UBC experts on COVID-19

Thursday marks one year since the World Health Organization’s declaration of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. UBC experts are available to comment on 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

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
Michael Brauer
Professor, UBC School of Population and Public Health
Email: michael.brauer@ubc.ca
  • 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)

Steven Rogak
Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering
Email: rogak@mech.ubc.ca

  • Testing fit and efficacy of non-medical face masks
  • Reducing aerosol concentrations inside buildings

Dr. Adam Rysanek
Assistant Professor, School of Architecture and Landscape Architecture
Email: arysanek@sala.ubc.ca

  • Promoting indoor air quality as we head to warmer weather
  • Long-term health and wellbeing trade-offs arising from working from home
  • Future of the workplace after this pandemic
  • Overall assessments of indoor air quality and design for healthy buildings

*Generally available in the afternoon 

Business and economics

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

Harish Krishnan
Professor, UBC Sauder School of Business
Email: harish.krishnan@sauder.ubc.ca

  • supply chain management, supply chain coordination
*unavailable Tuesdays and Thursdays from 8 a.m. to noon

Cybersecurity

Karthik Pattabiraman
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

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
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

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

Food and nutrition

Siyun Wang
Associate Professor, Faculty of Land and Food Systems
Tel: 604-827-1734
Email: siyun.wang@ubc.ca
  • 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, skin health

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

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

  • Mathematical models of pandemic growth, evolution, and the efficacy of public health measures

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

Michael Brauer
Professor, UBC School of Population and Public Health
Email: michael.brauer@ubc.ca

  • Masks/mask effectiveness, ventilation and air filtration to reduce transmission, COVID-19 forecasting

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
  • Parental engagement in supporting children’s physical activity and outdoor play

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

  • Effects of COVID-19 on lung health and patient-reported outcomes
  • COVID-19 clinical followup, including long haulers

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

  • vectors of disease transmission in epidemiology, forecasting COVID-19 cases for local areas

Mahyar Etminan
Associate Professor, Departments of Ophthalmology and Medicine
Email: etminanm@mail.ubc.ca

  • Drug safety scientist; COVID-19 and ibuprofen (Advil) drug safety
  • Vaccine efficacy and safety; vaccine clinical trials

Guy Faulkner
Professor, School of Kinesiology
Email: guy.faulkner@ubc.ca

  • Impact of COVID-19 on movement behaviours (physical activity; sedentary behaviour) across the lifespan

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

Farinaz Havaei
Assistant Professor, School of Nursing
Email: farinaz.havaeu@ubc.ca

  • Nursing workplace conditions (including in long-term care), staffing shortages, workplace mental health and safety

*unavailable Friday morning through 2:30 p.m.

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

  • Infectious disease prevention and vaccination; 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
  • Ethics of vaccine rollout and access

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

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

Dr. Teresa Tsang
Professor, Department of Medicine
Tel: 604-875-5067
Email: t.tsang@ubc.ca

  • COVID detection and prognostication through imaging and AI

Psychology and mental health

Anne Gadermann

Assistant Professor, School of Population and Public Health
Scientist, Centre for Health Evaluation & Outcome Sciences
Email: anne.gadermann@ubc.ca

  • Impact of the pandemic on parent and child mental health and well-being

Azim Shariff
Associate Professor, Department of Psychology
Email: shariff@psych.ubc.ca
Tel: 604-616-9354

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

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

Seniors and older adults

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
  • Impact of COVID-19 on long-term care

Treatment and vaccine development

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

Sarah Hedtrich
Assistant Professor, Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences
Email: sarah.hedtrich@ubc.ca

  • Using animal models and human-based models to study Covid, and what can be done on this end to be better prepared for future pandemics

*unavailable Thursday 11 a.m.-2 p.m.

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
  • Recipient of Genome Canada Grant to study new phylogenetic methods in HIV and HCV molecular epidemiology
  • Molecular epidemiology and evolutionary genetics of infectious diseases
  • Evolution in medicine and public health
  • Evolutionary and phylodynamic analyses of coronaviruses, HIV, HCV, and other pathogens

Dr. Richard Lester
Associate Professor, Department of Medicine, Division of Infectious Diseases (Physician-researcher)
Cell: 778-836-2005
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. Srinivas Murthy
Clinical Associate Professor, Department of Pediatrics; Investigator and pediatrician at BC Children’s Hospital
Email: srinivas.murthy@cw.bc.ca

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
  • Member of an international research team performing studies on 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

Penny Gurstein
Professor, School of Community and Regional Planning
Email: penny.gurstein@ubc.ca