Infectious Questions : An Infectious Diseases Public Health Podcast

In Episode 9 of the Voice of Sovereignty podcast, Diane Jacko and Michael McCormick from the Wikwemikong Health Centre and Michael Staruck from the Education Sector at the Chiefs of Ontario are joining the Voices of Sovereignty Podcast to showcase some of the exciting work that they all have been involved in in their respective sectors. Together, we discuss how projects grounded in the principles of First Nations Data Sovereignty has allowed each of these sectors to improve programming and build a stronger future for communities.

Through insightful conversations, compelling stories, and thoughtful analysis, the Voices of Sovereignty podcast aims to shed light on the importance of First Nations Data Sovereignty and inspire collective action towards a future where First Nation peoples have full control over their data, their narratives, and their destiny. In this episode, Gordon Peters is joining us to share his experiences working to support First Nations data sovereignty efforts, and what it means to conduct research that incorporates and respects First Nations culture and ways of knowing.

Through insightful conversations, compelling stories, and thoughtful analysis, the Voices of Sovereignty podcast aims to shed light on the importance of First Nations Data Sovereignty and inspire collective action towards a future where First Nation peoples have full control over their data, their narratives, and their destiny. Dr. Jennifer Walker from McMaster University and Dr. Sharmistha Mishra from the University of Toronto joined us for a two-episode feature to talk about the COVID-19 Scenario model. Over the course of these two episodes, we walked through the process of this project from conceptualization to the implementation and application of the model, and what First Nations data sovereignty means for modeling research. In Episode 7, we explored the data used for this project, as well as the more technical aspects of the model and what makes this model unique. We wrapped up this two-episode feature by reflecting on some lessons learned and how we can re-think math modelling in the future.

Through insightful conversations, compelling stories, and thoughtful analysis, the Voices of Sovereignty podcast aims to shed light on the importance of First Nations Data Sovereignty and inspire collective action towards a future where First Nation peoples have full control over their data, their narratives, and their destiny. Dr. Jennifer Walker from McMaster University and Dr. Sharmistha Mishra from the University of Toronto joined us for a two-episode feature to talk about the COVID-19 Scenario model. Over the course of these two episodes, we walked through the process of this project from conceptualization to the implementation and application of the model, and what First Nations data sovereignty means for modeling research. In Episode 6, we went over what mathematical modelling is in the context of infectious diseases and public health decision making. We also discussed how this research project came to be, and the process of getting this model up and running. We will explore the technical aspects of the model and discuss the data that was used in Episode 7 (Part 2).

Through insightful conversations, compelling stories, and thoughtful analysis, the Voices of Sovereignty podcast aims to shed light on the importance of First Nations Data Sovereignty and inspire collective action towards a future where First Nation peoples have full control over their data, their narratives, and their destiny. In episode 5, we will be speaking to Roseanne Sutherland and Thresea Adams from the Chiefs of Ontario about the First Nations Regional Health Survey. Together, we will discuss the importance of the Regional Health survey for the health and well-being of First Nations communities, how the data from the survey is used, and take a closer look at how communities are engaged for this survey. 

Through insightful conversations, compelling stories, and thoughtful analysis, the Voices of Sovereignty podcast aims to shed light on the importance of First Nations Data Sovereignty and inspire collective action towards a future where First Nation peoples have full control over their data, their narratives, and their destiny. In episode 4 of this podcast series, Erin Corston and Gonzague Guéranger from the First Nations Information Governance Centre are joining us to share the story behind the development of the First Nations Data Governance Strategy (FNDGS) and talk about a new FNDGS video titled “Stronger Together”, which is about the power of communities joining together to achieve multigenerational First Nations data sovereignty. 

In the first episode of our series, we speak with Dr. Katharina Maier, an Associate Professor at the University of Winnipeg who has published extensively on issues pertaining to prison violence, prison masculinities, prisoner re-entry, and halfway houses. Katharina discusses the public health risks and barriers faced by clients of halfway houses and safe injection sites. She elaborates on public health risks for inmates who move from corrections to transitional housing and outlines a role for public health in mitigating precarious housing.

