Contributors

Editors

Neil Arya

Neil Arya is a family physician in Kitchener Ontario. He is the president of the Canadian Physicians for Research and Education in Peace (CPREP) (www.cprep.ca), Chair of the Ontario College for Family Physicians Environmental Health Committee, and of the PEGASUS Global Health Conference held in Toronto in May, 2014 (http://www.pegasusconference.ca). He remains Assistant Clinical Professor in Family Medicine at McMaster University (part-time) and Adjunct Professor in Environment and Resource Studies at the University of Waterloo.

He is a former vice-president of International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War (IPPNW), which won the 1985 Nobel Peace Prize, and president of Physicians for Global Survival (PGS) and has written and lectured around the world about Peace through Health. He was the founding Director of the Global Health Office at Western University and has recently edited two books on international health experiences as well as conducted research on the impact of overseas electives on host communities and students.

Dr. Arya continues as founder Director of the Kitchener/Waterloo Refugee Health Clinic in collaboration with the Kitchener Waterloo Reception Centre where he provides case-specific care to newcomers and those in need of specialized care and was lead physician developing the Psychiatric Outreach Project, providing mental health for those homeless or at risk in St. John’s Kitchen in Kitchener, tasks which led to him receiving the 2009 College of Family Physicians of Canada Geeta Gupta Award for Equity and Diversity. In 2011 Dr. Arya received a D. Litt. (Honorary) from Wilfrid Laurier University and the mid-Career Award in International Health from the American Public Health Association. In 2013 he was given a College of Family Physicians Canada (CFPC) Award of Excellence.  

Thomas Piggott

Thomas Piggott is currently pursuing specialty training in Public Health and Preventive Medicine at McMaster University. He completed his MD at McMaster, MSc in Public Health at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and a BScH at the University of Guelph. He is interested in public health issues as they concern underserved populations in Canada and abroad. His research has focused on indigenous health issues, climate change and health, the politics of public health, and conflict and health. Internationally, he has been involved in research on indigenous health issues relating to alcohol abuse policy in Botswana and has worked clinically in Uganda. In Canada he has worked clinically with the inner city homeless and new Canadian refugee populations.

In public health, Dr. Piggott has worked with the Public Health Agency of Canada with the Population Health Assessment and Scenarios Team, involved in scenario planning to inform policy and assessing neglected diseases in underserved populations. He led a research project looking at the political context of adaptations to climate change in a number of indigenous populations. An additional research project has looked and the impact that the political climate has on conflict and health outcomes.

Dr. Piggott has presented research on engagement in medical education and has been involved in numerous academic committees and community organizations. He is involved on the planning committee of the PEGASUS conference and the Canadian Conference on Global Health. He sits on the Board of Directors of Canadian Physicians for Research and Education in Peace, on the council of the Public Health Physicians of Canada, and provides policy input to the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada’s Health and Public Policy Committee. He is also a Governing Councillor of the World Federation of Public Health Associations.

 

 

Contributors

Anne Andermann is a family doctor, a public health physician and the founding director of the CLEAR Collaboration (www.mcgill.ca/clear) that aims to help frontline health workers address the underlying social causes of poor health through a combination of direct patient care, referral and advocacy for larger social change. Dr. Andermann has previously worked at the World Health Organization in Geneva where she was a main contributing author of the World Health Report 2008. Dr. Andermann has been a visiting lecturer at major universities in the USA, Brazil, Germany and the UK. Currently, she is a Public Health Physician at the Cree Board of Health and Social Services of James Bay Northern Quebec, Chair of the Community Oriented Primary Care Committee at St Mary’s Hospital (http://www.mcgill.ca/familymed/education/postgrad/curriculum/copc), and the focal point at the McGill Faculty of Medicine responsible for incorporating a greater emphasis on the social determinants of health and a population health approach into the new medical school curriculum. Dr. Andermann was recently awarded the Canadian Rising Stars in Global Health award from Grand Challenges Canada. Her new book entitled Evidence for Health: From Patient Choice to Global Policy is now available from Cambridge University Press at www.cambridge.org/9781107648654.

