BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH

Program Director/Principal Investigator: Simons, Elinor
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH
Provide the following information for the key personnel and other significant contributors in the order listed on Form Page 2.
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NAME
POSITION TITLE
Elinor Simons
Assistant Professor, Clinician Scientist
eRA COMMONS USER NAME (credential, e.g., agency login)
EDUCATION/TRAINING (Begin with baccalaureate or other initial professional education, such as nursing, and include postdoctoral training.)
INSTITUTION AND LOCATION
Queen’s University, Kingston, ON, Canada
University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Canada
University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Canada
University of Wisconsin-Madison, WI, USA
John Hopkins University, Baltimore, USA
State University of New York at Albany, USA
University of Toronto, ON, Canada
DEGREE
(if applicable)
BSc (Distinction)
MD
BSc (Med)
MSc (part-time)
PhD (03-2015*)
YEAR(s)
FIELD OF STUDY
1992-1995
1995-1999
1996-1999
1999-2002
2002-2004
2004-2008
2009-2014
Biochemistry
Medicine
Medicine
Pediatric Residency
Allergy and Immunology
Epidemiology
Clinical Epidemiology
*Defended successfully without revisions on
09-Dec-2014, graduation March 2015
A.
Personal Statement
I am a Pediatric Allergist with a clinical focus in childhood asthma, food allergies and other allergic conditions.
Last week, I successfully defended my PhD in Clinical Epidemiology and the thesis does not require revisions.
My research areas of interest include childhood asthma, food allergies and clinical epidemiology. My recentlycompleted projects include longitudinal analyses of cohort and administrative databases to evaluate the
associations between childhood asthma and modifiable environmental predictors, such as maternal secondhand smoke exposure during pregnancy and neighbourhood walkability.
I have conducted clinical assessments of asthma and allergy outcomes at the 3-year-old and 5-year-old visits
for the Canadian Healthy Infant Longitudinal Development (CHILD) cohort study. With completion of the 3year-old visits over the next few months, I have received preliminary approval to link CHILD cohort data with
Manitoba Centre for Health Policy (MCHP) administrative data to evaluate the representativeness of the
CHILD participants compared with children of the same age from their catchment areas and validate the
administrative definitions of incident asthma and allergic conditions.
I am also collaborating with clinicians and researchers at the University of Manitoba, University of British
Columbia, McMaster, McGill and University of Toronto to explore the effects of food allergy sensitization and
food avoidance as a risk of persistent food allergy in 5-year-old children participating in the CHILD study. We
also plan to evaluate immunologic predictors, such as epitope diversity, and develop a knowledge translation
platform regarding the pitfalls of testing for food allergies in the absence of symptoms.
I hope to be able to provide clinical and research expertise regarding longitudinal studies using cohort and
administrative healthcare databases, which I think will be a useful link between exposure-allergy associations
and evaluation of the epigenetic variants that modify and influence these associations.
B.
