CHAIR Academic & Honorary Members

ISO Canada is developing an international standard on antimicrobial copper with CHAIR Canada and our colleagues from the University of British Columbia, University of Waterloo, Vancouver Coastal Health and other partners in Canada.

Company: University of Waterloo

In partnership with CHAIR Canada, University of Waterloo will be starting a scientific investigation on how the electrical properties of copper kill bacteria and viruses plus how this electrical process can be enhanced or modified in the molecular properties of a copper alloy or other metals. This may also lead to a second investigation on copper nano particles.

Company: Lambton College

The Bio-Industrial Process Research Centre (BPRC) at Lambton College in Sarnia is our newest CHAIR Canada member. Their Technology Access Centre (TAC) collaborates with industrial partners to support the development of new and optimization of existing bio focused technologies and processes in one of their four laboratories.

Academic Member: Erica Susky

Erica Susky is re-certified in Infection Control and is a teacher and consultant. Her experience includes acute care, mental health, long-term care, rehab, outpatient settings and most recently shelters/congregate settings. Erica has interests in education, research, antibiotic resistance, and clinical microbiology. Erica’s training included studying antibiotic resistance at the National Microbiology Laboratory in Winnipeg where she acquired a Masters’ Degree in Medical Microbiology. She has published in international scientific journals and has presented at conferences pertaining to infection control as well as antibiotic resistance. She is currently on the IPAC GTA chapter Education Committee, and the IPAC Canada 2023 and 2024 Scientific Program Committee. She is currently working with the cardiology program at Saint Michael’s Hospital at Unity Health Toronto.

Honorary Member: Steve Reinecke

Steve shares his time between his small hometown of Strathroy, Ontario, and his boat in Sarnia, Ontario. His career started as a Medical Technologist / Clinical Scientist. Following college, his Healthcare journey began by working at his small hometown hospital and later moving to a major Toronto, Hospital. Steve’s professional training is in Microbiology, Immunohematology, Chemistry, Pathology, and Hematology, and he spent time working in a Cardiac Investigation Lab in a hospital Transplant Unit. In the mid 90’s, Steve was tapped on the shoulder to move from Medicine to IT and started his IT management career. Steve worked on two large Electronic Medical Record implementations (Meditech and Cerner) in Canada at two different facilities (Toronto – Humber River and London – London Health Sciences Center).

Steve’s career in the late ’90s took him into the sales of point-of-care computing equipment, and he worked for 17 years for Ergotron, traveling to over 30 countries as one of the premier experts in Healthcare IT Point-of-care Technologies. Steve left Ergotron in 2015 as the Global AVP of Healthcare and joined Proximity Systems in Business Development – Healthcare and Long-term Care and then as a Clinical Scientist. Steve was responsible for everything Safety and Science related to Proximity’s UVC disinfection technologies. In addition to his medical credentials, Steve is a Certified Professional of Health Information Management Systems (HIMSS – CPHIMS) and is working toward his APIC CIC Certification. In 2019, Steve authored and published a peer-reviewed paper on the use of small UVC disinfection technologies in Healthcare, garnering industry accolades and international recognition.

Steve recently wrote a paper on his testing and experiences in 2021 and 2022 with COVID-19 disinfection practices. This study compares enhanced liquid disinfection practices and automated UVC light devices on high-touch surfaces in retail, transportation, and other public settings.