In the third episode of our series, we speak with Jeannette Waegemakers Schiff, an Emerita Professor at the University of Calgary, and a founder of the Canadian Observatory on Homelessness and the Canadian Homeless Research Network. Jeannette describes the housing first program model, and how housing programs can address gaps in health and social services for individuals without homes. She discusses the differences between rural and urban homelessness, and how public health policies and programs can be responsive to the unique needs of rural communities.

In the second episode of our series, we speak with Dr. Cheryl Forchuk, a University Professor at Arthur Labatt Family School of Nursing (Western University); and Scientist and Assistant Director at Lawson Health Research Institute. Cheryl discusses the public health risks and barriers faced by clients of shelters and mental health facilities. She describes how the lived experiences of shelter clients can reveal significant gaps in public health responses, which can inform more effective collaborations and best-practices for shelters.

Through insightful conversations, compelling stories, and thoughtful analysis, the Voices of Sovereignty podcast aims to shed light on the importance of First Nations Data Sovereignty and inspire collective action towards a future where First Nation peoples have full control over their data, their narratives, and their destiny. In episode 3 of this podcast series, we will be speaking to Dr. Maggie Walter from the University of Tasmania, joining us to talk about REAL mijidootjik. Mijidootgik is an Anishnaabemowin word that means a person who knowingly commits wrongs. In studies involving First Nations communities, researchers can be REAL mijidootgik as a result of racism (R), a lack of proper engagement (E), approval, accountability (A), and leadership (L). In our conversation with Maggie, we will expand on how REAL mijidootgik in research results in lasting harm for First Nations communities, and how to conduct REAL research; that is, research that acknowledges and works against systemic racism, properly engages First Nations communities, is based on approval and accountability, and grounded in First Nations leadership, governance and control.

Through insightful conversations, compelling stories, and thoughtful analysis, the Voices of Sovereignty podcast aims to shed light on the importance of First Nations Data Sovereignty and inspire collective action towards a future where First Nation peoples have full control over their data, their narratives, and their destiny. In this second episode, we'll be speaking to Math'ieya Alatini from the One Yukon Coalition, joining us to share their insights about working on the Wastewater Monitoring Program, and how this program is dedicated to the collection and sharing of data to advance the health and wellness priorities of Yukon communities. Together, we'll talk about One Yukon's collaboration with communities, municipalities, and all levels of government, the science behind wastewater monitoring, and how this program aligns with the principles of First Nations data sovereignty. 

Through insightful conversations, compelling stories, and thoughtful analysis, the Voices of Sovereignty podcast aims to shed light on the importance of First Nations Data Sovereignty and inspire collective action towards a future where First Nation peoples have full control over their data, their narratives, and their destiny. In this first episode, we will be speaking to Carmen Jones from Chiefs of Ontario (COO) and Mariette Sutherland from the Ontario First Nations Information Governance Centre (FNIGC) about how their work upholds the principles of data sovereignty and can lead to better health outcomes for First Nations communities.

In our last episode, we are joined by guest Heather to discuss another theme of our qualitative analysis - changes in safety-related concerns among trans and nonbinary people during the pandemic. Through this episode our guest describes the ways in which some trans and nonbinary people experienced heightened safety concerns in addition to those related to the pandemic.

Through this episode, our guest Shadi speaks about another theme of the qualitative data analysis - the way COVID strained social networks, made it challenging to connect to the trans community, and the impact of virtual communication had on relationships.

In this episode along with our guest Hazel, we focus on another theme we found in the Trans Pulse COVID qualitative paper. We discuss the heightened financial, employment, and housing precarity that some trans and nonbinary folks experienced during the pandemic and the way this impacted community members.

In this first episode, podcast host Leo Rutherford describes Trans Pulse Canada and its sub-study about COVID-19. He shares details of a thematic analysis of qualitative free-form responses from a national survey of trans and nonbinary people. In addition, the public health implications and key take-aways from the results of our study are described.

