meet our Affiliate Investigators

Dr. Andreas Flouris is a Greek-Canadian Professor of Physiology at the Univ. of Thessaly Dep. of Exercise Science (Greece) and a Visiting Professor in the Faculty of Health Sciences at the Univ. of Ottawa (Canada). At the Univ. of Thessaly, he is also the Chair of the Graduate Program “Military Fitness and Wellbeing”. He also serves as an External Advisory Board Member for the Dep. of Biosystems at KU Leuven in Belgium.

For over 15 years, Prof. Flouris has advised governments and organizations including the Cypriot Presidency, the Greek Ministry of Labour, and the Qatari Ministry of Labour, the World Health Organization, the International Labour Organization, and others on the effects of climate change and environmental factors οn human health, productivity, and wellbeing, as well as impact assessment and risk communication. He has published widely on these topics and has contributed to a series of national and international projects addressing these issues. He is a member of the Advisory Committee on Safety and Health at Work, advising the EU Council on the impacts of environmental factors on safety and health at work. He is a member of the Greek Ministry of Labour Working Group developing measures to address occupational heat stress. Also, he is working with the Asian Development Bank and the Bank of Greece to assess the economic and social impacts of climate change at regional and country level.

Prof. Flouris imagines a world in which everyone understands how the environment impacts their life and plans their activities and goals in harmony with the long-term wellbeing of humanity. He has been recognized in the TIME100 Next list of future global leaders and serves in the VinFuture Prize committee. He is a climate action advocate, and is working with national and international stakeholders to support climate adaptation and actions for a more sustainable world. He is also contributing to efforts translating scientific evidence to environmental, climate, and health policies. He often comments in national and global media, including BBC, CBC, TIME magazine, Financial Times, New York Times, WIRED, El Pais, and the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

Dr. Flouris has mentored over 65 postgraduate researchers: 9 post doctoral researchers, 13 PhD students, and 43 MSc students. He takes pride in their successes and strives to offer them continued support throughout their careers. Early on in his career, he was named Academic All-Canadian Mentor in recognition of his positive impact on students excelling in academics and athletics. He also teaches 3 undergraduate courses as well as 9 graduate courses across 3 Departments at the Univ. of Thessaly.

Dr. Andrew Seely is Professor of Surgery within the Divisions of Thoracic Surgery and Critical Care Medicine at the University of Ottawa, Scientist at the Ottawa Hospital Research Institute, a thoracic surgeon and intensivist at The Ottawa Hospital, Division Head in the Department of Thoracic Surgery at The Ottawa Hospital, Past President of the Canadian Association of Thoracic Surgeons, as well as Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Therapeutic Monitoring Systems Inc. Dr. Seely’s education includes an undergraduate honors in Physics at Carleton University, followed by medical school, general surgery training, and a doctoral degree in basic science from McGill University, and thoracic surgery and critical care medicine training at the University of Ottawa. Dr Seely’s domains of research interests include: (1) understanding the origins and significance of complex biologic vital sign variability; (2) combining multiorgan variability with predictive modelling to create predictive decision support that help advise doctors regarding a patient’s risk of future deterioration due to infection, risk of extubation failure after separation from a ventilator and more; (3) development and implementation of a systematic means to continuously monitor all adverse events after all thoracic surgery along with novel feedback methods to improve surgical care; and (4) multidisciplinary research exploring the clinical insights of complex systems science (e.g. emergence, uncertainty) and the importance of human entropy production to human health. Dr. Seely has supervised several graduate students, built research teams, published over 240 peer-reviewed papers, presents annually at international meetings and has been awarded over $9M in competitive grant funding. He shares his family life with Kathy Patterson and their daughters Phoebe and Ruby in Ottawa.

