About

Maggie Hoover worked as the Clinical Nurse Facilitator, Research Coordinator and Outreach Lead at Kingston, Frontenac, Lennox and Addington Public Health from 2023-2024 and has remained part of the SPRITE team as a Consultant.

Mary Southall is a Public Health Nurse with 15 years of expertise in the Infectious Disease Prevention Division at South East Health Unit. She holds a BScN and a MPH with a specialization in Infection Prevention and Control from Queen's University. In her current role as Clinical Nursing Facilitator on the Knowledge Management team at South East Health Unit, Mary is the team lead for the SPRITE study.

Megan holds an MSc in epidemiology and a PhD in population health, with a keen interest and expertise in social epidemiology, health equity, implementation science and program evaluation. She is a Research Associate at South East Health Unit as well as an Adjunct Assistant Professor in the Department of Public Health Sciences at Queen’s University. Megan leverages her 15+ years of experience in public and population health while overseeing the implementation of SPRITE project coordination across health units and community partners. She is Principal Applicant on several SPRITE study grants.

Sahar Saeed is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Public Health Sciences at Queen’s University and the Principal Investigator of the EPIX Lab. She received her Ph.D. in Epidemiology from McGill University in 2019 and completed a post-doctoral fellowship in Implementation Science at Washington University in St. Louis in 2022. Her interdisciplinary research focuses on addressing health inequities in infectious diseases by examining health policies and novel models of care. She fosters collaborations across public health, clinical, and academic sectors to drive policy change and enhance healthcare delivery by integrating advanced epidemiological methods with patient-centred implementation science. Consistently funded by the CIHR since 2016 and with over 60 peer-reviewed publications, her work advances access to equitable care models and improves outcomes for underserved communities. She is the Nominated Principal Applicant on several CIHR proposals that fund the SPRITE Study, where she leads the research objectives and mentors' trainees.

Bradley is a medical Anthropologist, currently on a leave of absence from the Department of Public Health Sciences at Queen’s University to fulfill a Director role at the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention in the United States. Brad’s clinical focus is sexually transmitted and blood borne infections, especially syphilis and HIV. Brad is also the Regional Director of the International Union Against Sexually Transmitted Infections (IUSTI), a network that he can share SPRITE findings with. His research expertise is in qualitative research methods including community-based participatory research.

Felicia is an associate professor in the Department of Mathematics and Statistics at Queen's University. She works on mathematical modeling, differential equations and applied probability, with applications in ecology and epidemiology. She supervised a PhD student conducting the SPRITE study objective that used a novel network-based model to predict the impact of the intervention on syphilis incidence.

Jorge is an Associate Professor in the Department of Medicine in the Division of Infectious Diseases at Queen’s University. As the Infectious Disease clinic director at Kingston General Hospital, Jorge will be involved in linkage to HIV care for any newly identified persons testing positive for HIV during the study. Jorge has clinical and research expertise in sexual health and harm reduction as well as implementing community-based interventions.

Margaret is a Senior Program Manager at the University of Winnipeg as well as works with the National Collaborating Centre for Infectious Diseases. Margaret has research expertise on sex and gender-based analysis, including with people living with HIV. Margaret also has extensive knowledge mobilization experience including developing guidelines and materials, and a review of indicators related to the Sustainable Development Goals for the Pan American Health Organization.

Patrick is a Professor at the University of Ottawa and the Principal Investigator for the ‘GetaKit Study’ – the first project to offer free at-home HIV self-testing in Canada. Patrick has clinical and research expertise in HIV and syphilis point of care testing research.

Vanessa is a Clinical microbiologist at Public Health Ontario with clinical and research expertise in point-of-care tests and syphilis and HIV.

Mary France Caron-Bruneau is the Sexual Health Program Coordinator at the Northeastern Public Health. She has extensive knowledge of sexual health and sexually transmitted and blood borne infections having been in her current role since 2010. She is responsible for the planning and implementation of sexual health promotion and clinical services in Timmins and 8 branch offices. She works with a multidisciplinary team and collaborates with partners to support healthy sexuality and ensure that priority populations have access to clinical services for contraception, pregnancy and sexually transmitted and blood borne infections.

