Dan Werb, PhD, is an epidemiologist and policy analyst with expertise in HIV, addictions, and drug policy. Dr. Werb is a Research Scientist at St. Michael’s Hospital in Toronto, and holds a dual appointment as Assistant Professor in the Division of Infectious Diseases & Global Public Health at the University of California San Diego and in the Institute of Health Policy, Management & Evaluation at the University of Toronto. He is also Affiliate Assistant Professor in the Division of AIDS at the University of British Columbia. Dr. Werb is an inaugural winner of the U.S. National Institute on Drug Abuse Avenir Award (2015) for creative new investigators proposing highly innovative research at the intersection of HIV and substance use. This award supports his work as Principal Investigator of PRIMER: Preventing Injecting by Modifying Existing Responses, a five-year multi-site cohort study tasked with developing interventions to preventing entry into injection drug use.

Dr. Werb is the recipient of a Trailblazer Award (2017) from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research. He conducts extensive knowledge translation on drug policy and public health, through print and radio journalism, and is the winner of a 2014 Canadian National Magazine Award for his popular science writing. Finally, he was profiled in April 2017 as one of 13 young Canadians making a difference as part of the CBC series ‘We Are Canada’ (http://www.cbc.ca/player/play/925251139650). His general interest non-fiction book about Tijuana’s femicide, City of Omens, will be published in 2019 (Bloomsbury Publishing).

Mohammad Karamouzian is an infectious disease epidemiologist. A former veterinarian (DVM) turned public health researcher, he holds a PhD in Population and Public Health (2021) from the University of British Columbia where he had the Vanier and Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation doctoral scholarships. Before joining CDPE, he was a Banting postdoctoral fellow at Brown School of Public Health. He is also affiliated with the BC Centre on Substance Use (BCCSU) and the WHO Collaborating Centre for HIV Surveillance (HIVHUB) in the Middle East and North Africa. Dr. Karamouzian’s research focuses on addressing health inequities faced by marginalized populations, such as female sex workers, people who inject drugs, and people who are incarcerated. He is committed to translating his research into policies that will improve the health of marginalized populations. He has authored/co-authored 120+ peer-reviewed publications in leading international peer-reviewed journals and won 20+ awards and scholarships for his research, leadership, and academic achievements.

Hannah is a part-time researcher at CDPE, working on the cohort study. Hannah Ali is a PhD student in Socio-cultural Anthropology at Cornell. Hannah’s work draws on the anthropology of addiction, harm reduction, public health, ethics, youth studies, care, and Somali Studies. Hannah’s previous ethnography followed Somali-Canadian families’ embodiment of indigenous philosophies and laws in Toronto, Canada.

Her current work follows Toronto’s fentanyl epidemic based on the experiences of Somali youth. She was interested in how these youths navigate addiction, homelessness, and their experiences with community resources. Hannah’s work derives from her experiences with community shelter work, program supervision, and collaborative community research. Hannah is a Second-Generation Somali-Canadian born and raised in Burnaby, British Columbia. At large, hannah is interested in how public health discourse can learn from and incorporate how marginalized communities develop creative solutions to the health and socioeconomic barriers they face.

Nick is a research assistant at CDPE working on quantitative analysis for the TDOT cohort study. He is a PhD student in Health Services Research (Outcomes and Evaluation emphasis) at the Institute of Health Policy, Management and Evaluation, University of Toronto working under the primary supervision of Professor Therese Stukel. Currently, his thesis aims to explore polypharmacy in older populations using electronic health records and other real-world healthcare data sources, with a particular focus on the development and application of statistical and pharmacoepidemiologic methods. Prior to starting his PhD, he completed an MSc in Medical Statistics (Biostatistics) at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and an undergraduate degree in Applied Statistics at the University of Toronto. More information about Nick’s research, education, and past work experience can be found here: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3171-7541

Jolene is CDPE’s Lead of Cohort Studies and Community Engagement. With roots in harm reduction and program management going back to the Downtown East Side of Vancouver over a decade ago with the Portland Hotel Society and Insite, Jolene is committed to serving populations that are substance-using, equity deserving, with histories of homelessness and complex medical challenges including HIV and Hep C. Safer Opioid Supply, safe consumption and treatment spaces, accessibility, community engagement including centering those with lived/living experience has been the focus of Jolene’s work in community. Jolene is a Qualifying Registered Psychotherapist, and a licensed Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapist.

