group, Therapeutics Initiative
Systematic Reviewer, Cochrane Hypertension

No conflict of interest.- Form

Member of:

Dr. Carole Lunny,
MPH, PhD

Dr. Carole Lunny, MPH, PhD

Clinical epidemiologist, research methodologist, Cochrane Hypertension Group and Therapeutics Initiative

No conflict of interest.- Form

Dr Carole Lunny is a clinical epidemiologist and research methodologist with the Cochrane Hypertension Review Group, and the Therapeutics Initiative at the University of British Columbia. Dr Lunny specialises in methods for research synthesis and critical appraisal of systematic reviews, network meta-analyses, randomised controlled trials, overviews of reviews, and observational studies. She routinely tells people she is an expert in identifying bias and error in clinical research studies. Dr Lunny completed her PhD training at Cochrane Australia in January 2019 from Monash University’s School of Public Health and Preventive Medicine.

Dr Lunny’s current research is the development of a risk of bias tool for systematic reviews with network meta-analysis, tools for ‘overviews of reviews’, assessment of the impact of evidence syntheses on health systems and policy, and knowledge translation. She teaches courses at UBC and the University of Toronto.

To date, Dr Lunny has 24 publications, 16 of the 24 as first author, which have been cited 415 times as of July 2020. 16 out of the 24 studies are systematic reviews. You can access her publication at: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/?term=lunny+c&sort=date

Dr Lunny has been conducting systematic reviews since 2008 when she was hired as a Knowledge Synthesis Consultant with the International Centre for Infectious Diseases. She is an expert in conducting various types of knowledge syntheses including systematic reviews with and without meta-analysis, scoping reviews, evidence maps, network meta-analyses, meta-epidemiology and methods studies. She is an editor for the journal PeerJ and Systematic Reviews, and has peer reviewed for seven journals.

Dr Lunny is a member of the Cochrane Collaborations Statistical methods group and five other Cochrane methods groups, the SPOR Evidence Alliance, BC SUPPORT Unit, the Joanna Briggs Institute, the Campbell Collaboration, and the Open Science Taskforce at UBC.

Dr Lunny has been awarded over $515,000 in lifetime grant dollars and $257,000 in scholarship and award funding. She received two PhD scholarships– the International Postgraduate Research Scholarship and the Australian Postgraduate Award – from both the Cochrane Collaboration at Monash University (accepted) and the Joanna Briggs Institute (JBI) at University of Adelaide (declined). Dr Lunny worked for seven years for international development organisations such as the UNDP, UNICEF, the International Collaboration Centre for Infectious Diseases, the International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease in the US, Canada, Singapore, Myanmar, Thailand and Mexico.

Member of:

Dr. Mohamed Ben-Eltriki,
BSc (Pharm), RPh, MSc, PhD

Dr. Mohamed Ben-Eltriki, BSc (Pharm), RPh, MSc, PhD

Postdoctoral Fellow, Dep of Anesthesiology, Pharmacology & Therapeutics, UBC
Community Pharmacist, Vancouver
Member, Drug Assessment Working Group, Cochrane Hypertension Review Group

No conflict of interest.- Form

Mohamed received his undergraduate pharmacy degree from the University of Benghazi, Libya in 2007 (Honours), completed his MSc in Pharmaceutical Sciences (Pharmacokinetics) from the University of Alberta in 2012, and his PhD in Experimental Medicine from the University of British Columbia in 2018. After his PhD, Mohamed joined the Therapeutics Initiative as a postdoctoral research fellow (Drug Assessment Working Group and Cochrane Hypertension Review Group), working under the join supervision of Prof. James Wright and Dr. Vijaya Musini. In addition, he maintains his patient care pharmacist license through front line work in community pharmacy. Dr. Ben-Eltriki’s current research focuses on clinical pharmacy, systematic review, evaluating drug safety and effectiveness, and critical appraisal of clinical practice guidelines.

You can access his publications at 

https://scholar.google.ca/citations?user=Vp6b6YoAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao

Member of:

Dr. Gloria Chu,
BSc, PharmD

Dr. Gloria Chu, BSc, PharmD

Community pharmacist
Member, Drug Assessment Working Group, Therapeutics Initiative

No conflict of interest.- Form

Gloria graduated with a Bachelor of Science (Honours Science) and Doctor of Pharmacy from the University of Waterloo in 2016. She is a community pharmacist working to incorporate deprescribing in a dispensary setting to try and minimize medication harm and burden. Gloria also enjoys getting to work with the Drug Assessment Working Group to learn critical appraisal skills, risk of bias assessments and work on systematic reviews.

