Aerosol School 2023 Virtual is now available. Upon registration, private YouTube links to the presentations will be sent to you by email.

Faculty Bios

Myrna Dolovich is Professor of Medicine (Part-time) in the Faculty of Health Sciences, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario and associated with the Firestone Institute of Respiratory Health. She is an Electrical Engineer (McGill University, 1963) and worked initially in research in the Cardio-Respiratory Department at the Royal Victoria Hospital in Montreal, joining McMaster University in 1968. Her research at McMaster involves inhaler characterization and performance, investigations into the behaviour of therapeutic aerosols in patients with asthma and COPD with special interest in the measurement of drug delivery to the lung using 2D Planar and 3D PET imaging. Current work involves investigations of the delivery of vaccine aerosols as well as the function of ciliated epithelial cells in COPD. She was involved in the design and characterization of the Aerochamber™, a holding chamber spacer device for pressurized inhalers used worldwide by patients with respiratory disease. She has published 145 book chapters and peer-reviewed papers in the medical literature and has spoken extensively on pulmonary drug delivery systems and imaging. She currently serves as Chair of the Canadian Standards Association (CSA) Technical Sub-Committee, the group that prepared the national standard for spacers (CAN/CSA Z264.1-02:2002) and other drug delivery devices. She is also Head of the Canadian Delegation to the Canadian Advisory Council for the ISO Technical Committee 84 that developed the standards for aerosol drug delivery devices (ISO 27427, ISO 20072). She is a member of the Health Canada Scientific Advisory Committee for Respiratory and Allergy Therapies (SAC-RAT) and has served on the Board of Directors of the International Society for Aerosols in Medicine (ISAM). Currently, she is a member of the Editorial Boards of the Journal of Aerosols in Medicine Pulmonary Drug Delivery and Pediatric Allergy, Asthma and Immunology. In 2006, she was awarded the AAAR/ISAM Thomas T Mercer Prize and in 2009, the ISAM Career Achievement Award. An ISAM Student Travel Award has been established in her name. She has organized and co-chaired 4 international meetings on drug delivery devices under the DIA umbrella and also for the AARC. In 2009, she arranged a 2-day teaching program for practical laboratory experience in aerosol basics, aerosol measurements and techniques, including applications to research and pharmaceutical laboratory and clinical settings. With contributions from the Aerosol School faculty, the program has been expanded and will be held for the 12th year in 2022.

mdolovic@mcmaster.ca

Mellissa Gomez is a Chemical Engineering PhD Candidate at McMaster University. She is currently studying the application of bacteriophages, viruses that infect bacteria. She has been fortunate to receive several scholarships, including the Ontario Graduate Scholarship. She previously received a Master of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Alberta working as part of the Particle Engineering Group. There she studied the stabilization of an experimental tuberculosis vaccine within an inhalable dry powder, which led to the publication "Development and Testing of a Spray-Dried Tuberculosis Vaccine Candidate in a Mouse Model" (Front. Pharmacol. [2022]). In her spare time, Mellissa spikes her anxiety through mountain biking instead of graduate school.

Adrian Goodey is a Principal Scientist in the Biopharmaceutics & Specialty Dosage Forms department of Merck Research Laboratories. In this role, Dr. Goodey has led analytical activities for a number of both early and late stage inhalation, nasal and long-acting parenteral product development teams. Prior to joining Schering-Plough in 2007, Dr. Goodey earned a B.Sc. in chemistry from Emory University, completed a Ph.D. in chemistry at the University of Texas at Austin, and then served as an American Chemical Society/ Petroleum Research Fund Alternative Energy Postdoctoral Fellow at the Pennsylvania State University. Dr. Goodey currently chairs the IPAC-RS Cascade Impaction working group. His research interests include the analysis of cascade impaction data, automation of inhaler testing and clinically relevant testing. To date, he has authored eighteen peer reviewed scientific articles and holds two patents.

Adrian.goodey@merck.com

My primary research training is as a physiologist. My MSc training was in the field of exercise physiology, investigating the factors limiting oxygen uptake during exercise. Following this, I switched to the study of ventilator mechanics for my doctoral studies. My interest at that time was the contribution to ventilation during exercise from the expiratory muscles. After my medical training, I switched my focus to the study of asthma. While I have been involved in several distinct research directions within the study of asthma, my prime interest has always been to better understand the mechanisms of airway hyperresponsiveness in asthmatic patients.