Fiona Ezechiels is a multi-racial, second-generation settler based in Tkaronto. They are a research assistant at the CDPE, working with the cohort team on conducting interviews and collecting data. They have a background in harm reduction, advocacy, and have both lived and professional experience working alongside People Who Use Drugs. Harm reduction, social justice, and equity are foundational to both their research and practice. Fiona holds a Master of Social Work from York University and a Bachelor of Social Work from Toronto Metropolitan University.

Zoë Greenwald is a Research Coordinator at the CDPE. She is an epidemiologist contributing to diverse projects stemming from a longitudinal cohort of people who use drugs in Toronto. Zoë is currently pursuing her PhD in Epidemiology at the Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto, and holds a Master of Science in Epidemiology and a Bachelor of Arts & Sciences from McGill University. Her research interests lie in infectious disease epidemiology (particularly the treatment and prevention of Hepatitis C, HIV and other sexually transmitted and blood borne infections), harm reduction, and health disparities research.

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Layla Jabbour is the Operations Manager at the CDPE. She is a central resource for CDPE programs, projects, and staff. Layla provides strategic leadership to develop, improve, and sustain the operational effectiveness and efficiency of the CDPE. She is accountable for the financial portfolio and programmatic reporting of the organization, as well as representing CDPE at MAP, Research Administration and Hospital meetings related to research operations. Layla brings over diverse experience in research, policy and frontline service delivery with diverse communities and stakeholders. She approaches her work with a passion for justice, anti-racism and harm reduction practices. Layla holds a Master of Social Work from York University and a bachelor in Community Planning from the University of Waterloo.

Aly is a Research Coordinator working on the IMPACT project and the National Safer Supply Evaluation. As a Research Coordinator at the MAP Centre for Urban Health Solutions he has worked on a variety of projects related to diabetes and COVID-19, public health and the built environment, and quality assessments of Assertive Community Treatment teams in Ontario. He completed his M.Sc in Global Health at McMaster University and Bachelor of Science in Neuroscience at McGill University. Aly’s goals are to improve access to and quality of mental health services in Ontario by providing high quality, relevant data to policymakers.

Anaita Kharwanwala is an Administrative Assistant at the CDPE. Her responsibilities mainly involve supporting the Executive Director and the administrative function of the Centre. She supports the team in their various projects, including the implementation of Toronto’s Drug Checking Service, tracking knowledge translation activities, managing the Centre’s website and social media presence, and other communications activities. Anaita graduated with a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Ottawa and completed her Post-Graduate Certificate in Human Resources Management from Humber College.

Sanjana is a Postdoctoral Fellow at the CDPE focusing on the centre’s T-DOT cohort. Her research focuses on advancing evidence-based efforts to support the health and wellbeing of communities facing longstanding marginalization. She possesses abundant experience managing the data-to-day operations of research studies and has successfully supported the acquisition of numerous grants to conduct community-based research in the areas of HIV, harm reduction, and substance use. Sanjana is a skilled quantitative and qualitative researcher, with experience in protocol and research instrument development, data collection, analyses, and knowledge translation. Her work is guided by anti-oppression, anti-racist, and equity-based approaches and informed by her interdisciplinary background. She holds an MPH from the University of Toronto and a PhD from the University of British Columbia.

Melanie is an interviewer responsible for community outreach and conducting interviews for the T-DOT cohort studies. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from Toronto Metropolitan University as well as a Graduate Certificate in Addictions and Mental Health from Humber College. Her professional harm reduction journey started with the TRIP! Project doing on site harm reduction outreach at night clubs and festivals. She later moved on to doing street and community outreach in order to provide services for people where they are most comfortable. She is very passionate about creating a safe space for people who use drugs to share their expert knowledge and experience in order to help inform policy change.

Yingbo is a Data Scientist at CDPE. With a skill set covering administrative and clinical data acquisition, evaluation, and analysis, he supports and assists researchers and policy-makers to uncover meaningful trends and patterns within complex datasets. While working on pre-dialysis policy project at Ontario Renal Network, he transformed raw information into actionable insights that facilitated the well-informed decisions. Having collaborated extensively at Canadian Institute for Health Information, Ontario Health, and IC/ES, Yingbo understands the unique challenges and opportunities presented by healthcare and clinical data. He holds a Master of Science in Statistics from Baruch College, New York.

Frishta Nafeh supports the National Safer Supply Evaluation. Previously, Frishta worked with the Canadian Research Initiative in Substance Misuse (CRISM) Ontario branch where she helped implement several projects focused on the influence of COVID-19 on people who use drugs. Frishta holds a Master of Public Health from Queen’s University.

