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Speaker Biographies

Pre-Conference Speakers

Dr. Tina Daniels
Associate Professor, Psychology Department, Carleton University
Coordinator, Child Studies Program, Institute of Interdisciplinary Studies

Tina Daniels has developed, implemented and evaluated conflict resolution programs, social skills training programs, peer mediation programs, anti-bullying programs and primary prevention programs both locally and internationally. Her research interests focus on girls’ use of social aggression especially within close friend networks. Tina helped to found the Ottawa Anti-bullying Coalition, a group of community members committed to eliminating bullying in all realms of a child’s life. She is an executive member of PREVNet (www.prevent.ca), a national network of Canadian researchers and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) committed to stopping bullying and co-chair of the social aggression working group. In conjunction with PREVnet she has worked extensively with Girl Guides of Canada to develop an anti-bullying program entitled “Girls United”. Her goal is to promote safe and healthy relationships for all Canadian children and youth. Each year she gives many talks and workshops to children, teachers and parents.

Denise Hébert, RN, BScN, MSc
Program Manager, Healthy Babies Healthy Children Program, Clinical Programs Branch, Ottawa Public Health
 
Denise has been an advanced Practice Nurse in public health with the City of Ottawa for the past sixteen years. Since November 2009 she has been a Program Manager of the Healthy Babies, Healthy Children Program. Her clinical interests are in the areas of parent and child health, intervention with high-risk families, and mental health. She holds a joint appointment at the University of Ottawa, School of Nursing. She has experience as a member of a multidisciplinary psychosocial intervention team. She is also a development panel member for the Registered Nurses’ Association of Ontario (RNAO) Best Practice Guideline on Interventions for Postpartum Depression.

Dr. Chaya Kulkarni
Director, Infant Mental Health Promotion, Hospital for Sick Children

Dr. Chaya Kulkarni is currently the Director, Infant Mental Health Promotion (IMP), Hospital for Sick Children Toronto. Infant Mental Health Promotion is a coalition of individuals and professional agencies dedicated to promoting optimal mental health outcomes for infants in the first three years of life. Dr. Kulkarni provides leadership to research, professional education and public awareness activities at IMP. In addition to her work at IMP, Chaya Kulkarni is a Parent and Professional Education Expert with Invest in Kids. Until recently, she was Vice President, Professional Education, and led the development and implementation of curricula and materials to support professionals working with families of young children. Dr. Kulkarni has also served as the Senior Policy Analyst and Researcher for the Office of the Official Opposition at Queen’s Park where she was able to influence and inform practices surrounding early childhood care and education. She has also worked directly with children and families in the childcare sector. Dr. Kulkarni has lectured with Ryerson University and the Canadian Mothercraft Society, an organization that provides educational and support programs for mothers and their children. She is an effective and fervent facilitator for numerous training seminars and has served on a variety of boards and associations in the children’s services sector. Dr. Kulkarni also sits on the selection committee for the Prime Minister’s Awards for Teaching Excellence. Dr. Kulkarni received her B.A.A. from Ryerson University and attained her Masters and Doctorate in Education from the University of Toronto.

Shawna Lee
Children’s Mental Health Consultant and Child Care Program Supervisor, Kinark Child and Family Services

Shawna Lee is a Children’s Mental Health Consultant and Child Care Program Supervisor for Kinark Child and Family Services, and an ECE faculty at Seneca College.  Shawna’s professional role has allowed her to experience and integrate a unique perspective to Early Learning programs in a variety of environments. She has proven leadership skills which continue to develop, strengthen, and empower the collaboration between families, schools, child care programs, and community partners.

Margaret Leslie Dip.C.S., C.Psych.Assoc.
Director of Early Intervention Programs, Mothercraft/Breaking the Cycle

Margaret Leslie is Director of Early Intervention Programs at Mothercraft/Breaking the Cycle. For 25 years, her clinical experience has been in the areas of prevention and early intervention services for families with infants and young children living in conditions of risk. Ms. Leslie is a member of the Steering Committee and Education Committee of the Infant Mental Health Promotion Project of Toronto. She is a member of the Advisory Committee for the FASD Information Service of the Canadian Centre on Substance Abuse, and is on the editorial board of the Journal of FAS International. She has co-authored numerous publications on pregnancy, parenting, substance use, and FASD issues, and provides training and consultation nationally and internationally.