My research activities have included patient based clinical research. This has included looking at the impact of several pharmacological interventions on airway responsiveness, as well as using controlled allergen exposures to alter the degree of airway responsiveness in asthmatic patients. In addition to this, I have developed several mouse models of exposure to allergen. The focus of the animal model work has also been to understand that factors that result in airway hyperresponsiveness in allergen exposed mice. Currently, as well as ongoing interest in the basic mechanisms of airway hyperresponsiveness, I am interested in improved patient education as a means for improving control in asthma.

A major use of my time recently has been the development and running of a course on Research Methodology in Health Sciences. This course is aimed at beginning level graduate students, with the goal of providing greater insight into the processes of designing and running a research study.

During my research training, I held research awards from the National Science and Engineering Research Council as well as from the Canadian Respiratory Society and Medical Research Council of Canada. Since joining the faculty of Health Science at McMaster, I have held the positions of Assistant Professor, Associate Professor and now Professor. I have received funding for my research from the Canadian Thoracic Society, The Medical Research Council, the Canadian Institute of Health Research and from the US based National Institute of Health. I have published over 130 peer reviewed manuscripts relating to my research.

I am a chemical and biomedical engineer and the Canada Research Chair in Bacteriophage Bioengineering. My research is translational, spans across multiple disciplines and integrates engineering with microbiology, materials science, and chemistry. I obtained my PhD from McGill University with Dr. Nathalie Tufenkji (Tier 1 CRC in biocolloids) and Dr. Theo van de Ven (Sir William C. Macdonald Chair in Chemistry) and completed my postdoctoral training at the Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems in Stuttgart, Germany with Dr. Metin Sitti as CIHR fellow. I obtained over 12 scholarships/fellowships and awards during my doctoral and postdoctoral training. I joined the Chemical Engineering Department at McMaster University in July 2016.

My research program is focused on bacteriophage Bioengineering, bridging the gap between microbiology and engineering design. My research focuses on responding to two global biological threats, namely antibiotic-resistance and viral infections, by employing bacteriophages (bacterial viruses). For the past 2 years and in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, I have laid the foundation of a new research platform on bio-aerosols, funded by a CIHR project grant. As part of this research, we collaborate closely with the Canadian Standards Association (CSA) and served a members of the CSA standard development committee Z94.4.1 for developing the first Canadian standard for respirators. I am also a member of the Canadian Committee on Indoor Air Quality (CCIAQ).

Lynn Jordan is the Senior Applications Manager for Proveris Scientific Corporation, an instrument and laboratory service company that creates advanced testing solutions for OINDP drug development and manufacturing. Lynn is responsible for supporting Proveris customers' applications efforts, developing new applications and providing support pertaining to OINDP product development and analysis. Lynn has an extensive background in analytical chemistry and developing protocols and applications. Lynn has a bachelor's degree in Analytical chemistry. In addition to her current role at Proveris she has over 30 years of experience in laboratory scientific instrumentation and automation.

Lei is a Director of Inhalation Science and Product Development at Recipharm Laboratories based in the Research Triangle Park, North Carolina, US where he heads the inhalation and product development function. Prior to joining Recipharm, Lei worked as a manager in the Pulmonary and Nasal Department at Catalent Pharm Solutions, US (2008-2018), a principal scientist and team leader at Vectura plc, UK (1998-2007) and a section head at TEVA (IVAX), UK (1996-1998). Over last twenty years, Lei has headed the development function for inhaled dosage forms including complex metered dose inhalers, dry powder inhalers, nebulizers and soft mist inhalers and supported launching of inhalation products in the US market. Lei head the R&D function in a TEVA's (IVAX's) joint-venture in China until started to work in UK in 1996.

Lei's has over twenty year experience in formulation and inhalation product development in pharmaceutical industry, presents and publishes extensively in conferences, webinars, book chapters, peer reviewed journals and conference proceedings. He is a named inventor for several techniques published in fourteen patents granted worldwide.

Lei is a current IPAC-RS board member. He received a Pharmacy degree from China Pharmaceutical University and a Ph.D. in Pharmaceutical Sciences from Shenyang Pharmaceutical University, China.

Andrew Martin, PhD PEng, is an Assistant Professor in Mechanical Engineering at the University of Alberta in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. He is licensed as a Professional Engineer by the Association of Professional Engineers and Geoscientists of Alberta (APEGA). He completed his PhD in 2008 at the Aerosol Research Laboratory of Alberta (UAlberta). From 2008-2013 he worked in industrial R&D, based first in France and then in the United States, on projects related to medical device development, inhalation drug delivery, and clinical and preclinical programs investigating new applications of therapeutic gases in medicine. In 2014, he returned to the University of Alberta in his current role, where his main research interests are in development and in vitro testing of inhalation drug delivery systems, as well as in the prediction of regional aerosol deposition and clearance within the respiratory tract.

