Alexandra King, MD, FRCPC of the Nipissing First Nation (Ontario) is the inaugural Cameco Chair in Indigenous Health and Wellness at the University of Saskatchewan where she combines her expertise in Indigenous health and wellness research, along with her training as an Internal Medicine Specialist, to approach complex issues using both Two-eyed Seeing and Ethical Space. This approach provides an innovative springboard from which a complementary exploration of underlying health determinants, intersectionality and end-manifestations can be undertaken. Her work promotes reconciliation, healing, wellness, wholistic care and self-determination, at the individual, family, community and nation levels.
Dr. King is also a Principal Investigator on several CIHR and other grants related to Indigenous people and wellness in the context of drug use, HIV, HCV and co-infections. In addition, she consults clinically is HIV/AIDS, hepatitis C (HCV) and HIV/HCV co-infections and has co-created shared models of care and focuses on improving healthcare access and utilization for those under-served by the system (e.g., rural/remote communities, inner cities, Indigenous women). Dr. King serves on many local and national initiatives, including CanHepC, CTN Health for People Who Use Drugs Working Group (co-lead), and the CIHR HIV/AIDS Research Advisory Committee.
Linda Chelico received her Ph.D. (Applied Microbiology) in 2004 from the University of Saskatchewan. She conducted her postdoctoral training at the University of Southern California in the laboratory of Myron F. Goodman where she examined the “benefits of mutation” using HIV-1 replication restriction by promutagenic APOBEC3 DNA deaminases as a model system. In 2009, she accepted a faculty position at the University of Saskatchewan and is now an Associate Professor in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology and a Co-lead of the Saskatchewan HIV/AIDS Research Endeavor (SHARE). Prof. Chelico’s research aims to understand the relationship of the host restriction factors in the APOBEC3 family with HIV-1, the impact of different APOBEC3 genotypes on HIV-1 infection, and the mechanisms by which APOBEC3 can restrict HIV-1 replication. Research projects span biomedical research aimed at understanding virus-host interactions, biochemical and structural studies on host and viral proteins, and development of new HIV therapies.
