As of January 1, 2023, the COVID-19 Immunity Task Force (CITF) has officially entered a final phase with completion of all activities expected by March 31, 2024. Previous governance structures of the CITF, including the Executive Committee, Working Parties and Co-Chairs completed their mandates on December 31, 2022, with the Leadership Group having finished up its mandate in June 2022.

For the period January 1, 2023 to March 31, 2024, the CITF Secretariat and the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) have established a governance structure that jointly oversees the management of this final phase.

Secretariat

The Secretariat’s mandate

The Secretariat provides scientific and administrative support to the CITF. It is housed at McGill University’s School of Population and Global Health and is supported by funds from the Public Health Agency of Canada.

Executive Director

Photo of Timothy Evans

Timothy Evans

Executive Director

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Scientific Leads & Advisors

Bruce Mazer

Bruce Mazer

Associate Scientific Director, Strategy

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Olivia Oxlade

Olivia Oxlade

Associate Scientific Director, Management

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David Buckeridge

Scientific Lead, Data Management & Analysis

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Catherine Hankins

Knowledge Translation Advisor

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Administrative and Scientific Team

Caroline Phaneuf

Communications & Knowledge Translation

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Anna Birnie-Lefcovitch

Anna Birnie-Lefcovitch

Senior Manager, Administration and Governance

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Ahmed Moustafa Ahmed

Ahmed Moustafa Ahmed

Research Assistant

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Varun Anipindi

Varun Anipindi

Senior Research Advisor

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Alexis Palmer-Fluevog

Jaspreet Jain

Research Associate

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Carolina Mancini

Carolina Mancini

Project Manager

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Tanya Murphy

Tanya Murphy

Research Associate

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David Nguyen

David Nguyen

Senior Awards Officer

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Jeanie Quach

Jeanie Quach

Research Associate

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Hanna Swail

Research Assistant

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Previous CITF Governance Structures & Members

Executive Committee

The Executive Committee (EC) was originally the CITF’s final decision-making body and it advised and oversaw governance of the CITF. Its mandate concluded on December 31, 2022. The EC comprised two Co-Chairs, the Executive Director, a PHAC representative, the Chief Scientist of Canada, and four additional members of the original CITF Leadership Group (LG).

Working Parties

The CITF established Working Parties (WPs) in Field Studies, Vaccine Surveillance, and Immune Science and Testing. Their mandate concluded on December 31, 2022.

Leadership Group

The CITF Leadership Group included experts from across Canada in matters related to serologic surveillance, immunology, virology, infectious diseases, public health, and clinical medicine. It also included ex-officio members representing agencies of the Government of Canada, including the PHAC, the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), and the office of the Chief Scientific Advisor to the Prime Minister, as well as representatives of Provincial-Territorial Ministries of Health, and McGill University (host of the Secretariat). The CITF Leadership Group concluded activities in June 2022.

Indigenous Advisory Circle

The work of the Indigenous Advisory Circle (IAC) was initiated in 2020 and formally concluded in 2021.