Kelly Anderson, MD completed a postgraduate degree in International Project Management and spent nearly a decade working in the non-govermental HIV/AIDS sector, before seeking more training through medical school. She completed a fellowship in HIV Medicine through the Ontario HIV Treatment Network, and is now a family physician at St. Michael’s Hospital, within the Department of Family and Community Medicine at the University of Toronto. Beyond her general and HIV primary care practices, she is a part-time emergency physician in Georgetown, Ontario.

Dr. Anna Banerji, the Director of Global and Indigenous Health at Continuing Professional Development, Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto, is a pediatric infectious, tropical disease specialist and global health specialist. She has trained in Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal, and Harvard University, where she completed her MPH in International Health. She is the chair of the North American Refugee Health Conference and the North American Refugee Health Conference (Canadian site). Dr. Banerji has been studying lower respiratory tract infections in Inuit children for over two decades, and her research has changed national policy for the Inuit children. Dr. Banerji uses a human rights framework for her work, research and education and is often an advocate for vulnerable populations. In January 2012, she was inducted into the Order of Ontario.

Phil Berger is Medical Director of the Inner City Health Program at St. Michael’s Hospital and an Associate Professor in the Department of Family and Community Medicine at the University of Toronto. From 1997 to 2013, he was Chief of the St. Michael’s Hospital, Department of Family and Community Medicine and was appointed as the first Health Advocacy Lead for the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Toronto in 2014. Dr. Berger was the physician for many refugee applicants from Central and South America who reported that they had been tortured. He published and spoke widely about the physical and psychological effects of torture. He was a co- founder of the Amnesty International Canadian Medical Network and the Canadian Centre for Victims of Torture. Dr. Berger has been involved in the treatment of people with HIV/AIDS since the epidemic began. In December 2004, Dr. Berger began a 7½ month assignment as Team Leader of the Ontario Hospital Association’s AIDS initiative (OHAfrica Project) at the Tšepong (Place of Hope) Clinic in Leribe, Lesotho. In 2012 he co-founded Canadian Doctors for Refugee Care, helping to lead physicians and others in national protests against government cuts to refugee health care.

Gary Bloch is a family physician with St. Michael’s Hospital, and an Assistant Professor with the Department of Family and Community Medicine at the University of Toronto. He holds a BA (Honours) in History from McGill, a MD from UBC, and he completed his postgraduate training in Family Medicine at the University of Toronto. He has a large clinical practice, and focuses on the health of people who live in poverty and without adequate housing. Dr. Bloch is an advocate, educator and researcher on issues related to poverty and health, and on health provider-based interventions into poverty as a health issue. He regularly teaches health professionals and trainees, as well as community members about these issues. His education program development work has included the design and implementation of a core curriculum on addressing poverty in the University of Toronto medical school training program. He has been involved in raising public awareness on issues ranging from social assistance reform to housing supports to health benefits for refugees. He has been interviewed extensively in print, radio, online and television media. Dr. Bloch founded and chairs the Ontario College of Family Physicians’ Committee on Poverty and Health. He is also a founding member of the advocacy group Health Providers Against Poverty. He was instrumental in the establishment of Inner City Health Associates, a group of over 60 physicians working with the homeless in Toronto.

Erin Bryce completed her PhD in Anthropology in 2014. Her research interests include biometeorology, social and environmental determinants of health, numerical modelling of large data sets, and frailty in elderly populations.

Martin Cooke is Associate Professor in the Department of Sociology & Legal Studies and the School of Public Health and Health Systems at the University of Waterloo, and an Affiliated Scientist with the Propel Centre for Population Health Impact. His major research interests are the social demography and health over the life course. Dr. Cooke has done research for and with First Nations and other Indigenous organisations, as well as for several federal government departments. He is currently the P.I. of the Canadian Student Tobacco, Alcohol and Drugs Survey (CSTADS), implemented on behalf of Health Canada.

