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Who We Are
Anna Atkinson
Anna is our administrative assistant. Her responsibilities include clinical appointment bookings, processing referrals, setting up individual patient charts and appropriate registration of patients in the MH and hospital databases. Previously, Anna has worked in various administrative capacities in the University Health Network (UHN) Operating Room, Admitting and Emergency Departments, Chiropody clinic, Volunteer Office, Princess Margaret Gynaecology Office and the Psychiatric Department at Toronto General Hospital. Anna's experiences to-date have exposed her to a variety of administrative processes at the UHN.
Wanda Frodis, BSc
Wanda received her B.Sc from "Sokolov" College in Israel in 1962 and worked at Technion in Haifa and the University of Tel-Aviv for 10 years. She started working with Dr. Britt in 1976 in the Malignant Hyperthermia laboratory and aided the development of the "Caffeine Halothane Contracture Test" (CHCT). Currently, she continues to perform CHCT as well as molecular genetic studies on MH patients.
Natalia Kraeva, PhD
Natalia received her B.S./M.S. (1977) and Ph.D. (1983) degrees from Moscow State University, Russia. She worked with Dr. Eugene Sverdlov, a pioneer in human genetics, and Dr. Ernesto Carafoli, a renowned researcher in Ca2+ signaling. She joined the laboratory of Dr. David MacLennan in 1999, a pioneer in the studies of Ca2+ transport and binding proteins. In 2001 Natalia joined the Malignant Hyperthermia Investigation Unit at the UHN, where she established a world-class molecular genetics facility with an array of genome analysis techniques. Today, Natalia's research focuses on the development and improvement of MH genetic diagnostics, on the studies of gene expression in animal models of MH/CCD (in collaboration with Dr. MacLennan and Dr. Zvaritch, University of Toronto.
Sheila Riazi, MSc, MD, FRCPC
Sheila received her MD at the University of Tehran, Iran. Following obtaining her M.Sc. at the Hospital for Sick Children/ Institute of Medical Sciences at the University of Toronto, she completed her residency in Anesthesia, and a fellowship in regional anesthesia at the University of Toronto. She joined Toronto Western Hospital as a staff anesthesiologist, and became the director of the Malignant Hyperthermia Investigation Unit. She works at MHIU one day a week, where she oversees muscle biopsy and testing and runs the malignant hyperthermia consult clinic.