Tanisha Palmer is a Project Coordinator at the CDPE, providing administrative and outreach support to the T-DOT cohort studies.  Tanisha has front-line experience working with people who use drugs (PWUD) across different service sectors such as community health, housing and overdose prevention sites. Tanisha’s passion lies in harm reduction education, particularly geared towards youth and knowledge translation aiming to improve existing services that support people who use drugs, particularly those who are under and unhoused. She is passionate about community engagement, with a health equity lens to address the gaps in healthcare delivery for our most vulnerable community members. Tanisha holds a Master of Arts in Social Justice and Community Engagement.

Bijan Rafat is a Research Coordinator at the CDPE. He is responsible for coordinating the activities related to two studies: PRIMER – a multi-national study that aims to identify whether specific interventions and factors influence the risk that individuals begin injecting drugs and national SOS – a study that evaluates the safer opioid supply pilot programs that have been implemented across Canada. Bijan has been involved in research related to opioid use and in cannabis research including a study that focused on the evaluation of the role of cannabis in reducing opioid use in chronic pain patients. His experience includes designing and coordinating randomized-controlled trials and observational studies. He holds a Master of Science in Pharmaceutical Sciences from the University of Toronto.

Kate Roberts is a Visiting Scholar with CDPE. She is currently a doctoral candidate at Bryn Mawr College of Social Work and Social Research, her dissertation utilizes qualitative methods to understand socio-political factors that impact drug use and drug use assistance among women and gender minorities. Kate is also an affiliated researcher with the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and works on projects related to knowledge of severe infections, such as endocarditis and osteomyelitis, among persons who use and inject drugs. Kate received her M.S.W. from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. She received her M.S.W. at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and has 7 years of experience as a clinical social worker. Kate also holds an M.A. from Duke University, studying the history of race, gender, and medical ethics in American religious contexts.

Dr. Ayden Scheim is an Affiliate Scientist with CDPE and Co-PI of the Ontario Integrated Supervised Injection Services cohort study in Toronto (OiSIS-Toronto). Previously, as a postdoctoral researcher with CDPE, he led a program of systematic reviews on drug policy and harm reduction interventions. Dr. Scheim is currently an Assistant Professor of Epidemiology and Biostatistics at the Drexel University Dornsife School of Public Health in Philadelphia and an Adjunct Assistant Professor of Epidemiology and Biostatistics at Western University. He holds a PhD in Epidemiology and Biostatistics (2017) from Western University and was a Canadian Institutes of Health Research and Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of California, San Diego.

Steffanie Strathdee is a Canadian infectious disease epidemiologist who completed all her degrees at the University of Toronto, including her PhD in the Department of Community Health in 1994 where she was awarded the inaugural Randall Coates Epidemiology Prize.  She is internationally recognized for her research on HIV and related infections in marginalized populations, which included identifying an HIV outbreak in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside in 1994. She is currently the Harold Simon Distinguished Professor of Medicine at the University of California San Diego where she co-founded and co-directs the Center for Innovative Phage Applications and Therapeutics (IPATH).  In 2016, Strathdee and colleagues were credited with saving her husband’s life from a deadly superbug infection using bacteriophages –viruses that attack bacteria.  Her memoir, The Perfect Predator: A Scientist’s Race to Save Her Husband from a Deadly Superbug was published in the US and Canada in 2019.  For her efforts to revitalize phage therapy in the West, she was named one of TIME magazine’s Most Influential People in Health Care in 2018.  She was listed as one of the Top Female Scientists in the world in 2024 by Research.com.

Lily (Liliane) Zhen is a co-op student at the CDPE through the York University Health Equity Research Scholar Initiative. She is currently completing her Specialized Honours BSc degree in Psychology at York University. Liliane is involved with cognitive electrophysiology research and has experience in gratitude and neuropsychological research, with future goals of pursuing a graduate degree in Clinical Neuropsychology. She is passionate about applying evidence-based and community-informed practices into healthcare policies and mitigating health disparities among vulnerable populations and marginalized communities.

Dr. Akwasi Owusu-Bempah, PhD, is a criminologist and sociologist who studies race, inequality and social policy. He is an assistant professor in the Department of Sociology at the University of Toronto and a Senior Fellow at Massey College. He holds Affiliate Scientist status at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health and serves as Director of Research for the Campaign for Cannabis Amnesty. Dr. Owusu-Bempah began his academic career in the United States at Indiana University, Bloomington. Prior to becoming a professor, he held positions with Canada’s National Judicial Institute, the Public Health Agency of Canada, and the Ontario Ministry of the Solicitor General. He is frequently sought out to provide commentary and advice to public and private sector agencies, community organizations, and media outlets on a variety of topics. Dr. Owusu-Bempah currently serves as an advisor to Red Light Holland.