UBC experts on COVID-19

UBC experts are available for comment on the second wave of the COVID-19 outbreak and various related topics. Interviews will be conducted by phone or virtually in order to practice effective physical distancing.

For the latest updated information on UBC’s response, please visit ubc.ca. Information on the latest confirmed cases in B.C. and globally is available here.

To visit the UBC COVID-19 research website, click here.

Please note that many of our researchers are working on the frontlines of the COVID-19 response and may not be able to accommodate all media interviews. We are doing our best to assist with as many requests as possible. Thank you for your patience and understanding.

Areas of expertise

(click to jump to relevant area)

• Air pollution and environment
• Business and economics
• Cybersecurity
• Education
• Food and nutrition
• Hand washing and infection control
• Immigration
• Linguistics
• Mathematics and disease modelling
• Medical and public health
• Psychology and mental health
• Remote working and learning
• Seniors and older adults
• Treatment and vaccine development
• Urban issues

Air pollution and environment

Dr. Reza Afshari
Clinical Professor, UBC School of Population and Public Health
Tel: 604-999-6185
Email: Reza.Afshari@ubc.ca  

• Interaction of indoor air quality and the severity of COVID-19
• Epidemiological modelling of pandemics, including COVID-19

• Interactions of COVID-19 with air pollution; impact of economic slowdown on air pollution due to COVID-19; impacts of COVID-19 on low income countries, especially related to lack of hand-washing access

Dr. Christopher Carlsten
Physician; Professor and Head of Respiratory Medicine, Department of Medicine
Email: christopher.carlsten@ubc.ca

• Respiratory and immunological health effects of inhaled environmental and occupational exposures

Kai Chan
Professor, Institute for Resources Environment and Sustainability
Tel: 778-839-9820
Email: kaichan@ires.ubc.ca

• The environment and COVID-19
• Systemic vulnerabilities (e.g. ongoing wildlife trade, healthcare as a public good)

• Reductions in transportation-related emissions due to COVID-19
• Impact of economic slowdown due to COVID-19 on air pollution

Business and economics

Werner Antweiler
Associate Professor and Chair in International Trade Policy, UBC Sauder School of Business
Tel: 604-822-8484
Email: werner.antweiler@ubc.ca

• Supply chain disruptions and resilience; international trade repercussions; energy and natural resources, record-low, negative oil prices

James Brander
Asia Pacific Professor in International Business and Public Policy, UBC Sauder School of Business
Email: james.brander@sauder.ubc.ca

• Economic impact of COVID-19

David Clough
Assistant Professor, UBC Sauder School of Business
Email: david.clough@sauder.ubc.ca

• How businesses can adapt to COVID-19
• How the business landscape could change

Thomas Davidoff
Associate Professor, UBC Sauder School of Business
Email: thomas.davidoff@sauder.ubc.ca

• Impact of COVID-19 on housing, mortgage and cities

David Hardisty
Assistant Professor, UBC Sauder School of Business,
Tel: 604-655-1465
Email: david.hardisty@sauder.ubc.ca

• Impact of COVID-19 on consumer behaviour

• supply chain management, supply chain coordination

• Impact of COVID-19 on fiscal policy, tax policy, and labour market issues

• supply chains, health care operations

Tae Hoon Oum
Professor Emeritus, UBC Sauder School of Business
Email: tae.oum@sauder.ubc.ca

• Impact of COVID-19 on the airline industry

Mark Thompson
Professor Emeritus in Organizational Behaviour and Human Resources, UBC Sauder School of Business
Tel: 604-263-6008
Cell: 604-418-6275
Email: mrkthompson39@gmail.com

• Impact of COVID-19 on the labour market

Cybersecurity

Konstantin Beznosov
Professor, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Email: beznosov@ece.ubc.ca
Tel: 604-822-9181

• Cybersecurity and privacy

Karthik Pattabiraman
Associate Professor, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Email: karthikp@ece.ubc.ca

• Computer systems security, software security, web apps

Robert Xiao
Assistant Professor, Department of Computer Science
Email: brx@cs.ubc.ca
Tel: 604-822-4326

