Our team
Nominated Principal Investigator
Rohan D’Souza
Rohan D’Souza is an associate professor in the Departments of Obstetrics & Gynecology and Health Research Methods, Evidence and Impact, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario. He has a cross appointment with the Department of Obstetrics & Gynaecology and the Institute of Medical Sciences at the University of Toronto, Ontario. Rohan’s clinical and research interests include reducing severe maternal morbidity, optimizing pregnancy outcomes for individuals with medical disorders, incorporating values and preferences of pregnant individuals into clinical decision making and standardizing outcome reporting in obstetric studies.
Principal Investigator
Isabelle Malhamé
Dr. Malhamé is an Assistant Professor and Researcher in the Department of Medicine at the McGill University Health Centre. After residency and sub-specialty training in General Internal Medicine and a Master’s degree in Epidemiology at McGill University, she completed a Fellowship in Obstetric Medicine at the Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island. She provides a specialized clinical service to women with medical disorders before, during, and after pregnancy. Her research program focuses on prediction and prevention of severe maternal morbidity, with a special interest for cardiovascular and thromboembolic complications.
Principal Investigator
Jasmine Grewal
Dr. Jasmine Grewal is a clinical associate professor at the University of British Columbia and a member of the Divisions of Cardiology at St. Paul’s Hospital and Vancouver General Hospital. Dr. Grewal has fellowship training in adult congenital heart disease/pregnancy and heart disease (Toronto General Hospital) and echocardiography (Mayo Clinic, Rochester). Dr. Grewal focuses her clinical time in the care of adults with congenital heart disease, pregnant women with cardiac disease, echocardiography and in the St. Paul's Hospital Cardiac Intensive Care Unit. Dr. Grewal is actively engaged in clinical research, and is currently involved as a primary and co-investigator in numerous single centre and multi-centre research studies in the areas of congenital heart disease and pregnancy and heart disease.
Dr Candice Silversides is a Professor of Medicine at the University of Toronto, Chair in Pregnancy and Heart Disease at the Miles Nadal Heart Centre, and director of the CardioObstetrics program at Mount Sinai Hospital. She also works at the Toronto General Hospital, specializing in adult congenital heart disease and echocardiography. She is the inaugural Editor-in-Chief of the American College of Cardiology’s newest journal, JACC: Advances. In addition to her role as Editor-in-Chief, she has published extensively in the field of cardiology and contributed to many leading cardiology textbooks, international practice guidelines, and consensus statements. She was awarded the Kent Ueland Distinguished Career Award and the Canadian Society of Cardiology 2023 Achievement Award for her contributions to the field.
Dr. Samuel Siu received his MD from the University of Alberta and completed postgraduate training at Mayo Graduate School of Medicine, Harvard Teaching Hospitals, Harvard School of Public Health, and Ivey Business School. His past leadership positions include director of research (Toronto Congenital Cardiac Centre), director of echocardiography (University Health Network/Mt Sinai Hospital, Toronto), city wide chief/divisional chair of cardiology and medical lead of Cardiac Care Program (Western University and London Teaching Hospitals). Dr. Siu is the co-founder of the University of Toronto Pregnancy and Heart Disease Research Program and the Maternal Cardiology Clinic at Mt Sinai Hospital. He is currently professor of medicine and head of Maternal Cardiology Program at Western University. His current focus is cardio-obstetrics and physician leadership program development.
Cross-cutting theme leads
Indigenous
Health
Brittany Bingham
Dr. Brittany Bingham, MPH, PhD (she/her/hers) is a proud member of the shíshálh (Sechelt) nation and holds an MPH and PhD in Health Sciences from Simon Fraser University. Brittany is an Assistant Professor in the Division of Social Medicine in the Faculty of Medicine at the University of British Columbia and a Health Research BC Scholar. Brittany leads Indigenous community-driven health research with the primary aim of improving Indigenous experiences in healthcare and informing system transformation. She has worked in various capacities in research with Indigenous communities, healthcare and policy for 20 years. She is passionate about community-driven research, Indigenous health equity & women’s health, implementation science, planetary health, sexual and reproductive health, learning health systems and cultural safety & humility. Brittany is PI of a CIHR grant called the Amplify Study: Elevating the stories of Indigenous women, gender diverse and Two-Spirit peoples and the Founder & Lead of a new Indigenous Health Equity Lab at Women’s Health Research Institute.
