Post-Market Drug Evaluation Advisory Committee

The Post-Market Drug Evaluation (PMDE) Advisory Committee is a multi-disciplinary group that provides credible, strategic PMDE advice and expertise to CADTH on queries, strategic initiatives, and key priority areas.

The members of the Advisory Committee include decision-makers, applied researchers, methodologists and/or analysts, patients and/or caregivers, clinicians, industry representatives, PMDE Network (CoLab) members, and PMDE Operations Centre staff. Its size and composition reflect the program’s commitment to be operationally responsive to changes in the pharmaceutical environment, and position CADTH to enable future-ready health care by responding to the evidence needs of decision-makers.

PMDE Advisory Committee reports to the CADTH president and CEO. Members must abide by the Conflict of Interest Policy and guidelines for CADTH Expert Committee and Panel  Members and the CADTH Code of Conduct.

• PMDE Advisory Committee Terms of Reference 
• CADTH Conflict of Interest Guidelines 
• CADTH Code of Conduct

Chair

Dr. Ran Goldman

Dr. Ran Goldman is a professor of pediatrics, a clinician-investigator and pediatrician, with a fellowship in pediatric emergency medicine and clinical pharmacology and toxicology. He did his specialized training in Toronto, and served as a staff physician at the Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids). He was then recruited to BC Children’s Hospital as the Chief of Emergency Medicine. Dr. Ran Goldman also served as the Assistant Dean of Continuing Education at the University of British Columbia. He is currently the University’s Co-Chair of the Division of Pediatric Translational Therapeutics in the Faculty of Medicine, and a member of the BC Children’s Hospital Research Institute.

Dr. Ran Goldman completed a Master of Health Research Methodology and trains numerous students in conducting effective research. His research program focuses on pain in the acute care setting and his lab findings resulted in an improved pain management approach for children worldwide. With more than 150 peer-reviewed publications, Dr. Ran Goldman does not only discover, but successfully disseminates, his team’s findings into clinical practice guidelines for children with pain in the acute care setting. He is leading the world’s largest online resource for acute care medication research — Pediatric Research in Emergency Therapeutics (PRETx.ORG).

Members

Dr. Colleen Metge

Colleen graduated with a degree in pharmacy from the University of Alberta in 1975. After working front-line pharmacy (hospital and community) and then with the professional organization of pharmacists in BC, she enrolled in a doctoral program in pharmaceutical policy at the University of Maryland in Baltimore in 1990. Obtaining her PhD with an emphasis on epidemiology and economics, Colleen then accepted a position at the University of Manitoba, Faculty of Pharmacy, where she stayed in a tenured position until 2009 teaching ethics, epidemiology, economics and pharmacy administration, and undertaking a myriad of health services research. Her first project with the Manitoba Centre for Health Policy was to ready the Drug Programs Information Network (DPIN) administrative data for research purposes (Medical Care 1999).

Dr. Colleen Metge retired from the university in 2009 to take the position of Director, Research & Evaluation with the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority (WRHA). Before her retirement from the WRHA in June 2017, she managed an embedded research unit of 12 PhD/masters level colleagues who provided health services research and evaluation to Winnipeg’s health authority and the province of Manitoba. She continues in her role as research scientist and associate professor at the Manitoba Centre for Health Policy and the Department of Community Health Sciences, Max Rady College of Medicine, University of Manitoba, and has an active research program. Dr. Colleen Metge is the author of 112 peer-reviewed publications and of numerous technical reports for government. In addition, she has served as both chair and committee member on the Michael Smith Foundation for Health Research’s Innovation to Commercialization grant review committee and the Expert Advisory Committee for the Vigilance of Health Products (Health Canada). She currently also reviews applications for Research Manitoba’s Innovation Proof- of-Concept grants and the Canadian Institutes of Health Research’s (CIHR’s) Public, Community and Population Health (PH2) Committee.

Jean-Eric Tarride

Trained as a health economist, Jean-Eric Tarride (MA, PhD) is a Professor of Health Economics and Health Technology Management at McMaster University in the Department of Health Research Methods, Evidence, and Impact (HEI), and McMaster Chair in Health Technology Management. Jean-Eric is the Director of the Centre for Health Economics and Policy Analysis (CHEPA) at McMaster University, and the Director of the Programs for Assessment of Technology in Health (PATH), The Research Institute of St. Joe’s Hamilton, St. Joseph’s Healthcare Hamilton.

