André Picard is the health columnist at The Globe and Mail and the author of six bestselling books. He is a graduate of the University of Ottawa and Carleton University and has received honorary doctorates from eight universities, including UBC and the University of Toronto. In 2023, André was appointed to the Order of Canada for his dedication to improving healthcare. 

Dr. Meena Dawar is a Medical Health Officer with Vancouver Coastal Health (VCH) and is responsible for the immunization, tobacco and Healthy Schools programs at a regional level. She is also a Clinical Associate Professor with the School of Population and Public Health at the University of British Columbia.
 
She received her MD from Dalhousie University; completed her Family Medicine training at Queen’s University and her Master’s in Health Sciences and Public Health Residency Training at UBC. 

Ève Dubé is a professor of Anthropology at Laval University in Quebec City, Canada and a researcher at the Centre de recherche du CHU de Québec-Université Laval. Her field of expertise is anthropology of public health. She is particularly interested in the social, cultural, historical and religious dimensions of infectious disease prevention. 
 
She holds a Canadian Institute of Health Research Applied Public Health Chair on the Anthropology of Vaccination. Since 2014, she has chaired the Social Science and Humanities Network of the Canadian Immunization Research Network. 
She sits on several Canadian (e.g., National Advisory Committee on Immunization, Canadian Association for Immunization Research and Evaluation) and international (e.g., WHO’s Strategic and Technical Advisory Group on Infectious Hazards, WHO-Europe ETAGE) as an expert of vaccine acceptance. 

Dr. James A. Mansi is Vice President of Medical Affairs for the UK, Australia, and Canada at Moderna. With more than 25 years of experience in Medical Affairs, James has played a pivotal role in the development and introduction of over eight novel vaccines. He is passionate about addressing knowledge and data gaps to support evidence-based clinical and public health decision making.

Since joining Moderna in early 2021, James has contributed to the advancement of mRNA science across several geographies. Prior to this, he served at Seqirus, where he led the development of the company’s real-world evidence (RWE) program and founded the Centre for Outcomes Research and Evaluation.

James holds a PhD in physiology and endocrinology from Université Laval in Québec City.

Milan Patel, Director of Pandemic Vaccine and Therapeutic Readiness at the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC), is an accomplished medical countermeasures expert with over 20 years of experience in public service. In this role, he provides leadership on industry engagement and vaccine readiness for emerging and re-emerging pandemic threats such as coronaviruses, influenza, mpox and other vaccine-preventable diseases, and in collaboration with Health Emergency Readiness Canada, supports key biomanufacturing initiatives to enhance pandemic vaccine and therapeutics preparedness and response in Canada. 
  
Milan’s career has included collaboration with national and international partners to coordinate policy, scientific, and regulatory aspects of medical countermeasure (MCM) research, development and acquisition for PHAC and the Department of National Defence. Notably, his previous roles have included working as an Epidemiologist on the National Advisory Committee on Immunization, providing scientific and regulatory leadership on MCM acquisition to support Canada’s National Emergency Strategic Stockpile, and supporting the development of Ebola MCMs with PHAC and the Department of National Defence. Milan holds a Master of Science in Infectious Diseases from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.