Melanie St. John is a Public Health Nurse with expertise in harm reduction, substance use, and community outreach. As a lead on the Outreach Team at the Renfrew County and District Health Unit (RCDHU), Melanie's work is centered on improving access to critical health resources and services while fostering strong partnerships with community organizations to promote trust, collaboration, and collective health outcomes. Joining RCDHU in early 2020, Melanie worked first as a team lead in the Infectious Diseases Program during the COVID-19 response before transitioning to the Substance Use Program in 2023. Prior to her tenure in public health, she spent five years as a Emergency Department Nurse, where she honed her clinical skills and developed a deep understanding of urgent care, community health needs, and patient advocacy. Melanie's commitment to public health and community well-being drives her ongoing efforts to improve health equity and support individuals and families across Renfrew County.

Michael is a public health nurse specializing in harm reduction and outreach, with a focus on improving access to care and services for marginalized populations. Michael’s expertise includes implementing evidence-based strategies to reduce substance use harm, promoting community engagement, and advocating for policies that support equitable healthcare access.

Nicole Szumlanski is a Sexual Health Program Manager at South East Health Unit, (formerly Kingston, Frontenac, Lennox and Addington Public Health) in Kingston, Ontario. Nicole has worked as a nurse in public health for nearly two decades and her previous research focused on virtual simulation in health science education enhancing competency in tobacco brief interventions. Nicole presently chairs the South East Health Unit Syphilis Steering Committee established in 2023 in response to the increased rates of syphilis within our region. She has worked with the committee to develop and initiate strategies to support syphilis education, research, in hope to decrease syphilis rates and increase testing and treatment of sexually transmitted and blood borne infections within our communities. Nicole was a working member of the CIHR-funded 2023 catalyst grant, Advancing Syphilis elimination: leveraging Public Health Academic Partnerships to Building Capacity, CIHR 2023.

Stephanie Vance is a Public Health Nurse with South East Health Unit, where she has amassed a decade of diverse public health nursing experience. Currently, Stephanie works within the Sexual Health and Harm Reduction Program as a sexual health clinic nurse, and is lead for program planning, outreach coordination and implementation of point-of-care testing within Hastings and Prince Edward Counties.

Not Shown Above: South East Health Unit: Clare Mak, Patrick Sanderson, Eric Geen, Faith Lollar, Sara Tyron, Nancy McGeachy, Stephanie McFaul, Susan LaBrie, Jennifer Adams, Brittany Mott, Allison Powers Natasha Larkin (Street Health Centre) Thunder Bay District Health Unit: Kandace Belanger, Brooke Rasinho Renfrew County and District Health Unit: Christine Brannan, Michelle Street Algoma Public Health: Ashley Juby, Casey Cassan Northeastern Health Unit: Lynn Leggett

Duy is a BHSc Candidate at Queen’s University. Duy is completing his honors thesis on barriers and facilitators to syphilis testing among unhoused individuals and people who use drugs (a qualitative study), under the supervision of Dr. Sahar Saeed.

Lucy is a PhD Candidate with the Department of Public Health Sciences, Epidemiology Specialization, at Queen’s University. Lucy will be analyzing data for the SPRITE study, including designing and conducting a Discrete Choice Experiment under the supervision of Dr. Sahar Saeed. Lucy is a registered social worker with expertise working with underserved communities in Kingston, gained through years of clinical work in hospital and community contexts. Lucy’s research expertise includes qualitative research methods and community-based participatory research.

Sina is a BHSc Candidate at Queen’s University. Sina is completing his honors thesis on factors influencing decision makers to implement a syphilis point-of-care test and treat protocol, under the supervision of Dr. Sahar Saeed.

Sofia is a PhD Candidate with the Department of Public Health Sciences at Queen’s University. She is a registered nurse with research expertise in community-based participatory research through years of experience working with non-governmental organizations and vulnerable populations.

Richard is an alumni of Queen’s University, completing his PhD in 2024. Part of his research included a novel network model to predict the impact of the intervention on syphilis incidence, as part of the SPRITE study.