ToCARE: Dr. de Azavedo Staff Profile

ToCARE Staff Directory

Dr. Joyce C.S. de Azavedo
Director, ToCARE

Phone: 416-586-4800 ext. 3207
Fax: 416-586-8459

Email: jdeazavedo@mtsinai.on.ca

Joyce de Azavedo is an Associate Professor of Microbiology in the Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathobiology at the University of Toronto, Research Scientist at Mount Sinai Hospital and Director of the Toronto Centre for Antimicrobial Research and Evaluation (ToCARE). Dr. de Azavedo obtained her PhD in Microbiology from the Department of Microbiology at Trinity College, Dublin, Ireland. Following a research fellowship at the Pasteur Institute, France, she worked in the Vaccine Research section of the Wellcome Research Laboratories, England and also at the Samuel Lunenfeld Research Institute of Mount Sinai Hospital. Her interests and background include the molecular study of Gram-positive bacterial virulence determinants and antibiotic resistance mechanisms.

Recent studies include the development of a novel murine pneumonia model for the investigation of drug efficacy and emergence of resistance and identification of novel virulence determinants in Group A Streptococcus and Streptococcus iniae. characterization of using a novel characterization of virulence.

Dr. de Azavedo has presented her work at numerous national and international conferences, and has published several papers in high-impact peer-reviewed infectious diseases journals including Infection and Immunity, Molecular Microbiology, Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy, Journal of Antimicrobial Chemotherapy, New England Journal of Medicine and Clinical Infectious Diseases. She has also has written a review article on Fluoroquinolone Resistance and a book chapter on Streptolysin S. She is a reviewer for the Journal of Antimicrobial Chemotherapy, Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy, Journal of Clinical Microbiology and an occasional reviewer for Infection and Immunity. Dr. de Azavedo has held or is currently holding research grants from Bayer, Sanofi–Aventis, Oscient, Merck Frosst, Ortho-McNeil, Bristol Myers Squibb, Roche, GlaxoSmithkline and the Centers for Disease Control.

Recent Publications

Gershon A.S, de Azavedo J.C.S, McGeer A, Ostrowska K.I, Church D, Hoban D.J, Harding G.K.M, Weiss K, Abbott L, Smaill F, Gourdeau M, Murray G, Low D.E for the Canadian Bacterial Surveillance Network. (2002). Activities of New Fluoroquinolones, Ketolides, and Other Antimicrobials Against Blood Culture Isolates of Viridans Group Streptococci from Across Canada, 2000. Antimicrob.Ag.Chemother. 46: 1553-1556.
Fuller J.D., Camus A.C., Duncan C.L., Nizet V., Bast D.J., Thune R.L., Low D.E., de Azavedo J. (2002). Identification of a Streptolysin S-Associated Gene cluster and its Role in the Pathogenesis of S.iniae Disease. Infect. Immun. 70: 5730-5739 (2002)
Lim S., Bast D.J., McGeer A., de Azavedo J.C.S., Low D.E. (2003). Antimicrobial susceptibility breakpoints and first-step parC mutations in Streptococcus pneumoniae: redefining fluoroquinolone resistance. Emerg. Infect. Dis. 9: 833-837.
Katz KC, McGeer AJ, Duncan CL, Ashi-Sulaiman A, Willey BM, Sarabia A, McCann J, Pong-Porter S, Rzayev Y, de Azavedo JS, Low DE. (2003). Emergence of macrolide resistance in throat culture isolates of Group A Streptococci in Ontario, Canada, in 2001. Antimicrob. Ag. Chemother.47:2370-2.
Lee JH, Del Sorbo L, Khine AA, De Azavedo J, Low DE, Bell D, Uhlig S, Slutsky AS, Zhang H. (2003). Modulation of bacterial growth by TNF-{alpha} in vitro and in vivo. Am J Respir. Crit. Care Med.168: 1462-70.
Bast D.J., Yue M., Chen X., Bell D., Dresser L., Saskin R., Mandell L.A., Low D.E. and de Azavedo J.C.S. A novel murine model of pneumococcal pneumonia: Use of temperature as a measure of disease severity to compare the efficacy of moxifloxacin and levofloxacin. Antimicrob.Ag.Chemother. 48: 3343-3348.
Bast D.J. Athamna A., Duncan C., de Azavedo J.C.S., Low D.E., Rahav G. , Farrell D. and Rubenstein E. Type II topoisomerase mutations in Bacillus anthracis associated with high-level quinolone resistance. J. Antimicrob.Chemother. 54: 90-94