Prof. Eleanor N. Fish University of Toronto, Canada

Dr. Fish received her B.Sc. from the University of Manchester, UK, her M.Phil. from King’s College, University of London, UK, and her Ph.D. from the Institute of Medical Science at the University of Toronto, Canada. Dr. Fish studies the interactions of cytokines, specifically interferons and chemokines, with their receptors in... read morenormal and diseased tissues and cells. A focus of Dr. Fish’s research is the investigation of host-pathogen interactions at the cellular and molecular level, specifically in the context of viruses and interferons. During the 2003 outbreak of SARS in Toronto, she initiated studies to investigate the therapeutic potential of interferon therapy in SARS patients. Encouraging results have directed her group’s efforts toward examining type I interferons’ activities against a number of emerging infectious diseases, such as avian H5N1 and pandemic H1N1 influenza viruses.

During the Ebola virus outbreak in West Africa in 2013-2016, her studies focused on investigating the therapeutic effectiveness of interferon treatment for Ebola virus disease, with a clinical trial in Guinea, with positive outcomes. Dr. Fish was a member of a WHO Working Group to evaluate the therapeutic effectiveness of different antiviral interventions against Ebola virus. Most recently, in an exploratory clinical study in Wuhan, China, she evaluated the therapeutic effectiveness of IFN-α treatment for COVID-19.