​ABOUT IFHAB WORKSHOP
The Interdisciplinary Freshwater Harmful Algal Blooms Workshop is a yearly meeting of scientists focusing on the study of cyanobacterial and other harmful algal species in freshwater environments. During this workshop, researchers from different disciplines will present their most recent studies, including harmful algal blooms monitoring and fate, ecology, analytical method development and drinking water treatment. The workshop will take place in an informal environment, aiming to help researchers expand their networks and learn from the different areas affecting this complex environmental threat.

ORGANIZING COMMITTEE

​Daniel Beach​, National Research Council of Canada
Daniel is a Research Officer in the Biotoxin Metrology group of the National Research Council Canada in Halifax, Nova Scotia. His research focuses on the development of analytical mass spectrometry methods and reference materials for the analysis of marine and freshwater biotoxins in seafood and the environment. Recently, he has become involved in a broad range of interdisciplinary collaborations across multiple sectors to address emerging concerns around toxic cyanobacteria in Atlantic Canada and beyond. This has included research into toxic benthic cyanobacteria, the improved detection of polar classes of toxins and the development of non-target analysis methods using high-resolution mass spectrometry.
R. Michael McKay​, University of Windsor
R. Michael McKay is Executive Director and Professor at the Great Lakes Institute for Environmental Research at the University of Windsor. Prior to that, he served on the faculty at Bowling Green State University (OH, USA) for 21 years where he held an endowed Professorship. Professor McKay received undergraduate- and graduate degrees in Biology from Queen’s University at Kingston (Canada) and McGill University (Montréal, Canada), respectively. Upon completion of his doctoral work, he held postdoctoral fellowships at the University of Alaska Fairbanks and with the University of Delaware where he served concurrently at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Brookhaven National Laboratory on Long Island, NY. From his roots in ocean science, Professor McKay’s research expanded to include large lakes on his return to the Great Lakes basin where his contributions to the field of environmental microbiology have advanced our current understanding of the dynamics of cyanobacterial harmful algal blooms in Lake Erie, including the role of cyanophage as agents of bloom decline which threatens the security of our potable water supply
David McMullin, Carleton University
David is a natural products chemist studying chemical interactions between microorganisms (mainly cyanobacteria and fungi) and their environment through the biosynthesis of secondary metabolites. David received his PhD in Chemistry from Carleton University in 2014 where his studies focused on toxins produced by fungi common in damp buildings. After a post-doctoral fellowship abroad in Austria David joined Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (Charlottetown, PE) in 2017 before returning to the Carleton University Department of Chemistry as an assistant professor in 2018.​
Sebastien Sauvé, University of Montreal
Sébastien Sauvé is Associate Dean of Research and Creation of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences of the Université de Montréal. He is full professor in Environmental Chemistry at the Université de Montréal and outgoing academic director of the Institut EDDEC (environment, sustainable development and circular economy). He is also foreign correspondent to the Académie d’Agriculture de France. He has studied at McGill University and Cornell University. He directs a group of about twenty students and researchers that work on a variety of subjects going from contaminated soils, circular economy, blue-green algae, ultratrace analysis using mass spectrometry, as well as the impacts of emerging contaminants on health and the environment. He received the AFCAS Michel-Jurdant Prize in environmental sciences.​
René Shahmohamadloo, Washington State University & University of Guelph
René is both a Liber Ero Postdoctoral Fellow and NSERC Postdoctoral Fellow at Washington State University and the University of Guelph. His research aims to advance our understanding of human-induced environmental change on ecological and evolutionary processes in wildlife. Specifically, René researches pollution-driven adaptation, or “evolutionary ecotoxicology”, which seeks to understand the role of adaptation in organisms that enable populations to thrive in anthropogenically-stressed ecosystems. His work focuses on understanding the biology of harmful algal blooms and the evolutionary and toxicological responses on organisms exposed to them. René additionally serves on the Board of Directors for the International Association for Great Lakes Research.
​Dana F. Simon, University of Montreal
Dana F. Simon is the project manager of a large-scale research project on Algal Blooms, Treatment, Risk Assessment, Prediction and Prevention Through Genomics (ATRAPP) financed by Genome Québec and Genome Canada. She holds a Ph.D. in Environmental Sciences from the University of Geneva and a postdoctoral degree from the Université de Montréal.  Ms. Simon has over eight years of applied research experience and more than three years in program management. As a coordinator of an NSERC CREATE program, a program focused on the sustainable development of the mining industry, Ms. Simon collaborated on several strategic committees and participated in the organization of numerous workshops, courses and conferences.​
Susan (Boyd) Watson
​Dr. Sue Watson has over 40 years’ experience with eutrophication, taste-odour (T&O) and harmful algal/cyanobacterial blooms (HABs) in relation to nutrient management, climate change and source-water protection in a diversity of waterbodies. While at Environment and Climate Change Canada, she established and led Federal research in these areas, incorporating molecular, biochemical, physiological, taxonomic, and ecosystem-based approaches to address causes, controls, ecophysiology, costs and prediction of T&O, toxins and HABs, the species involved and their bioactive compounds (toxins, inhibitors, antioxidants, grazer deterrents etc.) which affect drinking- and recreational water quality and safety. With over 120 peer-reviewed publications as articles, book chapters, special journal issues and reports, she has collaborated with international, national, and local governments, industry, academia and stewardship groups, and specialty organizations (International Water Association, American Waterworks Association, World Health Organization, International Joint Commission, International Association of Great Lakes Research). She has served on editorial and advisory boards, taught, trained and advised students and staff, and given presentations and workshops in North America, Asia and Europe. 
Arthur Zastepa, Environment and Climate Change Canada
​Dr. Zastepa is a research scientist at the Canada Centre for Inland Waters at Environment and Climate Change Canada. Dr. Zastepa is actively involved in collaborative work on cyanobacterial and harmful algal blooms and source-water impairment in large aquatic systems across Canada, particularly those of binational importance. Dr. Zastepa’s research examines the factors regulating the abundance and diversity of microbes, their chemical ecology, and the fate and consequences of toxins and other bioactive metabolites produced in these aquatic systems. Dr. Zastepa has developed expertise in the application of bioanalytical technologies and paleolimnological tools to aquatic ecosystem research and has led the design and execution of large-scale field studies and surveys.

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