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Profiles

Caroline Quach-Thanh

Caroline Quach-Thanh is a Canadian microbiologist and public health official. She is the former chair of the National Advisory Committee on Immunization (NACI), having first served as a member and then vice-Chair since 2017.[1] In this role, she oversaw the development of usage guidelines for COVID-19 vaccines in Canada.

She is employed at CHU Sainte-Justine as Medical Lead in the Infection Prevention and Control Unit[2] and at the Institut national de santé publique du Québec (INSPQ) in the divisions of healthcare-associated infections and immunization.[3] She is an adjunct professor in the McGill University Department of Epidemiology, Biostatistics and Occupational Health,[4] and is a fellow of the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences.[5] She was a member of the COVID-19 Expert Panel.[6]

History

In 2014, Quach-Thanh received an award for excellence in research from the Montreal Children's Hospital Foundation. This was announced in an employee newsletter whose front cover featured Pfizer as the publication’s sponsor.[7]

Dr. Quach co-authored a 2015 paper discussing vaccination of premature babies. She discloses having previously received funding from AbbVie, GlaxoSmithKline, Pfizer, and Sage Therapeutics in the form of research grants or “support for unrelated research projects.”[8]

In 2016, Quach-Thanh was awarded the John Embil Mentorship Award in Infectious Diseases by the Canadian Foundation for Infectious Diseases.[9] She served as president of the Association for Medical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases Canada (AMMI) from March 2016 - May 2018.[10]

In 2017, Quach-Thanh co-authored a study reviewing existing guidelines and recommendations for the use of antiviral medications for influenza.[11]

Quach-Thanh was Principal Investigator in a study examining how sex differences affect influenza vaccines, with a study period from April 1, 2018 - March 31, 2020. For this, she received a $149,815.00 grant from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research.[12][13]

In December 2018, Quach-Thanh co-delivered a presentation with Matthew Tunis at the Canadian Immunization Conference titled “What's new with NACI?” describing the recent expansion of NACI's roles and responsibilities.[14][15]

COVID-19

Quach-Thanh is a Leadership Group member of the COVID-19 Immunity Task Force, serving as chair of the Vaccine Surveillance Reference Group (VSRG).[16] While serving as chair of the National Advisory Committee on Immunization (NACI) in June 2020, Quach-Thanh received a $2,624,964.00 operating grant from the CIHR for a COVID-19 Rapid Research Funding Opportunity.[17] The funding was to last until May 31, 2021, and supported a variety of COVID-19-related initiatives

In August 2020, Dr. Quach co-authored a paper exploring a framework for “ethics, equity, feasibility, and acceptability” in the development of national vaccine guidance, with the intention of setting an international example.[18]

On November 1, 2020, Quach-Thanh was awarded the Canada Research Chair, Tier 1 in Infection Prevention and Control.[19] The focus of her project, “from Hospital to Community”, is minimizing healthcare-associated infections as well as evaluating the risks and benefits of vaccine regimens. She was awarded $1,400,000.00 for the period of November 1, 2020 - October 31, 2027 from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) under the Canada Research Chairs Program.[20]

She also received a $100,000.00 grant from the CIHR in November 2020 as a co-investigator for a project called “Deciphering the immunopeptidomic landscape of COVID-19 disease,” while she was still serving as NACI chair.[21][22]

On October 18, 2021, Quach-Thanh was quoted in a press release stating that PCR testing should be used in a school setting for asymptomatic students due to their relative sensitivity, whereas rapid antigen tests should be reserved for children displaying symptoms.[23]

Quach-Thanh previously served as medical director of the MUHC Vaccine Study Centre, a clinical research centre that had (at the time) ran “over 75” studies in vaccines and epidemiology.[24] She later became co-director, where she has presided over numerous COVID-19 vaccine studies.[25][26] Quach-Thanh herself led the REinfection in COVID‐19 Estimation of Risk (RECOVER) study, evaluating healthcare workers who have had COVID-19.[26:1][27]

Activities

Quach-Thanh is a donor to the CHU Sainte-Justine Foundation.[28]

