Jennifer Taher
PhD, FCACB
Professional Memberships
- American Association of Clinical Chemistry
- Canadian Society of Clinical Chemists
Dr. Jennifer Taher completed her PhD at the University of Toronto studying lipoprotein metabolism in insulin resistance, and subsequently completed the Post-Doctoral Fellowship in Clinical Chemistry.
She worked for five years as a Clinical Biochemist at Mount Sinai Hospital, before transitioning to Mackenzie Health in 2025.
She is the first Clinical Biochemist at Mackenzie Health and provides scientific oversight to both Richmond Hill Hospital and Cortellucci Vaughan Hospital.
Research Synopsis
Dr. Taher has an interest in education development. She co-developed the CliCK study tool, an innovative resource designed to support education in laboratory medicine. This is the first Canadian Clinical Chemistry educational tool and is freely available for international use. Her current studies are investigating the use of artificial intelligence in contributing to laboratory medicine educational resources like CliCK.
Dr. Taher has also published in several areas of laboratory medicine, including quality improvement and test utilization. She is actively working on publishing the first laboratory medicine quality improvement primer series.
During the Covid-19 pandemic, Dr. Taher was the Co-Principle Investigator of a CIHR funded prospective, observational cohort study called GENCOV. The project was conducted among COVID-19 patients seen at 6 hospitals in Ontario. The study assessed data from whole genome sequencing, viral swabs and antibody/serological response to identify characteristics of Covid-19 patients that result in poor and favorable outcomes.
Follow the GENCOV study on Twitter
Selected Publications
Ganna, A., et al (The COVID-19 Host Genetics Initiative). A second update on mapping the human genetic architecture of COVID-19. 2023. Nature. 621 E7-E26. Impact Factor: 70. Co-author.
Morgan, G., Fung, CYJ., Gingras, AC., Colwill, K., Briollas, L., Frangione, E., Walday, D., Qi, F., Pasculescu, A., Delgado-Brand, M., Mailhot, G., Tursun, T., J., Arnoldo, S., Aujla, N., Bearss, E., Binnie, A., Bombard, Y., Borgundvaag, B., Casalino, S., Chertkow, H., Chowdhary, S., Chung, M., Clausen, M., Dagher, M., Devine, L., Di Iorio, D., Elliot, LT., Faghfoury, H., Friedman, S., Goneau, LW., Khan, Z., Lapadula, E., MacDonald, G., Mazzulli, T., McGeer, A., McLeod, SL., Mighton, C., Nirmalanathan, K., Pugh, T., Richardson, D., Scott, M., Simpson, J., Stern, S., Strug, L., Taher, A., Young, J., Lerner-Ellis, J., Taher, J. Characterizing the SARS-CoV-2 antibody response and associations with patient factors: Serological profiling of participants enrolled in the GENCOV study. Clinical Biochemistry. 2025. Impact factor: 6.8. Principle Investigator
Gladstone, RA., Ahmed, S., Huszti, E., McLaughlin, K., Snelgrove, JW., Taher, J., Hobson, SR., Windrim, RC., Murphy, KE., Kingdom, JC. Midpregnancy placental growth factor screening and early preterm birth. JAMA. 2024; 7(11): e2444454. Impact Factor 13.4. Co-author
Casalino,S., Mighton, C., Clausen, M., Frangione, E., Aujla, N., MacDonald, G., Young, J., Fung, J., Morgan, G., Arnoldo, S., Bearss, E., Binnie, A., Borgundvaag, Chowdhary, S., Dagher, M., Devine, L., Friedman, S., Hao, L., Khan, Z., Lane, W., Lapadula, E., Lebo, M., Richardson, D., Stern, S., Strug, L., Taher, A., Greenfeld, E., Noor, A., Faghfoury, H., Taher, J., Bombard, Y., Lerner-Ellis, J., GENCOV Study Working Group. A genomic counseling model for population-based sequencing: A pre-post intervention study. Genetics in Medicine. 2024; 12:101272. Impact factor: 6.7. Co-principle Investigator
Kavsak, PA., Mills, NL., Clark, L., Ko, DT., Sharif, S., Chen-Tournoux, A., Friedman, SM., Belley-Cote, EP., Worster, A., Cox, J., Thiruganasambandamoorthy, V., Lou, A., Taher, J., Scheuermeyer, F., McCudden, C., Abramson, BL., Eintracht, S., Shea, JL, Yip, PM., Huang, Y., Chen, M., Tsui, AKY., Thorlacius, L., Aakre, KM., Raizman, JE, Fung, AWS., Humphries, KH., Arnoldo, S., Bhayana, V,. Dijiana, R., Beriault, DR., St-Cyr J., Booth, RA., Blank, DW., Sivilotti, MLA., Jaffe, AS. Assay precision and risk of misclassification at rule-out cutoffs for high-sensitivity cardiac troponin. Canadian Journal of Cardiology. 2024. 40(11) 2102-2105. Impact factor: 6.6 Co-author.
