Christopher Simpson, MD, FRCP, is an Associate Professor of Medicine (Cardiology) at Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario. He serves as the Director of the Arrhythmia Service and as Medical Director of the Cardiac Program at University Hospitals Kingston. Dr. Simpson is the Past President of the Canadian Heart Rhythm Society, Chair of the Cardiac Care Network of Ontario Arrhythmia Management Working Group, and Co-Chair of the Ontario Electrophysiology Colloquium. He serves as an executive member of the International Council of Pacing and Electrophysiology Organizations. He was the 2004 recipient of the Canadian Medical Association’s Award for Young Leaders. Dr. Simpson’s research interests include access to care, atrial fibrillation, cardiac resynchronization therapy, implantable defibrillators, and medical fitness to drive. He has authored over 100 peer-reviewed publications.

Jeff Bakal, MS, PhD, is a senior biostatistician with the Department of Cardiology at the University of Alberta and a research associate with the Cost-Effective Ocular Health Policy Unit at Queen's University. He completed his PhD jointly with the Department of Mathematics and Statistics and with the School of Physical Health and Education at Queen's University. He has worked on the methodology and analysis of several international studies in business strategy, ophthalmology, cardiology, in geriatric medicine and the analysis of kinematic data resulting in several peer reviewed articles and conference presentations. His current interests are in developing statistical methodology for time-to-event data and the development of classification tools to assist in the patient screening and patient decision making processes.

Gaurav Shah , MD, an attending surgeon at the Barnes Retina Institute who specializes in diseases and surgery of the retina, vitreous and macula. Dr. Shah completed medical school at the University of Illinois College of Medicine in Chicago. He traveled to Santa Clara, California for internship at the Kaiser Permanente Medical Center, and was a resident at the University of Minnesota, Department of Ophthalmology for 3 years. His 2 years of fellowship were spent at the renowned Wills Eye Hospital under the direction of Dr. William Benson. Dr. Shah is currently an active investigator in numerous clinical trials dealing with macular degeneration, diabetic retinopathy, Uveitis and AIDS. The author of over 90 book chapters or articles that appear in the peer-reviewed literature, Dr. Shah has received significant awards from the American Society for Retina Surgeons, the Vitreous Society and the American Academy of Ophthalmology.Dr. Shah is the co-director of the Fellowship Program with the Barnes Retina Institute and currently serves as a reviewer for Archives of Ophthalmology, British Journal of Ophthalmology and Ophthalmic Surgery, Lasers and Imaging. Dr Shah is also an examiner for the American Board of Ophthalmology.

Martin ten Hove, Bsc, MD, MS, FRCS, is an Associate Professor and Deputy Head in the Department of Ophthalmology at Queen’s University. Dr ten Hove, who specializes in Neuro-Ophthalmology, completed his post-graduate medical education at Bascom Palmer Eye Institute in Miami. Dr. ten Hove, the author of numerous articles that have appeared in the peer-reviewed literature, serves on the Editorial Board for the Canadian Journal of Ophthalmology and the Journal of Neuro-Ophthalmology.

David Lee, MD, FRCP, is an Associate Professor in the Departments of Medicine (Division of Haematology), Oncology, and Pathology and Molecular Medicine at Queen's University. He obtained his medical degree from The University of Western Ontario and performed his residency in Hematology at McMaster University.  He is Director of the Hematology Residency Training Program at Queen's.  His academic interests include transfusion medicine, hemostasis, and thrombosis.

Michel Melanson, MD, FRCP, is an Assistant Professor of Medicine, with the Division of Neurology, at Queen’s University.  He completed his medical degree at  Universite de Montreal and performed his residency in Neurology at McGill University followed by a neuromuscular fellowship at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester Mn. Dr. Melanson is the Program Director of Neurology at Queen’s University and has been a recipient of the prestigious Aesculapian Lectureship Award given for excellence in medical education.

Robert Hudson, MD, PhD, FRCP, is a Professor of Medicine at Queen’s University. An expert in the area of male hormonal function and thyroid disease, Dr. Hudson is the Head, Division of Endocrinology & Metabolism, at Queen's University. The author of numerous articles that have appeared in the peer-reviewed literature, Dr. Hudson is the Chair of the Kingston General Hospital’s Pharmaceuticals and Therapeutics Committee and is a member of the peer-review grant adjudication committee for the Thyroid Foundation of Canada.

Alan F. Cruess, MD, FRCS, is Professor and Head of the Department of Ophthalmology at the Dalhousie Faculty of Medicine and the Queen Elizabeth II Health Sciences Centre. He has been a lead clinical investigator in the area of macular degeneration and diabetic retinopathy and was the principle investigator of the Medical Research Council of Canada- funded Canadian Ophthalmology Study Group. In addition to his academic, administrative and clinical care responsibilities, Dr. Cruess has actively participated in biannual Northern Ontario tours of the CNIB Mobile Eye Unit from 1995-2003, and from 1996-2003 was the ophthalmologist for the diabetic retinopathy screening program among the Cree people of western James Bay in Northern Ontario. Dr. Cruess is a member of the Scientific Advisory Board of AMD Alliance International and was recently appointed in 2006 to the Data Safety Monitoring Committee (DSMC) of the AREDS II Study, a multi-centre National Eye Institute-sponsored clinical trial to further elucidate the role of dietary supplements in AMD. Dr. Cruess, the author of numerous peer-reviewed scientific articles, chapter and books, is the current President of the Canadian Ophthalmology Society.

