April 2026 Webinar

Kelly McNagny, PhD

Dr. Kelly McNagny obtained a BSc in Biology and Biotechnology at Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) in Massachusetts and subsequently a PhD in Cellular Immunology at the U of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB). At UAB he worked with Dr. Max D Cooper, a founding father of B cell immunology, and his research focused on cell surface proteins that regulate B cell maturation and homing. He then moved to the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) in Heidelberg, Germany where he performed postdoctoral studies with Dr. Thomas Graf and his work focused on transcriptional control of stem cell fate and the commitment to macrophage, eosinophil and thrombocyte development. He also identified a number of novel hematopoietic stem cell surface proteins (the CD34 family) and this then became the research focus of his own laboratory at The Biomedical Research Centre, at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver. He is currently a full professor in the departments of Biomedical Engineering and Medical Genetics where his work focuses on stem cell behavior, innate immune responses, inflammatory disease, cancer biology and immunotherapeutics. His research relies heavily on the use of transgenic mice and animal models of human inflammatory disease as well as high-throughput “omics” technologies to reveal the immune components that determine the outcome of human disease. Nationally, he has filled leadership roles in the Stem Cell Network Centre of Excellence, the Centre for Drug Research and Development and the AllerGen Network Centre of Excellence. He is currently Co-leader of the Immunotherapeutics Cluster at UBC and is UBCs Delegate to CIHR. 

Lisa Spencer, PhD

Dr. Spencer is a faculty member at the University of Colorado School of Medicine and serves as the Scientific Director of the Gastrointestinal Eosinophilic Diseases Program at Children’s Hospital Colorado. Her research focuses on the immunobiology of mucosal tissue eosinophils in the airways and gastrointestinal tract, with the goal of developing improved therapies for eosinophil-associated diseases. Her work has led to key discoveries in the field, including mechanisms of eosinophil degranulation and evidence that extracellular eosinophil granules remain functionally active in tissues.

Using both human studies and mouse models of allergic disease, her laboratory investigates how eosinophils interact with mucosal environments and how communication along the gut–lung–skin axis influences allergic susceptibility. She previously served on the faculty at Harvard Medical School and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and is also an active mentor and leader in the International Eosinophil Society, where she currently serves as President-Elect.

Caspar Ohnmacht, PhD

Dr. Caspar Ohnmacht earned his PhD in Immunology from the Ludwig-Maximilian-University in Munich, Germany, working on basophils and eosinophils in the context of allergy and helminth infection. He then did a postdoc at Institut Pasteur in Paris, France, working on tolerance mechanisms towards the intestinal microbiota. Since 2014, he is principal investigator of the Mucosal Immunology group at the Center of Allergy & Environment (ZAUM) at Helmholtz Munich & Technical University of Munich, Germany.

Dr. Ohnmacht current research interests cover the role of the intestinal microbiome in allergic and viral diseases and mechanisms of immune tolerance in the gastrointestinal tract and beyond. His lab is also interested in crosstalk of immune cells with epithelial and stromal cells in the context of type 2 inflammation and the identification of mechanisms of host-microbiota interaction ultimately shaping the outcome of immunity and tolerance.

Matthew Drake, MD

Dr. Drake is the Division Head for the Division of Pulmonary, Allergy, and Critical Care and a Principal Investigator in the OHSU Asthma Lab. His research program focuses on the role of neuroimmune interactions in the pathogenesis of airway diseases, including asthma and chronic cough. Dr. Drake is also a graduate faculty member in the D3 hub (Development, Differentiation, and Disease) for the Program for Biomedical Sciences (PBMS) Graduate Program.  

Jessica Gates

Dr. Jessica Gates is a senior clinical asthma and eosinophilic lung diseases fellow at Guys Severe Asthma Centre, London, UK. She is currently working towards her PhD and her research focuses on understanding the impact of the eosinophil on the immune response using eosinophil depleting biologic therapies.