James Talbot

My interests are in using surveillance and epidemiology to provide evidence needed to guide action to prevent or mitigate disease or injury. The evidence required may be everything from the presence or absence of determinants of health, the nature of vulnerable populations and inequitable distribution of health or illness and injury or the evaluating the effect of novel interventions.

I also have interests in the history of public health as well as public health leadership, advocacy, aboriginal and women's health and wellness, and emergency preparedness and management. These interests are a direct result of my experiences as the Director of the Provincial Laboratory of Public Health for Northern Alberta, Chair of the National Foodborne, Waterborne and Enteric Disease Committee, a Medical Officer of Health for Edmonton in Alberta Health Services, Chief Medial Officer of Health for Nunavut and Alberta and as a founding Member of the SIREVA and ARTSSN surveillance networks.

Degrees

MD, University of Toronto, 1985
PhD (Biochemistry), University of Alberta, 1980
BSc (1st Class Honours), University of Alberta, 1975
FRCPC, Medical Microbiology, 1992

Awards

John Snow Award for Excellence in Sciences, CDC Atlanta, 1998

Recognition of Excellence and Achievement in Capital Health, Wabumun Spill Core Response Team, 2005
Award for Teaching Excellence, Medical Student's Association, 2007
Reward for Excellence and Creativity at Health, Alberta Health GOA, AHW Pandemic (H1N1) 2009 Wave 2 Response Team, 2009
Reward for Excellence and Creativity at Health, 'Let's Talk about the Early Years' Report, 2011

Publications

Alberta Provincial Pediatric EnTeric Infection TEam (APPETITE): epidemiology, emerging organisms, and economics. Freedman SB, Lee BE, Louie M, Pang XL, Ali S, Chuck A, Chui L, Currie GR, Dickinson J, Drews SJ, Eltorki M, Graham T, Jiang X, Johnson DW, Kellner J, Lavoie M, MacDonald J, MacDonald S, Svenson LW, Talbot J, Tarr P, Tellier R, Vanderkooi OG. BMC Pediatrics. 2015 Jul 31;15(1):89

Characterization of enterovirus activity, including that of enterovirus D68, in pediatric patients in Alberta, Canada, in 2014. Drews SJ, Simmonds K, Usman HR, Yee K, Fathima S, Tipples G, Tellier R, Pabbaraju K, Wong S, Talbot J. Journal of Clinical Microbiology. 2015 Mar;53(3):1042-5

Neisseria gonorrhoeae multiantigen sequence typing is beneficial in further characterizing gonococcal populations in Alberta, Canada. Singh AE, Gratrix J, Read R, Lovgren M, Drews SJ, Romanowski B, Sutherland K, Talbot J, Martin I. Sexually Transmitted Diseases Journal. 2013 Sep;40(9):744-50

A multi-function public health surveillance system and the lessons learned in its development: the Alberta Real Time Syndromic Surveillance Net. Fan S, Blair C, Brown A, Gabos S, Honish L, Hughes T, Jaipaul J, Johnson M, Lo E, Lubchenko A, Mashinter L, Meurer DP, Nardelli V, Predy G, Shewchuk L, Sosin D, Wicentowich B, Talbot J. Canadian Journal of Public Health. 2010 Nov-Dec;101(6):454-8

Identification and epidemiology of severe respiratory disease due to novel swine-origin influenza A (H1N1) virus infection in Alberta. Zahariadis G, Joffe AR, Talbot J, Devilliers A, Campbell P, Pabbaraju K, Wong S, Bastien N, Li Y, Mitchell RL, Pang XL, Yanow S, Chui L, Predy G, Willans D, Lee BE, Preiksaitis JK, Clement B, Jacobs A, Jaipaul J, Fonseca K. Canadian Journal of Infectious Diseases and Medical Microbiology. 2010

Levamisole tainted cocaine causing severe neutropenia in Alberta and British Columbia. Knowles L, Buxton JA, Skuridina N, Achebe I, Legatt D, Fan S, Yan Zhu N, Talbot J. Harm Reduction Journal. 2009 Nov 17;6:30

Current Projects

Alberta Real-Time Syndromic Surveillance Network (ARTSSN)
Collaborator with ARTSSN.