Dalla Lana School of Public Health

Faculty Member

Effie Gournis MPH, MSc

Research Interests

• Innovations in communicable disease surveillance
• Communicable diseases in vulnerable populations
• Outbreak detection algorithms
• Evaluation of public health strategies for communicable disease control
• Mass event surveillance
• Health Informatics
• Performance measures and quality improvement

Education & Training History

Graduate degrees:

• Infectious Disease Epidemiology, School of Medicine – Yale University
• Evolutionary Biology, Department of Zoology – University of Toronto

Undergraduate degree:

• Zoology, Faculty of Arts and Sciences – University of Toronto

Other Affiliations

Primary Role – Associate Director – Toronto Public Health – Communicable Disease Control

Member – Provincial Infectious Disease Advisory Committee – Communicable Disease Workgroup

Member – International Society for Disease Surveillance

Primary Teaching Responsibilities

• CHL5405 – Health Trends and Surveillance

Honours & Awards

Current Research Projects

Representative Publications

• Dohoo C, Stuart R, Finkelstein M, Bradley K, Gournis E. Risk factors associated with . group A Streptococcus acquisition in a large urban homeless shelter outbreak. Can J Public Health.. 2019 Oct 11.
• Ramsay L, Crowcroft N, Thomas S, Aruffo E, Teslya A, Heffernan J, Gournis E, Hiebert J, Jaeger V, Jiaravuthisan M, Sharron J, Severini A, Deeks S, Gubbay J, Mazzulli T, Sander Beate. (2019) Cost-effectiveness of measles control during elimination in Ontario, Canada, 2015. Eurosurveillance. 2019;24(11)
• Khan Y, Leung G, Belanger P, Gournis E, Buckeridge D, Lie L, Li Y, and Johnson I. (2018).  Comparing Twitter data to routine data sources in public health surveillance for the 2015 Pan/ParaPan American Games: an ecological study.
• Thomas S, Hiebert J, Gubbay J, Gournis E, Sharron J, Severini A,Jiaravuthisan M, Shane A, Jaeger V, Crowcroft NS Fediurek J, Sander B, Mazzullli T,Schulz H, and Deeks S. (2017).  Measles outbreak in Ontario with unique genotyping  Emerging Infectious Diseases: Vol. 23, No. 7, July 2017
• Gournis, E, Shane, A, Shane, E, Arthur A, and Berger L (2016) Exploring gaps in surveillance of a small measles outbreak in Toronto, Canada. Can Comm Dis Rep 2016;42:146-8.
• Lee, M, Gournis, E, and Meldrum, R. (2013). Are Campylobacter low risk for public health follow-up? Canadian Journal of Public Health: Volume 104(7).
• Pinto, A, Gournis, E., Al Bargash, D, and Shahin, R. (2013) Impact of a labour disruption affecting local public health on the incidence of chlamydia infections in Toronto. PLoS One: Volume 8(11)
• Kwong JC, Ratnasingham S,Campitelli MA, Daneman N, Deeks SL, Manuel DG, Allen VG, Bayoumi AM, Fazil A, Fisman DN, Gershon AS, Gournis E, Heathcote EJ, Jamieson FB, Jha P, Khan KM, Majowicz SE, Mazzulli T, McGeer AJ, Muller MP, Raut A, Rea E, Remis RS, Shahin R, Wright AJ, Zagorski B, Crowcroft NS. (2012) The impact of infection on population health: Results of the Ontario Burden of Infectious Disease Study. PLoS One: Volume 7(9).
• Bassil K, Cole DC, Moinnedin R, Gournis E, Schwartz B, Craig A, Rea E (2008) Development of a surveillance case definition for heat-related illness using 911 medical dispatch data. Canadian Jour Public Health. Volume 99 (4).
• Bassil K, Gournis E, Rea E, Scott F, and Cole D. (2007) Utility of 911 Ambulance Dispatch Data for the Syndromic Surveillance of Heat-Related Illness in Toronto, Ontario, 2002-2005. Advances in Disease Surveillance. Volume 2. 2007.
• Wilson-Clark SD, Deeks SL, Gournis E, Hay K, Johnson I, Bondy S, Kennedy E, Rea E, Kuschak T, Green D. (2006) Household Transmission of SARS, 2003. CMAJ. 175(10): 1219-1223
• Burgos M, Gonzalez LC, Paz EA, Gournis E, Kawamura LM, Schecter G, Hopewell PC, Daley CL. (2005) Treatment of Multidrug-Resistant Tuberculosis in San Francisco: An Outpatient-Based Approach. CID 2005:40 (April 1, 2005).
• Banerji A, Tyler I, Finkelstein M, Gournis E, Shahin R.(2004) Effectiveness of Inactivated Trivalent Influenza Vaccine in Long –Term Care Institutions, Toronto, 2003-2004. Canada Communicable Disease Report. June 13, 2004. Volume 20(12).
• Svoboda T, Henry B, Shulman L, Kennedy E, Rea E, Ng W, Wallington T, Yaffe B, Gournis E, Vicencio E, Basrur S, Glazier RH. (2004) Public Health Measures to Control the Spread of the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome during the Outbreak in Toronto. N Engl J Med 350: 2352-2361
• Varia M., Wilson S, Sarwal S, McGeer A, Gournis E, Galanis E and Henry B. (2003). Investigation of a Nosocomial Outbreak of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) in Toronto, Canada. CMAJ 169(4): 285-92.