NCCID's new mod4PH Research Highlights podcast showcases new and relevant mathematical modelling concepts and research for public health.  In this episode, we spoke with Dr Jane Heffernan from York University about using mathematical modelling methods for understanding and controlling infectious diseases in individuals (or immunology) and in populations (or epidemiology), and discuss the differences between within-host and population-level modelling.

NCCID's new mod4PH Research Highlights podcast showcases new and relevant mathematical modelling concepts and research for public health. In this episode, we will be speaking to Dr Melanie Cousins from the Public Health Agency of Canada about some of her PhD work, which was recently published in an article titled "Is scientific evidence enough? Using expert opinion to fill gaps in data in antimicrobial resistance research".    

NCCID's new Mod4PH Research Highlights podcast showcases new and relevant mathematical modelling concepts and research for public health. Today, we will be speaking to Man Wah Yeung and Dr Beate Sander about the recently published Guidelines for the Economic Evaluation of Vaccination Programs in Canada, produced by the National Advisory Committee on Immunizations, or NACI. Man Wah is a Senior Health Economist at the Public Health Agency of Canada and Beate is a Canadian Research Chair in Economics of Infectious Diseases, Senior Scientist at the Toronto General Hospital Research Institute, and a Professor of at the University of Toronto. Man Wah and Beate are two of many experts who have worked together to create these guidelines on how to conduct economic evaluations of public health intervention strategies. This episode will provide an overview of the NACI Health Economics Guidelines, and how they can be used to inform best practices and promote standardized and high-quality evidence for public health decision making.

NCCID's new Mod4PH Research Highlights podcast showcases new and relevant math modelling concepts and research for public health.  In this episode, we will be speaking to Dr Michael Li, who is a Senior Scientist at the National Microbiology Lab, Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC). Michael currently applies his modelling skill set at PHAC in the development and analysis of disease transmission models of COVID-19, mpox transmission, and other infectious diseases in Canada.  Today, Michael spoke with us about a fairly gigantic topic - the past, present, and future of infectious disease modelling for public health.

NCCID's new Mod4PH Research Highlights podcast showcases new and relevant mathematical modelling research for public health. In this episode, we will be speaking to Dr. Gwen Knight. She is an Associate Professor at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, and co-Director of the LSHTM Antimicrobial Resistance Centre. Gwen's research is focused on mathematical modelling of the interactions between demographic factors and antimicrobial resistance (or AMR), One Health approaches to AMR at the farm level, and the interactions between bacteria and bacteriophage. Gwen spoke with us about her research in modelling antibiotic resistance and the implications of this work for public health. 

NCCID's new Mod4PH Research Highlights podcast showcases new and relevant mathematical modelling research for public health. In this episode, we will be speaking to Dr. Rachael Milwid. After completing her postdoctoral fellowship at McGill University, Rachael joined the Public Health Agency of Canada in August 2021. Since then, she has used her mathematical modelling skill set in the development and analysis of disease transmission models of COVID-19 importation into Canada, mpox transmission, and other exciting projects. Today, Rachael spoke with us about her experiences and considerations as a math modelling researcher during the COVID-19 pandemic.

NCCID's new Mod4PH Research Highlights podcast showcases new and relevant mathematical modelling research for public health. We first speak with with Jesse Knight, a final year Ph.D. candidate at the Institute of Medical Science at the University of Toronto. Working with Dr. Sharmistha Mishra at the MAP Centre for Urban Health Solutions of St. Michael's Hospital, Jesse's research uses simulation models to help support response to infectious disease epidemics with a focus on HIV. Jesse speaks to NCCID's Wendy Xie about his recent work on maximizing the impact of limited vaccine supply under different early mpox epidemic conditions using mathematical modelling. Links mentioned in this episode: MAP https://maphealth.ca/   Sharmistha Mishra https://mishra-lab.ca/   Institute of Medical Science https://ims.utoronto.ca/

NCCID's Susie Taylor speaks with Dr. Lloyd Douglas, a Sioux Lookout First Nation Health Authority physician. Dr. Douglas discusses the recent outbreaks of blastomycosis in Northwest Ontario and outlines how health practitioners and the general public can respond.