Lesley Cooper has extensive professional and academic experience as a social worker, community worker, researcher and educator in Australia, New Zealand and Canada. These positions have taken her to work with rural and remote communities in Queensland, the Northern Territory and Western Australia. She has worked closely with Aboriginal communities in Australia in the areas of housing, sustainable tenancy, family violence and diabetes education. She worked at Wilfrid Laurier University as Dean of the Faculty of Social Work and Vice President of the Brantford Campus and is now the foundation professor of social work at the University of Wollongong. In her academic work she has a strong interest in research with marginal populations. In her teaching, she has provided leadership in work integrated learning winning a National Teaching Award in the Social Sciences and Education.

Linda Diffey is Plains Cree and a member of the Peepeekisis First Nation in Saskatchewan. She studied Medicine at the University of Manitoba and is currently undertaking a PhD in Applied Health Sciences that is focusing on anti-racist pedagogy in health professional education. Linda was a co-editor of the national undergraduate medicine curricular framework for Indigenous health developed by the Indigenous Physicians Association of Canada (IPAC) and the Association of Faculties of Medicine of Canada (AFMC). With Dr. Lavallee, she has co-led the development and implementation of a comprehensive Indigenous health course at the University of Manitoba’s College of Medicine where she is the Associate Director at the Centre for Aboriginal Health Education.

Thomas Dignan, OOnt, MD, is the chair of the Royal College Indigenous Health Advisory Committee. Dr. Dignan of Thunder Bay, Ontario, a Mohawk from Six Nations of the Grand River Territory, is a tireless advocate for eradicating disparities in health outcomes and inequities in the quality of health care facing Indigenous people. Dr. Dignan is a past Council member of the Royal College and he was appointed to the Board of the First Nations University of Canada, based in Saskatchewan. Dr. Dignan originally trained in nursing and was the inaugural president of the Native Nurses Association of Canada. He subsequently attended medical school at McMaster University and was, to that point, the oldest graduate of the program. As a practising physician specializing in community medicine in Health Canada’s First Nations & Inuit Health Branch, Dr. Dignan has dedicated his life to improving the health of Indigenous Peoples in Canada— particularly drawing attention to “institutional racism.”

 

James R. Dunn is a Professor in the Department of Health, Aging & Society at McMaster University, and is Director of the McMaster Institute for Healthier Environments. He is also the Principal Investigator for the studies referred to in their chapter.

Bonnie M. Freeman Bonnie Freeman is Algonquin/Mohawk from the Six Nations of the Grand River Territory in Ontario, Canada. She possesses a B.A., B.S.W. and Master of Social Work from McMaster University, and a Ph.D. in Social Work from Wilfrid Laurier University. Bonnie is currently an Assistant Professor in the School of Social Work at McMaster University.  She brings many years of practice experience in student services and Indigenous student counseling, as well teaching experience from several universities. Her research and work is rooted in connections with Six Nations, the Hamilton Aboriginal Community and many other Aboriginal communities throughout Canada and the United States. She focuses on cultural interventions in social work practice, community healing approaches, anti-oppressive practices and decolonization, and indigenous-non-indigenous relations and alliances.  Her Ph.D. dissertation research examined the journey of Six Nations Haudenosaunee youth, as they traveled on foot through their ancestral lands promoting the message of peace and unity. Her research focuses on understanding the transformation of cultural identity and well-being for Indigenous youth through their connection to land and culture, and self-determination. Bonnie is also certified in Equine Assisted Growth and Learning and has work with the Hamilton Métis Women’s Circle Equine Assisted Growth and Learning programs for Indigenous High School students and Native women.

Patricia Gabriel is a full service family physician in Coquitlam British Columbia, Canada. She has done additional training in primary care research through the Clinical Scholar Program at the University of British Columbia, a master’s degree in health sciences at Simon Fraser University and a Canadian Institutes for Health Research fellowship through Transdisciplinary Understanding and Training on Research—Primary Health Care (TUTOR-PHC). Her research focus broadly examines access to primary health care for refugees in Canada.

