DR EMILIA LIANA FALCONE | SPEAKER
Dr. Emilia Liana Falcone is the Director of the IRCM Post-COVID-19 research clinic and the Director of the Microbiome and Mucosal Defense Research Unit at the Montreal Clinical Research Institute (IRCM). She is also an Assistant Clinical Professor in the Department of Medicine at Université de Montréal, an infectious diseases specialist at Centre Hospitalier de l’Université de Montréal (CHUM), and holds a Canada Research Chair in the Role of the Microbiome in Primary Immunodeficiency.
Dr. Falcone studied medicine at McGill University in Montreal and obtained a specialization in internal medicine at Tufts Medical Center in Boston, after which she spent 8 years at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), National Institutes of Health (NIH). During this time, she completed a fellowship in Infectious Diseases while also obtaining a Ph.D. at the University of Cambridge as an NIH-Oxford-Cambridge scholar. She then became an Assistant Clinical Investigator at the NIH as a recipient of the NIAID Transition Program in Clinical Research award and developed a unique research program focused on the role of the microbiota in the modulation of inflammatory complications in patients with inborn errors of immunity.
Dr. Falcone was recruited to the IRCM at the end of 2018 where she established a research program centered on 2 research objectives: 1) defining the role of the intestinal microbiota in driving disease severity in patients with inborn errors of immunity and 2) evaluating the impact of inborn errors of immunity on the function of the intestinal microbiota. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Dr. Falcone established the IRCM Post-COVID-19 (IPCO) research clinic, the first clinic of its kind in Montreal. The IPCO research clinic integrates the clinical evaluation of long-term COVID-19 complications with a research protocol and biobank aimed at understanding the disease mechanisms underlying the post-COVID-19 condition in order to identify new treatments. Dr. Falcone is also a member of the Biobanque Québécoise de la COVID-19 (BQC19) steering committee.
MARINA BOULOS-WINTON | SPEAKER
Marina Boulos-Winton is the Executive Director of Chez Doris, a shelter for women in difficulty, a position she has held since April 2015. Prior to this she was a course lecturer at the Université de Montréal in the Certificate of Philanthropy Program and a consultant for a variety of non-profit organizations. Between 2009 and 2012, she was the President & CEO of the Foundation of Greater Montreal. From 1997 and 2009, she was based in New York City, where she held positions as the Executive Director of the High Water Women Foundation, President and CEO of the national “I Have a Dream Foundation®,” and as an Assistant National Executive Director of the YWCA of the USA, and earlier, held senior executive positions with the national fundraising consulting firm, CCS Fundraising Inc. and with United Way of New York City. In Montreal, from 1993 to 1997, Marina was Executive Director of Le Bon Dieu Dans la Rue, and preceding this, served as Executive Director of Tel-Aide.
Since 2015, under Marina’s leadership, Chez Doris’ annual operating budget has increased from $950,000 to $6.6 million and now operates 24/7 to better serve the city’s vulnerable and homeless women. In 2022, Chez Doris will launch an emergency night shelter for homeless women with 24 beds as well as two permanent residences with a total of 66 affordable apartments for vulnerable women.
HOSTED BY SABRINA MARANDOLA
Host of CBC radio show “Let’s Go”, Sabrina knew she wanted to work in Journalism ever since she was 9 years old. She took part in public speaking competitions at her elementary school, and that’s where she discovered her passion for storytelling. Sabrina graduated, with distinction, from Concordia University with a joint specialization in Communications and Journalism. Her top grades earned her a CIBPA bursary, and she was also the only Canadian selected to take part in an international internship exchange program. Sabrina completed a two-month Communications & Journalism internship in Italy in 2004.
Her professional career began in print, before she entered broadcast journalism – working in radio and television. Sabrina currently works at CBC Montreal, where she has done it all from writer, broadcaster, news reporter, web journalist, traffic reporter, news reader, weather presenter, studio director, producer and radio host. When she is not working, Sabrina cannot get away from her Italian roots. She is a contributor for Panoram Italia Magazine. She loves to travel to Italy to visit her relatives…and she has a passion for pizza, high-heeled shoes, and dancing.
Trilingual conference (mix of French, English and Italian)
