David Knoppert, MScPhm, FCCP, MSc
Betty Ann Rafuse, BScPhm, MBA
Gideon Koren, MD, FRCPC
Donald B. Davis, MD, FRCSC
Carole Boyer, B.B.A
 Anick Bérard, PhD FISPE
Jean-Jacques Dugoua, HBSc ND PhD (cand.)
Alicja Fishell, MD, FRCPC
Shinya Ito, MD, ABCP, FRCPC
Cam Battley, President, Health Strategy Group, Inc.
Doreen Matsui, MD, FRCPC
Alejandro Nava-Ocampo, MD

	Chair Pregmedic DAVID KNOPPERT, MScPhm, FCCP, MSc President Mr. David Knoppert received his Bachelor of Pharmacy degree from the University of Toronto in 1980. He then completed a Residency in Hospital Pharmacy at University Hospital in London and began as a staff pharmacist at The Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto. In 1986, he completed an MScPhm from the University of Toronto where he worked in Clinical Pharmacology with Drs. Michael Spino and Stuart McLeod. In 1986, he became the NICU Liaison Pharmacist at St. Joseph's Hospital in London. In 2004, he completed his MSc-Clinical Epidemiology from The University of Western Ontario. He is an Assistant Professor in the Departments of Paediatrics and Medicine at the University of Western Ontario. Research Interests Mr. Knoppert's research interests are in the areas of neonatal therapeutics (pharmacokinetics, pharmacodynamics), the effects of drugs in pregnancy on the newborn and drugs and breastfeeding. Research Activities Current and proposed research projects include the study of babies who have been exposed to methadone in utero, a clinical trial of clonidine for methadone withdrawal and a multi – centre dose response study of domperidone use to enhance breast milk production. E-mail: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
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	BETTY ANN RAFUSE BScPhm, MBA Executive Director Betty Ann Rafuse has practiced pharmacy since 1971 and developed an expertise in the area of regulatory affairs in Canada by working at Health Canada. Over that time, she has worked with two international pharmaceutical companies to obtain registrations for prescription pharmaceuticals, biologics, OTCs and medical devices.  Betty Ann founded BBKJ Consulting Services Inc, a pharmaceutical consulting company, in November 2005. Prior to founding BBKJ Consulting Services Inc., Betty Ann was employed for five years with Sanofi-Synthelabo, as Vice President of Regulatory Affairs and Quality Control. Responsibilities at Sanofi included regulatory affairs, provincial government, reimbursement strategies, managed care, customer interface, pharmacovigilance, clinical trials, information services, and quality control.  Prior to joining Sanofi,   Betty Ann was employed by Novopharm Limited for five years, as Director of International Regulatory Affairs and Business Development responsible for strategic alliances with global pharmaceutical companies and expanded her international experience into the Middle East and Eastern Europe.  Prior to Novopharm, Betty Ann was employed by Health Canada as Chief of Drug Regulatory Affairs.  Betty Ann is a graduate of University of Toronto with Masters Degree in Business Administration and a Bachelor of Science degree in pharmacy. Betty Ann Rafuse is the Executive Director of the Canadian Alliance for the Safe and Effective Use of Medications in Pregnancy and Breastfeeding (Pregmedic.org). E-mail: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
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	GIDEON KOREN, MD, FRCPC Director, Motherisk Program Dr. Koren is the founder and director of the Motherisk Program and professor of Pediatrics, Pharmacology, Pharmacy, and Medical Genetics at the University of Toronto. He is also the Richard and Jean Ivey Chair in Molecular Toxicology in the Schulich School of Medicine, at The University of Western Ontario, where he holds the rank of professor in Medicine and Pediatrics. He is a Senior Scientist of the Canadian Institutes of Health Research. Author of over 900 peer review scientific papers and editor of over a dozen medical books, Dr. Koren is one of very few Canadian physician-scientists whose career is dedicated to drug safety, the molecular mechanisms and clinical effects of adverse drug and chemical reactions, with focus on pregnancy and children. He is the Editor in Chief of the journal Therapeutic Drug Monitoring-Clinical Toxicology, and the new Journal of Foetal Alcohol Syndrome International. Dr. Koren has received numerous national and international awards for his work on drug safety. He serves as the Chair of the NIH review panel for Obstetric Pharmacology Research Units, and The Hospital for Sick Children"'s Foundation Scientific panel on pediatric Complementary and Alternative Medicine. In 2000 Dr. Koren created the Canadian Research Network for Foetal Alcohol Syndrome ("FACE" - Foetal Alcohol Canadian Expertise). E-mail: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
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	DONALD B. DAVIS, MD, FRCSC Past-president, Society of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists of Canada (SOGC) Dr. Davis is currently a community Obstetrician and Gynaecologist in Medicine Hat, Alberta.  He graduated from the University of Alberta and completed an Internship at the Royal Jubilee Hospital in Victoria.  He took his residency training in New Orleans at Charity Hospital and also in Edmonton.  He was a board representative to the Alberta Medical Association and served on the Maternal-Foetal Medicine Committee.  His activities have included serving on Quality Care Committees of the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Alberta.  President of the Alberta Society of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists and council representative for the Society of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists of Canada. E-mail: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
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	CAROLE BOYER, B.B.A. Director, Corporate Affairs, Duchesnay Inc. Carole Boyer, as Director, Corporate Affairs, represents Duchesnay Inc., the only pharmaceutical company exclusively dedicated to the health and well-being of the pregnant woman and her unborn child. The vision of Duchesnay's founders to improve the quality of life of pregnant and nursing women while reducing the number of birth defects and impact on their newborns defines the Corporate purposes and initiatives of the Company. E-mail: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
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Anick Bérard, PhD FISPE