Jacqueline Gahagan (PhD in Medical Sociology, minor in Community Health) is a Full Professor (Health Promotion) and Head of the Health Promotion Division at Dalhousie University. Jacqueline is also the Director of the Gender and Health Promotion Studies Unit (GAHPS Unit), and holds research associate positions with the European Union Centre of Excellence, the Health Law Institute, the Beatrice Hunter Cancer Research Institute, and the Atlantic Health Promotion Research Centre. Jacqueline has been involved in HIV/AIDS advocacy, activism and research for over two decades and was awarded the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal in recognition of her work in the field. Professor Gahagan’s program of health promotion research focuses on mixed methods and intersectional approaches aimed at addressing gender-based health inequities in health programs, interventions and policies. Her currently funded research projects include an examination of the breast and gynecological cancer experiences among LBQ women and trans people, promoting resilience among LGBTQ youth, gender- and equity-based analyses of HIV and Hepatitis C prevention policies and programs aimed at youth, end-of-life preparedness among older LGBTQ populations, and access to and uptake of HIV testing innovations such as point-of-care HIV testing among socially marginalized populations.

Luckett-Gatopoulos is currently pursuing specialty training in Emergency Medicine at McMaster University and training in Narrative Medicine at Columbia University. She previously completed her MD at Queen’s University and holds a BSc in Psychology and Music Studies from the University of Toronto, a diploma in American Sign Language and Deaf Studies from George Brown College, and an MSc from the Institute of Medical Science at the University of Toronto. Her academic interests include free open access medical education (FOAMed), curriculum development, and literacy as a determinant of community and individual health. Her work can be found at sluckettg.org.

Ritika Goel is a family physician with the Inner City Health Associates in Toronto and a lecturer at University of Toronto. She completed medical school at McMaster University, family medicine residency at St. Michael’s Hospital in Toronto, and a Master of Public Health from Johns Hopkins School of Public Health. Ritika’s clinical work is with people experiencing or at-risk of homelessness as well as migrants with precarious immigration status. She has served as the Lead Physician for the Inner City Family Health Team, the Population Health Lead for the Inner City Health Associates and is currently chair of the College of Family Physicians of Canada Social Accountability Working Group. Ritika is also involved in grassroots advocacy work as a board member of Canadian Doctors for Medicare, and organizer with the OHIP for All campaign. She is an active contributor to print, online and social media.

Hanna Gros is a recent graduate of the University of Toronto’s Faculty of Law. She is the Senior Fellow of the International Human Rights Program (IHRP) at University of Toronto’s Faculty of Law, and also practices refugee and immigration law in Toronto. Hanna co-authored three IHRP reports on immigration detention. The first report focused on mental health issues: “We Have No Rights”: Arbitrary imprisonment and cruel treatment of migrants with mental health issues in Canada (2015); and the second two reports focused on children: “No Life for a Child”: A Roadmap to End Immigration Detention of Children and Family Separation (2016), and Invisible Citizens: Canadian Children in Immigration Detention (2017).

Dale Guenter is a Family Physician and Associate Professor at McMaster University. Clinical, teaching and research interests include HIV care, chronic pain, mental health, addiction, and population determinants of health. He is co-founder and member of the board of directors of Hamilton Shelter Health Network, addressing health and social needs of Hamilton’s precariously housed individuals. He is a collaborator with the Ateneo de Zamboanga University School of Medicine in Philippines. He is the primary care lead for the Health Links initiative of Ontario’s Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care.

Gwen Healey was born and raised in Iqaluit, Nunavut and it is in this community that she continues to live and work with her family. Gwen is the Executive and Scientific Director of the Qaujigiartiit Health Research Centre in Iqaluit, NU. Gwen holds a PhD in Public Health from the Dalla Lana School of Public Health at the University of Toronto. It is well-known in Canada that northerners face a number of challenging circumstances when it comes to health. There are also tremendous strengths in communities to address local health concerns, such as a willingness to work together, traditions and customs that support healthy lifestyles and activity, and strong cultural pride. Drawing upon existing community strengths and resources, and building capacity to conduct research in the North, is the key to addressing a number of health concerns presently and over the coming years. For this reason, Gwen founded the Qaujigiartiit Health Research Centre. The goal of the Centre is to enable health research to be conducted locally, by northerners, and with communities in a supportive, safe, culturally sensitive and ethical environment, as well as promote the inclusion of both Inuit Qaujimajatuangit and western sciences in addressing health concerns, creating healthy environments, and improving the health of Nunavummiut. Since Qaujigiartiit’s inception in 2006, community workshops have been delivered across Nunavut on health research methods; research skills; health promotion planning and evaluation; proposal writing; and ethical conduct in research from a community perspective. Qaujigiartiit has also supported and/or initiated community research projects examining climate change and health; food security; child and youth mental health and wellness; women’s health; sexual health; and public health.