Sophie Dessureault, MD, PhD, is an Assistant Professor of Surgery at the University of South Florida and a faculty member of the H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center & Research Institute. A surgical oncologist, Dr. Dessureault obtained her MD from Dalhousie University and PhD from the University of Toronto. Her surgical practice focuses on the care of patients with colorectal cancer. She is the author of numerous highly-cited articles that appear in the peer-reviewed literature, and is actively involved in cancer vaccine research. The recipient of numerous research awards, Dr. Dessureault is currently conducting a pair of clinical trials on a vaccine that uses a person's own cancer cells to fight mantle cell lymphoma and metastatic melanoma; she is also a collaborating investigator on other vaccine trials at the Moffitt Cancer Center.

Richard Langley, MD, FRCP, is an associate professor and director of research in the Division of Dermatology, Department of Medicine at Dalhousie University in Canada. Dr. Langley received his undergraduate degree at Dalhousie University, internship in internal medicine, and fellowship in Dermatologic surgery at the University of Toronto, and completed his fellowship training at Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School. Following his training, Dr. Langley joined the Faculty of Medicine at Harvard Medical School, and he was previously the director of the clinical investigations unit at Massachusetts General Hospital until June, 2000. Dr. Langley has authored over 100 articles, book chapters, and other publications and is a regular reviewer for several medical and dermatology journals. He is a principal investigator and has conducted over 100 phase 1-3 studies involving most of the biologic agents in psoriasis and new immunotherapies in Atopic Dermatitis. He also has a imaging laboratory that has helped pioneer the application of diagnostic in vivo confocal microscopy in benign and malignant melanocytic lesions. Dr Langley has been the recipient of numerous awards for teaching , including Professor of the Year at Dalhousie in four of the past 5 years, research, clinical practice, and volunteer activities(Canadian Dermatology Association Young Dermatologist Volunteer Award).

Vivek Mehta, MD, MSc (Epid), FRCSC, FACS, a pediatric neurosurgeon, is an Assistant Professor of Neurosurgery at the University of Edmonton. A graduate of Queen's University's Medical School, he went on to complete a rotating internship at the University of Ottawa and a neurosurgical residency at Dalhousie University. Dr. Mehta then joined the neurosurgical staff at Dalhousie University in 1998 to practice both pediatric and adult neurosurgery. He received the McLaughlin Travelling Fellowship and completed a dual pediatric/adult neurooncology fellowship with Dr. Peter Black at the Children' s Hospital of Boston and the Brigham and Women's Hospital at Harvard University. Dr. Mehta, who obtained a Master's degree in Epidemiology from Harvard University‘s School of Public Health, also is the Residency Program Director for the University of Edmonton’s Department of Neurosurgery. The author of numerous articles that appear in the peer-reviewed literature, Dr. Mehta’s areas of expertise include pediatric and adult neurooncology and epidemiology.

Ray P. Leblanc, CM, MD, FRCS, is the Vice-President, Research & Academic Affairs at Capital Health in Halifax NS. A pioneer in the diagnosis and treatment of glaucoma, Dr. Leblanc completed his training in ophthalmology at the Cleveland Clinic followed by fellowship training at Washington University in St Louis. The author of numerous research peer-reviewed publications, Dr LeBlanc is the former Head of the Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences at Dalhousie University, a past President of the Canadian Ophthalmology Society and immediate past Chair of the National Coalition for Vision Health. Dr. Leblanc received the Order of Canada in 2006.

Ally-Khan Somani, BSc, MD, PhD, is a physician/scientist in the Department of Dermatology, University Hospitals Case Medical Center/Case Western Reserve University. At Case, Dr. Somani is also the Murdough Psoriasis Research Fellow, and is in the process of completing his dermatology residency in the Academic-Research Track Program.  Dr. Somani received his undergraduate degree in Interdepartmental Honors Immunology from McGill University and a combined MD/PhD degree from the University of Toronto.  He went on to complete a rotating internship at the University of British Columbia before moving to Cleveland.  Dr. Somani has been the recipient of numerous research awards and grants.  His research interests include skin immunology and the molecular and signaling pathways involved in inflammatory and autoimmune skin diseases. He has authored numerous peer-reviewed scientific articles and book chapters.  Dr. Somani also serves as an ad-hoc reviewer for several scientific and dermatology journals including the Journal of Immunology, Journal of Investigative Dermatology and the Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology.

Ralph George, MD, FRCS, is an Associate Professor of General Surgery at Queen's University and the Head of Surgical Oncology at the Kingston Regional Cancer Center. He completed an Endoscopy and a Surgical Oncology Fellowship at the Roswell Park Cancer Institute. The recipient of Queen's University's Surgical teaching award, Dr. George has received grants for research in various aspects of diagnosing and treating breast cancer.

Robyn Houlden, MD, FRCP, is a Professor in the Faculty of Health Sciences at Queen's University, Kingston, ON, Canada and a staff endocrinologist at the Kingston General Hospital. The recipient of numerous medical teaching awards, Dr. Houlden's research has been published in the New England Journal of Medicine and Nature Clinical Practice Endocrinology and Metabolism. In 2002, Dr. Houlden was the recipient of the Charles Best Award from the Canadian Diabetes Association for her work in improving the quality of life for individuals with diabetes across Canada.