His primary research interests are in methods for the economic evaluation of health technologies and programs, real-world evidence generation, and re-assessments. Dr. Jean-Eric Tarride has authored more than 180 peer-reviewed journal articles related to economic evaluations of health care programs and has successfully collaborated with clinicians and academics by providing economic leadership in more than 70 peer-reviewed grants. He has received several grants from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), the Ontario Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care and other public funding agencies. In addition to his academic expertise, Dr. Jean-Eric Tarride has worked for more than 10 years in the pharmaceutical industry in various roles including Director of Health Economics and Reimbursement at AstraZeneca Canada (July 2012-August 2014) and Senior Manager Outcomes Research at Pfizer Canada (2001-2005). He continues to act as a consultant for industry and governments. Before joining the PMDE advisory committee, he was a core member (Health Economist) of CADTH’s Health Technology Expert Review Panel (HTERP) from September 1, 2017 to August 31, 2022. He was also a member of the pan-Canadian Oncology Drug Review (pCODR) Economic Guidance Panel from 2015 to 2017.

Joan Paulin

Joan Paulin has an MBA in Finance, has been an active volunteer for many years, and has held executive positions on several not-for-profit boards.

She has been involved in the rare disease space since 2014 when her then 24-year-old daughter was diagnosed with severe pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH). Joan is currently on the Board of Directors at PHA Canada.

She has participated in Dr. Eric Hoskin’s National Pharmacare Consultation in 2018; CORD’s Patient Partner’s Leadership Program in 2020; CADTH’s Best Brains Exchange in 2021 and in a Pulmonary Hypertension Priority Setting Partnership in 2022. She participated in the drafting of submissions to Health Canada (National Pharmacare); CADTH (Supplemental Process); and the PMPRB. Joan is passionate about improving patient care across the spectrum of rare and chronic diseases from earlier diagnosis and access to new therapies to greater patient engagement throughout the drug development, approval, and funding processes.

She welcomes the opportunity to provide her input and to work with other equally passionate individuals on the Post Market Drug Evaluation (PMDE) Advisory Committee.

Frank Gavin

Frank Gavin has been involved in health care and health research, mainly as a volunteer, for over 25 years. In 1995 he joined the Family Advisory Committee to The Hospital for Sick Children, chairing it from 1997 to 2001. In 2002, Frank founded and then for six years chaired the Canadian Family Advisory Network (CFAN), which links family councils at pediatric centres across Canada. From 2011 to 2017 he was a public member of the Canadian Drug Expert Committee (CDEC) at the Canadian Agency for Drugs and Technologies in Health (CADTH). He directed the Citizen Engagement Program for CHILD-BRIGHT, the national Canadian Institutes for Health Research (CIHR) research network focused on children with brain-based developmental disabilities, from 2016 to 2021. He now serves on the inaugural Patient Advisory Committee of the Society for Medical Decision Making. In 2017 he received the Best Patient Reviewer Award from the BMJ. For nearly 30 years Frank taught English at Centennial College in Toronto.

Dr. Josee-Lyne Ethier

Dr. Josee-Lyne Ethier is a medical oncologist at the Cancer Centre of Southeastern Ontario and Associate Professor at Queen’s University in the Department of Oncology. She holds a Master of Science (MSc) in Clinical Epidemiology and Health Care Research from the University of Toronto. Her research program focuses on the evaluation of cancer care delivery and real-world effectiveness of new anticancer therapies, and she has authored multiple publications in peer-reviewed journals. She has been the recipient of national Operating and Project grant funding from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) and is a member of the CIHR College of Reviewers.

She sits on multiple provincial committees including the Ontario Health – Cancer Care Ontario Gynecologic Disease Site Advisory Group, as well as national and international committees including the Investigational New Drug Committee of the Canadian Cancer Trials Group, and the Ovarian Cancer Task Force of the National Cancer Institute Gynecologic Cancer Steering Committee.

Michelle Pashovitz

Michelle Pashovitz is currently the Manager, Drug Review and Appropriate Use with the Drug Plan and Extended Benefits Branch within the Saskatchewan Ministry of Health. Michelle is a practising pharmacist and holds a Bachelor of Science in Pharmacy (BSP) from the University of Saskatchewan. Following completion of her BSP, Michelle went on to complete a hospital pharmacy residency. After a number of years in hospital practice, she pursued a Master’s in Business Administration. She has practised in both hospital and community-based practices, and has served on a number of committees and boards.