Andrew has published widely on diverse topics related to aerosols in medicine, regularly presents at international conferences, and is lead or co-inventor on several granted and pending patents. In 2013, he received the ISAM Young Investigator Award in recognition of his research contributions. He has served as an ISAM Board Member since 2015, and in the role of General Secretary since 2017. He was a member of the organizing committee for the 2017 ISAM Congress in Sante Fe, and co-organized special symposia on medical aerosols at the 2017 American Association for Aerosol Research Annual Conference in Raleigh and at the 2018 International Aerosol Conference in Saint Louis. He currently serves on the Editorial Board of the Journal of Aerosol Medicine and Pulmonary Drug Delivery.

Jolyon Mitchell operates his own private consultancy business, Jolyon Mitchell Inhaler Consulting Services Inc., from London Ontario Canada. He has been an adjunct professor at the University of Western Ontario since 2006. He is also an affiliate professor at the Daniel K. Inouye College of Pharmacy of the University of Hawai'i (Hilo Campus), where he taught an elective postgraduate course on medical aerosol physics in early 2015.

Until October 2013, he was Scientific Director of Trudell Medical International, with responsibility for all aspects of in vitro aerosol testing. He is involved in several industry-wide organizations involved with inhaled medical aerosol delivery, in particular the European Pharmaceutical Aerosol Group (EPAG) as well as serving as Scientific Adviser to the International Pharmaceutical Aerosol Consortium on Regulation and Science (IPAC-RS). He played a major part in the development of a Canadian Standard for Spacers and Holding Chambers (CAN/CSA Z264.1-02:2002, revised 2008). He is currently a Canadian delegate to ISO/TC121/SC2, having been involved with the development of a standard (ISO 27427) specifically for nebulizers. He also helped develop ISO 20072:2009, a standard for the design and evaluation of the other forms of orally inhaled product.

He is Chair of the Aerosols sub-committee of the General Chapters Committee at the United States Pharmacopeia (2015-2020 session), He is currently completing the development of an informational chapter <1602> covering spacers and valved holding chambers. He is also involved with the development of a potential new chapter covering Good Cascade Impactor Practices for the USP.

He is a Fellow of the UK Royal Society of Chemistry, a Chartered Scientist, a founder member of the UK-Irish Aerosol Society and a member of the Gesellschaft für Aerosolforschung, American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists (Inhalation Technology Focus Group) and the American Association for Respiratory Care (AARC).

His technical interests are primarily in particle sizing methods, experiment design and data interpretation, as well as inhaler performance characterization in the laboratory using methods that provide clinically meaningful data. He has published more than 450 articles in the open literature, of which about 140 are in peer-reviewed journals and 14 are invited review articles. He is co-editor of a book on Good Cascade Impactor Practice, the Abbreviated Impactor Measurement (AIM) and Effective Data Analysis (EDA) concepts. He has contributed to six books on aerosol science and medical inhalers. He also has an interest in human factors-related aspects of inhaler design, in particular for their use by elderly patients.

mitchelljolyon@gmail.com
Tel: +1-519-472-5364;   Mobile : +1-519-619-4560

Dr Helen Neighbour graduated from University College London Medical School in 1997. She undertook specialist training in Respiratory and General Internal Medicine in London. She completed a PhD in respiratory immunopharmacology and allergic airway diseases at The Royal Brompton Hospital and Imperial College London. Since June 2009 she has been working in the Department of Medicine at McMaster University undertaking both clinical and research work. Her specialist interest within Respiratory Medicine is asthma and the measurement of airway inflammation, with particular interest in the relationship between nasal disease and asthma and the treatment of allergic disease.

Dr. Conor Ruzycki (PhD, mechanical engineering) is an engineering research scientist focused on in vitro, in silico, and nonclinical models for aerosol drug development, infectious disease, and inhalation toxicology. A Killam Scholar, he received his PhD from the University of Alberta in 2022 under the supervision of Dr. Warren Finlay and Dr. Andrew Martin. His dissertation explored advanced experimental and computational methods for better characterizations of inhaled pharmaceutical aerosols.

Now at Lovelace Biomedical Research Institute, he continues to develop improved research techniques in a number of areasrelated to inhalation exposure and aerosol science, including nose-to-brain delivery, gene therapies, tobacco product characterization, and infectious disease models. During the COVID-19 pandemic, he regularly partook in numerous initiatives to help explain the science behind aerosols in infectious disease, with his advocacy and outreach activities leading to appearances in Canadian national media. He enjoys lecturing and teaching on topics related to aerosol science, and is a strong advocate for interdisciplinary collaborations in approaching difficult research problems.