Anick Bérard holds a BSc in statistics from Université Laval, an MSc in clinical sciences from Université de Sherbrooke, and obtained a PhD in Epidemiology and Biostatistics from McGill University in 1999.  From 1999-2000, Dr. Bérard conducted post-doctoral work at Harvard School of Medicine in Boston, and was recruited in 2000 as assistant professor at the Albert Einstein School of Medicine in New York City.  In 2002, Dr. Bérard joined the Faculty of Pharmacy at the Université de Montréal and the CHU Sainte-Justine.  Anick Bérard is associate professor at the Faculty of Pharmacy of the Université de Montréal, chairholder of the Louis-Boivin family research chair on « Medications, pregnancy and lactation », and Director of the research unit on Medications and Pregnancy at the Research Center of CHU Ste-Justine. In addition, she holds a career award from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), and the Health Research Foundation of Canada.

Dr. Bérard's research program focuses on the study of the risks and benefits associated with medication exposure during pregnancy and lactation. The major research themes focus on depression, hypertension, hypercholesterolemia, diabetes, inflammatory diseases, infections, premature birth, smoking, and nausea and vomiting of pregnancy. Dr. Bérard's research program is funded by the CIHR, the FRSQ, and the National Cancer Institute of Canada.

Jean-Jacques Dugoua, HBSc ND PhD (cand.)

Dr. Jean-Jacques Dugoua, or Dr. JJ as he is affectionately known, is a researcher at the Motherisk Program at Sick Kids Hospital.  He is a licensed naturopathic doctor and the Clinic Director of the Liberty Clinic in downtown Toronto.  Dr. JJ is the first Naturopathic Doctor to practice at the Toronto Western Hospital in the Artist Health Center.  Dr. JJ is a co-author of "Herbal Medicines in Pregnancy and Lactation – An Evidence-based Approach First Edition" (Taylor & Francis, 2006), which is a collection of 75 systematic reviews published in one textbook.  Dr. JJ has over a dozen peer-reviewed scientific publications published or in press.  He is a leading expect on natural health products pharmacology and pregnancy safety.

Dr. JJ is an avid public speaker.  He has given over two-dozen presentations to pharmacists, medical professionals, government, academics, artists and musicians, students, teachers and the general public.  Dr. JJ has also given presentations internationally, including presentations at the World Health Organization in Washington DC.

Dr. JJ is currently working on his PhD in Pharmacy Sciences at the University of Toronto.  As part of his PhD research, Dr. JJ continues to investigate the safety of natural products during pregnancy and lactation at Sick Kids Hospital and he is conducting a clinical trial on the effects of cinnamon on type 2 diabetes at the Toronto Western Hospital.

Alicja Fishell, MD, FRCPC
Reproductive Life Stages Program, Women's College Hospital
Women's Mental Health Program, Department of Psychiatry, University of Toronto
Division of Clinical Pharmacology, Department of Medicine, University of Toronto

Dr. Alicja Fishell is a Staff Psychiatrist and the Education Coordinator in the Reproductive Life Stages Program in the Department of Psychiatry at Women's College Hospital and staff psychiatrist at Sunnybrook Health Science Centre.  She is a Lecturer in the Department of Psychiatry and Division of Clinical Pharmacology in the Department of Medicine at the University of Toronto.  After undergraduate degree in Biochemistry and doctoral work in the area of DNA structure and topology at University of Toronto, she received medical degree from University of Toronto in 1996 and fellowship in Psychiatry with focus on mood and anxiety disorders.