Member of:

Dr. Scott Garrison,
MD, PhD

Dr. Scott Garrison, MD, PhD

Family Physician, Edmonton, AB

No conflict of interest.- Form

Scott Garrison has degrees in engineering physics and medicine, as well as a PhD in experimental medicine from the University of British Columbia. He has worked in Richmond, BC as a full-time office and hospital-based family physician since 1992 and has been a member of GPAC working groups producing the current BC provincial guidelines for the management of hypertension, stroke and cardiovascular risk reduction. He sat on the Primary Care Advisory Council for the Vancouver Coastal Health Authority and was the President of the Medical Staff for Richmond Hospital. He is also a clinical assistant professor with the UBC Dept of Family Practice and the principle investigator of a clinical trial exploring the role of magnesium in muscle cramping.

Member of:

Dr. Carolyn J Green,
BHSc(PT), PhD

Dr. Carolyn J Green, BHSc(PT), PhD

Research Associate, Dept of Anesthesiology, Pharmacology & Therapeutics, UBC

Member, Drug Assessment Working Group, Therapeutics Initiative

Member, Scientific Information and Education Committee, Therapeutics Initiative

No conflict of interest.- Form

Carolyn’s research interests are organized around providing health care decision makers with research based as well as contextualized research. An active producer of health technology assessment (HTA) from 1992, she builds on a foundation of research synthesis methodologies, incorporating critical appraisal, meta-analysis, utilization analysis and decision analysis using data from administrative databases, systematic reviews and clinical trials.

Doctoral and postdoctoral training has added health informatics and qualitative research perspectives and approaches to her investigations into how knowledge is used in socio-technical systems. Carolyn has a BHSc(PT) from McMaster, a MSc from the Department of Health Care and Epidemiology at UBC, a PhD in Health Informatics from the University of Victoria, and has completed a CIHR sponsored postdoctoral fellowship in Knowledge Translation at the University of Alberta.

Member of:

Mr. Jason Kim,
BHSc, MPH

Mr. Jason Kim, BHSc, MPH

Research Analyst, TI Pharmaco-Epidemiology Working Group

No conflict of interest.- Form

Jason is a Research Analyst at the Therapeutics Initiative, specializing in epidemiological methods, data analysis, and statistical programming. He graduated with a Bachelor of Health Sciences from McMaster University and a Master of Public Health from the University of British Columbia, which was supported by a CIHR Canada Graduate Scholarship. He has particular interests in causal inference methods for observational studies, modern approaches to data visualization, and reproducible research. Jason is especially passionate about utilizing data to evaluate health care systems and policy. At the Therapeutics Initiative, he works with administrative health databases to evaluate pharmaceutical outcomes, policy impacts, and prescription drug utilization trends.

Member of:

Dr. Josh Levin,
MD, CM, CCFP, Dip. ABLM

Dr. Josh Levin, MD, CM, CCFP, Dip. ABLM

Clinical Consultant

No conflict of interest.- Form

I am a GP in Victoria BC with a special interest in lifestyle – specifically exercise as medicine – and the application of rational testing and prescribing. I graduated from McGill medicine in 2012, and obtained a diploma in lifestyle medicine from the American College of Lifestyle Medicine in 2019.  In my free time I coach and compete at a Masters level in weightlifting, practice yoga and mindfulness, and love being out in nature!

Member of:

Dr. Barbara Mintzes,
BSc, PhD

Dr. Barbara Mintzes, BSc, PhD

Faculty of Medicine and Health, The University of Sydney Charles Perkins Centre and School of Pharmacy

Member, Scientific Information & Education Committee, Therapeutics Initiative

No conflict of interest.- Form

Barbara Mintzes is an Associate Professor at the School of Pharmacy and Charles Perkins Centre, University of Sydney. She has a PhD in epidemiology from the University of British Columbia (UBC; 2003) and was at the School of Population and Public Health at UBC before moving to Sydney in 2015. Her research is on pharmaceutical policy, including systematic reviews, observational research on regulatory policies, and drug utilization/ pharmacoepidemiology. She has studied the effects of direct-to-consumer advertising of medicines in the U.S. and Canada, and of the quality of information provided by sales representatives to family doctors in Canada, the U.S. and France. Barbara Mintzes and Colin Dormuth are jointly leading a research project that compares regulatory safety advisories on medicines over a 10-year period in Australia, Canada, the U.S. and Europe. Barbara has also worked for many years with consumer and women’s health organizations in Canada and internationally and is a member of the European network of Health Action International (HAI-Europe).