On the 31st episode of our series, we speak with Richard Budgell, newly appointed Professor of Practice of Inuit and Northern Health Promotion in the Department of Family Medicine at McGill University. Richard discusses with us the social-historical context of COVID-19 and how histories can reveal significant gaps in pandemic responses to inform future policies and practices for Inuit communities and northern populations.

On the 30th episode of our series, we continue our conversation with Elene Lam, Executive Director of Butterfly - Asian and Migrant Sex Workers Support Network. This time around, Elene is joined by Alice Cavanagh of Health Providers Against Poverty (HPAP). Through advocacy, education, and patient care, HPAP is working to eliminate poverty and reduce health inequities in Canada. The network has provincial chapters in Ontario, Nova Scotia, and Newfoundland and Laborador.

On the 29th episode of our series, we spoke to Elene Lam, Executive Director of Butterfly - Asian and Migrant Sex Workers Support Network. Butterfly was formed by sex workers, social workers, legal and health professionals. It provides support to, and advocates for, the rights of Asian and migrant sex workers.

On the 28th episode of our series, we discuss some of the structural determinants, intensified by COVID-19, that are playing a role in how the pandemic affects South Asian communities in Canada. We spoke with Dr. Ananya Tina Banerjee, Assistant Professor at the School of Population and Global Health, in the Department of Epidemiology, Biostatistics and Occupational Health at the University of Toronto. She is also the founder of the South Asian Health Research Hub, a team of public health scholars from the South Asian diaspora working towards improving health outcomes in their communities using a health equity lens.

On the 27th episode of our series, we spoke with Dr. Myles Leslie, who leads a team of researchers at the School of Public Policy in the University of Calgary. They have developed the "Vaccine Hesitancy Guide” to support better clinical conversations about vaccines. It differentiates common types of vaccine hesitancy that primary care clinicians may see, helps identify the sources of their patients' hesitancy, and offers advice and resources on how to address them.

On the 26th episode of our series, we discuss syndemics of concern involving STBBIs, substance use and living conditions intensified by COVID-19. We spoke with Dr. Yoav Keynan, scientific director of the National Collaborating Centre for Infectious Diseases and associate professor in the departments of Internal Medicine, Medical Microbiology, and Community Health Sciences at the University of Manitoba.

In this episode, Dr. Allen Kraut speaks about how the COVID-19 pandemic has affected healthcare workers in Manitoba (and across Canada). We address current infectivity rates in various healthcare settings, worker vaccine hesitancy and approaches to increase worker vaccination.

In episode 24 of our series, we continue our discussion on the health care and vaccination of migrant workers in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. NCCID’s Susie Taylor spoke with Mr. Eduardo Huesca, an Outreach Worker and Program Coordinator with Occupational Health Clinics for Ontario Workers.

In episode 23 of our series, we will be discussing health care and vaccination of migrant workers in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, as the beginning of the agricultural season approaches. NCCID’s Susie Taylor spoke with Mr. Eduardo Huesca, an Outreach Worker and Program Coordinator with Occupational Health Clinics for Ontario Workers.

Tuesday, April 27, 2021 — For our 22nd episode, and nearly one year later, we return to our discussion on the health and well-being of children during the COVID-19 pandemic. NCCID’s Aleksandra Wierzbowski speaks with Dr. Jared Bullard, an infectious disease specialist and Associate Medical Director at the Cadham Provincial Lab in Winnipeg Manitoba, about current pediatric considerations for COVID-19 including epidemiology, presenting symptoms and demographic data.

Thursday, January 28, 2021 — In this episode, we explore the usefulness of waste water surveillance as an early detection method for SARS-CoV-2 in the community with Dr. Steve E. Hrudey, Professor Emeritus of the Analytical & Environmental Toxicology Division at the University of Alberta.