The first domain of contribution relevant to Dr. Kenny's research is within the domain of theoretical research exploring clinical applications of complex systems science. Dr. Seely hypothesized that multiorgan variability monitoring may be helpful for diagnosis and prognosis of critical illness (Crit Care Med, 2000); and presented a novel analysis and classification of techniques to characterize variability (Crit Care 2004). Dr. Seely introduced a novel hypothesis for the ubiquitous emergence of fractal structures in time and space, relating to maximal entropy production (Chaos 2012) and then focused on the concept of embracing uncertainty (Persp Biol & Med 2013) and on the vital importance of human entropy production (Entropy, 2023; Entropy 2020, Ann N Y Acad Sci. 2025). Applying these theoretical concepts at the bedside, Dr. Seely pioneered software to analyze waveforms and perform variability analysis of heart and respiratory rate (HRV & RRV), converted variability metrics to predictive models using machine learning, designed software tools with predictive models to be used by clinicians, and founded the commercialization of clinical decision support (CDS) tools to be utilized at the bedside. Research has demonstrated that altered patterns of heart rate variability (HRV) and respiratory rate variability (RRV) are associated with age and illness and that exercise training is capable of improving HRV. Dr. Seely’s research studies include the application of continuous variability monitoring in: 1) the early detection of infection (PLoSOne, 2009; PLoS One, 2012; Transplant Cell Ther. 2021); 2) predicting risk of future deterioration due to infection (Shock, 2019); 3) tracking severity of organ failure (J Crit Care, 2013); 3) prediction of extubation failure (Crit Care, 2014; BMJ Open, 2021; J Intensive Care Med, 2024; BMJ Open, 2025 ); 4) predicting likelihood of donation success following circulatory death (Crit Care Explor 2022; Transplantation Direct 2025); and 5) as a measure of cardiopulmonary fitness and for tracking exercise-induced hyperthermia and thermal strain due to prolonged heat exposure (Appl Physiol Nutr Metab, 2013, 2023, 2024; Eur J App Physiol 2012, 2014, 2020; Exp Physiol, 2019). Building on this research, Dr. Seely has hypothesized that multiscale self-similar fractal structure contained in HRV and RRV is related to the capacity to maximize entropy production, and that health is characterized by robust entropy production at rest combined with the ability to elevate it in response to exercise or heat stress (i.e. both function & adaptability). Dr Seely in collaboration with Drs. Glen Kenny and Andre Longtin (physicist) are pioneering this groundbreaking research (Entropy, 2023; Entropy 2020, Ann N Y Acad Sci. 2025).

Dr. Shane Journeay is presently an Assistant Professor in the Department of Medicine at Dalhousie Medicine New Brunswick, Dalhousie University where he is the JD Irving Endowed Chair in Occupational Medicine.  He is a specialist in Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation in Canada (FRCPC) and the USA (DABPMR). He is also Board Certified in Occupational Medicine and is a graduate of both the Harvard Occupational & Environmental Residency program and the Harvard School of Public Health.  He is originally from Nova Scotia and obtained his MD from Dalhousie Medical School. Prior to medical school, he received B.Sc and Master’s degrees from the University of Ottawa, where he investigated the effects exercise and heat stress on cardiovascular physiology. He subsequently completed a PhD in Toxicology with a focus on nanotechnology at the University of Saskatchewan. He has represented Canada at the International Space University in Strasbourg, France, where he received a Diploma in Space Studies. He serves on the editorial board of the PM&R Journal and the Journal of Occupational Medicine and Toxicology.  

Dr. Greg McGarr is a Research Scientist with the Consumer and Clinical Radiation Protection Bureau at Health Canada and an Adjunct Professor in the School of Human Kinetics at the University of Ottawa. He previously completed a BSc in Health Sciences (Brock University), an MSc in Medical Biophysics (University of Western Ontario), and a PhD in Applied Health Sciences (Brock University) in the field of Environmental Ergonomics. He then spent three years as a Postdoctoral Fellow with the Human and Environmental Physiology Research Unit (HEPRU) at the University of Ottawa studying the physiology and pharmacology of skin blood flow and sweating in healthy and clinical populations. He continues to collaborate with Dr. Kenny on related projects and in HEPRU’s ongoing research examining physiological and perceptual responses of older adults to indoor overheating.

Greg’s current research with Health Canada examines the thermal effects of radiofrequency electromagnetic field (RF-EMF) exposures on the human body. His research program involves a combination of in vitro studies in primary human keratinocytes exposed to direct heating and RF-EMFs as well as in vivo studies of human skin responses to contact heating and localized RF-EMF exposures. His work is funded by Health Canada, the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada, and the Government of Canada’s Genomics Research and Development Initiative. In addition to his research work, he also serves as an advisor to the World Health Organization as a member of the Task Group on Radiofrequency Fields and Health.

Dr. Leonidas G. Ioannou is an Assistant Professor at the Jožef Stefan Institute in Slovenia, a Visiting Lecturer at the Medical School of the University of Cyprus, and a Senior Researcher at the University of Thessaly, Greece. He holds undergraduate degrees in Exercise Physiology (BSc) and Health Sciences (BHSc), a Master of Science (MSc) in Exercise and Health, and two PhDs in Environmental and Occupational Physiology from the University of Thessaly, Greece, and the University of Copenhagen, Denmark. He also completed a full year of advanced academic training in thermophysiological modeling at the University of Porto, Portugal. In recognition of his research in environmental physiology, he earned the postdoctoral title of Habilitation in Physiology from the Jožef Stefan International Postgraduate School, Slovenia, following a formal academic evaluation.

His research explores how environmental factors, particularly temperature, affect human health, physiology, sleep, cognition, and occupational performance. He has published over 80 peer-reviewed scientific papers and served on several academic and professional committees. Leonidas has participated in numerous European and international research projects, conducting field and laboratory studies across multiple countries, which have contributed to the development of national and international health and safety policies. He collaborates extensively with leading organizations, including the World Health Organization (WHO), the International Labour Organization (ILO), the European Space Agency (ESA), and various European ministries, on initiatives aimed at improving human health and wellbeing.