• Cybersecurity and privacy

Education

Wendy Carr
Professor of Teaching, Faculty of Education
Email: wendy.carr@ubc.ca

• Developed a new online tool that provides teachers with resources to identify and report family violence during the COVID-19 pandemic

Jason Ellis
Associate Professor, Department of Educational Studies
Email: j.ellis@ubc.ca

• History of distance learning, events that interrupt schooling, schoolchildren’s health
• B.C. education policy/legislation

Marina Milner-Bolotin
Associate Professor, Faculty of Education
Email: marina.milner-bolotin@ubc.ca

• Online education: past, present and future
• Homeschooling in the time of pandemics
• Parental engagement in children’s education
• Supporting parents and families with online resources
• Supporting teachers in online learning environments

Michelle Stack
Associate Professor, Faculty of Education
Tel: 778-329-7572
Cell: 604-369-7572
Email: michelle.stack@ubc.ca

• Equity, education and COVID-19
• Students facing racism and closure of borders
• Continuation of hot lunch programs for students facing food insecurity

Food and nutrition

• Food safety, food systems, foodborne disease

Hand washing and infection control

Dr. Katie Beleznay 
Dermatologist; Clinical Instructor, Department of Dermatology and Skin Science
Email: kbeleznay@gmail.com

• Dry skin and irritation due to increased hand-washing to prevent transmission of COVID-19

Immigration

Amira Halperin
Sessional Lecturer, Department of Sociology
Email: amirahz@mail.ubc.ca
Cell: 236-995-9656

• Immigration and media; communicating public health to refugees

Linguistics

Bryan Gick
Professor, Department of Linguistics
Email: gick@mail.ubc.ca

• aspiration during speech; “speaking moistly”

Mathematics and disease modelling

Daniel Coombs
Professor, Department of Mathematics and Institute of Applied Mathematics
Email: coombs@math.ubc.ca

• Mathematical models of pandemic growth and control

Guy Dumont
Professor, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Email: guyd@ece.ubc.ca

• Feedback-based modelling for COVID-19

Sarah (Sally) Otto
Professor, Department of Zoology
Email: otto@zoology.ubc.ca 

• Mathematical models of pandemic growth and control

Medical and public health

Anna Blakney
Assistant Professor, Michael Smith Laboratories and School of Biomedical Engineering
Email: anna.blakney@msl.ubc.ca

• mRNA vaccines and treatments; debunking misinformation about COVID-19 vaccines

Mariana Brussoni
Associate Professor, School of Population and Public Health
Email: mbrussoni@bcchr.ubc.ca

• Going outside and benefits of outdoor play for children during COVID-19

Dr. Michael Curry
Emergency Room Physician; Clinical Associate Professor, Department of Emergency Medicine
Email: michael.curry@ubc.ca

• Emergency medicine; coronavirus

Ken Denike
Assistant Professor Emeritus, Department of Geography
Tel: 604-899-0564
Email: ubcken@gmail.com

• epidemiology of COVID-19, geographic factors in China, spatial analysis in China

Mahyar Etminan
Associate Professor, Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences
Email: etminanm@mail.ubc.ca

• Drug safety scientist; COVID-19 and ibuprofen (Advil) drug safety

Bernie Garrett
Associate Professor, School of Nursing
Email: Bernie.Garrett@ubc.ca

• Deception in healthcare products and services

Dr. Ran Goldman
Professor, Department of Pediatrics
Email: rgoldman@cw.bc.ca

• Preparing for the flu season during a pandemic
• Flu vaccine and parents’ willingness to vaccinate their children

Stephen Hoption Cann
Clinical Professor, School of Population and Public Health
Email: hoption.cann@ubc.ca

• Infectious diseases and the pathophysiology of fever in infectious diseases

Dr. Judy Illes
Professor of Neurology and Canada Research Chair in Neuroethics, Division of Neurology
Email: jilles@mail.ubc.ca

• Balancing the benefits and risks of reaching out to help people in need, such as people who are vulnerable (older people, exhausted and isolated people, and children)
• Triage and resource allocation of medical supplies and instruments, such as ventilators

Emily Jenkins
Assistant Professor, School of Nursing
Email: emily.jenkins@ubc.ca
Tel: 604-315-6810

