Behind the Scenes: The Women Researching COVID-19

Over the past couple of weeks, we've seen female health professionals take centre stage in the media. Chief medical officers and women leaders including The Honourable Patty Hadju, Dr. Theresa Tam, Chief Public Health Officer, Dr. Vera Etches, Ottawa's Chief Medical Officer of Health and others are working to both flatten the curve and inform the public on COVID-19 pandemic measures. That's not to mention the countless female medical professionals working on the frontlines as doctors, nurses, and first responders, as well as researchers and immunologists hunting for a cure.

Our partners at SFU have taken the time to highlight several remarkable women who are taking action against COVID-19.  

• Tamara Soma, Research Director and Co-Founder of the Food Systems Lab, has been ensuring that communities are healthy and food-secure during self-isolation. Read more here. 
• Julia Smith, Faculty of Health, is researching the impact of COVID-19 on gender focus. Read more here. 
• Caroline Colijn, Professor & Canada 150 Research Chair in Mathematics for Evolution, Infection and Public Health, is researching COVID-19 infection, mathematical models on effectiveness of physical distancing, and the role of data modeling in predicting disease spread. Read more here.
• Kelley Lee, Professor, Canada Research Chair in Global Health Governance, is researching the federal government's initatives to define, categorize, and track cross-border measures adopted by countries and private companies during COVID-19 and previous outbreaks. Read more here.
• Fiona Brinkman, Professor, Department of Molecular Biology & Biochemistry, is testing a drug combination that can potentially kill a range of superbugs, including some bacteria resistant to antibiotics. Read more here. 
• Lena Dolgosheina, an SFU researcher, is working on using SFU's pioneering imaging technology—called Mango, for its bright colour—to develop coronavirus testing kits. They're among a small set of Canadian researchers who responded to the rapid funding opporutnity recently announced by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) to help address COVID-19. Read more here.