Karen Hill is from the Mohawk Turtle Clan living in her home community of Six Nations of the Grand River Territory in Southern Ontario where she works as the Lead Physician with the Six Nations Family Health Team. Karen’s vision is to see traditional Indigenous knowledge and ways of healing return to the centre of health care in her community and other Indigenous communities in Canada. Her work in family medicine is carried out in relationship with the traditional helpers and healing system within the community. Karen has been learning from the traditional knowledge keepers in her community for nearly twenty years and has recently completed an academic paper for the National Aboriginal Health Organization’s (NAHO) Journal on Aboriginal People’s Health Special Edition on Traditional Medicine in collaboration with Elva Jamieson, traditional healer, and Bernice Downey, PhD candidate and former CEO of the NAHO.

Chris Holcroft launched Empower Consulting in 2008 to provide professional communications and public advocacy services for non-profit and labour organizations, including many health care groups. As principal of Empower, Christopher draws on his more than 15 years of strategic communications, media relations, and political campaign management experience in the private, public, and not-profit sectors. Christopher is also a frequent media commentator on public policy issues and has written several op-ed articles for major Canadian newspapers. Christopher has a BA in Political Science from the University of Toronto and was nominated for the Rodrigue-Pageau Scholarship in 1993 for academic excellence and community involvement while attending the University of Ottawa. His extensive community involvement includes leadership roles on issues related to civic participation, the environment, health care, and youth.

Richard Hovey, PhD., is an Associate Professor in the Division of Oral Health and Society, Faculty of Dentistry, at McGill University in Montreal QC. He has extensive experience as a qualitative researcher and over 35 years experience as an educator, course / curriculum developer and in the assessment of students in a wide rage of academic situations. His research explores the complexity of living with chronic illness, trauma and suffering, interprofessional / interdisciplinary collaborations and the application of adult learning for enhanced person centred healthcare.

 

Andrea Hunter is an Associate Professor of Pediatrics at McMaster University and a Consultant Pediatrician at McMaster Children’s Hospital and St. Joseph’s Healthcare, Hamilton.  She completed both medical school and pediatric residency training at McMaster University, followed by a Diploma in Tropical Medicine and Hygiene in London, UK. Dr. Hunter maintains a consulting pediatric practice, in addition to outreach clinics with newcomer children/youth and Hamilton Shelter Health network.  Dr. Hunter is a recognized educator, and transitioned in June 2016 to the role of Program Director of the pediatric residency program. Her clinical and research interests include pediatric refugee & immigrant health, social determinants of health and global child health. She has coordinated community-based pediatric refugee/immigrant health clinics in Hamilton since 2004, and is an editor and task force member for Caring for Kids New to Canada, a Canadian Pediatric Society peer-reviewed guide to health professionals working with immigrant and refugee children and youth. Internationally, she has been involved in ongoing global child health education programs in Uganda and is co-program director of a pediatric residency program in Guyana.

Michaela Hynie is a cultural psychologist in the Department of Psychology and the Centre for Refugee Studies at York University. Her research in Canada, Kenya, Rwanda, India and Nepal explores social inclusion and resilience in situations of social conflict and displacement, and interventions that can strengthen these relationships to improve health and well-being in different cultural, political and physical environments.
Sharon Koivu has been a practising physician for over 25 years. She now has a focused practice as a Palliative Care Physician Consultant for 12 years in London, Ontario. She has previously worked as a Family Physician, Acting Medical Officer of Health and Chronic Pain Physician. Leadership roles have included Site-Chief for the Department of Family Medicine at University Hospital in London currently and previously as President of Medical Staff at St. Thomas Elgin General Hospital. She has been a lifelong volunteer on boards including the London Association for International Development, Violence Against Women Services Elgin County and The Sexual Assault Centre, London. She has been involved in teaching of residents and medical student and with curriculum development in Ethics in End-of-Life at Western University, Schulich School of Medicine and Dentistry. This career and volunteer path has giving her a strong interest in working with patients who are marginalized, particularly those with intravenous drug addictions.