Health
Disparities
Saraswathi Vedam
Saraswathi Vedam, Professor of Midwifery at the University of British Columbia and Lead Investigator of the Birth Place Lab, has over 30 years of experience as a clinician and health professional educator, leading community-driven research projects like the Canadian Birth Place Study, Changing Childbirth in BC, and the Giving Voice to Mothers studies, which focus on respectful maternity care, inequities, and women’s preferences. She has developed innovative tools such as the MADM scale, MOR index, PPEMP index, MAPi, MISS index, and Birthplace ResQu Index to assess fetal well-being, provider attitudes, and maternity care quality, while also creating an interprofessional course, Dialogue and Decisions, to teach person-centered decision-making. Vedam’s expertise in midwifery and policy has influenced national and international guidelines through consultations in multiple countries and leadership at four Home Birth Consensus Summits, fostering equitable access to high-quality maternity care.
Data Sharing
& Management
Alicia St. Hill
Strategic, goal-oriented, and intellectually-driven, Alicia St. Hill collaborates to address complex issues using big systems thinking and professional judgment to implement change in health delivery and administration.
With over 15 years of health care experience in Canada and the US, Alicia’s expertise spans public-sector and for-profit hospital administration, health informatics/technology, managed care/insurance, Medicare, government-funded program management, and quality management consulting.
Strongly analytical and an esteemed passionate leader, Alicia drives change by working effectively with administrative and clinical stakeholder leaders to improve various aspects of health administration, including planning, policy, care delivery, clinical operations, and information management.
Knowledge
Mobilization
Jocelynn Cook
Jocelynn Cook (PhD) is the Chief Scientific Officer for the Society of Obstetricians and Gynecologists of Canada (SOGC). She has a PhD in Reproductive Physiology from the Medical University of South Carolina. After a post-doctoral fellowship at the University of Alberta and faculty position at the University of Saskatchewan, she was recruited by the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) to oversee development of the inaugural diagnostic guidelines for Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD). In the Federal Government, she has held executive positions at Health Canada’s First Nations and Inuit Health Branch, Assisted Human Reproduction Canada and the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR). Now at SOGC, she oversees all work related to Continuing Medical Education, Clinical Practice Guidelines, Research, Accreditation, Global Health and Indigenous Health. Her professional career has focused on issues related to maternal-fetal medicine including substance abuse during pregnancy, preterm birth and maternal mortality.
Training & Capacity
Development
Amy Metcalfe
Dr Metcalfe’s program of research focuses on examining the impact of medical management of chronic disease in pregnancy on maternal and fetal health; evaluating the ability of alternative models of prenatal care to improve disease control and obstetrical outcomes; and assessing the risk of long-term disease complications following pregnancy. Underlying these key questions is a focus on validation of existing data sources for use in research and the application of novel statistical methods to answer clinically important questions.
Health
Economist
Sujata Mishra
Sujata, a distinguished Health Economist and PhD candidate at the University of Toronto, specializes in Health Economics and Global Health. Her interdisciplinary approach focuses on structural determinants impacting vulnerability and health risks, with research spanning maternal and child health, non-communicable diseases, and gender-based violence. Her doctoral research explores the impact of community health workers on maternal and child health in resource-limited settings, advocating for fair wages and optimal working conditions. Committed to addressing health disparities, her work contributes to global health knowledge and Sustainable Development Goals.
Person with
lived experience
Kendal Taggart
Kendal Taggart is the Director of Homeowner Relations at Graywood Developments, where she leads a team supporting homeowners through complex real estate transitions. She previously served as Director of Family Services at Habitat for Humanity, guiding families on their path to secure safe, affordable housing. Alongside her professional work, Kendal brings the vital perspective of lived experience, having faced heart failure during pregnancy. She is honoured to share her story with CanCam-Preg in the hope of improving outcomes and support for women and families navigating similar challenges.
Program
Manager
Josie Chundamala is the Program Manager for CaNCaM-Preg. She has over 20 years of health research experience with a passion and interest in women's health in particular. Josie has been working with Dr. D'Souza for over 10 years now primarily assisting with grants and publications. In her current role, she works on a Casual basis to assist with the overall general organization of CaNCaM-Preg specifically with regards to reports, contracts, budgets, and timelines.
CanCOB research
coordinator
Mansi Patel is the research coordinator/manager for CanCOB. She has over 7 years of experience working in research. She graduated from the Health Research Methodology MSc program in 2023 from McMaster University. In her current role, she plays a key role in supporting coordination and communications across the network, facilitating the progress of the three pillars, and helping to ensure that progress is captured and shared effectively.
Funding Sources