Publications

  1. National Advisory Committee on Immunization (NACI): Membership and representation. (2021, February 3). Government of Canada. https://web.archive.org/web/20210203234834/https://www.canada.ca/en/public-health/services/immunization/national-advisory-committee-on-immunization-naci/naci-membership-representation.html ↩︎

  2. Biographie - Caroline Quach-Thanh, M.D., FRCPC, M.Sc. (2017). CHU Sainte-Justine. https://web.archive.org/web/20220130165446/https://www.chusj.org/Bio?id=c20462ad-ff6b-43c3-8d88-f4cad4a1d501&lang=fr ↩︎

  3. Boily, G. (2015, October 23). Vaccination contre les VPH: les faits. Institut national de santé publique du Québec. http://archive.vn/2022.03.22-060951/https://www.inspq.qc.ca/en/node/4549 ↩︎

  4. Caroline Quach. McGill University Department of Epidemiology, Biostatistics and Occupational Health. Retrieved March 21, 2022, from http://archive.vn/2022.03.21-222111/https://www.mcgill.ca/epi-biostat-occh/caroline-quach ↩︎

  5. Our Fellows and COVID-19. Canadian Academy of Health Sciences. Retrieved March 22, 2022, from http://archive.vn/2022.03.23-010803/https://cahs-acss.ca/covid-19/our-fellows-and-covid-19/ ↩︎

  6. COVID-19 Expert Panel. Government of Canada. Retrieved June 20, 2020, from https://web.archive.org/web/20200620110333/https://www.ic.gc.ca/eic/site/063.nsf/eng/h_98013.html ↩︎

  7. Rousseau, N. (2014). Édition spéciale : Les gagnants des Prix d’Excellence 2014. Montreal Children's Hospital Foundation. https://web.archive.org/web/20171023221344/http://www.hopitalpourenfants.com/sites/default/files/cheznous_mai_fr4.pdf ↩︎

  8. Gagneur, A., Pinquier, D., & Quach, C. (2015). Immunization of preterm infants. Human Vaccines & Immunotherapeutics, 11(11), 2556–2563. https://doi.org/10.1080/21645515.2015.1074358 ↩︎

  9. 2016 Embil Mentorship Award: Dr. Caroline Quach. (2016, March 9). Canadian Foundation for Infectious Diseases. http://archive.vn/2022.03.23-061916/https://www.researchid.com/awards/john-m-embil-mentorship-award-in-infectious-diseases/2016-embil-mentorship-award-dr-caroline-quach/ ↩︎

  10. Caroline Quach - Experience. LinkedIn. Retrieved March 21, 2022, from https://www.linkedin.com/in/carolinequach/details/experience/ ↩︎

  11. Kraicer-Melamed, H., Doll, M. K., Boikos, C., Winters, N., Frimer, L., Stirling, R., Gore, G., & Quach, C. (2017). A scoping review of existing guidelines and recommendations for the use of influenza antiviral medications. Official Journal of the Association of Medical Microbiology and Infectious Disease Canada, 2(2), 16–32. https://doi.org/10.3138/jammi.2.2.04 ↩︎

  12. Influenza immunization for all Canadians: Does One Size Fit All? (2018, April 1). Grants and Contributions. http://archive.vn/2022.03.21-214311/https://search.open.canada.ca/en/gc/id/cihr-irsc,236-2018-2019-Q1-00584,current ↩︎

  13. Influenza immunization for all Canadians: Does One Size Fit All? Dimensions. Retrieved March 21, 2022, from https://app.dimensions.ai/details/grant/grant.7646395 ↩︎

  14. CIC 2018 Final Program. (2018, November). Canadian Immunization Conference. https://web.archive.org/web/20220320193739/https://cic-cci.ca/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/CIC-2018-Final-Program.pdf ↩︎

  15. Quach-Thanh, C., & Tunis, M. (2018, December 5). What’s new with NACI? Canadian Immunization Conference. https://web.archive.org/web/20220418234836/http://cic2018.isilive.ca/files/270/Matthew Tunis.pdf ↩︎