Nathan Lachowsky is an Assistant Professor and Michael Smith Foundation for Health Research Scholar in the School of Public Health and Social Policy at the University of Victoria in British Columbia. He is an epidemiologist using interdisciplinary community-based participatory research approaches to address health inequities and promote sexual health among gender and sexual minorities. His research has spanned Canada and Aotearoa New Zealand, having received scholarship and grant support from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, Rotary International, the Canadian Foundation for AIDS Research, and Canadian Blood Services. He is an avid community volunteer, serving on governance boards and with frontline community-based organizations.

Barry Lavallée, Dr. Lavallée is acting director of the University of Manitoba’s Centre for Aboriginal Health Education. He is a member of the Saulteaux and Metis communities of Manitoba and he is a descendent of the Bear clan. Barry is currently the past president of the Indigenous Physicians Association of Canada. He graduated from the Faculty of Medicine (University of Manitoba) and completed his post-graduate training in Family Medicine with an emphasis on rural/Aboriginal health in 1990. He completed his masters of clinical sciences in Family Medicine at the University of Western Ontario in 2004. His research focuses on the experience of First Nation and Metis patients within the patient-physician therapeutic relationship. He acts as medical lead for the Diabetes Integration Project and teaches about factors influencing First Nation, Metis and Inuit health to various health faculties at the Health Sciences Campus.

Ann C Macauley is a Professor of Family Medicine at McGill University, Scientific Director of the Kahnawake Schools Diabetes Prevention Project—which is a long standing participatory research health promotion project in partnership with the Kanien’kehá:ka (Mohawk) community of Kahnawake, Quebec, and Inaugural Director of Participatory Research at McGill. She also had many years practising as a family physician in Kahnawake. She has received the Order of Canada for contributions to Indigenous health, foreign membership of the National Academy of Medicine (formerly Institute of Medicine) and honorary membership of the Royal College of Physicians of Canada.

Soultana Macridis PhD is a Research Associate & Knowledge Translation Specialist at the Alberta Centre for Active Living within the Faculty of Kinesiology, Sport, and Recreation at the University of Alberta, in Edmonton, Canada. She is also a member of the board of directors of SHAPE Alberta. Soultana completed her doctorate in Kinesiology and Physical Education from McGill University working with the Kahnawake Schools Diabetes Prevention Project (KSDPP) and Participatory Research at McGill University. She has expertise in community-based participatory research and health promotion programming and policies in schools and communities to support physical activity, nutrition and active transportation.

Joe Mancini. In 1982, Joe and Stephanie Mancini began The Working Centre as a project that would give people the respect and dignity they deserve, provide multiple community supports and expand the concept of access to tools. 36 years later, more than a 1000 people use 40 different services and projects of The Working Centre every day. During this time over 73,000 square feet of underutilized heritage buildings have been renovated into thriving community space that provide a web of essential services and supports through food, health, housing, employment, hygiene, and community tools. These projects and more are sustained by over 120 staff and 500 active volunteers. Transition to Common Work, Building Community at The Working Centre (2015, WLUPress) by Joe and Stephanie Mancini describes how this alternative organization rooted itself in downtown Kitchener. Joe and Stephanie were made Members of the Order of Canada in 2016.

Janet McLaughlin is an Associate Professor of Health Studies and Research Associate with the International Migration Research Centre, based at Wilfrid Laurier University. For over a decade she has researched and published in the area of migrant farm worker health, specializing in social determinants of health, sexual and reproductive health, occupational health and safety, workers’ compensation, and health care access. Dr. McLaughlin is co-founder of the Migrant Worker Health Project <www.migrantworkerhealth.ca>, which aims to promote accessible health care for migrant workers in Canada, and has served as a volunteer and advisor to several community-based migrant health initiatives.

