About us.

We are a cross-disciplinary group of researchers, research institutes, non-profit organizations and industry with the aim to prepare Canada for any future health emergencies through our cross-border pathogen surveillance corridor.

We are fortunate to receive funding from the Stage 2 of the integrated Canada Biomedical Research Fund (CBRF) and Biosciences Research Infrastructure Fund (BRIF) competition. We are part of the Canadian Hub for Health Intelligence & Innovation in Infectious Diseases (HI³).

INSPIRE’s VISION

An end-to-end approach to build resilience in supply chains supporting Canadian biomanufacturing informed by pathogen surveillance, new detection technologies, effective cross-border trade policy and training industry-ready HQP

Our Thesis

Canadian biomanufacturing will not thrive without resilient supply chains
Canadian and US economies are integrated
Trade built on long-standing binational supply chains

INSPIRE’s PILLARS

Pathogen Surveillance

Integrate regional and cross-border surveillance platforms and enable pathogen monitoring at strategic locations of relevance to supply chains and trade

Detection Technologies

Develop a suite of complementary technologies to advance technology development in support of pathogen surveillance.

Supply Chain /Cross-Border Trade & Mobility

Bring together the data to develop the predictive algorithms that will inform the supply chain systems to act proactively.

Inform public policy to improve the flow of traffic and goods across our borders to grow a strong & competitive domestic biomanufacturing sector

INSPIRE Talent Network (ITN)

A high-impact, multidisciplinary training experience using the research and innovation occurring across INSPIRE partnerships to prepare industry-ready HQP.

Meet our team

INSPIRE Directors & Staff

R. Michael McKay

Director of INSPIRE
Director, Great Lakes Institute for Environmental Research;
Professor, School of the Environment, University of Windsor;
Principal Investigator, Great Lakes Center for Fresh Waters and Human Health, University of Michigan

Lawrence Goodridge

Co-Director of INSPIRE
Director, Canadian Research Institute for Food Safety;
Leung Family Professorship in Food Safety, University of Guelph

Jackie Fong

INSPIRE Program Manager

Rowena Hill-Ernesto

INSPIRE Talent Network (ITN) Coordinator – UWindsor

Siddhesh (Sid) Suresh Kadam

INSPIRE Talent Network (ITN) Coordinator – UGuelph

Team Members

William (Bill) Anderson

Professor Emeritus, University of Windsor;
Founder of the Cross Border Institute

Trevor Charles

Professor of Biology, University of Waterloo;
Director, The Waterloo Centre for Microbial Research (WCMR)

Monica Cojocaru

Professor of Mathematics, Associate Dean of Research and Graduate Studies, University of Guelph

Andrew Doxey

Associate Professor & University Research Chair, Department of Biology, University of Waterloo

Arezoo Emadi

Associate Professor, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Windsor

Marc Habash

Associate Professor, School of Environmental Sciences University of Guelph

Pooya Moradian Zadeh

Associate Professor, School of Computer Science, University of Windsor

Kenneth Ng

Professor, Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of Windsor

Lisa Porter

Distinguished Professor, Department of Biomedical Sciences, University of Windsor;
VP Research & Scientific Director, St. Joseph’s Health Care London

Fahad Razak

Internist, St Michael’s Hospital;
Canada Research Chair in Healthcare Data and Analytics, University of Toronto.

Pouya Rezai

Associate Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Lassonde School of Engineering, York University

Anne Snowdon

Professor, Strategy and Entrepreneurship, University of Windsor;
Scientific Director & CEO, Supply Chain Advancement Network in Health (SCANH);
Academic Chair, World Health Innovation Network (WIN), Odette School of Business