Her clinical interests include women's reproductive mental health and development of clinical services for integration and continuity of care for women experiencing mental illness in the transition from pregnancy to postpartum period.  As Education Coordinator she created and takes part in educational modalities in the reproductive mental health for residents in different medical specialties, in inter-professional education and public education.  She is a member of multiple education committees in the Department of Psychiatry and Internal Medicine at the University of Toronto.  She has been involved and published in multiple research projects in female paraphilias, in women's reproductive mental health and in obstetrics, including Characterizing Anxiety in the Perinatal Period, An evidence-based algorithm to quantify risk-benefit decision-making for use of antidepressant medication during pregnancy and lactation, and Sleep and Mood in Women Experiencing High-risk Pregnancy.

Shinya Ito, MD, ABCP, FRCPC
Hospital for Sick Children, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, CANADA

Dr. Ito is a Professor of Pediatrics, Medicine, and Pharmacology, University of Toronto, and Head, Division of Clinical Pharmacology & Toxicology, Hospital for Sick Children. He received his MD from Jichi Medical School, Japan, in 1979. He trained in Pediatrics, followed by Clinical and Research Fellowship in Clinical Pharmacology in Toronto under the mentorship of Dr. Gideon Koren. He joined the faculty in 1995. As a clinician-scientist, he focuses his research effort on breastfeeding pharmacology, ranging from molecular mechanisms of drug excretion into milk, to its pharmacokinetics and infant safety. His clinical safety studies address breastfeeding safety of drugs such as citalopram, St. John's wort, cyclosporine, and fluoxetine. Molecular studies from his research program revealed a network of drug transporting proteins in the human mammary gland, and unexpected link between osmolality and expression of drug metabolizing enzymes. He serves as a review member for various granting agencies such as the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) and NIH.

Cam Battley, President, Health Strategy Group, Inc.

Cam Battley is a health care sector management consultant who works with health care companies and not-for-profit organizations. He combines experience in government, non-governmental organizations, the biopharmaceutical industry, communications and patient advocacy.  His company's clients include national and international health professional and patient NGOs, innovative and generic pharmaceutical companies, biotechnology firms and medical device manufacturers, in North America, Europe, Asia and Africa.  Before founding Health Strategy Group, Cam was Vice President of Canada's largest health care communications firm. He has also served as Director of Communications for Eli Lilly Canada, and as Legislative Assistant to the Canadian Minister of Consumer and Corporate Affairs.

Cam is also the founder of Wind Gage Communications, Inc., a multimedia software company. He speaks frequently before select groups of health charity leaders and health industry executives in Canada, the United States and Europe.  He is a member of the Board of Campaign for Cancer (South Africa), is a past member of the Board of the Osteoporosis Society of Canada, and is an annual visiting lecturer at INSEAD in Fontainebleau, France.

Doreen Matsui, MD, FRCPC

Dr. Doreen Matsui received her Degree in Medicine from Queen's University in 1985. She completed a residency in paediatrics at the Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario (University of Ottawa) and a fellowship in paediatric clinical pharmacology at the Hospital for Sick Children (University of Toronto). She also has a Certificate in Clinical Epidemiology from the University of Western Ontario. She joined the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Western Ontario in 1993 and is a paediatrician and clinical pharmacologist at the Children's Hospital, London Health Sciences Centre. She is an Associate Professor in the Departments of Paediatrics and Medicine. She is an Associate Scientist in the Children's Optimal Therapeutics Program of the Child Health Research Institute and an Associate Scientist in the Lawson Research Institute in London. She is a member of the Research Ethics Board for Health Sciences Research Involving Human Subjects at the University of Western Ontario. Dr. Matsui is a paediatrician on the Paediatric Clinical Teaching Unit and is a member of the Pharmacy and Therapeutics Committee, London Health Sciences Centre. She is involved in education in the Department of Paediatrics, sitting on both the Paediatric Undergraduate Education Committee and Residency Program Committee. Dr. Matsui's research interests include drug therapy in children, medication compliance and the effects of drugs in pregnancy.

Alejandro Nava-Ocampo, MD

Bio to come