At the University of Toronto, she has focussed on developing mechanisms to stop the spread of infectious diseases in hospitals and care homes.[2][4] McGeer has studied the impact ofinfluenza on hospital staff. She encouraged people of all ages to receive theuniversal flu vaccine and supported hospitals in improving their influenza testing.[5] She also contributed to a review of influenza diagnosis among older hospitalized patients on behalf of the Canadian Immunization Research Network (CIRN) Serious Outcomes Surveillance (SOS) Network.[6]
She is the director of infection control, and works as a microbiologist and infectious disease consultant at theMount Sinai Hospital. Her staff directory page acknowledges funding through an unrestricted educational grant fromPfizer Canada.[2]
McGeer studies the prevention and management of bacterial and viral infections.[7] Her primary areas of research interest are the prevention of healthcare associated infection, the epidemiology of influenza, and adult immunization. She has received research grants fromPfizer andSeqirus, as well as personal and consulting fees fromAstraZeneca,GlaxoSmithKline,Janssen,Medicago,Merck,Moderna, andSanofi Pasteur.[8][9][10]
McGeer led the investigations intoSevere Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) in Toronto.[11][12][13][14] She was based at theOntario SARS emergency operation centre. At the time, she contracted the disease,[15] and accidentally exposed several other health officials to the disease.[16] The health officials were quarantined and did not develop the disease. Thebasic reproduction number ofsevere acute respiratory syndrome-related coronavirus (SARS-CoV) was between 2.2 and 3.7, butsuper-spreading events (highly efficient transmission of the virus) occurred in some hospital settings.[17][18] McGeer believes that Toronto eliminated SARS by isolating people who were infected or at risk from the virus, preventing its spread.[19] A study the critical care units of Toronto's hospitals found that the consistent use ofN95 masks was an effective way to protect nurses.[17][20] During the 2013MERS outbreak, McGeer visitedSaudi Arabia with theWorld Health Organization to help to track the spread of the virus.[21][22][23] Through careful monitoring of the air, food and water supply, McGeer helped to control the spread of the virus.[21]
Throughout theCOVID-19 pandemic McGeer provided health advice to the Canadian public,[24][25][26] including as a member of theOntario COVID-19 Science Advisory Table,[27] theCOVID-19 Immunity Task Force leadership group,[28] and the steering committee for Ontario's COVID-19 Genomics Rapid Response Coalition (ONCoV).[29] She also serves on Canada's COVID-19 Expert Panel, assembled by Chief Science Advisor of Canada Dr.Mona Nemer to assist in providing advice and guidance toPrime Minister Justin Trudeau and the federal government.[30] In late January 2020, McGeer expressed concerns over the ability to containSARS-CoV-2,[31][32] particularly the unknownincubation period, which makes it difficult to track and quarantine people who have been exposed.[33] In early March she emphasized the need for Canadians to followpublic health advice to prevent the widespread transmission of SARS-CoV-2.[34] According to McGeer, the most important guidance was to limit social contact and stay at home when feeling unwell.[25][34][35]
McGeer started to investigate how long SARS-CoV-2 can survive in air in March 2020.[36] She was interested in how exhaled droplets, which contain both water and the virus, may become an infective aerosol that is light enough to be transported by air currents.[36] Caroline Duchaine, an aerosol specialist at theUniversité Laval, thinks that the virus may not be as potent in aerosol form, losing parts of its spiky protein shell as it dries out in the air.[36] McGeer and Duchaine are interested in how the virus survives in air in a hospital setting, particularly around patients who are being intubated.[36] She hopes her research will provide insight as to whether face masks should be worn to reduce the transmission of the virus.[36] At the time, theCenters for Disease Control and Prevention were considering whether to advise members of the public to wear masks when they left the house, and they had been made mandatory in theCzech Republic.[37]
In her role at Mount Sinai Hospital, McGeer acted as a localprincipal investigator for the "CONvalescent Plasma for Hospitalized Adults With COVID-19 Respiratory Illness" (CONCOR-1) study.[38] She also served as a principal investigator on a study examining the association between frailty and outcomes ofCOVID-19 infection.[39]
In May 2021, McGeer explained thatNational Advisory Committee on Immunization (NACI) deliberations over the use ofCOVID-19 vaccines in Canada couldn't be made available to the public because the agency "has nothing like the budget or staff that would be needed" to do so. While NACI is mandated to "gather and evaluate the available data relevant to vaccines," McGeer also noted "they are not adequately resourced for rapid and comprehensive scientific assessment."[40] She welcomed NACI's September 2021 recommendation of a COVID-19 vaccine booster shot for residents of long-term and congregate care facilities, citing evidence of waning immunity among this population.[41]
McGeer was recruited as a member of the newly formed Ontario Immunization Advisory Committee (OIAC), created by Chief Medical Officer of HealthKieran Moore in August 2021 to work on provincial vaccine programs (including forCOVID-19).[42]
Beginning in August 2023, McGeer acted as an advisory panel member of the Review of the Federal Approach to Pandemic Science Advice and Research Coordination, tasked with conducting "a review of the federal approach to pandemic science advice and research coordination" for theGovernment of Canada.[43] The panel's report was published October 10, 2024.[44]
^ab"Pandemic 3.0".University of Toronto Medicine Magazine. Faculty of Medicine. 26 March 2014. Archived fromthe original on 28 June 2014. Retrieved8 April 2020.
Wikidata ()