Ryan Meili is a Family Doctor at the Westside Community Clinic in Saskatoon and an Assistant Professor in the Department of Community Health and Epidemiology at the College of Medicine, University of Saskatchewan where he serves as head of the Division of Social Accountability, director of the Making the Links Certificate in Global Health, and co-lead of the Saskatchewan HIV/AIDS Research Endeavour. Ryan has published numerous articles in academic journals and the popular press, and recently released his first book A Healthy Society: how a focus on health can revive Canadian democracy (Purich 2012). Ryan also serves as vice-chair of the national advocacy organization, Canadian Doctors for Medicare and is the founder of Upstream, a new organization to equip and inspire citizens to demand a healthy society, and to understand the best ways to get there.

Aaron Orkin is a family, emergency and public health physician, trained at McMaster University, the Northern Ontario School of Medicine, and the University of Toronto. Aaron holds graduate degrees in History and Philosophy of Medicine from the University of Oxford, and Public Health from the University of Toronto.  He is Clinical Public Health Fellow at the Dalla Lana School of Public Health, and a doctoral candidate in clinical epidemiology at the University of Toronto. He practices emergency medicine at Mt Sinai Hospital and family medicine at Seaton House with Toronto’s Inner City Health Associates. Aaron’s work is mostly about enhancing health equity and subverting the medical profession by equipping members of marginalized populations to deliver life saving clinical services themselves.  

Abe Oudshoorn is an Assistant Professor in the Arthur Labatt Family School of Nursing at Western University, as well as the Department of Psychiatry Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry, Associate Scientist with Lawson Health Research Institute, and a member of the Centre for Research on Health Equity and Social Inclusion.  Having worked as a nurse with people experiencing homelessness, Abe’s research focuses on health, homelessness, gender, trauma, housing policy, and poverty. Outside of the University, Abe is past-Chair of the London Homeless Coalition, is a board member with the United Way of London & Middlesex, and sat on the Mayor’s Advisory Panel on Poverty. Abe is the recipient of Western University’s 2016 Humanitarian Award.

Ngan Pham ‎recently obtained a Master of Science in Global Health at McMaster University. She has been involved in research on teaching around vulnerability, and is interested in refugee health, having had a father and brother who were refugees. Ngan coordinated two multinational studies related to the prevalence of intimate partner violence (IPV) and perceptions of screening for IPV among women attending orthopedic clinics.

Kevin Pottie is an Associate Professor in the Departments of Family Medicine and Epidemiology & Community Medicine at the Faculty of Medicine, University of Ottawa. He is a Principal Scientist at Elisabeth Bruyere Research Institute and at the Centre for Global Health, Institute of Population Health. He is a leader of the Canadian Collaboration for Immigrant and Refugee Health (CCIRH), member of the New Canadian Task Force on Preventive Health Care, and practices as a family physician as part of the Champlain Immigrant Health Network. He and Co-Founder of the Bruyère Gallery: Culture, Art and Healing. He has worked in the Republic of Georgia as a Medical Coordinator with Médecins Sans Frontières and has taught in several Latin American countries including Bolivia, Dominican Republic, Guatemala, and Venezuela, and has also worked in Thailand, Indonesia, Republic of Congo and Benin.

Dennis Raphael, PhD is Professor of Health Policy and Management at York University, as well as the author of over 250 publications that speak to topics in public policy, poverty, and social determinants of health. Raphael’s extensive list of publications includes Poverty in Canada (2011) and Health Promotion and Quality of Life in Canada (2010). He is the editor of Tackling Health Inequalities: Lessons from International Experiences (2012), Immigration, Public Policy, and Health: Newcomer Experiences in Developed Nations (2016), and Social Determinants of Health: Canadian Perspectives (2016) and co-editor of Staying Alive: Critical Perspectives on Health, Illness, and Health Care (2010). He is co-author of Social Determinants of Health: The Canadian Facts, a primer for the Canadian public, which has been downloaded over 750,000 times from http://thecanadianfacts.org.