Samir Khan

Samir Khan is the Director of Policy with Health Canada’s Office of Pharmaceuticals Management Strategies. He has been with Health Canada for over 12 years, leading policy, legislative and research teams in the subject areas of mental health, controlled/addictive substances, and pharmaceuticals. Samir holds a PhD, specializing in behavioural neuroscience and pharmacology, has co-authored numerous peer-reviewed publications and book chapters, and is a member of the University of Ottawa’s Faculty of Medicine.

Craig Simon

Dr. Craig Simon obtained his PhD in pharmacology and toxicology from Queens University in 1995. He joined Health Canada in 1996, initially in the role of a reviewer for drug submissions and then as Manager of the Division of Biopharmaceutics Evaluation. Dr. Craig Simon has worked as associate director in the Office of Clinical Trials, the Bureau of Pharmaceutical Sciences, and the Bureau of Metabolism, Oncology and Reproductive Sciences, and recently served as the Director of the Bureau of Pharmaceutical Sciences. In 2020, he joined the Marketed Health Products Directorate and is currently acting as the Director of the Health Products Surveillance and Epidemiology Bureau. Dr. Craig Simon has also served as an expert resource for WHO and the USP and as co-chair of the International Generic Drug Regulators Pilot (IGDRP) Bioequivalence Working Group.

Adrienne Stevens

Adrienne Stevens is a clinical epidemiologist and methodologist. She serves as the Methods Lead for the National Advisory Committee on Immunization (NACI), an external advisory body to the Public Health Agency of Canada. In her role, she provides scientific oversight to working groups and NACI secretariat staff in the recommendation development process and undertakes methodological research relevant to NACI’s mandate. Her career experience has focused on evidence synthesis to support health care decision-making for a variety of local, provincial, national, and international commissioners, and she has held leadership and methodological roles within Cochrane. Adrienne has a PhD in Epidemiology.

Virginie Giroux

Virginie Giroux is currently the Director, Health Economic and Outcomes Research at Merck Canada Inc., where she leads the team that develops economic evidence and evaluations for Health Technology Assessment agencies and payers in Canada. She is also responsible for the development and execution of local value evidence generation strategies in support of policy and patient access, including early input into clinical trial design for pipeline products.

Virginie started her career as a health economist, key account manager, and team lead with Brogan Inc. (now IQVIA). She then joined Merck in March 2009 as a health economist. At Merck, Virginie has held roles of increasing responsibilities within the patient access department. She is active within the industry association and has been an industry representative on the RWE Steering Committee for the past 2 years. Virginie holds a Bachelor of Business Administration from H.E.C. Montréal, and a Master of Science in Economic Sciences from Université de Montréal.

Jefferson Tea

Jefferson Tea is currently Vice-President Medical and Scientific Affairs at Takeda Canada Inc., leading Medical Affairs, Evidence Generation, Real-World Evidence, Regulatory, Medical Information/Pharmacovigilance and Quality Assurance.

He has over 20 years of medical-marketing-market access experience in the bio-pharmaceutical industry in multiple therapeutic areas: cardiovascular, diabetes, gastroenterology, immunology, rheumatology, nephrology, neuroscience, rare diseases, vaccines, plasma-derived therapies, and oncology. He previously worked with multinational companies such as Amgen, AstraZeneca, Pfizer, MDS Pharma and Fournier Pharma, at the Canadian, US and global levels.

Dr. Nicole Look Hong

 Dr. Nicole Look Hong is a surgical oncologist with a focus on the care of patients with breast cancer and melanoma. She is an associate professor in the Department of Surgery at the University of Toronto, with a faculty position at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre in the Division of General Surgery. She has a master’s degree in clinical epidemiology, and fellowship training in surgical oncology from Massachusetts General Hospital, Brigham and Women's Hospital, and the Dana Farber Cancer Institute. She also completed additional research training in health economics at the Harvard School of Public Health and the London School of Economics and Political Science. Her academic portfolio centres around health economic evaluations, health services research, and surgical innovation related to cancer care, as well as active involvement in the design and conduct of clinical trials. She is also an active educator and is the Co-Program Director for the University of Toronto Complex General Surgical Oncology Fellowship training program.

Erica Craig

 Erica Craig is the Director of Pharmacy for the New Brunswick Cancer Network at the Department of Health. Erica is a pharmacist with more than 10 years of experience in oncology, most recently focusing on public drug reimbursement policy and implementation. She is a member of the CADTH Provincial Advisory Group, which provides advice to the Pharmaceutical Advisory Committee about operational issues and informs strategic and policy direction. Erica holds a BSc in Pharmacy from Dalhousie University and an MSc in Epidemiology from Queen’s University. Prior to joining the Department of Health, she worked in both hospital and community pharmacy practice settings.