Greg Lubimiv
Executive Director, Phoenix Centre

Greg Lubimiv (MSW) is currently the Executive Director of the Phoenix Centre, a children’s mental health centre, serving Renfrew County, Ontario.  As well, he is a consultant with Invest In Kids and a trainer with the Canadian Association of Child and Play Therapy.  Greg has worked in the field of children’s mental health and Child Welfare for over 30 years and leads an agency which is known as one of the most innovative in Ontario, providing not just services to at risk populations such as military families or traumatized children, but, also hosting an award winning child poverty network (Child Poverty Action Network) and developing creative school based prevention programs such as The Friends and Neighbours Puppet Program.  Greg believes that the focus on bullying needs to be provided at all levels, individual, family, school, community as well as through provincial and national policies and standards and needs to have an increased focus on prevention.

Katie Neu
Founders, www.BullyingCanada.ca

Katie Neu is one of two Founders of the website www.BullyingCanada.ca, which is the first youth created anti-bullying website in Canada.  She and Rob Frenette launched BullyingCanada December 17th, 2006 as a place for victims to go and share their stories to learn that they were not alone in the bullying world.  Today, just over three years later, BullyingCanada is more than just a place for victims to go and share their stories about bullying.  Victims, bystanders, bullies, parents, school officials and the community at large can share their stories, seek help and support as well as information on bullying and a variety of many other youth issues.  Hundreds of people visit the website every day from all over the world.  Katie was bullied from the first day of kindergarten right through until she left high school at the end of grade 9 to finish her school career online.  She and Rob work every day trying to meet their one and only goal – to make sure no one else ever has to go through what they did.  Katie and Rob measure their success not by the international attention they have received, but by the personal emails of those who have received help and hope though their work.

Melanie Rosen, M.A., Expressive Arts Therapist
Therapeutic Clown Practitioner, Hospital for Sick Children
Child Psychotherapist

Melanie Rosen is a creative spirit who is passionate about play! She has been working with children for more than twenty years in educational and therapeutic contexts. Melanie has focused on enriching early childcare education through her own movement based expressive arts programs. She works at The Hospital for Sick Children as a therapeutic clown practitioner and has a private practice as a child psychotherapist.

Karen Sebben
Founder, York Region Anti-Bullying Coalition

Karen Sebben is one of the founders of the York Region Anti-Bullying Coalition. It was created as a result of a serious and personal bullying experience that caused Karen to make the decision that more needs to be done to assist families in similar situations to navigate the complex school system when trying to find answers. The organization's goals are to continue to create awareness and work with the community to educate children about how to recognize acts of bullying, and how to respond to such acts.  The organization also assists those affected by bullying, by partnering families with community counseling, treatment, and social services.  Lobbying the government for changes to legislation to ensure that all children receive equal opportunities to move forward with their education is also paramount to Karen and the coalition. Many voices - one vision to eliminate bullying…

Dr. Tracy Vaillancourt
Professor, University of Ottawa, McMaster University, and Offord Centre for Child Studies

Dr. Tracy Vaillancourt is a Canada Research Chair in Children’s Mental Health and Violence Prevention at the University of Ottawa in the Faculty of Education and the School of Psychology. She is also an adjunct professor in the Department of Psychology, Neuroscience & Behaviour at McMaster University, and a core member of the Offord Centre for Child Studies. Dr. Vaillancourt’s research examines the links between aggression and bio-psychosocial functioning, with particular focus on bully-victim relations. Dr. Vaillancourt is currently leading a Community-University Research Alliance on the prevention and intervention of bullying which is funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.

Dr. Jean-Victor Wittenberg
Child Psychiatrist and Head of the Infant Psychiatry Program, Hospital for Sick Children
Chair, Infant Mental Health Promotion, Hospital for Sick Children

Jean Wittenberg is a child psychiatrist and head of the Infant Psychiatry Program at the Hospital for Sick Children. He is Co-Chair of Infant Mental Health Promotion. His work focuses on parent-child relationships particularly in at-risk populations that include adolescent mothers, aboriginal communities, and families involved with child protection and judicial systems.

Welcoming Address

Elaine Kicknosway is a swampy Cree woman, a member of the Peter Ballanytyne Cree Nation in Northern Saskatchewan. She is the Sacred Child Coordinator at Minwaashin Lodge in Ottawa. She is mother of one, traditional dancer, step mother, helper, and is Wolf clan.

