Inspiring Women SUMMER 2020

For example, four years of direct experience with patients has given me a patient-focused view
that serves me well as a researcher and my BScPT degree helped me get jobs.
After my PhD and post-doc, I became a faculty professor at McGill University Medical School in
Montreal (where I was hired because of my PT background as I taught PT/OT students). I did that
for five years, and then, because life is an adventure, I resigned and accepted a position as
Director of Education for the Muscular Dystrophy Association of France. I had applied for a
trans-European position that required English, but the head of the French association wanted
me full time (again having a PT background was desired). That period of my life showed me
how tough I was – I moved to Paris and had to adjust to a very different culture, I had to learn
and work in a new language and deal with some serious health issues. My job was designing
education programs for doctors, scientists, our employees and the families of kids with muscular
dystrophy. It was a wonderful experience, and I will always love Paris.
When I left Paris and moved back to Canada, I became a professor at the University of Ottawa
as I really missed research science. My PT
background was again essential – they
were looking for someone with a physio
undergrad, a PhD and who was French-
English bilingual – I was likely the only
applicant meeting those criteria.
During this phase of my academic career
I founded a biotech company out of my
research and after five years I quit my
academic position to join the company
(Coley Pharmaceutical Group) full time.
Eventually Pfizer bought Coley and that is
how I became an employee in the “big
pharma” industry. I ran the only Pfizer
research and development (R&D) site in
Canada but also had a global role,
where I met so many brilliant people and
learned so much. After eight years, my
site was closed and I moved on to a role
with Seqirus, a UK-headquartered flu
vaccine company that spent a lot of time
talking about pandemics. After three One of my paintings
challenging and rewarding years with
Seqirus, I took a role at Johnson &
Johnson in Belgium. I lead R&D efforts related to hepatitis, which allows me to use all my
learning from past jobs. It is very interesting, because it is so scientifically challenging, but also
very rewarding to know that we have an opportunity to impact the lives of the nearly 300 million
people in the world who are chronically infected with hepatitis B, and who face stigma every
day as well as serious health outcomes later in life because of that.
Today I live with my partner Mark, who is a retired fire-fighter. He has been incredibly supportive
of me in my career, taking care of most day-to-day responsibilities, allowing me the time I need
to devote to my job. He follows the stock market, restores and rides moto-cross bikes and was
once a high-level moto-cross racer and down-hill ski racer (they say opposites attract – I am not
into speed and physical danger but am much better at taking business risks). We have a 10-
year old Aussie-Doodle named Oscar who has moved with us from Canada to the UK and now
to Belgium. He is a high-energy but loving fellow who gives us great pleasure and keeps us busy
trying to keep him busy.
What was the first step you took to get involved in the COVID-19 response? As an infectious
disease expert, I was mentally involved with COVID-19 right from my awareness of the first cases
in China – I was fascinated and obsessed by what I was seeing. From my armchair position, I
was predicting everything that was going to happen, and sadly I was right about most of it.
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