Our research aims to prevent foodborne infections and related diseases in Canadian and international contexts, and to enhance public health practice both broadly and within environmental health.
Learn more about these topics through our publications.
Projects
Sequelae of foodborne infections
Project title: Beyond diarrhea, to disability and death: uncovering the hidden health consequences of foodborne infections
Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) project grant, 2018-2023
Principal investigators: Shannon Majowicz; Eleni Galanis (UBC)
University of Waterloo lead researcher: Mahmood Gohari
Co-investigators: Dimitra Panagiotoglou, Jonathan Chan, Ashok Chaurasia, Steen Ethelberg, Gilaad G Kaplan, Scott Leatherdale, David Patrick.
This is a longitudinal cohort study, across the population of British Columbia, determining what fraction of people develop serious consequences (known as sequelae) following a foodborne infection, what this costs the health system, and what risks infected Canadians face.
Learn more about the sequelae of foodborne infections project.
Foodborne disease in Africa (FOCAL)
Project title: Foodborne disease epidemiology, surveillance and control in African low-middle-income countries (LMIC)
Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and UK aid from the UK Department for International Development, 2018-2023
Principal investigator: Tine Hald (Technical University of Denmark)
Collaborating institutions: University of Waterloo (Shannon Majowicz and Binyam Desta), Technical University of Denmark, Haramaya University, Eduardo Mondlane University, Mountain Top University, Kilimanjaro Clinical Research Institute, University of Pretoria, Otago University
FOCAL is an international collaboration of investigators who are working to estimate the burden of foodborne disease in four African low-middle-income countries (LMIC) by combining different microbiological and epidemiological methods. The aim is to establish best practice approches in LMICs for estimating the public health burden of foodborne diesese; determine disease burden, risk factors, sources (food, animals and environment) and transmission routes for foodborne pathogens causing diarrhea in children less than 5 years old in four African LMIC; make reccomendations for the future of foodborne disease survelience; and promote cross-sectorial collaboration through data sharing.
Learn more about the FOCAL project.
AMResilience
Project title: Comparative assessment of social-ecological resilience and transformability to limit antimicrobial resistance in one health systems (AMResilience Project)
Funded by the Joint Programming Initiative on Antimicrobial Resistance (JPIAMR), via the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, 2018-2022
Principal investigators: Shannon Majowicz; Jane Parmley (University of Guelph)
University of Waterloo lead researcher: Irene Lambraki
Collaborating institutions: University of Waterloo (Shannon Majowicz, Irene Lambraki, Melanie Cousins, Sara Abdelrahman), University of Guelph (Jane Parmley), Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences and the Stockholm Resilience Centre (Peter Søgaard Jørgensen, Tiscar Graells, Patrik Henriksson, Max Troell), University of Geneva (Didier Wernli, Anaïs Leger), University of Geneva Hospitals and Faculty of Medicine (Stephan Harbarth), Public Health Agency of Canada (Carolee Carson), WorldFish (Patrik Henriksson)
Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is a threat to human, animal and environmental health globally. This project assesses principles of resilience and transformability in selected high-income and lower-middle income contexts. This is part of the Joint Programming Initiative on Antimicrobial Resistance (JPIAMR).
Learn more about the AMResilience project.
Understanding milk product consumption
Project title: Students, schools, and society: using a multi-level systems approach to understanding milk product consumption and reasons for under-consumption among Canadian high school students
Dairy Farmers of Canada research funding program, 2018-2020
Principal investigator: Shannon Majowicz
Co-investigators: Scott Leatherdale, Samantha Meyer, Susan Elliott