When Minwaashin Lodge: the Aboriginal Woman’s Support Centre was founded in 1993, it’s main goal was to provide a safe place where Aboriginal women could receive culturally relevant and appropriate support to start on their healing journeys. The Lodge continues to be committed to providing client-centered support in an environment where Aboriginal women can come to learn, give and receive support in an open, caring, and safe environment that encourages and empowers them to start to reclaim their Aboriginal identity. The basis of all programming at Minwaashin Lodge are the seven sacred teachings and the Medicine Wheel, thereby ensuring that all parts of the individual are addressed (physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual).

Keynote Speakers

Dr. Clyde Hertzman
Canadian Council on Early Child Development

Dr. Hertzman is Director of the Human Early Learning Partnership (HELP); Tier I Canada Research Chair in Population Health and Human Development; and Professor in the School of Population and Public Health at University of British Columbia. Nationally, he is a Fellow of the Experience-based Brain and Biological Development Program and the Successful Societies Program of the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada and of the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences. Since 2008, he has been President of the Canadian Council on Early Child Development.

Merry-K Moos
Professor (retired), Maternal Fetal Medicine Division, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, University of North Carolina

Merry-K. Moos is recognized as a pioneer in advocating that the delivery of health care to women of reproductive age be restructured to use a women's wellness platform to achieve improved levels of preconceptional health to prevent poor pregnancy outcomes. She is a member of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Select Panel on Preconceptional Health and Health Care and creator of the U.S. national preconception curriculum and resources guide for clinicians (www.beforeandbeyond.org).

Nancy White
Singer

Singer NANCY WHITE, whose tuneful take on motherhood, the cd "Momnipotent: Songs for Weary Parents" has saved the sanity of many of frazzled mom over the years, is also the co-author of the musical "Anne and Gilbert", mother of two singing girls, and an accomplished if not slick performer. She and her witty piano player Bob Johnston will sing of pregnancy, kids, daughters of feminists, stickers on fruit, thwarted love for Leonard Cohen, multitasking, freefloating anxiety, and many other things. Possibly even social worker burnout. Get a taste at MySpace.com/nancywhitemusic.

Dr. Robin Williams, MD, DPH, FRCPC
Medical Officer of Health, Niagara Region Public Health
Clinical Professor, Department of Pediatrics, McMaster University

A pediatrician and a public health physician, Robin Williams has been the Medical Officer of Health for Niagara Region since 1995. She is widely recognized locally, nationally, and internationally for her contributions to the area of children’s health and welfare. She is Chair of the Council for Early Child Development and her outstanding work in the area of early childhood development led to her appointment as Chair of the 18-Month Expert Panel. Recently, Dr. Williams has worked diligently to shine a spotlight on the issue of poverty and its significant impact on children, families, and the community.

 

Session Speakers

Stephen Abrams, DDS
General Dentist
Chair, the Ontario Dental Association’s Dental Benefits Task Force dealing with access to oral care, dental program design and outcomes evaluation

Dr. Stephen Abrams is a General Dentist with over 29 years of clinical experience. He has published over 90 papers in various international journals on caries detection, prevention and restorative dentistry. He currently chairs the Ontario Dental Association’s Dental Benefits Task Force dealing with access to oral care, dental program design and outcomes evaluation.

Sylvie Boulet, RD, MHSc
Bilingual Health Promotion Consultant, Best Start Resource Centre, Health Nexus
 
Sylvie has a Master in Health Sciences - Community Nutrition, two bachelor degrees in food science and social work, and a background in adult education. Sylvie started her career as a program coordinator, social worker, adult educator, researcher, and facilitator and then in the nutrition field as a dietitian and professor of nutrition at two post secondary organizations. Her experience encompasses the fields of non-profit organizations as well as clinical institutions and a community health centre.

Lesley Brown
Executive Director, Ontario Literacy Coalition

Lesley is the Executive Director of the Ontario Literacy Coalition (OLC). The Coalition is a provincial literacy umbrella organization. The OLC has been involved in family literacy for many years and is currently working on a provincial family literacy partnership planning strategy. Lesley has worked in the adult literacy field for over 20 years in a range of programs and settings including school boards, community based programs, in correctional facilities with youth, with aboriginal literacy programs, and ESL and ESL-literacy programs. Lesley holds a B.A., a TESL certificate, and is currently in the Masters of Adult Education Program at St. Francis Xavier University.

