Kirsty Duncan

Kirsty Ellen Duncan (born October 31, 1966) is a Canadian medical geographer and current federal candidate for the Liberal Party of Canada in the Toronto riding of Etobicoke North. She is currently an adjunct professor at the University of Toronto and has published a book about her 1998 expedition to uncover the cause of the 1918 Spanish flu epidemic.

Biography

Education

After graduating from Kipling Collegiate Institute in 1985 as an Ontario Scholar, Duncan studied Geography and Anthropology at the University of Toronto. She then entered graduate school at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland, and completed a Ph.D. in geography in 1992. [cite web |url=http://kirstyduncan.liberal.ca/p1689_e.aspx |title=Kirsty Duncan — Biography |publisher=Liberal Party of Canada |work=liberal.ca |accessdate=2008-09-30 ]

Career

From 1993 to 2000, Duncan taught meteorology, climatology, and climate change at the University of Windsor. In 1992, as she became increasingly aware of the increasing probablility of a global flu crisis, she was led to investigate the cause of the similar 1918 Spanish flu pandemic, saying, "I was horrified we didn’t know what caused [Spanish flu] , and also knew that if we could find fragments of the virus, we might be able to find a better flu vaccine".cite news |title=Digging up the deadly past |url=http://www.thenational.ae/article/20080925/FRONTIERS/359618327/ |publisher=Martin Newland |work=The National |date=2008-09-25 |accessdate=2009-09-30 ]

Though at the time she "knew nothing about influenza",cite book |title=Hunting the 1918 Flu: One Scientist's Search for a Killer Virus |last=Duncan |first=Kirsty |year=2003 |publisher=University of Toronto Press |isbn=9780802087485] she began what she called a "six-month crash course in virology". Eventually, she began searching for possible frozen samples of lung and brain tissue that might contain the virus. Her initial thoughts led her to think of Alaska, as it contains large areas of permafrost, which would leave the viruses intact, but the search proved fruitless.

Eventually, after several years of searching, Duncan learned of seven miners who had died from the Spanish flu and were buried in the small town of Longyearbyen, Norway, an area that would contain permafrost. She then began assembling a team of scientists to accompany her. After several more years of preparation, which involved garnering various permissions to perform the exhumations, the ground survey began in 1998. However, the samples were not viable, as the bodies were not in the permafrost, and the expedition was ultimately proved a disappointment.

In 2003, Duncan wrote a book about her expedition, entitled "Hunting the 1918 Flu: One Scientist's Search for a Killer Virus". Published by the University of Toronto Press, it details Duncan's process and the expedition itself. After the book's publication, Duncan began speaking about pandemics, which led her to begin teaching corporate social responsibility at the University of Toronto's Rotman School of Management. In 2008, Duncan published a second book, "Environment and Health: Protecting our Common Future".

Duncan is currently an adjunct professor teaching both medical geography at the University of Toronto and global environmental processes at Royal Roads University, and served on the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, an organization that won the 2007 Nobel Prize with Al Gore.

Politics

In February 2008, Roy Cullen, the current Member of Parliament for Etobicoke North, announced that he would not be running in the next election, [cite news |title=Election call expected Sunday |last=Shephard |first=Tamara |url=http://www.insidetoronto.ca/News/Etobicoke/article/55157 |publisher=Metroland Media Group |work=Toronto Community News |date=2008-09-04 |accessdate=2008-09-30 |quote=Five-term Etobicoke North Liberal MP Roy Cullen announced in February he won't run again, but stayed on as MP during Harper's minority government. ] and Duncan was appointed as the next Liberal candidate. Duncan was reportedly hand-picked by Liberal leader Stéphane Dion, without a nomination fight, and is considered a "significant addition toward Dion's goal of fielding 103 women candidates in the next election". [cite news |title=Dion hand-picks Etobicoke candidate |last=Delacourt |first=Susan |url=http://www.thestar.com/News/Canada/article/305911 |publisher=Jagoda Pike |work=Toronto Star |quote=Though Duncan, a 41-year-old associate professor at the University of Toronto, is seen as a prize catch for the Liberals and a significant addition toward Dion's goal of fielding 103 women candidates in the next election, her appointment could be raising a few hackles in the riding. |date=2008-02-22 |accessdate=2008-09-30 ]

References

External links

* [http://kirstyduncan.liberal.ca Official website]
* [http://www.liberal.ca/story_13607_e.aspx Press release announcing nomination]
* [http://insidetorontovotes.ca/2008/09/19/video-kirsty-duncan/ Candidate's video statement] at [http://insidetorontovotes.com InsideTorontoVotes.com]