Angela Bowen is a registered nurse, associate professor in the College of Nursing at the University of Saskatchewan, and a PhD candidate in the department of Community Health and Epidemiology. She is co-leading a study on feelings in pregnancy and was involved in the first known reported study of prenatal depression in Canadian, inner-city, mainly Aboriginal women. Bowen has extensive experience in obstetrics, mental health and nursing education, and has prepared many educational materials on pregnancy for women and their caregivers and has presented her research across Canada. Bowen is committed to improving health care services for pregnant women.

Jane Bertrand is the Executive Director at the Atkinson Centre for Society and Child Development, Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, University of Toronto and is an Early Childhood Education faculty member at George Brown College in Toronto. She was the research coordinator for the Ontario Early Years Study (1999) and continues to work with Dr. Fraser Mustard and the Founders’ Network on the early years agenda. Bertrand brings 30 years experience working with, and advocating for, young children, their families and communities. She is particularly interested in translating early child development science into daily practice.

Dr. Judith Bernhard received her PhD in 1990 from the University of Toronto in educational psychology. Her research has focused on the needs of children and families in early childhood education and care settings, with a particular emphasis on how the field responds to diversity and inclusion. Much of her work has addressed the development and education of bilingual groups. Over the past 15 years Judith has acted as Principal Investigator on 8 large-scale investigations of policy and practice issues and has been published in numerous peer-reviewed journals including the Bilingual Research Journal, Educational Policy Analysis Archives, Canadian Ethnic Studies Journal, Exceptionality Education Canada, and Journal of Early Childhood Teacher Education. She is also a member of the editorial board of Early Education and Development. Judith is presently engaged in studies of transformative family literacy, transnational families, and developing a model for collaborative work between early childhood personnel and Canadian families.

Louise Choquette is the Bilingual Information Specialist. Her role is to provide timely and accurate information to the Best Start team and to the service providers in both French and English. Her formal education is in Communications and Educational Technology. Over the past few years, she has been involved in a variety of health promotion initiatives in public health and for not-for-profit organizations in the areas of heart health, physical activity, tobacco use prevention and substance abuse prevention.

Hiltrud Dawson is a Health Promotion Consultant with the Best Start Resource Centre. Hiltrud has extensive experience in the maternal newborn field as a nurse, midwife and lactation consultant. She last worked as coordinator of the Breastfeeding and Newborn Assessment clinic at St Joseph's Healthcare, Hamilton. During that time she pulled together a multidisciplinary team that implemented the Baby-Friendly Initiative. St Joseph's Healthcare became Ontario's first Baby-Friendly Hospital in March 2003. Her passions include breastfeeding and the adjustment of mothers and families after the birth of their baby and the impact of mother's physical, social and mental issues on infants.

Rachel Deans is the Senior Program and Planning Leader for the Ontario Physical and Health Education Association (OPHEA). She is currently working in partnership with children’s performers, Judy&David to deliver the JiggaJump program across Ontario. As a Program and Planning Leader, Rachel provides project management for physical activity initiatives on behalf of OPHEA and Active Healthy Kids Canada.

Terrellyn Fearn, Spirit Moon Consulting, has researched the current issues, strength-based approaches and cultural perspectives of Aboriginal families with young children. She wrote the Best Start Resource Centre manual “A Sense of Belonging: Supporting Healthy Child Development in Aboriginal Families”. Terrellyn provided training for Aboriginal Healthy Babies Healthy Children workers for the Ontario Federation of Indian Friendship Centres. Terrellyn has completed a provincial needs assessment to determine the need for culturally focused training and resources among child care providers working with Aboriginal children. She has also worked in the areas of Aboriginal violence prevention and awareness and on the topic of bullying.

Darlene Kordich Hall, RN, PhD is the Coordinator of the Reaching IN…Reaching OUT (RIRO) program. Darlene’s work has focused on young children and their families for more than 25 years. She has developed programs, conducted research and published in the fields of child abuse prevention and resiliency promotion. Before becoming the Coordinator of RIRO, she was a member of the evaluation team for the provincial Healthy Babies Healthy Children program and faculty in the school of Nursing, York University.

Geneviève Lafleur possède un baccalauréat et une maîtrise en psychoéducation. Elle a aussi obtenu deux certifications de l'Institut Brazelton relativement à l'observation et l'évaluation du nouveau-né. Elle a travaillé cinq ans pour un Centre local de services communautaires (CLSC) auprès des familles en difficulté. Elle travaille actuellement en tant que psycho-éducatrice pour le Centre Premier Berceau; cet organisme oeuvre auprès de familles primipares, considérées comme vulnérables, et vise à prévenir la transmission intergénérationnelle des traumatismes.

Dr. Sarah McDonald is high risk obstetrician and an Assistant Professor in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology at McMaster University. She has a Masters in Clinical Epidemiology. Her main areas of research interest are the health consequences of maternal diseases such as diabetes and preeclampsia on women and their offspring.

Mary Ellen Prange, MHSc., RD, is a Program Coordinator with the Nutrition Resource Centre. Her primary area of responsibility includes coordinating the development and dissemination of resources to assist families, caregivers, and professionals to support healthy eating and physical activity in the early years. Mary Ellen has over twelve years experience working in public and community health settings.

Zannat Reza, MHSc, RD is a nutrition consultant specializing in communications, marketing and media. She currently runs her own consulting business and works with a diverse set of clients, from government to industry. Zannat has also worked in the field of social marketing. For the past 10 years, Zannat has been involved in developing resource for a range of audiences.

Michelle Schwarz is a Public Health Nurse with the Region of Halton. Her work focuses on Baby and Parent Health. Michelle holds a BScN from McMaster University in Hamilton and a Master of Public Administration specializing in Health Policy from Queens University in Kingston.

Susan Stewart, M.A., is a Research Associate with the Public Health Education and Development (PHRED) program at KFL&A Public Health. Prior to joining this organization, she was a Senior Health Planner with the Northern Shores District Health Council and was responsible for the children’s services planning portfolio. She has also worked as an independent Research and Evaluation Consultant for over 10 years during which she has consulted on a number of early childhood initiatives including the Community Action Program for Children and Ontario Early Years Centres.

Dr. Volpe is a faculty member at the Institute of Child Study, Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, University of Toronto. His research focuses on the relationship between early experience and later life and how children cope with major life challenges and transitions. His areas of interest include life span human development; socialization and social development; self concept; social cognition; family relations; child abuse; theory, policy, and practice connections; prevention and human services delivery; school-community interface; history and systems; evaluation research; qualitative methods.

Dr. June Webber is the Director of International Policy and Development at the Canadian Nurses Association (CNA). The department leads the Association’s international nursing, health and development policy and implements a multi-initiative international health partnership program (IHP) oriented on the strengthening of health systems in developing countries through capacity-building partnerships with national nursing associations. Over the past few years CNA’s IHP program has increased its focus on nursing leadership and capacity for HIV/AIDS prevention, treatment and care. June lived and worked in Southern Africa for 12 years (1988 – 2000) where she was actively engaged in community-based initiatives on HIV & AIDS in Zimbabwe, HIV & AIDS advocacy within the Southern African region, and project planning and development on HIV & AIDS in South Africa. She holds a PhD in Sociology (health, politics and gender) from the University of Natal in South Africa. Dr. Webber sits on the WHO Strategic and Technical Advisory Committee on HIV/AIDS.