Member of:

Dr. Malcolm Maclure,
PhD

Dr. Malcolm Maclure, PhD

Professor & BC Chair in Patient Safety, Dept. of Anesthesiology, Pharmacology & Therapeutics, UBC

Member, Scientific Information and Education Committee, Therapeutics Initiative

No conflict of interest.- Form

Member of:

Mr. Peter Malik,
BHSc, MSc

Mr. Peter Malik, BHSc, MSc

Research Analyst

No conflict of interest.- Form

Peter is a health-services researcher at the Therapeutics Initiative with interests in physician education, knowledge translation and the generation of knowledge syntheses. He completed his undergraduate studies in Health Sciences, specializing in Global Health, and a Master of Science degree in Health Research Methodology at McMaster University, where his thesis focused on surgical learning curves of minimally invasive procedures. Peter is passionate about informing evidence-based practice and access to healthcare and medicines through rigorous study designs. At the Therapeutics Initiative, Peter is working on a Cochrane systematic review and meta-analysis evaluating the impact of post-market risk communications to healthcare providers on patient outcomes and prescribing patterns. He also assists with the production of educational modules for the management, evaluation, and analysis of Canadian administrative health data through the Canadian Network for Drug Effectiveness Studies.

Member of:

Rita McCracken
Dr. Rita K McCracken,
MD, PhD, CFPC(COE), FCFP

Dr. Rita K McCracken, MD, PhD, CFPC(COE), FCFP

Family Physician, Vancouver Coastal Health

Assistant Professor, Department of Family Practice, Faculty of Medicine, UBC

No conflict of interest.- Form

Rita McCracken is a full-service family doctor and researcher living as an uninvited visitor on the unceded, traditional territories of the Coast Salish peoples, including the Səl̓ílwətaʔ/Selilwitulh (Tsleil-Waututh), the xʷməθkwəy̓əm (Musqueam), and the Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish) Nations. She is a Assistant Professor in the Department of Family Practice at UBC and studies the availability of primary care in BC and reliable ways to measure changes in that availability. Her other research work includes assessing the effects of too much medication and effective methods to deprescribe those excessive medicines. She chose medicine as a second career after 10 years working in Human Resources, finished med school at the University of Calgary in 2006 and her doctoral studies at UBC in 2018.

Member of:

Dr. Richard Morrow,
MA, PhD

Dr. Richard Morrow, MA, PhD

Senior Research Analyst, PharmacoEpidemiology Group, Therapeutics Initiative

No conflict of interest.- Form

Richard Morrow is a Senior Research Analyst at the Therapeutics Initiative, University of British Columbia. He has an MA in Economics from the University of Victoria and a PhD in Interdisciplinary Studies at the University of British Columbia. He has experience in using pharmacoepidemiological and qualitative methods. His research interests include prescription drug regulation, drug policy evaluation, drug safety and effectiveness, and factors contributing to non-publication and publication bias in clinical trials.

Member of:

Dr. Cait O’Sullivan,
BA, BScPh, PharmD

Dr. Cait O’Sullivan, BA, BScPh, PharmD

Clinical Pharmacist, Continuing Medical Education

Island Health Clinical Pharmacy Programs

BC Provincial Academic Detailing (PAD) Service

Member, Scientific Information & Education Committee, Therapeutics Initiative

No conflict of interest.- Form

Cait O’Sullivan has a clinical pharmacy background in acute general medicine, residential care, and community practice. She received a Bachelor of Arts from the University of New Brunswick (Honours, Medical Anthropology), a Bachelor of Science in Pharmacy from Dalhousie University, and a Doctor of Pharmacy Degree from the University of Washington. Cait has a research interest in the drug approval process and clinical practice guideline methodology.

Member of:

Dr. Lorri Puil,
MD, PhD

Dr. Lorri Puil, MD, PhD

Editor, Cochrane Hypertension
Dept. of Anesthesiology, Pharmacology & Therapeutics University of British Columbia

No conflict of interest.- Form

Dr. Lorri Puil obtained her MD from the University of Toronto and has postgraduate training in internal medicine, hematology and clinical pharmacology. She holds a PhD from the University of Toronto in molecular biology (signal transduction), a field directly applicable to the development and assessment of novel therapeutics such as targeted molecules and biologics.

Dr. Puil has 15 years of experience in conducting systematic reviews and directing multidisciplinary knowledge synthesis teams in the evaluation of health care interventions. She is actively involved in teaching research synthesis methods, the critical appraisal of clinical trials and non-randomized studies, and evidence-based drug therapy to health professionals and students. Dr. Puil’s ongoing research interests are the benefits and harms of prescription drugs, including their molecular effects, and methods to improve the quality of evidence syntheses to support policy and clinical decision making.