Dr. Tijana Fazlagic

Dr. Tijana Fazlagic is the Executive Director of Therapeutic Assessment and Access, part of the Pharmaceutical, Laboratory, and Blood Services division at the British Columbia Ministry of Health. Dr. Fazlagic is a pharmacist with a Bachelor of Science degree in Pharmacy from the University of Saskatchewan and a Doctor of Pharmacy degree from the University of Florida. Dr. Fazlagic also completed a Master of Science degree at the University of Saskatchewan, with a focus on chemobotanical profiling of medicinal marijuana, and a graduate certificate in Health Systems Leadership at the Royal Roads University. Dr. Fazlagic joined the Ministry of Health in 2006, and her current responsibilities include leadership of formulary management, specialty medicines, precision medicine, and genetic services, as well as the business team. Dr. Fazlagic represents British Columbia on various provincial and national committees.

Mélanie Caron

Mélanie Caron holds a Doctor of Pharmacy (PharmD) degree from the Université de Montréal and completed additional studies in management and governance. She has over 20 years of management experience at various health and social service institutions and provincial organizations. Before joining INESSS, she held the position of Special Advisor with the Ministère de la Santé et des Services sociaux du Québec. She was also awarded an EXTRA fellowship by the Canadian Foundation for Healthcare Improvement. Mélanie is a member in good standing of the Ordre des pharmaciens du Québec and the Canadian Institute of Corporate Directors, and joined INESSS in 2022 as Assistant Director, Drug and Technology Reimbursement Review Directorate.

Robert Platt

Robert Platt holds the Albert Boehringer I chair in Pharmacoepidemiology and is a professor in the departments of Pediatrics and of Epidemiology, Biostatistics, and Occupational Health at McGill University. He received his PhD in Biostatistics from the University of Washington.

Dr. Platt has supervised more than 50 research trainees in epidemiology, biostatistics, and statistics. His research focuses on developing statistical methods for causal inference in observational studies and in clinical trial data. His recent research addresses both broad methodological topics in pharmacoepidemiology and statistical issues specific to pediatric and perinatal epidemiology. Dr. Platt is Principal Investigator of the Canadian Network for Observational Drug Effect Studies (CNODES, a PMDE Core Network Partner). From 2011 to 2022, he was the leader of the Methods Team for CNODES. Dr. Platt has authored or co-authored more than 400 articles in peer-reviewed journals on various statistical topics.

Dr. Platt has served as the President of both the Society for Pediatric and Perinatal Epidemiology and the Statistical Society of Canada and is a Fellow of the American Statistical Association and the International Society for Pharmacoepidemiology. He serves as editor-in-chief of Statistics in Medicine is on the editorial board of the American Journal of Epidemiology and the International Journal of Biostatistics, and is an associate editor of Pharmacoepidemiology and Drug Safety. 

Dr. Sasha Bernatsky

Dr. Sasha Bernatsky is a rheumatologist, epidemiologist, and a James McGill professor of medicine at McGill University in the divisions of Rheumatology and Clinical Epidemiology. She is a member of the Centre for Outcomes Research and Evaluation (CORE) at the Research Institute of the McGill University Health Centre and a senior scientist affiliated with the Infectious Diseases and Immunity in Global Health Program. Dr. Bernatsky leads the CAN-AIM team (Canadian Network for Advanced Interdisciplinary Methods for comparative effectiveness research), a pan-Canadian research network initially funded by the Drug Safety and Effectiveness Network, a collaboration between the Canadian Institute of Health Research and Health Canada. CAN-AIM’s mandate is to study real-world outcomes of drug therapies. Dr. Bernatsky’s current work on post-market drug safety and effectiveness includes a national project to establish a registry of individuals exposed to biosimilar agents and their legacy drugs. CAN-AIM is a collaborator with CoLab, a network that is part of CADTH’s Post-Market Drug Evaluation Program, which provides evidence-based responses to questions and concerns raised by Canadian decision-makers about medications. Dr. Bernatsky is also a member of the Canadian Mother-Child Cohort (CaMCCo), which harnesses the power of provincial administrative data to improve medication safety in pregnancy, and CaMCCo-L, which provides a training environment for highly qualified personnel regarding drug safety and effectiveness in pregnancy.