Positions and Honors
Positions
Instructor of Pediatrics and Medicine (during MSc), 2005-2006
Assistant Professor of Pediatrics and Medicine (during MSc), 2007-2008
Division of Allergy and Immunology, Albany Medical College, Albany, New York
0925-0001/0002 (Rev. 08/12)
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Biographical Sketch Format Page
Program Director/Principal Investigator: Simons, Elinor
Research Fellow, Child Health Evaluative Sciences 2009
Hospital for Sick Children Research Institute, Toronto, ON, Canada
Pediatric Allergy Consultant and Attending Physician (part-time during PhD), 2009 – 2013
Section of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, Department of Pediatrics and Child Health
University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, MB, Canada
Part-time Clinical Associate, Pediatric Asthma Clinic (during PhD) 2011 – 2012
Division of Respiratory Medicine, Department of Pediatrics, Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, Canada
Assistant Professor and Clinician Scientist, January 2014-present
Section of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, Department of Pediatrics and Child Health
University of Manitoba and Manitoba Institute of Child Health
Selected Research Awards
 Governor General’s Medal, St. John’s-Ravenscourt School, 1992
 Queen’s University Chancellor’s Scholarship, 1992-96
 Canada Scholar in Science and Engineering, 1992-96
 Children’s Hospital Research Foundation
o Undergraduate Summer Student Award, 1995
o B.Sc. (Med.) Student Award, 1996
o B.Sc. (Med.) Student Award, 1997
 University of Manitoba B.Sc. (Med.) Project
o Justice James Wilson Memorial Prize for outstanding project, Med. II, 1996
o Merck Sharp Dohme Award for best basic science project, Med. III, 1997
o Marion Huycke Ferguson Memorial Award, 1998
 American Academy of Pediatrics Resident Research Award, September 2000-September 2001
 American Academy of Pediatrics, Section on Allergy and Immunology
Outstanding Pediatric Abstract Award, March 2006
 University at Albany Annual School of Public Health Student Poster Day
Excellence in Research Award, Epidemiology & Biostatistics Division, April 2007
 New York State Department of Health, Maternal-Child Health MSc Research Award, January-August 2008
 University of Toronto, Health Policy, Management and Evaluation Research Day
1st Place Oral Presentation Award, May 2010
 Canadian Society of Allergy and Clinical Immunology Annual Scientific Meeting
1st Place Allergy and Anaphylaxis Poster Award, November 2010
 AllerGen 6th Annual Research Conference
2nd Place Abstract, Public Health, Ethics, Policy & Society, February 2011
 University of Toronto and Hospital for Sick Children
2nd Place Senior Trainee-Clinical, Paediatrics Research Day, May 2011
 University of Toronto, Health Policy, Management and Evaluation Research Day
1st Place PhD Poster (Gillian Hawker Award) in Clinical Epidemiology, May 2011
 Hospital for Sick Children Child Heath Evaluative Sciences Program
Exceptional Trainee Award, November 2011
 Canadian Society of Allergy and Clinical Immunology Annual Scientific Meeting
1st Place Asthma and Allergic Rhinitis Poster Award, October 2012
 University of Toronto, Health Policy, Management and Evaluation Research Day
1st Place Oral Presentation Award, May 2013
 AllerGen National Research Symposium
1st Place Abstract, Gene-Environment Interactions, October 2013
PHS 398/2590 (Rev. 09/04)
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Program Director/Principal Investigator: Simons, Elinor
C.
Selected Peer-reviewed Publications
Savani RC, Hou G, Liu P, Wang C, Simons FE, Grimm PC, Stern R, Greenberg AH, DeLisser HM, Khalil N. A
role for hyaluronan in macrophage accumulation and collagen deposition after bleomycin-induced lung
injury. Am J Respir Cell Mol Biol 2000;23:475-484. PMID: 11017912. (Research project during summer
studentship)
Simons E, Nauseef WM, Nguyen A, Gern JE. The “marble test” for gastric outlet obstruction in chronic
granulomatous disease. J Allergy Clin Immunol 2003;111:899-901. PMID: 12704376. (Project during
clinical residency)
Simons E, Spacek LA, Lederman H, Winkelstein J. Helicobacter cinaedi bacteremia presenting as macules in
an afebrile patient with X-linked agammaglobulinemia. Infection 2004;32:367-8. (Project during clinical
fellowship)
Matsui EC, Simons E, Rand C, Butz A, Buckley T, Breysse P, Eggleston PA. Airborne mouse allergen in the
homes of inner city children with asthma. J Allergy Clin Immunol 2005;115:358-63. PMID: 15696095.