Dr. Puil is a senior member of the Drug Assessment Working Group, a contributor to Therapeutic Letters, an Editor of the Cochrane Hypertension Group, and a member of the Cochrane & Campbell Equity Methods Group, which aims to improve the applicability of evidence to diverse populations.

Member of:

Dr. Marco Perez,
MD, PhD

Dr. Marco Perez, MD, PhD

Editor, Cochrane Hypertension

No conflict of interest.

Marco Perez obtained his MD degree at the University of Guadalajara, Mexico, in 1991. He completed his specialty in Intensive Care Medicine in 1996. He worked as practicing specialist in an intensive care unit for several years. He obtained his PhD in Pharmacology & Therapeutics at the University of British Columbia in 2010, specializing in hypertension and hypertensive emergencies. During his PhD, he conducted two Cochrane systematic reviews and a randomized controlled trial. He has also been a contributing author of a number of systematic reviews published in the Cochrane Library and other peer-reviewed medical journals. Since 2006 he has served on the editorial team of Cochrane Hypertension. He has also been actively involved with the Therapeutics Initiative in the drug assessment-working group, since 2003; and as a clinical reviewer with the Common Drug Review, since 2007. He has completed a postdoctoral research fellowship at the Institut de la Sante et Recherche Medicale (INSERM) in the Université de Lyon, France, working in an international (French/Canadian) hypertension research project.

Member of:

Ms. Ellen Reynolds,
BA, MPA

Ms. Ellen Reynolds, BA, MPA

Research Project Manager, Therapeutics Initiative

No conflict of interest.- Form

Ellen is a Research Project Manager at the Therapeutics Initiative. Originally from the East Coast, she has a BA in French Literature from Dalhousie University and a Diploma in Professional Writing and Editing from UVic. She received her Master’s in Public Administration from the University of Victoria in 2015. The focus of her master’s research was physicians’ experiences and attitudes toward interactions with pharmaceutical sales representatives. She began working as a research coordinator at UBC in 2008, and previously worked extensively with women’s health organizations, including the Canadian Women’s Health Network and DES (diethylstilbestrol) Action Canada. She is currently the Project Manager for a grant looking at the impact of international safety advisories on prescribing, and also works on various TI and CNODES projects.

Member of:

Mr. Patrick Salamé,
MSc

Mr. Patrick Salamé, MSc

General Manager, Therapeutics Initiative

No conflict of interest.- Form

Originally from Montreal, Patrick studied pharmacology and obtained both his undergraduate and graduate degrees from McGill University. He took on several business development and management roles in the corporate world before dedicating his career to non-profit health research for advancement of medical sciences and the greater good. Prior to joining the Therapeutics Initiative, he was managing the extensive research portfolio of the cancer centre at Purdue University ranging from fundamental research to clinical trials. As the TI general manager, Patrick oversees daily operations, safeguards financial health, and provides strategic support to the working groups. What he appreciates the most working with the TI is its non-biased policy, openness to the world, and relentless pursuit of clinical evidence for drug therapy.

Member of:

Mr. Douglas M Salzwedel,
BAA, MLIS

Mr. Douglas M Salzwedel, BAA, MLIS

Information Specialist, Cochrane Hypertension

Webmaster and Newsletter Editor, Cochrane Hypertension

Lead – Priority Setting, Cochrane Hypertension

Information Specialist, Therapeutics Initiative

Member, Drug Assessment Working Group, Therapeutics Initiative

Member, Education Working Group, Therapeutics Initiative

Member, Communications and Outreach Working Group, Therapeutics Initiative

No conflict of interest.- Form

Douglas M Salzwedel obtained a Master of Library and Information Science from the University of Western Ontario in 2001 and has worked as the Information Specialist for the Therapeutics Initiative and Cochrane Hypertension since June 2009.  In addition to information retrieval projects, he leads Cochrane Hypertension’s priority setting activities, and is a member of the Drug Assessment Working Group and the Communications and Outreach Group.

During his time with the TI, Douglas served on the Cochrane Information Specialists’ Executive from 2011 to 2017 and from 2015 to 2018 he provided induction training, software training, mentoring and ongoing support to Cochrane Information Specialists across Cochrane’s international network as a member of Cochrane’s Information Specialists’ Support Team.  He re-joined the Cochrane Information Specialists’ Executive in 2023 and is also a Co-Convenor of PRESSforum, a search peer review portal for health sciences librarians engaged in systematic review searching

Prior to joining the Therapeutics Initiative, Douglas was the information specialist for the Cochrane Effective Practice and Organisation of Care (EPOC) Review Group and a librarian at the University of Ottawa’s Institute of Population Health.

