Our Team

Dr. Ahmed Siah, PhD

Managing Director

Ahmed joined the team at BC CAHS in November 2011. His duties include managing research projects, developing new technologies in the field of aquatic health diagnostics and implementing and validating molecular biology technologies for diagnostics. Dr. Siah pursued his Postdoctoral studies in Molecular Ecotoxicology at the University of Le Havre in France after earning his PhD in Oceanography at the Institute of Marine Sciences in Rimouski, Quebec. As a Research Associate at Prince Edward Island’s Atlantic Veterinary College, he led and managed several projects on mollusk health management and the development of molecular diagnostic tools. Ahmed’s research focused primarily on identifying molecular biomarkers related to shellfish diseases and on developing new technologies to detect micro-organisms affecting fish and shellfish health. While at the Atlantic Veterinary College, Ahmed worked on hemic neoplasia in soft shell clams and developed diagnostic assays for rapid and high-throughput detection of tunicate invasive species which are heavily affecting the mussel industry in PEI.

Ahmed and his wife live in Campbell River with their young family. He’s an avid soccer player.

Elan Downey, BSc

Outreach and Education Coordinator

Elan received her Bachelor of Science in Marine Biology from the Univ. of Victoria (BC) in 1986. Previous to joining BC-CAHS, she worked for Fisheries and Oceans Canada in Nanaimo, BC where she participated in Shellfish research. She then joined the finfish aquaculture industry in the late 80’s and worked in Fish Health and Environmental Monitoring. Elan also taught the Salmon Farm Technician Course at North Island College in the early 2000’s. In 2006, Elan joined the BC-CAHS team as a research assistant and workshop instructor. Her areas of focus at BC CAHS include plankton productivity, sea lice, teaching workshops to industry and doing outreach activities in Campbell River, BC.

Elan now lives in Campbell River after living on Quadra Island for almost 28 years. She enjoys all there is to enjoy living on the west coast.

Debbie Collins, Cert. Card. Tech., Cert. Lead.

Laboratory Technician

Debbie worked at a health research facility for twenty-four years before moving to Campbell River in 2004. Debbie has moved her focus from human to aquatic fish health. She joined the Centre in 2005 and her main role is lab services such as ATPase and Cortisols. She also purchases all new equipment and lab consumables.

She enjoys being a great mom and interior decorating.

Kiran Nair, BSc, MBiotech

Virologist

Kiran has a Bachelor’s in Microbiology and a Master’s in Biotechnology from India and was working as a a Senior Microbiologist in a Poultry vaccine company in India before moving to Canada. He did a diploma in Industrial Microbiology from Toronto, Ontario after which he moved to BC and worked as a Food Safety/Quality Control technician in a major food processing conglomerate, before joining the BC Ministry of Agriculture. At BCMAL, he worked in disease diagnosis of various veterinary species including fish using classical virology and molecular biology techniques. In addition to his technical experience, he brings past working experience in a fully ISO/AAVLD accredited laboratory.

Kiran recently moved to Campbell River with his small family (his wife and a 2 year old daughter) and he is looking forward to exploring more of the Island life with his family. He has great interest in sports like cricket and badminton and as a family they love to travel and explore different places and foods.

Lydia D'Aoust

Lab Technician

Shelby Reimer, BSc, MSc

Research Assistant

Shelby was born and raised on Vancouver Island, and holds a BSc with majors in Biology and Psychology from Vancouver Island University. After graduating, she moved to Winnipeg, Manitoba to pursue a MSc in Medical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases from the University of Manitoba. There, she studied the mechanisms of antimicrobial resistance in pathogens using molecular techniques, Illumina sequencing, electron microscopy and nanoparticle tracking analysis. After she completed her degree in 2021, Shelby moved back to the island and joined the CAHS team in December 2021 as a Research Assistant. Her area of focus includes performing diagnostic molecular biology assays and sequencing/bioinformatics for research projects.