Meg Sears

Meg Sears (MEng, PhD) has pursued interests and research in environmental health for decades. Work with the Ottawa Hospital Research Institute is in aid of a Canadian Environmental Health Information Infrastructure – a platform to facilitate research into environmental contributors to cancer and other conditions. The goal is ultimately to reduce disease, with scientific evidence for effective actions. As Chair of Prevent Cancer Now, she works to improve scientific rigour and decision-making in assessment and regulation of toxicants, and choices of alternative policies and regulations in public health. Meg was trained in Chemical Engineering and Applied Chemistry (University of Toronto), completed a doctorate in biochemical engineering (McGill University), and has diverse laboratory experience including in energy research. With skills in scientific analysis and writing, she gained associations with research institutes at the Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario, the Ottawa Hospital and others. She has been involved with several large systematic reviews; wrote the Medical Perspective on Environmental Sensitivities for the Canadian Human Rights Commission, leading to a policy under the Canadian Human Rights Act; conducted a scoping review on toxic elements (arsenic, cadmium, lead and mercury) with Canadian Institutes for Health Research and Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council funding, with several associated publications; and has ongoing collaborations with environmental health physicians, and prominent Canadian environmental health and legal groups.