(Research project during clinical fellowship, contributions included laboratory analyses, writing manuscript
methods and results sections and manuscript review)
Simons E, Schroth MK, Gern JE. Analysis of tracheal secretions for rhinovirus during natural colds. Pediatr
Allergy Immunol 2005;16:276-8. PMID: 15853960. (Research project during clinical residency)
Simons E, Furlong TJ, Weiss CC, Sicherer SH. Impact of ingredient labeling practices on food-allergic
consumers. Ann Allergy Asthma Immunol 2005;95:426-8. PMID: 16312164. (Research project during
clinical fellowship)
Simons E, Curtin-Brosnan J, Buckley T, Breysse P, Eggleston PA. Indoor environmental differences between
inner city and suburban homes of children with asthma. J Urban Health 2007;84:577-90. PMID: 17551839.
(Research project during clinical fellowship)
Simons E, Hwang SA, Fitzgerald EF, Kielb C, Lin S. The Impact of school building conditions on student
absenteeism in Upstate New York. Am J Public Health. 2010;100:1679-86. PMID: 20634471. (Master’s
thesis).
Coombs R, Simons E, Foty R, Stieb D, Dell SD. Socioeconomic factors and epinephrine prescription in
children with peanut allergy. Paediatr Child Health 2011;16: 341-344. PMID: 22654545. (Co-principal
author, contributions included literature review, study interpretation, writing of the manuscript, and
mentoring R Coombs for literature review, analysis, interpretation, and writing of the manuscript)
Simons E, To T, Dell S. The population attributable fraction of asthma among Canadian children. Can J Public
Health 2011;102:35-41. PMID: 21485964. (Research fellowship)
Simons E, Sicherer SH, Simons FER. Gradual transfer of responsibilities: At what age should an at-risk child
or teenager be able to recognize anaphylaxis and self-inject epinephrine? Annals Allergy Asthma Immunol
2012; 108:321-5. PMID: 22541402.
Simons E, Sicherer SH, Weiss C, Simons FER. Caregivers’ perspectives on timing the transfer of
responsibilities for anaphylaxis recognition and treatment from adults to children and teenagers. J Allergy
Clin Immunol Pract 2013; 1:309-11. PMID: 24565494.
Simons E, To T, Moineddin R, Stieb D, Dell S. Maternal second-hand smoke exposure in pregnancy is
associated with childhood asthma development. J Allergy Clin Immunol: Pract 2014; 2:201-7. PMID:
24607049.
PHS 398/2590 (Rev. 09/04)
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Program Director/Principal Investigator: Simons, Elinor
D.
Research Support
University of Manitoba and Manitoba Institute of Child Health Start-up Funds $60,000
January 1, 2014 to December 31, 2017
University of Manitoba University Medical Group Start-up Funds $30,000
January 1, 2014 to December 31, 2014
The two awards listed above are start-up funds to be used for evaluation of the longitudinal associations
between environmental exposures and childhood asthma and other allergic conditions, such as food allergies.
Dr. Simons, the primary investigator, is responsible for working with CHILD and MCHP to facilitate linkage of
the cohort and administrative datasets, working with MCHP statisticians to develop the analyses, and writing
and submitting the manuscript(s) for publication.
Hospital for Sick Children Research Institute, Research Training Centre $160,000
Restracomp Award, September 2009-August 2013
Canadian Thoracic Society $ 90,000
Doctoral Fellowship Award, September 2010-August 2012
AllerGen NCE Inc., Allergy, Gene and Environment Network $17,500
Canadian Allergy & Immune Diseases Advanced Training Initiative Award, August 2011- July 2012
AllerGen NCE Inc., Allergy, Gene and Environment Network $8,925
Canadian Allergy & Immune Diseases Advanced Training Initiative Award, August 2009-July 2010
The four awards listed above were doctoral funding for evaluation of the associations between childhood
asthma development and three environmental predictors: maternal home second-hand smoke exposure during
pregnancy, neighbourhood walkability and neighbourhood deprivation. Dr. Simons was responsible for
generating working datasets to conduct the analysis, writing the statistical code, conducting the analysis, and
writing and submitting the manuscripts for publication.
PHS 398/2590 (Rev. 09/04)
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