Vanessa G Allen

Vanessa Allen is a Medical Microbiologist and Infectious Diseases Physician at Sinai Health / University Health Network, and Associate Professor in the Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathobiology at the University of Toronto. She has served as Medical Director of Ontario's Provincial Diagnostic Network since March 2020, and also served as Chief of Microbiology and Laboratory Science at Public Health Ontario from 2013-2021.

In the area of Neisseria gonorrhoeae research, Dr Allen identified rising resistance to the cephalosporins in Ontario and Canada in 2008-2010 (Allen VG et al AAC 2011; Martin IM et al STD 2011; Martin IM et al STD 2012), led efforts to better understand the clinical significance of the resistance, characterizing a high rate of clinical failure (Allen VG et al JAMA 2013). Complementing this work, she led the development of an online interactive surveillance tool to monitor trends of N. gonorrhoeae resistance across demographic and geographic groups within Ontario, and contributed to the development of NG-STAR, an international used web-based sequence typing tool (Demczuk W et al. JCM 2017).

Since joining Sinai Health/ University Health Network Microbiology and Infectious Diseases Departments, she is expanding this work to focus more of the clinical aspects and microbiology of infections during pregnancy, specifically using new genomic methodologies to better diagnose and respond to emerging and re-emerging threats.

View Dr. Vanessa Allen on Google Scholar

Selected Publications

Bharat A, Mataseje L, Parmley EJ, Avery BP, Cox G, Carson CA, Irwin RJ, Deckert AE, Daignault D, Alexander DC, Allen V, El Bailey S, Bekal S, German GJ, Haldane D, Hoang L, Chui L, Minion J, Zahariadis G, Reid-Smith RJ, Mulvey MR. One Health Genomic Analysis of Extended-Spectrum B-Lactamase-Producing Salmonella enterica, Canada, 2012-2016. Emerg Infect Dis. 2022 Jul;28(7):1410-1420. doi: 10.3201/eid2807.211528. 

Akbarian S, Nelder MP, Russell CB, Cawston T, Moreno L, Patel SN, Allen VG, Dolatabadi E. A Computer Vision Approach to Identifying Ticks Related to Lyme Disease EEE Journal of Translational Engineering in Health and Medicine. 2022 Volume 10. doi: 10.1109/JTEHM.2021.3137956 

Drews SJ, Van Caeseele P, Bullard J, Lindsay LR, Gaziano T, Zeller MP, Lane D, Ndao M, Allen VG, Boggild AK, O'Brien SF, Marko D, Musuka C, Almiski M, Bigham M. Babesia microti in a Canadian blood donor and lookback in a red blood cell recipient. Vox Sang. 2022 March. doi: 10.1111/vox.13198. 

Burchell AN, Tan DHS, Grewal R, Macpherson PA, Walmsley S, Rachlis A, Andany N, Mishra S, Gardner SL, Raboud J, Fisman D, Cooper C, Gough K, Maxwell J, Rourke SB, Rousseau R, Mazzulli T, Salit IE, Allen VG. Routinized Syphilis Screening Among Men Living With Human Immunodeficiency Virus: A Stepped Wedge Cluster Randomized Controlled Trial. Clinical Infectious Diseases. 2022 March; 75(5). doi: 10.1093/cid/ciab582. 

Bharat A, Petkau A, Avery BP, Chen J, Folster J, Carson CA, Kearney A, Nadon C, Mabon P, Thiessen J, Alexander DC, Allen V, El Bailey S, Bekal S, German GJ, Haldane D, Hoang L, Chui L, Minion J, Zahariadis G, Van Domselaar G, Reid-Smith RJ, Mulvey MR. Correlation between Phenotypic and In Silico Detection of Antimicrobial Resistance in Salmonella enterica in Canada Using Staramr. Microorganisms. 2022 Feb; 10(2). doi: 10.3390/microorganisms10020292. 

Abdulnoor M, Eshaghi A, Perusini SJ, Broukhanski G, Corbeil A, Cronin K, Fittipaldi N, Forbes JD, Guthrie JL, Kus JV, Li Y, Majury A, Mallo GV, Mazzulli T, Melano RG, Olsha R, Sullivan A, Tran V, Patel SN, Allen VG, Gubbay JB. Real-Time RT-PCR Allelic Discrimination Assay for Detection of N501Y Mutation in the Spike Protein of SARS-CoV-2 Associated with B.1.1.7 Variant of Concern. Microbiology Spectrum. 2022 Feb; 10(1). doi: 10.1128/spectrum.00681-21. 

Vogt NA, Hetman BM, Vogt AA, Pearl DL, Reid-Smith RJ, Parmley EJ, Kadykalo S. Janecko N, Bharat A, Mulvey MR, Ziebell K, Robertson J, Nash J, Allen V, Majury A, Ricker N, Bondo KJ, Allen SE, Jardine CM. Rural Raccoons (Procyon lotor) Not Likely to Be a Major Driver of Antimicrobial Resistant Human Salmonella Cases in Southern Ontario, Canada: A One Health Epidemiological Assessment Using Whole-Genome Sequence Data. Frontiers in Veterinary Science. 2022 February; 25. doi: 10.3389/fvets.2022.840416. 

Sawatzky P, Demczuk W, Lefebvre B, Allen V, Diggle M, Hoang L, Van Caeseele P, Haldane D, Minion J, Mulvey MR, Martin I. Increasing Azithromycin Resistance in Neisseria gonorrhoeae Due to NG-MAST 12302 Clonal Spread in Canada, 2015 to 2018. Antimicrobial Agents Chemotherapy. 2022 Jan 3:AAC0168821. 

Bolotin S, Tran V, Deeks SL, Peci A, Brown KA, Buchan SA, Ogbulafor K, Ramoutar T, Nguyen M, Thakkar R, DelaCruz R, Mustfa R, Maregmen J, Woods O, Krasna T, Cronin K, Osman S, Joh E, Allen VG. Assessment of population infection with SARS-CoV-2 in Ontario, Canada, March to June 2020. Euro Surveill. 2021 Dec; 26(50). 

Cox GW, Parmley EJ, Avery BP, Irwin RJ, Reid-Smith RJ, Deckert AE, Finley RL, Daignault D, Alexander DC, Allen V, El Bailey S, Bekal S, Chui L, German GJ, Haldane D, Hoang L, Minion J, Zahariadis G, Mulvey MR, Bharat A. A One-Health Genomic Investigation of Gentamicin Resistance in Salmonella from Human and Chicken Sources in Canada, 2014 to 2017. Antimicrob Agents Chemother. 2021 Nov 17; 65(12):e0096621. doi: 10.1128/AAC.00966-21. Epub 2021 Sep 27. 

Tsang RSW, Morshed M, Allen V, Chernesky MA, Fonseca K, Garceau R, Jayaraman GC, Kadkhoda K, Lee BE, Levett PN, Radons SM, Serhir B, Singh AE, Wong T. Canadian Public Health Laboratory Network national syphilis laboratory testing recommendations. Canadian Journal of Infectious Diseases and Medical Microbiology. 2021; 26. doi: 10.1155/2015/808405. 

Appointments

Microbiologist and Infectious Diseases Specialist, Sinai Health / University Health Network Department of Microbiology & Division of Infectious Diseases

Medical Director, Provincial COVID-19 Diagnostic Network, Ontario Health

Adjunct Scientist, Public Health Ontario