• Mental health and COVID-19, including suicide risks and impact on vulnerable populations, effects of isolation/quarantine, and access to online mental health supports

Tom Koch
Adjunct Professor, Department of Geography
Email: tomkoch@kochworks.com

• Factors that promote or inhibit the spread of disease
• Preparing for pandemics (Globe op-ed)

Mieke Koehoorn
Professor, UBC School of Population and Public Health
Email: mieke.koehoorn@ubc.ca

• Occupational health, unemployment and health
• Workers’ compensation

• Inaugural director of the UBC Collaborating Centre for Prison Health and Education
• Prison health and the COVID-19 outbreak at a correctional facility in the Okanagan

Christopher McLeod
Associate Professor, UBC School of Population and Public Health
Tel: 604-822-0348
Email: chris.mcleod@ubc.ca

• Occupational health, unemployment and health
• Workers’ compensation 

Dr. Deborah Money
Professor, Department of Obstetrics & Gynaecology
Email: Please contact Reyhana Heatherington to arrange interviews at reyhana.heatherington@ubc.ca

• Infectious disease expert
• COVID-19 and pregnancy

• Inequity, domestic violence, pain management

Psychology and mental health

Anita DeLongis
Professor, Department of Psychology
Email: adelongis@psych.ubc.ca
Phone: 604-822-3527

• The psychological impact, mental health, coping, social support, empathic responding

*available afternoons and evenings only

Yue Qian
Assistant Professor, Department of Sociology
Email: yue.qian@ubc.ca

• Recipient of CIHR funding to study human experiences and mental health consequences of quarantine

*limited availability

Azim Shariff
Associate Professor, Department of Psychology
Email: shariff@psych.ubc.ca
Tel: 541-222-9354

• Social psychology
• Moral decision-making
• Individual vs. collective interests

Nancy Sin
Assistant Professor, Department of Psychology
Email: nsin@psych.ubc.ca

• Connections between stress and health, coping, emotions

Steven Taylor
Professor and Clinical Psychologist, Department of Psychiatry
Email: steven.taylor@ubc.ca

• Health anxiety (hypochondriasis); author of “The Psychology of Pandemics: Preparing for the next global outbreak of infectious disease”

Dr. Lakshmi Yatham
Professor and Head, Department of Psychiatry
Director, Institute of Mental Health
Email: l.yatham@ubc.ca

• Psychological impacts of COVID-19

Remote working and learning

Marina Milner-Bolotin
Associate Professor, Faculty of Education
Email: marina.milner-bolotin@ubc.ca

• Online education: past, present and future
• Homeschooling in the time of pandemics
• Parental engagement in children’s education
• Supporting parents and families with online resources
• Supporting teachers in online learning environments

Jason Ellis
Associate Professor, Department of Educational Studies
Email: j.ellis@ubc.ca

• History of distance learning, events that interrupt schooling, schoolchildren’s health
• B.C. education policy/legislation

Charles Ungerleider
Professor Emeritus, Faculty of Education
Tel: 604-600-1040
Email: c.u@ubc.ca

• Home learning, lost learning time and continuity of learning amid COVID-19

Seniors and older adults

Jennifer Baumbusch
Professor, School of Nursing
Email: jennifer.baumbusch@ubc.ca 

• Long-term care (nursing homes) during COVID-19 pandemic
• Supporting caregivers (paid and unpaid) of frail, older adults, including people living with dementia

Lillian Hung
Clinical Assistant Professor, School of Nursing
Clinical Nurse Specialist, Vancouver Coastal Health
Tel: 778-870-2839
Email: lillian.hung@vch.ca

• Impact of technology and environments on care experiences of persons with dementia
• Using iPads and other technologies to improve care of dementia patients

Heather McKay
Professor, Departments of Orthopaedics and Family Practice, and the Centre for Hip Health and Mobility
Email: Please contact Rebecca Collett to arrange interviews at rebecca.collett@hiphealth.ca or 647-773–9034

• Resources and support for older adults to healthy during the COVID-19 pandemic
• The importance of staying active and socially connected while isolated at home

Joanie Sims-Gould
Associate Professor, Department of Family Practice, and the Centre for Hip Health and Mobility
Email: Please contact Rebecca Collett to arrange interviews at rebecca.collett@hiphealth.ca or 647-773-9034