Meb Rashid is the medical director of the Crossroads Clinic, a medical clinic that serves newly arrived refugees in Toronto. He is a co-founder of the Canadian Doctors for Refugee Care, an organizations founded to advocate for refugees to access health insurance. He was on the steering committee of the CCIRH, a group that developed evidence based guidelines for the assessment of newly arrived immigrants and refugees. He also co-founded the Christie Refugee Health Clinic, a health clinic located in a refugee shelter. He is on the steering committee of the Canadian Refugee Health Conference. He has brought together clinicians across Canada with an interest in refugee health through a web based project called the Canadian Refugee Health Network and through a group called the Refugee Health Network of Southern Ontario. He recently was awarded an Award of Excellence from the College of Family Physicians of Ontario. He is on staff at Women’s College Hospital in Toronto and is affiliated with the Department of Family and Community Medicine at the University of Toronto.

Vanessa Redditt is a family physician at the Crossroads Clinic at Women’s College Hospital, where she focuses on the care of newly arrived refugees in Toronto, and is a lecturer at the University of Toronto. She holds a BA in International Development Studies from McGill University and an MD from Harvard Medical School. She completed family medicine residency and fellowships in global health and vulnerable populations and in low-risk obstetrics at the University of Toronto. Vanessa is interested in improving the health of marginalized individuals and communities through clinical care, health system strengthening, and tackling social inequities. Vanessa has also worked in health worker training and health systems strengthening initiatives in resource-limited settings, including with Partners In Health/Inshuti Mu Buzima in rural Rwanda.

Jessica Reid

Jon Salsberg PhD is Senior Lecturer in Primary Healthcare Research – Patient and Public Involvement, at the Graduate Entry Medical School, University of Limerick, Ireland. His experiences in Indigenous community health research shaped his interest in understanding the theory and practice of participatory engagement, particularly in how communities come to take ownership over academic research. He is also interested in how engaging patients and health care providers in the evidence creation process leads to practice improvement and better health outcomes in primary care.

Michelle Tew is an occupational health nurse with a background in clinical practice, administration, research and education. For the past 10 years, in her role with the Occupational Health Clinics for Ontario Workers, she has been engaged in program planning, evaluating, research, lobbying, and providing (occupational) health services to address the needs of migrant agricultural workers and other vulnerable worker populations.

Paul Tomascik, MBA, BSc, is a senior analyst in health policy and partner relations with the Office of Health Policy at the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada. As a member of the policy team, he has produced a number of discussion papers, workshops and research reports on Indigenous health in support of the Royal College’s commitment to advance culturally safe medical education and practice. He was a major architect in developing the Royal College Indigenous health values and principles statement, which was co-authored by members of the Royal College Indigenous Health Advisory Committee (IHAC); the statement is as a foundational document that guides the Royal College’s strategic plan for Indigenous health. He works closely with members of IHAC and other organizations to raise awareness of racism and how it affects the health of Indigenous Peoples. He regularly informs other areas of policy including quality improvement and advocacy and has written a number of federal government committee briefings supporting principals of the Royal College as expert witnesses representing specialty medicine.

Biljana Vasilevska is a writer and researcher living in Hamilton Ontario. Her work has focused on newcomers to Canada, particularly refugees, and language education policies.

Piotr Wilk is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Epidemiology & Biostatistics and Paediatrics at Western University and a Scientist at the Children’s Health Research Institute in London, Ontario. His research is focused on the health and well being of children, particularly obesity among Aboriginal children and youth. Previously, Dr. Wilk was a community health researcher and educator at the Middlesex-London Health Unit, where he was responsible for studies of maternal and child health. Dr. Wilk is currently conducting a number of studies on child-, family, and neighbourhood-level determinants of childhood obesity and is the Academic co-Lead of the Healthy Weights Connection, a PHAC-funded intervention to improve service delivery to Métis and First Nations children and families. He is also the co-Director of the Statistics Canada Research Data Centre at Western.