Topic: What is ’safe and well-tolerated’: Critical review of drug-sensitive TB trials

Dr. Omri Arbiv is a respirologist with a special interest in tuberculosis, nontuberculous mycobacteria, and bronchiectasis. He obtained his medical degree at the University of Toronto and trained in internal medicine and respirology at the University of British Columbia. He returned to the University of Toronto to complete additional training in mycobacterial diseases and clinical epidemiology.

Topic: Updates on TB Disease

Dr. Sarah Brode is an assistant professor of medicine at the University of Toronto. She is the physician lead of the Tuberculosis (TB) Program at West Park Healthcare Centre, and a staff respirologist and a clinician in the Nontuberculous Mycobacteria (NTM) and TB Programs at Toronto Western Hospital (University Health Network). Her research focuses on epidemiology, treatment, and outcomes in TB and NTM.

Topic: Updates in TB Epidemiology in Ontario and Toronto

Renee Campbell is an epidemiologist at Toronto Public Health where she has supported the Tuberculosis Program since 2018. Her work informs public health action and contributes to understanding TB trends in Toronto. She holds a Master of Public Health from Queen’s University.

Topic: Immunology and New TB Vaccines

Dr. Dylan Kain completed his internal medicine and infectious disease training in Toronto in 2020. He also has a Diploma of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene from the Gorgas Course in Lima, Peru. He has travelled to Portland, Oregon to complete his PhD studying translational Tuberculosis Immunology and early vaccine development. His ongoing work at UHN revolves around understanding protective immune responses, especially in the human lung. This includes clinical trials in Gambia and South Africa with the goal of informing future TB vaccine development.

Topic: Ocular TB: More than meets the eye.

Dr. Kamran Khan is an infectious disease physician and scientist at St. Michael’s Hospital. He is also a Professor of Medicine at the University of Toronto. Dr. Khan has been working in the field of tuberculosis for almost 25 years at Unity Health Toronto and the University Health Network. His research on tuberculosis and other emerging infectious diseases has been published in leading journals from the New England Journal of Medicine to the Lancet, Science, and Nature. Dr. Khan has received a Governor General’s Award for his work transcending clinical medicine, public health, big data, and artificial intelligence.

Topic: Pediatric Case Review

Dr. Ian Kitai is the Tuberculosis Specialist in the ID Division at SickKids and a Professor in the Department of Pediatrics at the University of Toronto. He has authored many publications related to pediatric TB in Canada and was the first or senior author of the pediatric chapter of the last 3 editions of the Canadian TB Standards.

Topic: Public Health Utility of TB genomics - experience from NSW, Australia

Professor Ben Marais is Director of the Sydney Infectious Diseases Institute (Sydney ID) at the University of Sydney (www.sydney.edu.au/infectious-diseases-institute). He co-leads the WHO Collaborating Centre in Tuberculosis and the NHMRC Centre for Research Excellence in Tuberculosis (www.tbcre.org.au). As a Paediatric Infectious Diseases specialist his research focuses primarily on how children are affected by the global tuberculosis epidemic, as well as the emergence and the spread of drug-resistant disease.

Topic: Paediatric TB Therapeutics

Dr. Michael Prodanuk is a paediatric infectious diseases physician and TB/NTM fellow and graduate student in clinical epidemiology at the University of Toronto. He is also a research fellow at Centre for Global Child Health at The Hospital for Sick Children. Michael´s research focuses on optimizing diagnostics for childhood TB and TB epidemiology in Ontario.

Topic: Update on TB Epidemiology Canada, Ontario and Toronto Perspective

Dr. Elizabeth Rea has been the Associate Medical Officer of Health with the TB Program at Toronto Public Health since 2005. She is a co-author of the 2022 Canadian TB Standards, past-chair of Stop TB Canada, and an adjunct professor at the Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto.

Melissa Richard-Greenblatt is a clinical microbiologist at SickKids with a long-standing interest in TB. Her PhD at the University of British Columbia focused on the molecular pathogenesis of TB. She further trained in South Africa to better understand the pathobiology and social determinates of TB. Dr. Greenblatt was previously head of the mycobacteriology laboratory at Public Health Ontario prior to starting her role at SickKids in August 2023. Her current focus is improving access to TB diagnostics locally and internationally through advocacy, research and capacity building.

Topic: Subclinical TB Cases 

Dr. Natasha Sabur is an Assistant Professor of Medicine and Clinician Investigator in the Division of Respirology at the University of Toronto. She serves as Medical Director of the Tuberculosis Program at Unity Health, St. Michael’s Hospital. She obtained her MD at the University of Toronto, followed by internal medicine residency and respirology fellowship at the University of Calgary. She subsequently completed sub-specialty training in tuberculosis at the University of Cape Town and Groote Schuur Hospital in South Africa. She now practices as a TB specialist and general respirologist at St. Michael’s Hospital and at University Health Network, West Park Healthcare Centre.

Topic: TB Screening Among Newcomers: A Southern New Brunswick Experience

Dr. Isdore Chola Shamputa is an Associate Professor in the Faculty of Nursing and Health Sciences at the University of New Brunswick in Saint John. His main research focuses on tuberculosis with an emphasis on enhancing tuberculosis infection screening and disease treatment to improve patient outcomes.