Member of:

Mr. Muhammad Ismail Shawish,
BPharm, MSc

Mr. Muhammad Ismail Shawish, BPharm, MSc

Researcher, Cochrane Hypertension

Member, COVID-19 Recommendation Map Project, MacGRADE Centre

No conflict of interest.- Form

Muhammad Ismail Shawish obtained his bachelor’s degree in Pharmacy (BPharm) from Damascus University, Syria in 2012. He completed his MSc in Pharmacology and Therapeutics from the University of British Columbia. His research focuses on the effects of statins on androgens levels, and the effect of phosphodiesterase-5 inhibitors on blood pressure. In addition, Muhammad’s current research focuses on evaluating drug safety of other drugs, systematic review, critical appraisal and development of clinical practice guidelines. He has been a member of the Therapeutics Initiative since 2017; since then he has been working with members of the group conducting Cochrane systematic reviews. Currently, he is a member of the MacGRADE Centre and part of COVID-19 Recommendation map project.

Member of:

Dr. Gavin Wong,
BA, BSc, PhD

Dr. Gavin Wong, BA, BSc, PhD

Editor, Cochrane Hypertension

No conflict of interest.

Gavin Wong obtained a Bachelor in Economics at the Ohio State University in 2002, a B.Sc in Allied Medical Professions (Respiratory Therapy) at the Ohio State University in 2006, a RRT in the National Board for Respiratory Care, USA in 2006 and a PhD in Pharmacology and Therapeutics from the University of British Columbia in 2016. He is an Associate Member of the Canadian Society of Respiratory Therapists and an author of Cochrane systematic reviews with the Cochrane Hypertension Group. He has conducted several systematic reviews and meta-analyses on prescription drug therapy.

Member of:

Colin Dormuth
Dr. Colin Dormuth,
ScD

Dr. Colin Dormuth, ScD

Associate Professor, Dept of Anesthesiology, Pharmacology & Therapeutics, UBC

Co-Managing Director, Therapeutics Initiative

Member, Therapeutics Initiative Oversight Committee

Member, Scientific Information & Education Committee, Therapeutics Initiative

No conflict of interest.- Form

Colin Dormuth has extensive experience using administrative health care databases to evaluate pharmaceutical policy changes and physician prescribing behaviour. He has been a member of the Therapeutics Initiative since 1995. His research focuses on drug safety and effectiveness, as well as the design and evaluation of reimbursement policies for prescription drugs. He has training in economic theory, applied econometrics, epidemiology, health services outcome research and biostatistics. Dr. Dormuth holds a Sc.D. and S.M. in epidemiology from Harvard University, an M.A. in economics from the University of Victoria, and a B.A. in economics from the University of Manitoba.

Member of:

Dr. Ken Bassett,
MD, PhD

Dr. Ken Bassett, MD, PhD

Co-Managing Director, Therapeutics Initiative

Professor, Department of Family Practice, UBC

Associate Member, Departments of Anesthesiology, Pharmacology & Therapeutics and Ophthalmology, UBC

Co-Chair, Drug Assessment Working Group, Therapeutics Initiative

Member, Therapeutics Initiative Oversight Committee

Member, Scientific Information & Education Committee, Therapeutics Initiative

No conflict of interest.- Form

Ken Bassett conducts systematic reviews of the efficacy and safety of new and established drugs, as well as pharmaco-epidemiologic studies of serious adverse events associated with prescription drug therapy in British Columbia. His ongoing research interests are in the systematic review of drug therapy and drug funding policy.

Member of:

Dr. James M. Wright,
MD, PhD, FRCP(C)

Dr. James M. Wright, MD, PhD, FRCP(C)

Emeritus Professor, Departments of Anesthesiology, Pharmacology & Therapeutics and Medicine, UBC

Coordinating Editor, Cochrane Hypertension Review Group

Member, Therapeutics Initiative Oversight Committee

Member, Scientific Information & Education Committee, Therapeutics Initiative

No conflict of interest.- Form

James (Jim) Wright obtained his MD from the University of Alberta in 1968, his FRCP(C) in Internal Medicine in 1975 and his PhD in Pharmacology from McGill University in 1976. He worked as a specialist in Internal Medicine and Clinical Pharmacology from 1997-2021. He served as the Co-Managing Director of the Therapeutics Initiative and Editor-in-Chief of the Therapeutics Letter from 1994-2020. He currently sits on the Editorial Boards of PLoSOne and the Cochrane Library.
Dr. Wright’s research focuses on issues related to appropriate use of prescription drugs (particularly antihypertensive and lipid lowering drugs), Clinical Pharmacology, clinical trials, systematic review, meta-analysis and knowledge translation.

Member of: