Allison McGeer

Allison McGeer FRCPC (born 1953) is a Canadian infectious disease specialist in the Sinai Health System, a Professor at the Dalla Lana School of Public Health and a Senior Clinician Scientist at the Lunenfeld-Tanenbaum Research Institute. McGeer has led investigations into the severe acute respiratory syndrome outbreak in Toronto and worked alongside Donald Low. During the COVID-19 pandemic, McGeer has studied how SARS-CoV-2 survives in the air.

Allison McGeer
Alma materUniversity of Toronto (BS, MSc, MD)
Known forPandemic response
Scientific career
InstitutionsSinai Health System
Dalla Lana School of Public Health
Lunenfeld-Tanenbaum Research Institute

Early life and education

In 1974, McGeer earned a B.Sc. in biochemistry from the University of Toronto.[1] She earned a master's degree and then an M.D. in 1982.[1][2] She trained in internal medicine and infectious diseases at the University of Toronto. From 1989 to 1990, McGeer was a clinical fellow in hospital epidemiology at Yale New Haven Hospital.[2]

Career

In 1989, McGeer joined the Sinai Health System, where she specialised in microbiology.[2] She holds a joint position as Professor of Infectious Diseases at the Dalla Lana School of Public Health.[3]

At the University of Toronto she focussed on developing mechanisms to stop the spread of infectious diseases in hospitals and care homes.[2][4] McGeer has studied the impact of influenza on hospital staff. She encouraged people of all ages to receive the universal flu vaccine and supported hospitals in improving their influenza testing.[5]

She is the director of infection control, and works as a microbiologist and infectious disease consultant at the Mount Sinai Hospital.

McGeer studies the prevention and management of bacterial and viral infections.[6] Her primary areas of research interest are the prevention of healthcare associated infection, the epidemiology of influenza, and adult immunization.

SARS & MERS

McGeer led the investigations into Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) in Toronto.[7][8][9][10] She was based at the Ontario SARS emergency operation centre. At the time, she contracted the disease,[11] and accidentally exposed several other health officials to the disease.[12] The health officials were quarantined and did not develop the disease. The basic reproduction number of severe acute respiratory syndrome-related coronavirus (SARS-CoV) was between 2.2 and 3.7, but super-spreading events (highly efficient transmission of the virus) occurred in some hospital settings.[13][14] McGeer believes that Toronto eliminated SARS by isolating people who were suffering or at risk from the virus, preventing its spread.[15] A study the critical care units of Toronto's hospitals found that the consistent use of N95 masks was an effective way to protect nurses.[13][16] During the 2013 MERS outbreak, McGeer visited Saudi Arabia with the World Health Organization to help to track the spread of the virus.[17][18][19] Through careful monitoring of the air, food and water supply, McGeer helped to control the spread of the virus.[17]

COVID-19 pandemic

Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic McGeer provided health advice to the Canadian public.[20][21][22] In late January 2020, McGeer expressed concerns over the ability to contain SARS-CoV-2,[23][24] particularly the unknown incubation period, which makes it difficult to track and quarantine people who have been exposed.[25] In early March she emphasised the need for Canadians to follow public health advice to prevent the widespread transmission of SARS-CoV-2.[26] According to McGeer the most important guidance was to limit social contact and stay at home when feeling unwell.[21][26][27]

In March 2020, McGeer started to investigate how long SARS-CoV-2 can survive in air.[28] She was interested in how exhaled droplets, which contain both water and the virus, may become an infective aerosol that is light enough to be transported by air currents.[28] Caroline Duchaine, an aerosol specialist at the Université Laval, thinks that the virus may not be as potent in aerosol form, losing parts of its spiky protein shell as it dries out in the air.[28] McGeer and Duchaine are interested in how the virus survives in air in a hospital setting, particularly around patients who are being intubated.[28] She hopes her research will provide insight as to whether face masks should be worn to reduce the transmission of the virus.[28] At the time, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention were considering whether to advise members of the public to wear masks when they left the house, and they had been made mandatory in the Czech Republic.[29]

Membership
  • Canada's National Advisory Committee on Immunization[2]
  • Ontario Provincial Infectious Diseases Advisory Committee, infection control subcommittee, member[2]

Awards

Selected works and publications
  • Chen, Danny K.; McGeer, Allison; de Azavedo, Joyce C.; Low, Donald E. (1999-07-22). "Decreased Susceptibility of Streptococcus pneumoniae to Fluoroquinolones in Canada". New England Journal of Medicine. 341 (4): 233–239. doi:10.1056/NEJM199907223410403. ISSN 0028-4793. PMID 10413735. Wikidata ()
  • Nuorti, J. Pekka; Butler, Jay C.; Farley, Monica M.; Harrison, Lee H.; McGeer, Allison; Kolczak, Margarette S.; Breiman, Robert F. (2000-03-09). "Cigarette Smoking and Invasive Pneumococcal Disease". New England Journal of Medicine. 342 (10): 681–689. doi:10.1056/NEJM200003093421002. ISSN 0028-4793. PMID 10706897. Wikidata ()
  • Poutanen, Susan M.; Low, Donald E.; Henry, Bonnie; Finkelstein, Sandy; Rose, David; Green, Karen; Tellier, Raymond; Draker, Ryan; Adachi, Dena; Ayers, Melissa; Chan, Adrienne K. (2003-05-15). "Identification of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome in Canada". New England Journal of Medicine. 348 (20): 1995–2005. doi:10.1056/NEJMoa030634. ISSN 0028-4793. PMID 12671061. Wikidata ()
  • Assiri, Abdullah; McGeer, Allison; Perl, Trish M.; Price, Connie S.; Al Rabeeah, Abdullah A.; Cummings, Derek A.T.; Alabdullatif, Zaki N.; Assad, Maher; Almulhim, Abdulmohsen; Makhdoom, Hatem; Madani, Hossam; Alhakeem, Rafat; Al-Tawfiq, Jaffar A.; Cotten, Matthew; Watson, Simon J.; Kellam, Paul; Zumla, Alimuddin I.; Memish, Ziad A. (August 2013). "Hospital Outbreak of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus". New England Journal of Medicine. 369 (5): 407–416. doi:10.1056/NEJMOA1306742. PMC 4029105. PMID 23782161. Wikidata ()
  • Alhazzani, Waleed; Møller, Morten Hylander; Arabi, Yaseen M.; Loeb, Mark; Gong, Michelle Ng; Fan, Eddy; Oczkowski, Simon; Levy, Mitchell M.; Derde, Lennie; Dzierba, Amy; Du, Bin; Aboodi, Michael; Wunsch, Hannah; Cecconi, Maurizio; Koh, Younsuck; Chertow, Daniel S.; Maitland, Kathryn; Alshamsi, Fayez; Belley-Cote, Emilie; Greco, Massimiliano; Laundy, Matthew; Morgan, Jill S.; Kesecioglu, Jozef; McGeer, Allison; Mermel, Leonard; Mammen, Manoj J.; Alexander, Paul E.; Arrington, Amy; Centofanti, John E.; et al. (2020). "Surviving Sepsis Campaign: Guidelines on the management of critically ill adults with Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19)". Intensive Care Medicine. 46 (5): 854–887. doi:10.1007/s00134-020-06022-5. PMC 7101866. PMID 32222812.
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References
  1. "Pandemic 3.0". University of Toronto Medicine Magazine. Faculty of Medicine. 26 March 2014.
  2. "Staff Directory: Allison McGeer". eportal.mountsinai.ca. Retrieved 2020-04-06.
  3. "Allison Mcgeer | Institute of Health Policy, Management and Evaluation". ihpme.utoronto.ca. Retrieved 2020-04-06.
  4. "| Laboratory Medicine and Pathobiology --- University of Toronto". www.lmp.utoronto.ca. Retrieved 2020-04-06.
  5. "Dr. Allison McGeer answers common questions about the flu and the flu shot". Sinai Health. 2018-10-17. Retrieved 2020-04-06.
  6. "Coronavirus Q and A: We asked experts to answer some of your most pressing questions. Here's what they had to say". thestar.com. 2020-01-27. Retrieved 2020-04-06.
  7. Reuters (2003-05-27). "New Sars warning in Toronto". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2020-04-06.
  8. "Canadian scientist remains cautious of new coronavirus: 'It is very reminiscent of SARS'". ottawacitizen.com. Retrieved 2020-04-06.
  9. Krauss, Clifford (2003-04-24). "The Sars Epidemic: The Overview; Travelers Urged to Avoid Toronto Because of Sars". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2020-04-06.
  10. McGeer, Allison (2004-07-15). "Let Him Who Desires Peace Prepare for War: United States Hospitals and Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Preparedness". Clinical Infectious Diseases. 39 (2): 275–277. doi:10.1086/421784. ISSN 1058-4838. PMC 7107923. PMID 15307039.
  11. Mackay, Brad (2003-05-13). "SARS: "a domino effect through entire system"". CMAJ. 168 (10): 1308–1308–a. ISSN 0820-3946. PMC 154202. PMID 12743085.
  12. "A specialist on front line forced to fight her own battle against SARS". Retrieved 2020-04-06.
  13. Poutanen, Susan M.; McGeer, Allison J. (2004). "Transmission and Control of SARS". Current Infectious Disease Reports. 6 (3): 220–227. doi:10.1007/s11908-004-0012-7. ISSN 1523-3847. PMC 7089465. PMID 15142486.
  14. Raboud, Janet; Shigayeva, Altynay; McGeer, Allison; Bontovics, Erika; Chapman, Martin; Gravel, Denise; Henry, Bonnie; Lapinsky, Stephen; Loeb, Mark; McDonald, L. Clifford; Ofner, Marianna (2010-05-19). "Risk Factors for SARS Transmission from Patients Requiring Intubation: A Multicentre Investigation in Toronto, Canada". PLOS ONE. 5 (5): e10717. Bibcode:2010PLoSO...510717R. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0010717. ISSN 1932-6203. PMC 2873403. PMID 20502660.
  15. "WORLD: How doctors trace an outbreak". ThoroldNews.com. Retrieved 2020-04-06.
  16. Loeb, Mark; McGeer, Allison; Henry, Bonnie; Ofner, Marianna; Rose, David; Hlywka, Tammy; Levie, Joanne; McQueen, Jane; Smith, Stephanie; Moss, Lorraine; Smith, Andrew (2004). "SARS among Critical Care Nurses, Toronto". Emerging Infectious Diseases. 10 (2): 251–255. doi:10.3201/eid1002.030838. ISSN 1080-6040. PMC 3322898. PMID 15030692.
  17. "The mysteries of microbiology: Q&A with Professor Allison McGeer | Laboratory Medicine and Pathobiology --- University of Toronto". www.lmp.utoronto.ca. Retrieved 2020-04-06.
  18. Branswell, Helen (2013-06-04). "WHO expert team, including Canadian, in Saudi investigating MERS outbreak". CTVNews. Retrieved 2020-04-06.
  19. "Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) virus investigation". ScienceDaily. Retrieved 2020-04-06.
  20. "Can you have coronavirus and not feel sick? A doctor answers your COVID-19 questions". CBC. 2020-03-18. Retrieved 2020-04-06.
  21. Nanowski, Natalie (2020-03-12). "The COVID-19 pandemic: What it is, who's at risk, and how you can protect yourself". Retrieved 2020-04-06.
  22. "The 2019 coronavirus is not like SARS - Dr. Allison McGeer". Mayjorad Pharmacies. Retrieved 2020-04-06.
  23. "U of T infectious disease expert Allison McGeer on coronavirus risks – and uncertainties". University of Toronto News. Retrieved 2020-04-06.
  24. Branswell,STAT, Helen. "Experts Warn of Possible Sustained Global Spread of New Coronavirus". Scientific American. Retrieved 2020-04-06.
  25. "Containing new coronavirus may not be feasible, experts say". STAT. 2020-01-26. Retrieved 2020-04-06.
  26. Miller, Adam. "'The time is now to act': COVID-19 spreading in Canada with no known link to travel, previous cases". CBC News. Retrieved 2020-04-06.
  27. Ireland, Nicole. "COVID-19: The latest guidance for Canadians on travel, quarantines and what to do if you have symptoms". 2020-03-12. Retrieved 2020-04-06.
  28. "Scientists look for signs of air transmission of COVID-19". The Globe and Mail Inc. 2 April 2020. Retrieved 2020-04-06.
  29. "The coronavirus question: To mask or not to mask". Macleans. Retrieved 2020-04-06.
  30. "Toronto's 30 Best Doctors". Toronto Life. 2014-03-05. Retrieved 2020-04-06.
  31. "May Cohen Award for Women Mentors". Canadian Medical Association. 2015.
  32. "AMMI Canada Lifetime Achievement Award". Association of Medical Microbiology and Infectious Disease Canada. 2016.
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