Bohn, MK., Augustin, R., Chartier, L., Devine, L., Doshi, S., Ginty, L., Lass, E., Leung, F., Mundle, W., Nimmo, F., Sandy, A., Shillington, K., Simon, A., Steiman, A., Taher, A., Friesner, CT., Zanchetta, C., Taher, J. Primer Part 1 - Preparing a Laboratory Quality Improvement Project. Clinical Biochemistry. 2024; 127-128:110764. Impact factor: 3.6. Principle Investigator.
Kavsak, P., Clark, L., Arnoldo, S., Lou, A., Shea, JL., Eintracht, S., Lyon, AW., Bhayana, V., Thorlacius, L., Raizman, J., Tsui, A., Djiana, R., Chen, M., Huang, Y., Haider, A., Booth, RA., McCudden, C., Yip, PM., Beriault, D., Blank, D., Fung, A., Taher, J., St-Cyr, J., Sharif, S., Belley-Cote, E., Abramson, BL., Friedman, S., Cox, JL., Sivilotti, M., Chen-Tournoux, A., McLaren, J., Mak, S., Thiruganasambandamoorthy, V., Scheuermeyer, F., Humphries, K., Worster, A., Ko, Aakre, KM., Mills, NL., Jaffe, AS. Imprecision of high-sensitivity cardiac troponin assays at the female 99th-percentile. Clinical Biochemistry. 2024; 125:110731. Impact factor: 3.6. Co-author
Zhou, J., Servilleno, F., Rokhfarooz, F., Taher, J. Preparing for another Ebola Outbreak: The impact of viral inactivation methods on commonly measured biochemistry analytes in plasma and urine. Clinical Biochemistry. 2024; 124:110718. Impact factor: 3.6. Principle Investigator.
Logan, S., DiMeo, A., Shapero, S., Fabros, A., Taher, J., Kulasingam, V. Evaluation of a new NT-proBNP immunoassay on an automated core laboratory system. JALM. 2024. Impact Factor: 1.7 Co-author.
Fung, CYJ., Scott, M., Lerner-Ellis, J., Taher, J. Applications of SARS-CoV-2 serological testing: impact of test performance, sample matrices, and patient characteristics. Critical Review in Clinical Laboratory Science. 2024; 61(1):70-88. Impact Factor: 6,6 Principle Investigator
Greg Morgan, G., Casalino, S., Chowdhary, S., Frangione, E., Fung, CYJ., Lapadula, E., Arnoldo, S., Bearss, E., Binnie, A., Borgundvaag, B., Briollas, L., Dagher, M., Devine, L., Friedman, S., Khan, Z., Mighton, C., Nirmalanathan, K., Richardson, Stern, S., Taher, A., Lerner-Ellis, J., Taher, J. COVID-19 vaccine reactogenicity among participants enrolled in the GENCOV study. Vaccine. 2024. 42(11):2733-2739. Impact Factor: 5.5 Principle Investigator.
Greg Morgan, G., Casalino, S., Chowdhary, S., Frangione, E., Fung, CYJ., Haller, S., Lapadula, E., Scott, M., Walday, D., Young, J., Arnoldo, S., Aujla, N., Bearss, E., Binnie, A., Bombard, Y., Borgundvaag, B., Briollas, L., Dagher, M., Devine, L., Faghfoury, H., Friedman, S., Gingras, AC., Goneau, LW., Khan, Z., Mazzulli, T., McLeod, SL., Nomigolzar, R., Noor, A., Pugh, T., Richardson, D., Singh, HKS., Simpson, J., Stern, S., Strug, L., Taher, A., Lerner-Ellis, J., Taher, J. Characterizing risk factors for hospitalization and clinical characteristics in a cohort of COVID-19 patients enrolled in the GENCOV study. Viruses. 2023. 15(8): 1764. Impact factor: 5.8. Principle Investigator
Morgan, G., Briollas, L., Clausen, M., Casalino, S., Mighton C., Chowdhary, S., Frangione, E., Fung, CYJ., Arnoldo, S., Bearss, E., Binnie, A., Borgundvaag, B., Dagher, M., Devine, L., Friedman, S., Khan, Z., McGeer, A., McLeod, SL., Richardson, D., Stern, S., Taher, A., Wong, I., Zaraei, N., Bombard, Y., Lerner-Ellis, J., Taher, J. Public knowledge of SARS-CoV-2 serological and viral lineage laboratory testing and result interpretation: a GENCOV study cross-sectional survey. Clinical Biochemistry. 2023. Accepted. Impact Factor: 3.6 Principle Investigator
Appointments
Clinical Biochemist, Mackenzie Health
Associate Graduate Faculty, Laboratory Medicine and Pathobiology Graduate Department
Assistant Professor, Laboratory Medicine and Pathobiology
Honours and Awards
Innovation in Laboratory Medicine, Canadian Society of Clinical Chemists (2025)
Canada’s Most Powerful Women: Top 100, BMO STEM Category, Women’s Executive Network (2023)
Distinguished Educator Award, Mount Sinai Hospital (2020)