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Kimberly Fairman is an Inuk scholar living and working in the North, she has been creating space for Indigenous ways of knowing and doing in research and academia. Her research is focused on Community Engaged practice, food security, climate change, and Indigenous research methods.

Her current contributions are supported by nationally competitive grants, including from Canadian Federal Tri-Council. This includes the NT NEIHR grant of $2.4 million, which is a five-year institutional grant that creates a regional Indigenous health research network in Community Based Research and capacity building. She is a Co-Investigator leading the Indigenous engagement component of a Patient Oriented grant in the Primary Care Network and she holds an engagement grant from CIHR in Food Security and Climate Change.

As the Executive Director of the Institute for Circumpolar Health Research, she works with researchers, Indigenous knowledge holders, clinicians and policy makers in health systems research that impacts on the northern patient experience.  Playing an important role by weaving partnerships into the research fabric, engaging with communities and building northern capacity for health research.  She has been showcasing the valuable contribution of northern communities, practitioners, and Indigenous knowledge holders to the modern research agenda. She is also an active board member for Polar Knowledge Canada, and the current President of the board of the Canadian Society for Circumpolar Health.

Marianne Jacques is the acting Scientific Lead for the National Collaborating Centre for Healthy Public Policy (NCCHPP), which is hosted in Montréal at l’Institut national de santé publique du Québec. She has worked for the NCCHPP for the 15 past years in various positions.

Her academic background is in communications, political science and public administration. Marianne graduated from the Université de Montréal, where she discovered a passion for the field of public health.

In addition to her role as Scientific Lead, she is also acting Chair of the Canadian Network on Health in All Policies, a network whose goal is to facilitate the implementation of Health in All Policies approaches in Canada through knowledge mobilization.

Don Juzwishin, BA, MHSA, PhD, FCCHL, Adjunct Professor, University of Victoria, ºÚÁϲ»´òìÈ, and University of Calgary.  Retired on Vancouver Island Don brings 40 years of experience in health administration, research, and education.  He is committed to bridging science and values to inform improved equity, diversity and inclusion in health care policy, decisions, health care reform and informatics.  His specialization is HTA examining the clinical and cost effectiveness of interventions.  He teachers in the Health Information Science program at University of Victoria, is Editor in Chief of Healthcare Management Forum, serves as challenge area lead for AGE-WELL, Canada’s technology and aging network, and is a member of the CIHR Western Regional Council on Aging.  Don chairs the Genome ºÚÁϲ»´òìÈ ROC studying genomics and precision health.  He is co-author of a book on the history of public health in ºÚÁϲ»´òìÈ 1919 – 2019 to be released later this year and is currently co-authoring a book on aging and digital technologies.  

Laura Nieuwendyk, MSc is the Senior Program Lead of the Centre for Healthy Communities and the Policy, Location and Access in Community Environments (PLACE) Research Lab (led by Dr. Candace Nykiforuk).  Specifically, her role in the Centre for Healthy Communities includes providing leadership and direction for the development and operations of the Centre. Laura oversees the day-to-day activities and upholds key local, provincial, and national partnerships as necessary. She contributes to research and evaluation activities and associated knowledge exchange, strategic planning, grant development, financial planning and management, communications, and community engagement.

Candace Nykiforuk, PhD, CE works as a Professor and Associate Dean (Research and Research Programs) and as the Scientific Director, Centre for Healthy Communities with the School of Public Health, ºÚÁϲ»´òìÈ. From 2014-2019, she held a national Applied Public Health Chair in Public Policy and Community Environments, which was funded by CIHR in partnership with the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) and ºÚÁϲ»´òìÈ Innovates. Candace is a public health scholar with expertise in community environments, health equity, and systems approaches to improve population well-being. She currently leads several interdisciplinary, cross-sectoral collaborations on healthy public policy research. She also has an extensive track record of mobilizing scientific evidence into tools and strategies, which has directly informed practice and policy in municipal and provincial governments, workplaces and communities, and national NGO strategic directions. Candace was honoured to be inducted as a Member of the Royal Society of Canada’s College of New Scholars, Artists and Scientists among other honours for outstanding, innovative research and engaged scholarship. Candace is a first generation Canadian, born and raised in Edmonton, ºÚÁϲ»´òìÈ. She now lives in the Edmonton region with her young family and enjoys exploring community trails and provincial parks with them.

Giri Puligandla is Executive Director of the Canadian Mental Health Association (CMHA) Edmonton Region. Over the past two decades, he has built a strong reputation in Edmonton’s health and social services sector for innovative service design, strategic collaboration, data mobilization, and cross-system planning. Giri believes that involvement of the broader community and people with lived experience can create environments and service systems that promote recovery, resilience, and well-being. Prior to joining CMHA Edmonton, he held leadership roles in Homeward Trust for over seven years as Chief Strategy Officer and Director of Planning and Research, and served in a management role in ºÚÁϲ»´òìÈ Health’s Addiction and Mental Health branch. Earlier in his career, Giri was Executive Director with the ºÚÁϲ»´òìÈ Caregivers Association and Schizophrenia Society of ºÚÁϲ»´òìÈ Edmonton Chapter. He also holds a MSc in health promotion from the ºÚÁϲ»´òìÈ.

Gary F Teare, PhD MSc DVM, Scientific Director, Provincial Population and Public Health, ºÚÁϲ»´òìÈ Health Services (AHS). Gary joined AHS late in 2018 and since February 2021 has been Scientific Director in the Provincial Population and Public Health program. Prior to moving to Calgary in 2018, Gary was with the Saskatchewan Health Quality Council for over 13 years – where he led their research and quality measurement team and then served as CEO during his last 4 years in Saskatchewan.  As co-principal applicant, Gary was instrumental in the initial development of Saskatchewan’s CIHR Strategy for Patient Oriented Research SUPPORT Unit – and he also provided leadership for Saskatchewan’s participation in the nation-wide Health Canada/CIHR Canadian Network for Observational Drug Effect Studies (CNODES). Gary is an epidemiologist by training and a health services, implementation science and population health researcher and organizational leader by practice, over the past 25 years.  He lives in Calgary with his wife and dogs – who all enjoy doing as many mountain day-hikes as possible each year.