Monika Naus

Dr. Monika Naus is a Canadian epidemiologist based in Vancouver, British Columbia. She currently serves as Medical Director of the Communicable Diseases & Immunization Service at the BC Centre for Disease Control (BCCDC).

Naus obtained her medical training at the University of Alberta and her training in Public Health and Preventive Medicine at the University of Toronto.

She is a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians of Canada and of the American College of Preventive Medicine.

Naus is active on the Canadian Immunization Committee, Canadian Immunization Registries and Coverage Network, Automated Identification of Vaccine Products Working Group, Canadian Immunization Research Network and other national and provincial committees. She is a member of the Manufacturing Safety Alliance of British Columbia.¹⁾

Naus served as a federal field epidemiologist with the Laboratory Centre for Disease Control prior to starting her career in public health, with a focus on communicable disease prevention and control.

Naus is a liaison representative for the Canadian Immunization Committee on the National Advisory Committee on Immunization (NACI), where she was responsible for initially approving the COVID-19 vaccines in Canada.²⁾ She previously served as Chair from 2003-2007 after being a member for eight years, and is a member of several NACI expert groups.

Naus was the provincial epidemiologist in Ontario from 1997 to 2001, and a senior medical consultant in vaccine preventable diseases and TB control for the Ontario Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care from 1990 to 1997.

Naus is the Medical Director of the Communicable Diseases & Immunization Service at BC Centre for Disease Control (BCCDC).³⁾ She began at the BCCDC in July 2001.

Naus is a professor in the University of British Columbia (UBC) School of Population & Public Health.⁴⁾

Naus is a member of the STRIVEBC (Sexually Transmitted Infections Vaccine) Consortium.⁵⁾ The consortium is partnered with several World Health Organization-affiliated organizations, and those funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH).⁶⁾

Naus was part of a study funded by the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention studying H1N1 vaccines.⁷⁾

She has also received funding from the Michael Smith Foundation for Health Research and the Canadian Immunization Research Network (CIRN).⁸⁾

On August 20, 2020, Naus presented at a workshop titled “The Critical Public Health Value of Vaccines – Tackling Issues of Access and Hesitancy” alongside Peter Daszak, Chair of the Forum on Microbial Threats and President of EcoHealth Alliance.⁹⁾

The event was sponsored by Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA), EcoHealth Alliance, Johnson & Johnson, Merck, Sanofi, United States Agency for International Development (USAID), United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), US Department of Homeland Security, US Department of Veterans Affairs, US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), US National Institutes of Health, Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, and Infectious Diseases Society of America.¹⁰⁾

In her presentation, Naus referenced the notion of putting vaccines in the water supply, and said, “we are learning to communicate in the right way, based not just on facts, but to appeal to feelings and emotions and to work with media.”^{11) 12)}

EcoHealth Alliance is affiliated with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation,¹³⁾ as is USAID.¹⁴⁾