Thursday, January 7, 2021 — In this continuation of our last episode, Sume Ndumbe-Eyoh, Senior Knowledge Translation Specialist at the National Collaborating Centre for Determinants of Health (NCCDH), continues the discussion on racism during the COVID-19 pandemic including the social, cultural, economic and political impacts on different communities.

Thursday, January 7, 2021 — In this episode, Sume Ndumbe-Eyoh, Senior Knowledge Translation Specialist at the National Collaborating Centre for Determinants of Health (NCCDH), shares data on racism during the COVID-19 pandemic including the social, cultural, economic and political impacts on different communities.

In the final episode of this series, TB program staff reflect on their lessons from the outbreak, including what worked well, and what is still needed for TB elimination.

Our third episode looks deeper into the impact of stigma, particularly on the experiences of one young woman whose life had been repeatedly up-ended by the disease.

Episode two describes the TB journey of a young mother and her four-year-old son after learning he had contracted a rare form of the disease.

Our first episode takes us to the beginning – the story of how a young adult fell through the cracks of a trying but strained health system to become the outbreak’s index case.

In this episode, Angela Eykelbosh, Environmental Health and Knowledge Translation Scientist at the National Collaborating Centre for Environmental Health (NCCEH), shares their information and evidence for preventing COVID-19 transmission in multi-unit residential buildings.

Stephanie Mayell, of the Migrant Worker Health Expert Working Group (MWHEWG), discusses the burden of COVID-19 among migrant agricultural workers in Canada,  barriers to prevention, and opportunities for public health intervention.

In this podcast, Dr. Erin Knight discusses changes and trends in substance use during COVID-19 and how public health and addiction service teams are responding together to meet the needs of communities.

On this episode, the 15th of our series, we’ve partnered with the National Collaborating Centre for Indigenous Health to bring to discuss the evacuations of Northern Indigenous communities in Canada, and the public health considerations of COVID-19 in these tragic events. NCCIH’s Roberta Stout spoke with Dr. Emily Dicken, the Director of Emergency Management at the First Nations Health Authority.

In this episode of our series on COVID-19, we discuss the impact of COVID-19 on public health programming for sexually transmitted and blood-borne infections (STBBIs). We speak with Jennifer Gratrix, interim director of the STBBI program for Alberta Health Services.

For our 13th episode, we circle back to continue our discussion on the health and well-being of children during the COVID-19 pandemic. NCCID's Margaret Haworth-Brockman speaks with Dr. Joanne Langley, a pediatric infectious disease clinician in Halifax at IWK Health Centre and Dalhousie University, about current pediatric considerations for COVID-19 including epidemiology, presenting symptoms and demographic data.

In this episode, NCCID's Aleksandra Wierzbowski speaks with Dr. Graham Tipples, Medical-Scientific Director at Alberta’s Public Health Lab, about current and upcoming serological tactics for COVID-19. Tipples explains what healthcare professionals need to know about serology testing right now, the limitations of the test, length of immunity to COVID-19 and who should be the priority for serological testing.

For our 11th episode, we discuss the health and well-being of children during the COVID-19 pandemic. NCCID's Margaret Haworth-Brockman speaks with Dr. Joanne Langley, a pediatric infectious disease clinician in Halifax at IWK Health Centre and Dalhousie University, about current pediatric considerations for COVID-19.

In this episode, we shed light on Infection Prevention and Control (IPC) resources for COVID-19 from IPAC Canada.  Jennifer Happe, an Infection Prevention and Control Professional and a Director on the Board of IPAC Canada acknowledges current challenges for frontline personnel and reminds our listeners of foundational IPC skills and opportunities to learn more. 

In April, Dr. Jared Bullard, an infectious disease specialist and Associate Medical Director at the Cadham Provincial Lab in Winnipeg Manitoba, spoke with us about Canada's initial laboratory response to 2019-nCoV and COVID-19. In this episode, Dr. Bullard returns to provide an update on testing and diagnosis for COVID-19 and Canada’s ongoing laboratory response.