Dr. Tracy Raivio is a Professor in the Department of Biological Sciences and the Vice-Provost and Dean of the Faculty of Graduate & Postdoctoral Studies (GPS) at the University of Alberta. She is a University of Alberta alumnus and received her BSc specializing in Genetics from the Department of Biological Sciences. Dr. Raivio completed a PhD in Microbiology and Infectious Diseases at the University of Calgary where she studied the regulation of virulence factor production in Pseudomonas aeruginosa isolates associated with Cystic Fibrosis lung infections. Dr. Raivio went on to complete a postdoctoral fellowship in Molecular Biology at Princeton University where she studied the mechanisms employed by E. coli to respond to damage to the bacterial envelope. As a Professor in the Department of Biological Sciences, her research program aims to elucidate how beneficial and disease-causing bacteria survive and grow in our bodies, one of the end goals of which is to identify targets for the development of novel therapeutics against antimicrobial resistant infections. In her role as Vice-Provost and Dean, she has a deep commitment to the cultivation of support for, and the success of, the University’s 8300+ graduate students and 500+ postdoctoral fellows. She provides leadership through advocacy, seeking to foster a collaborative approach to graduate education and research supervision across campus, and the elevation of graduate students and postdocs in the wider community.

Dr. David Heinrichs is a Professor in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology, University of Western Ontario. David completed a BSc (Microbiology, Hon.) at the University of Manitoba before then completing a PhD at Queen’s University under the supervision of Dr. Keith Poole. He then completed a post-doctorate at the University of Guelph under the supervision of Dr. Chris Whitfield. David has been at Western since 1998. His multidisciplinary research program involves studies on the physiology and pathogenesis of staphylococci and, in particular, Staphylococcus aureus (and MRSA). In the past few years, his laboratory has discovered a new regulatory mechanism for key virulence factors in S. aureus, that coagulase-negative staphylococci can synthesize a purine analog that inhibits MRSA, how MRSA survives and grows within macrophages, and collaborated on studies to identify antivirulence compounds effective against MRSA.

Dr. Jianping (JP) Xu is a Professor in the Department of Biology, McMaster University. JP completed a BAg (Agronomy, Hon.) at Jiangxi Agricultural University, MAg (Agricultural Microbiology) at Nanjing Agricultural University, and MSc and PhD (Mycology) at the University of Toronto under the supervision of Drs. Jim Anderson and Paul Horgen. He then completed a post-doctorate training at Duke University in the laboratories of Drs. Tom Mitchell and Rytas Vilgalys. JP has been at McMaster since 2000. His multidisciplinary research program investigates the ecology, evolution, epidemiology, and genetics of diverse groups of fungi, with a focus on human fungal pathogens. In the past few years, his laboratory helped reveal the natural ecological niches and mechanisms of drug resistance of the superbug Candidozyma (Candida) auris, the global population genetic structures of Cryptococcus neoformans and Cryptococcus gattii, and the origins and spread of triazole-resistant Aspergillus fumigatus from local to global levels. His lab is actively monitoring the evolution of the bat white-nose syndrome fungal pathogen Pseudogymnoascus destructans in North America and investigating how this pathogen interacts with bat populations and the bat microbiomes to identify appropriate measures to mitigate the pathogen’s effects on Canadian bats.

Dr. Denice Bay is an assistant professor (as of June 2015) in the Department of Medical
Microbiology and Infectious Diseases at the University of Manitoba. Dr. Bay began her studies at the University of Manitoba where she completed both her BSc (in 2000) and PhD (in 2007). Her PhD thesis examined mitochondrial voltage dependent anion channel (VDAC) folding and function from the fungus Neurospora crassa with Dr. Deborah Court. During her post-doctoral fellowship with Dr. Raymond Turner’s lab at the University of Calgary (in 2007-2015), Dr. Bay examined TolC-independent efflux pumps, the role of biofilm formation in efflux mediated antimicrobial resistance, and protein secretion system structure-function in Enterobacteria. Her current research program explores how antiseptics and disinfectants contribute to antibiotic resistance in critical priority bacterial pathogens.

Dr. Hany Anany currently holds the position of Research Scientist at the Guelph Research and Development Center (GRDC) under Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada. In addition, he serves as an Adjunct Professor at the University of Guelph. Before joining AAFC, he worked as a Research Associate at the Food Science Department of the Canadian Research Institute for Food Safety at the University of Guelph, where he also completed his Ph.D. in Food Science in 2010.