Hiltrud Dawson, RN, BTech (neonatal nursing), IBCLC
Health Promotion Consultant, Best Start Resource Centre, Health Nexus

Hiltrud has over 25 years of experience in the maternal newborn field as a nurse, midwife, and lactation consultant. As a lactation consultant she became interested in child health and child health promotion. Currently she is a health promotion consultant for Best Start, Ontario’s Maternal, Newborn, and Early Child Development Resource Centre working on maternal, newborn, and child health topics. Prior to this she worked as coordinator of the Breastfeeding and Newborn Assessment clinic at St Joseph's Healthcare, Hamilton. During that time Hiltrud 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, mother’s mental health, 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 and children.

Melanie Ferris
Aboriginal Health Promotion Consultant, Best Start Resource Centre, Health Nexus

Melanie (Horse Clan) is an Anishnawbe woman originally from Manitoba. She is a published author and enjoys gathering information from Elders for her work. Melanie works closely with Aboriginal people in Ontario and has a training program for service providers to help them include culture in their approaches to preventing obesity in First Nations, Inuit, and Métis children. She has worked with the National Aboriginal Health Organization, Seventh Generation Midwives Toronto, the First Nations Child and Family Caring Society, and the federal government. In 2008, Melanie worked with Health Canada (Alberta Region) to develop Walking the Sacred Path, the first set of culturally appropriate pre/postnatal classes for First Nations people. Melanie is a proud mother who often brings her 4-year-old son Tarig (Bear Clan) to help deliver her workshops.

Karon Foster, R.N., BScN, M.Ed.
Director, the Parenting Partnership, Invest in Kids

Karon Foster is the Director of The Parenting Partnership Program, a prenatal and parenting education program. She has over 30 years of combined nursing and teaching experience. She is intimately familiar with the needs of expectant and new parents through her work conducting prenatal and parenting classes, supervising prenatal classes, and her past experience as a public health nurse.

Kim Gall, MSc, CGC
Educator and Genetic Counsellor, Ontario Newborn Screening Program (ONSP)

Kim Gall joined the ONSP in April of 2009. Kim is responsible for coordinating the referral of screen positive infants to Regional Treatment Centres throughout the province, creates educational materials about newborn screening and provides education about newborn screening, to parents and health care providers. Her clinical responsibilities also include seeing patients referred for varied genetic indications and providing clinical supervision and teaching.

Heather Gardner
Health and Physical Education Curriculum Consultant, Ontario Physical Health Education Association (Ophea)
 

Heather Gardner is an Elementary Curriculum Consultant with the Hamilton Wentworth District School Board, currently on leave supporting Ophea with the development of The Elementary Curriculum Support resources. Heather has been involved in the Elementary Health and Physical Education Curriculum Revision process in various capacities over the past two years, including the technical analysis and summer writing of the curriculum resources. Heather has been involved in supporting elementary teachers in various capacities through the writing of numerous resources including those for Ophea, gymnastics Ontario, and The Dairy Farmers of Ontario.

Kelly Gordon
Registered Dietitian, Aboriginal Nutrition Consultant

Kelly is a community dietitian in Toronto, with expertise in pre/postnatal clients in Toronto’s Aboriginal community. She has worked with the Aboriginal community across Canada. As a Mohawk woman, Kelly is 1 of only 20 Aboriginal dietitians in Canada. Kelly enjoys cooking, exercise, and being outdoors either in or outside the city. She is also a new mother.

Jodi Hall
Founder, Program Coordinator, Counsellor, Workshop Facilitator, A Safe Passage

Jodi worked as a DONA certified doula for 10 years, with a focus on the intersections between trauma histories and the experiences of women during the childbearing years. Jodi is a doctoral candidate in Health Professional Education and the Research Coordinator of a Canadian Institute of Health Research funded study, entitled "Embodied Trauma: The impacts of abuse on the transition to mothering".

John Hoffman
Writer
Communications Coordinator, Father Involvement Research Alliance

John Hoffman is Canada's leading fatherhood writer, having written eight booklets for fathers including “Involved Fathers, Daddy.” “Come Play With Me”, and “Hands-On Dad” along with over 50 articles for and about fathers in Today's Parent and other publications. John is also Communications Coordinator for the Father Involvement Research Alliance.