  16. Vaccine surveillance Reference group (VSRG). COVID-19 Immunity Task Force. Retrieved March 21, 2022, from https://web.archive.org/web/20220121232011/http://www.covid19immunitytaskforce.ca/vaccine-surveillance-reference-group-vsrg/ ↩︎

  17. Canadian Institutes of Health Research. (2020, June 1). Operating Grant: COVID-19 Rapid Research Funding Opportunity - Diagnostics. Grants and Contributions. http://archive.vn/2022.03.21-215952/https://search.open.canada.ca/en/gc/id/cihr-irsc,236-2020-2021-Q1-00639,current ↩︎

  18. Ismail, S. J., Hardy, K., Tunis, M. C., Young, K., Sicard, N., & Quach, C. (2020). A framework for the systematic consideration of ethics, equity, feasibility, and acceptability in vaccine program recommendations. Vaccine, 38(36), 5861–5876. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.vaccine.2020.05.051 ↩︎

  19. Canadian Institutes of Health Research. (2020, November 1). Caroline Quach-Thanh. Canada Research Chairs. http://archive.vn/2022.03.21-215053/https://www.chairs-chaires.gc.ca/chairholders-titulaires/profile-eng.aspx?profileId=4760 ↩︎

  20. Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. (2020, November 1). Canada Research Chairs. Grants and Contributions. http://archive.vn/2022.03.21-214815/https://search.open.canada.ca/en/gc/id/sshrc-crsh,207-2020-2021-Q3-00264,current ↩︎

  21. Canadian Institutes of Health Research. (2020, November). Deciphering the immunopeptidomic landscape of COVID-19 disease. Funding Decisions Database. http://archive.vn/2022.03.23-021330/https://webapps.cihr-irsc.gc.ca/decisions/p/project_details.html?applId=443349&lang=en ↩︎

  22. Huit projets au CHU Sainte-Justine financés dans le cadre du concours de subventions Projet de l’automne 2020 des IRSC. (2021, March 10). Centre de Recherche Du CHU Sainte-Justine. http://archive.vn/2022.03.23-021657/https://recherche.chusj.org/fr/Communications/Nouvelles/2021-(1)/Sept-projets-au-CHU-Sainte-Justine-finances-dans-l ↩︎

  23. Hoffmann, M., & Meney, F. (2021, October 18). CHU Sainte-Justine’s study confirms the relevance of rapid testing in Quebec schools. Research Centre of the Sainte-Justine University Hospital. http://archive.vn/2022.03.22-054541/https://research.chusj.org/en/Communications/Nouvelles/2021-(1)/COVID-19 ↩︎

  24. About Us. MUHC Vaccine Study Centre. Retrieved July 23, 2020, from http://archive.vn/2022.03.21-222712/https://web.archive.org/web/20200723061529/http://vaccinestudycentre.com/about-us/ ↩︎

  25. About Us. MUHC Vaccine Study Center. Retrieved March 21, 2022, from http://archive.vn/2022.03.21-223022/https://muhcvaccine.ca/about/ ↩︎

  26. Current studies. MUHC Vaccine Center. Retrieved March 21, 2022, from https://web.archive.org/web/20220321223058/https://muhcvaccine.ca/current-studies/ ↩︎ ↩︎

  27. Racine, É., Boivin, G., Longtin, Y., McCormack, D., Decaluwe, H., Savard, P., Cheng, M. P., Hamelin, M., Carbonneau, J., Tadount, F., Adams, K., Bourdin, B., Nantel, S., Gilca, V., Corbeil, J., De Serres, G., & Quach‐Thanh, C. (2022). The REinfection in COVID‐19 Estimation of Risk (RECOVER) study: Reinfection and serology dynamics in a cohort of Canadian healthcare workers. Influenza and Other Respiratory Viruses, 16(5), 916–925. https://doi.org/10.1111/irv.12997 ↩︎

  28. Donor List - Annual Report 2020-2021. CHU Sainte-Justine Foundation. Retrieved March 21, 2022, from https://web.archive.org/web/20220322003700/https://donateurs.fondationstejustine.org/2020-21/?lang=en-CA ↩︎