Dr. Anany  is involved in several research projects that use bacteriophages to enhance food safety since 2006. Dr. Anany’s research interests involve understanding phage biology and its interaction with bacterial hosts for taxonomical and application purposes. Within his research group, he leads investigations into the utilization of both non-immobilized and immobilized bacteriophages for controlling and detecting various foodborne pathogens in food products. Furthermore, he examines the consequences of bacterial resistance development against lytic phages on the virulence and fitness of different pathogens. Dr. Anany’s curiosity extends to exploring the composition and dynamics of the phageome / virome throughout the food supply chain, aiming to deepen our understanding of these complex viral communities and their role in food safety. His significant contributions to the field are evidenced by his publication record, which includes 28 peer-reviewed scientific journal articles and 5 book chapters. Moreover, he has shared his expertise through 33 scientific presentations at various meetings and conferences, further enriching the scientific discourse in his area of expertise.

Dr. (Jess) Sheldon was appointed as Assistant Professor at the University of Saskatchewan (Saskatoon, Saskatchewan) in April 2022, in the Department of Biochemistry, Microbiology, and Immunology. Prior to joining USask, she completed her postdoctoral research at Vanderbilt University Medical Center (Nashville, Tennessee) with Dr. Eric Skaar, and her PhD at Western (London, Ontario) with Dr. David Heinrichs. Throughout her training, Dr. Sheldon’s research focused nutritional immunity, a facet of the innate immune response whereby the host and pathogens battle for nutrient metals that are essential for bacterial survival and pathogenesis. This overarching theme carries into current research in the Sheldon Lab, which focuses on investigating the nutritional factors contributing to the fitness of emerging multidrug-resistant pathogens, including Acinetobacter baumannii and Morganella morganii.

Dr. Brady O’Connor is a Postdoctoral Scholar in the School of Earth Sciences and the Byrd Polar and Climate Research Center at The Ohio State University, where he works under the supervision of Dr. Alex Michaud. He completed his Honours B.Sc. in Biology at the University of Regina in 2016 with Dr. Christopher Yost (CSM President, 2015–2016) and earned his Ph.D. in Microbiology from McGill University in 2024 under the supervision of Dr. Lyle Whyte. His research attempts to understand how microorganisms adapt and survive in Earth’s coldest environments, the polar regions. These studies not only provide insight into microbial and environmental response to global warming but also inform the search for life on other planets. His current projects include using microorganisms buried in deep Antarctic ice as past climate indicators and unraveling the microbial food web within sediments beneath the 600-meter-thick Ross Ice Shelf. He has conducted fieldwork around the world, including the High Arctic, Antarctica, and lava tubes of the Cascade Mountain Range. Brady has been an active member of the Canadian Society of Microbiologists, attending seven annual conferences and, in addition to serving as Post Doc Representative, also serves as the CSM Young Ambassador to the American Society for Microbiology.

Camille Ou is a Ph.D. student at Université de Montréal. She is working with Salmonella enterica serovar Typhi in the laboratory of Dr. France Daigle and co-supervised by Dr. Charles Dozois from Armand-Frappier Santé Biotechnologie Research Centre – INRS. Her research focuses on characterizing fimbriae regulation of S. Typhi, a human specific pathogen. With the current antibiotics resistance crisis, treatments are becoming less efficient. Thus, better understanding of S. Typhi pathogenesis will contribute to the identification of new therapeutic targets.

Wafaa Antonious has been providing secretariat services for CSM since 2008 first through the Canadian Federation of Biological Socieites (CFBS). When CFBS folded at the end of 2008, Wafaa resumed providing secretariat services through her own company “Rofail Conference and Management Services (RCMS) as of January 2009. Wafaa’s services for CSM includes providing support to CSM Executive (services and consultation), organizing the annual conference when requested, maintaining the website, book keeping, dealing with inquiries from members and others related to CSM activities. Through RCMS, Wafaa provides secretariat services to other organizations and organizes scientific workshops, meetings and conferences from 20 – 800 attendees. Wafaa graduated in 1983 with a BA in English from Faculty of Linguistic, Ain Shams University, Cairo, Egypt and moved to Canada within a month of her graduation.