Palmina Ioannone, Ph.D.
Director of Research and Evaluation, Invest in Kids

Dr. Palmina Ioannone is the Director of Research and Evaluation at Invest in Kids. She has spent more than 15 years working with young children, families, and early childhood professionals in various settings including schools, childcare centres, and family support programs.

Jillian Mallory
Public Health Nurse, Chatham-Kent Public Health Unit

Jillian Mallory, RN, BSc, BScN, graduated from The University of Western Ontario. She began her nursing career in the labour and delivery unit at the Chatham-Kent Health Alliance. She has since been working as a Public Health Nurse at the Chatham-Kent Public Health Unit with a focus on prenatal and parenting education.

Caroline Maltepe
Coordinator, Nausea and Vomiting of Pregnancy (NVP) Helpline, Motherisk, The Hospital for Sick Children

Caroline Maltepe is the coordinator of the Nausea and Vomiting of Pregnancy (NVP) Helpline at the Motherisk Program. For over 14 years, she has been counseling women, their partners, and health-care providers regarding dietary strategies, pharmacological, and non-pharmacological treatments to effectively manage NVP. Additionally, she continually conducts and publishes several studies to improve management of NVP.

Ian McConnachie, BSc, DDS, MS, FRCD(C)
Paediatric Dentist, the Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario
Past-President, the Ontario Dental Association 

Dr. Ian McConnachie is a Paediatric Dentist on staff at the Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario and a Past-President of the Ontario Dental Association. He has a long-standing involvement in improving access to oral health care for high-risk children.

Alex McKay, Ph.D
Research Coordinator, Sex Information and Education Council of Canada (SIECCAN)
Associate Editor, The Canadian Journal of Human Sexuality
Instructor, Ryerson University

Alex McKay, Ph.D. is Research Coordinator for the Sex Information and Education Council of Canada (SIECCAN), Associate Editor of The Canadian Journal of Human Sexuality and an instructor at Ryerson University

Suzanne Nickel
National Safe Sleep Coordinator, The Canadian Foundation for the Study of Infant Deaths and the Ontario Safe Sleep Team

Suzanne Nickel, National Safe Sleep Coordinator for The Canadian Foundation for the Study of Infant Deaths and the Ontario Safe Sleep Team are dedicated to reducing infant deaths across Canada. As certified safe sleep childcare providers this team delivers workshops and presentations across the province addressing SIDS, SIDS reducing factors and safe sleep practices for infants. The team includes mothers that have lost a child due to SIDS or unsafe sleep practices and their personal stories are shared in their desire for others to learn and not live with the grief they do. Their message is powerful and passionate. This is a lifesaving experience for all childcare providers and educators.

Joy Noel-Weiss RN IBCLC MScN PhD(c)
Lecturer, School of Nursing, University of Ottawa

Joy Noel-Weiss is a registered nurse, a lactation consultant, and retired La Leche League Canada Leader who has worked with women and their families in hospital and community. Currently, Joy teaches at the School of Nursing, University of Ottawa, and she is completing a doctorate in nursing.

Aldona Ollen, RN, BScN
Public Health Nurse, York Region Public Health Services

Aldona has over 15 years of her nursing experience in many different fields. Presently, she is working at the Regional Municipality of York as a Public Health Nurse in the Early Identification Program, where she promotes and disseminates the York Region Red Flags Guide to Early Years Professionals working with children up to six years of age. As part of her role in Public Health, she chairs the Early Identification Network Committee, which is comprised of various community members who are working collaboratively towards early identification and early intervention. She has also recently chaired meetings for the Red Flags Task Group in which members were responsible for revisions of the Red Flags Guide. As a result, the revised York Region Red Flags Guide was released in September 2009. The goals of the Early Identification Program are that all children from birth to six years of age are screened for developmental delays, and those children identified as at-risk, are linked to appropriate programs, supports, and services in the community as early as possible in order for them to achieve their healthiest outcome.

Erica Phipps, M.A.
Partnership Director, Canadian Partnership for Children’s Health and Environment
Erica Phipps serves as Partnership Director for the Canadian Partnership for Children’s Health and Environment, a multi-sectoral collaboration of 12 organizations. She has worked on environmental health and toxics issues for the North American Commission for Environmental Cooperation, the United Nations and the US Environmental Protection Agency, and as an environmental health consultant. Erica has a masters’ degree in public health from the University of Michigan.

