Dawn M.E. Bowdish, Ph.D
McMaster University
Title: On Aging, Inflammation, and Infections
Dr. Dawn Bowdish is a Professor at McMaster University, and the Executive Director of the Firestone Institute of Respiratory Health. Her lab studies how age-associated Inflammation alters monocyte and macrophage development and function and how this ultimately increases susceptibility to respiratory infections while decreasing the effectiveness to vaccines for pneumonia and COVID-19. Her team also studies how the aging immune system and the microbiome interact and how this can contribute to healthy or unhealthy aging. She runs the Preclinical Studies in Aging Laboratory (www.psal.ca) and is on the Board of Directors of the Lung Health Foundation where she advocates to increase research funding for lung health and to increase lung health in older adults.
Rodney DeKoter, Ph.D
Western University
Title: A Shadow of my Former Self: Transcription Factor Mutations in B Cell Development and Leukemia
Dr. Rodney DeKoter is an immunologist who studies transcription factors that regulate gene expression in the immune system. Dr. DeKoter obtained his PhD at Western University and did postdoctoral training at the University of Chicago. Dr. DeKoter was an Assistant Professor at the University of Cincinnati before moving to Western University in 2009. Mutations in genes encoding transcription factors frequently occur in blood cancers including precursor B cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (pre-B-ALL). Dr. DeKoter’s research is focussed on understanding the normal and cancer-promoting functions of transcription factors including PU.1, Spi-B, and IKZF3 in pre-B-ALL.
Josh Koenig, Ph.D
McMaster University
Title: Type 2 Memory B cells Hold IgE Memory
Dr. Joshua Koenig is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Medicine at McMaster University. His research follows a "Systems to-mechanism" approach where novel immunology is uncovered using omics tools and the mechanisms that govern this immunology is delineated using fundamental techniques. Dr. Koenig's primary research interest is understanding the persistence of allergic diseases. His group studies how immune memory is established and how this memory is recalled in response to allergen exposure resulting in IgE production and persistent tissue disruption.
Chao Wang, Ph.D
University of Toronto
Title: Meningeal B Cell Aging in Autoimmunity and Stress
Dr. Chao Wang is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Immunology at University of Toronto and a Scientist at Sunnybrook Research Institute. Dr. Wang is a Canada Researh Chair, Tier 2, in immunometabolism of neuroinflammation. Her lab works on chronic stress as a disease primer for mood disorders and autoimmunity.
Joan Wither, M.D, Ph.D
University of Toronto
Title: How Interferons and B Cells Interact to Promote Disease Activity in Lupus
Dr. Wither is a Professor in the Departments of Medicine and Immunology at the University of Toronto and a Senior Scientist in the Schroeder Arthritis Institute at the Krembil Research Institute. She is also a staff rheumatologist at University Health Network, where she is the Director of the STAT (urgent assessment) and Early Autoimmune Rheumatic Disease Clinics.
Dr. Wither’s translational research program focusses upon the Systemic Autoimmune Rheumatic Diseases (SARD), including Systemic Lupus Erythematosus, Sjogren’s Disease, and Systemic Sclerosis. The goals of this program are to: 1) Characterize the immune events that lead to development of these diseases, and to use this information to identify individuals who are at high risk of disease development and determine the best targets for disease prevention. 2) Identify the immune mechanisms that lead to disease flares, heterogeneity, and different outcomes in SLE to enable personalized tailoring of therapy.
Vinod Chandran, M.D, Ph.D, FRCPC
Krembil Research Institute, Schroeder Arthritis Institute, Universty Health Network (UHN), University of Toronto
Title: The Transition From Psoriasis to Psoriatic Arthritis- An Opportunity for Interception?
Vinod Chandran MBBS, MD, DM, PhD, FRCPC, a rheumatologist, is a clinician scientist at the Schroeder Arthritis, University Health Network (UHN), Professor of Medicine at the University of Toronto and holds the Dr. Dafna D. Gladman Chair in Psoriatic Arthritis Research at UHN. He is an expert in psoriatic arthritis and directs the Gladman Krembil Psoriatic Arthritis Program at the Schroeder Arthritis Institute. His translational research program is focused on developing biomarker-based diagnostic and prognostic tools for psoriatic arthritis, with support by grants from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, the National Psoriasis Foundation, the Arthritis Society, and the Krembil Foundation. He has published more than 250 papers. He is an elected member of the Group for Research and Assessment of Psoriasis and Psoriatic Arthritis (GRAPPA- an international organization facilitating research and education on the management of psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis) Board of Directors and its Co-Vice President.
Katerina Oikonomopoulou, Ph.D
York University
Dr. Oikonomopoulou’s research expertise lies in the fields of cell functional/mechanistic, receptor signalling, enzyme function, biomarker discovery and therapeutic investigations in inflammation/innate immunity and cancer. She is leading one of the PsA CARE Hub’s research objectives towards the psoriatic arthritis functional/mechanistic studies and patient-tailored therapeutics, with a particular focus on the role of innate immune cells and inflammatory molecular components in the management of psoriatic disease.
David Hare, Ph.D
York University
Dr. Hare leads a research group at the PsA CARE Hub studying skin innate immune sensing in initiation and progression of psoriatic disease. His group grows 3D cultures from human cells to model psoriatic skin and study how microbes and tissue damage activate innate immune sensors. Dr. Hare previously studied virus sensing at Duke University and was recruited to study psoriatic disease at York University.
Abrar Khan, Ph.D
York University
Dr. Abrar Khan leads a focused research program investigating the immunometabolic regulation of NK cells in autoinflammatory disease. Within the PsA CARE Hub, he conducts mechanistic studies exploring the role of TNF/TNFR2 signaling in NK cells in the development and progression of psoriatic arthritis. His research integrates murine models, cellular immunology, and translational strategies to identify actionable immune-metabolic targets that inform precision immunomodulatory therapies.