• Supporting isolated community-dwelling older adults during COVID-19 pandemic
• Resources and support for older adults to keep healthy during the COVID-19 pandemic

Dr. Roger Wong
Clinical Professor, Division of Geriatric Medicine
Email: Please contact Reyhana Heatherington to arrange interviews at reyhana.heatherington@ubc.ca

• Protecting seniors from COVID-19
• Supporting seniors during the COVID-19 outbreak

Treatment and vaccine development

Brett Finlay
Professor, Michael Smith Laboratories
Email: bfinlay@msl.ubc.ca

• Led the development of vaccines during the 2003 SARS outbreak

Horacio Bach
Adjunct Professor, Division of Infectious Diseases, UBC Faculty of Medicine
Tel: 604-727-9719
Email: hbach@mail.ubc.ca

• Recipient of Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) funding to design antibodies that neutralize and block the entrance of the virus into cells

Artem Cherkasov
Professor, Department of Urologic Sciences, UBC Faculty of Medicine
Email: acherkasov@prostatecentre.com

• Recipient of Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) funding to study COVID-19
• Using “deep docking”—a virtual screening protocol enabled by artificial intelligence— to identify compounds that could potentially inhibit the main enzyme critical to helping the novel coronavirus to survive

Eric Jan
Professor, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, UBC Faculty of Medicine
Email: ej@mail.ubc.ca

• Recipient of Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) funding to study COVID-19
• Working to identify protein targets of SARS and MERS coronavirus proteases to block their ability to function, thereby inhibiting infection

Jeffrey Joy
Assistant Professor, Department of Medicine, UBC Faculty of Medicine
Email: jjoy@cfenet.ubc.ca

• Recipient of Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) funding to study the genomic evolution of the novel coronavirus

Dr. Richard Lester
Physician; Associate Professor in Global Health, Division of Infectious Diseases
Email: rlester@mail.ubc.ca

• Researching the potential for a mobile virtual health care app, called WelTel, to help people who are self-isolating to prevent transmission of COVID-19

Dr. Kelly McNagny
Professor, School of Biomedical Engineering and Department of Medical Genetics
Cell: 778-999-4074
Email: kelly@brc.ubc.ca

• Immune response to COVID-19
• Efficacy of COVID-19 vaccines
• Debunking misinformation about COVID-19 vaccines

Dr. Srinivas Murthy
Clinical Associate Professor, Department of Pediatrics; Investigator and pediatrician at BC Children’s Hospital
Email: srinivas.murthy@cw.bc.ca

• Pediatric infectious disease expert
• Co-principal investigator of the Canadian Treatments for COVID-19 (CATCO) trial

Dr. Josef Penninger
Director, Life Sciences Institute; Professor, Department of Medical Genetics; Canada 150 Chair in Functional Genetics
Email: Please contact Bethany Becker to arrange interviews at bethany.becker@ubc.ca

• Identified a crucial SARS receptor that helps explain how and why SARS coronavirus infection causes lung failure
• Developed a promising therapeutic agent that prevents lung failure in SARS coronavirus and acute respiratory distress syndrome in an animal model and preliminary human trials
• Member of an international research team performing a clinical trial on patients who have tested positive for COVID-19

Dr. James Russell
Physician; Professor, Department of Medicine; Principal Investigator at the Centre for Heart Lung Innovation (HLI) at St. Paul’s Hospital
Email: Jim.Russell@hli.ubc.ca

• Critical care, cardiovascular/cardiac condition and COVID-19 risk; cardiac injury due to COVID-19
• Researching the efficacy and safety of re-purposing a class of drugs (called ARBs) commonly prescribed to treat high blood pressure to improve outcomes for patients with COVID-19

Urban issues

Patrick Condon
Professor, School of Architecture and Landscape Architecture
Cell: 604-788-0747

• Potential effects on urban life and environments including housing and mass transit

Lawrence Frank
Professor, School of Population and Public Health
Email: lawrence.frank@ubc.ca

• Measuring and predicting health impacts of the built and natural environment
• Potential impact of pandemic on active forms of transportation
• Transportation planning and health

• Potential impact of COVID-19 on public space
• Management of public green spaces