Melanie Rosen, M.A., Expressive Arts Therapist
Therapeutic Clown Practitioner, Hospital for Sick Children
Child Psychotherapist

Melanie Rosen is a creative spirit who is passionate about play! She has been working with children for more than twenty years in educational and therapeutic contexts. Melanie has focused on enriching early childcare education through her own movement based expressive arts programs. She works at The Hospital for Sick Children as a therapeutic clown practitioner and has a private practice as a child psychotherapist.  

Brian Russell
Chair of the Father Involvement Initiative - Ontario Network
Parent Educator, Early Years Services, LAMP Community Health Centre

 
Brian Russell is Chair of the Father Involvement Initiative - Ontario Network and a parent educator with the LAMP Early Years Services in Toronto, where his main focus is working with fathers, encouraging them to be responsibly involved with their children. Brian also conducts training workshops for professionals about how to work with fathers.

Lorri Sauve
Outreach and Program Coordinator, Project READ Literacy Network
Member, Action for Family Literacy (AFLO)

Lorri has been involved in the adult literacy field for 20 years. She has been an instructor, program manager, researcher/developer, workshop facilitator, and assessor. Lorri is one of the Ontario trainers who attended the National Family Literacy Foundational training in Pictou, Nova Scotia in 2001 and in July 2003, and coordinated and delivered the face-to-face training in Ontario. For the past ten years she has been a literacy consultant (researcher/writer) for various literacy projects including most recently, “Family Literacy and Health A Module in Foundations in Family Literacy” and she delivered the training to practitioners from all over Canada in 2008. Presently, Lorri is the Outreach and Program Coordinator for Project READ Literacy Network, Kitchener Ontario.  Since 2000, Lorri has been an online facilitator for the Adult Literacy Educator Program (Conestoga, Sault and Algonquin Colleges). As a member of AFLO (Action for Family Literacy Ontario) she has continued to advocate for increasing the knowledge about the benefits of family literacy programs.

Dr. Richard Volpe
Professor and Projects Director, Life Span Adaptation Projects, Institute of Child Study, Department of Human Development and Applied Psychology, University of Toronto

Dr. Richard Volpe received his PhD from the University of Alberta. He was a Laidlaw Foundation Post Doctoral Fellow at the Hospital for Sick Children and at the Clarke Institute. He was also a program evaluation expert for the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development.
Previously he has been Chair of the Institute for the Prevention of Child Abuse, (Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development) and Director of the Dr. R. G. N. Laidlaw Research Centre. Currently he is a Professor of Human Development and Applied Psychology and Projects Director of the Life Span Adaptation Projects at the University of Toronto. His research has led to numerous publications, projects and papers on primary prevention, integrated services and social development.

Tara Vyn
Public Health Nurse, Chatham-Kent Public Health Unit

Tara Vyn, RN, BScN, is a Public Health Nurse at the Chatham-Kent Public Health Unit. A graduate from The University of Western Ontario, Tara visits new mothers and babies as an aspect of the Healthy Babies, Healthy Children program. She also enjoys teaching prenatal and parenting classes.

Brenda Whitteker
Director of Programs, Ontario Physical and Health Education Association (Ophea)

Brenda Whitteker has contributed to the physical health and well-being of children and youth as a coach, teacher, and principal at both the elementary and secondary levels for over 32 years. After retiring, Brenda worked for the Ministry of Education and presently is the Director of Programs at Ophea. She is responsible for the development of supports and lesson plans for teachers, based on the revised Health and Physical Education curriculum. Brenda works to ensure children lead healthy active lives by promoting the development of resources, workshops, and programs at the school, board, and provincial level.

Dr. Eileen Wood
Developmental Psychology, Wilfrid Laurier University

Dr. Eileen Wood is a professor in the area of Developmental Psychology at Wilfrid Laurier University. She has authored 9 books and over 55 research papers that examine cognitive and social development issues. Her most recent books and research address the impact of new technologies for learning, relationships, and privacy/safety.

Sari Zelenietz, MSc, CGC, CCGC
Educator and Genetic Counsellor, Ontario Newborn Screening Program

Sari Zelenietz has been a genetic counsellor with the ONSP since 2006. Sari is responsible for coordinating the referral of screen positive infants, as well as leading many communication and education strategies for the ONSP, including bulletins, telehealth sessions, and the ONSP website. Sari also works with families who have children identified with diseases through newborn screening.

 

 

 

 


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