Dr. Joshua Tepper

Dr. Joshua Tepper is a family physician and an Assistant Deputy Minister at Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care, Health Human Resources Strategy Division.

With a degree in Public Policy from Duke University he has been involved in health policy and research relating to health human resources at both the provincial and national level.  He was a senior medical officer for Health Canada, an adjunct scientist at the Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences (ICES) and a research consultant for the Canadian Institute of Health Information (CIHI).  Joshua was president of both the Canadian Federation of Medical Students and the Provincial Association of Interns and Residents of Ontario.  He has sat on the board of both the Canadian Medical Association and the Ontario Medical Association.  He completed his Masters of Public Health at Harvard University in 2005.

Joshua is happily married to Andrea Berntson and the proud father of baby boy Ishai.

Dr Carissa F Etienne, M.D., MSc.

Dr. Carissa F. Etienne is the Assistant Director of the Pan American Sanitary Bureau, which is the Secretariat of the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO). She oversees the organization’s programs for Health Surveillance and Disease Management; Family and Community Health; Sustainable Development and Environmental Health; Technology and Health Services Delivery; Health Systems Strengthening; and Gender, Ethnicity and Health—PAHO’s core programs for providing technical cooperation to its Member States.

Dr. John Izzo

As an author, community leader and one of North America’s most thought provoking and inspiring voices, Dr. John Izzo has spoken to over a million people about the essential elements of leadership and how each of us can lead fulfilling lives while making the world a better place. His interests are development as it pertains to the individual as well as the company, corporate culture and the pursuit of creating places that support the individual as well as the corporate vision, personal well-being in the fight to balance work and life and our social and environmental responsibility to ensure future generations see and experience a preserved and sustainable planet.

Dr. Izzo has more than 20 years experience working in a wide variety of corporate settings. His clients include nonprofit organizations, Fortune 500 companies, Healthcare systems and mid-size ompanies. His appearance schedule has him presenting to Associations as well as National corporate conferences worldwide. He has become known as one of North America’s most influential voices.

He is the author of over 400 articles, and is the co-author of the best selling book “Awakening Corporate Soul: Four Paths to Unleash the Power of People at Work” and its companion workbook. His second book focused corporate North America on the connection between the workforce’s values and the rates of retention within the work world. “Values-Shift: The New Work Ethic and What It Means for Business” defines how and why our work ethic has changed by focusing on SIX major ‘values shifts’ that are occurring in the world of work. His third book published in 2004 (Berret-Koehler) was “Second Innocence: Rediscovering Joy and Wonder”. It is a powerful book that blends personal stories with Dr. Izzo's thoughts on work, spirituality, relationships and daily life.

This past fall, THE BIOGRAPHY CHANNEL and Dr. Izzo embarked on an adventure to learn from 200 Wise Elders across North America, “THE FIVE THINGS YOU MUST DISCOVER BEFORE YOU DIE”. This series was filmed in Toronto at the John Bassett Theatre before a live studio audience. The five part series aired on The Biography Channel in April and May 2007.

Dr. Izzo’s environmental and pioneering corporate work has been featured on CNN, ABC World News, the LA Times, Canada AM, CBC Radio, The American Medical Journal, B.C. Business, Fast Company, the National Post, the Wall Street Journal, and the cover of Association Management Magazine. Dr. Izzo is the former president of the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society and a post board president of the Sierra Club. He continues to be a feature writer for the Globe and Mail career section.

Neeru Gupta

Neeru Gupta is a demographer with the World Health Organization's Department of Human Resources for Health. She has fifteen years of professional experience in the planning, implementation and management of activities to collect, analyze, use and disseminate demographic and health data. She has extensive experience in providing technical assistance to countries and partners to support strengthening of health systems including HHR information systems to support decision-making. Dr Gupta has work experience in a number of developed countries and developing countries of the Africa, Asian, and Latin American and Caribbean regions. She holds a Ph.D. in Demography from the Université de Montréal (Canada). She is widely published in the area of population, health and development.

Krista Yao

Krista Yao, B.A. (Econ.), LL.B. is a lawyer with Nadjiwan Law Office, located on the Nipissing First Nation.  A graduate of McGill University and the University of Ottawa, she has been practicing Aboriginal law since her call to the Ontario Bar in 1994.  Krista’s clients include First Nations, Tribal Councils and Aboriginal organizations, to whom she provides a broad range of legal services in areas such as corporate and commercial, taxation, health administration and policy, economic development, litigation, and First Nations governance.  Through her work with the First Nations and Inuit Regional Longitudinal Health Survey, and with organizations such as the Assembly of First Nations and the National Aboriginal Health Organization, Krista has also developed unique expertise in the area of First Nations collective privacy interests, and the applicability and impact of federal and provincial privacy and access laws on First Nations and First Nations’ initiatives.

Dr. Patrick Ceresia

Dr. Ceresia obtained his medical degree from the University of
Ottawa in 1975. He is a general practitioner with significant experience in occupational/aviation medicine and a long-standing involvement in medical administration. He has had a self-described obsession with computers and associated technologies dating back to the early 1980s and his interest in telehealth was a natural progression. Dr. Ceresia came to the CMPA in 1998 from the Canadian military where he had been serving as the Chief of Staff of the Canadian Forces Medical Group. Building on previous system re-engineering experience, he led the CMPA through an enterprise wide functional re-engineering, including a complete information management renewal and the implementation of complex supporting technology systems. In addition to his primary role as Managing Director of Corporate Services, he serves as an electronic information management and telehealth advisor and is also the CMPA’s Privacy Officer.

Joan Roch

As Chief Privacy Strategist at Canada Health Infoway Joan is responsible for ensuring that privacy is being addressed by Infoway in its overall program to accelerate the development of a pan-Canadian system for electronic health records.

Joan has over 30 years experience in program policy and information management and for the last 10 years has focused on health information and privacy. Prior to joining Canada Health Infoway, Joan was an independent privacy consultant and the first Chief Privacy Officer for the Canadian Institute for Health Information. During this time she has developed privacy training programs, provided practical advice on incorporating privacy enhancing practices into system developments and And made submissions to federal and provincial legislative committees and review processes on health information and privacy. She has also co-authored numerous privacy impact assessments and spoken at many conferences, local, national and international.  She is currently focusing on the broader topic of information governance in the context of the electronic health record.

Dr. Gail Tomblin-Murphy

Dr. Gail Tomblin Murphy is a Professor, School of Nursing, Faculty of Health Professions and Department of Community Health and Epidemiology, Faculty of Medicine, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia. Dr. Tomblin Murphy brings expertise in health human resource planning with expertise in needs based approaches to health human resource planning. She is has extensive experience working with policy-makers nationally and internationally. Gail’s research is well funded by numerous national funding agencies. Gail is the Science Lead in HHR for CIHR and is a member of the Advisory Committee on Health Delivery and Human Resources in Canada.

Steven Vanloffeld

Steven Vanloffeld is Ojibway from Saugeen First Nation, Ontario. He is a Research Officer in the field of health human resources with the National Aboriginal Health Organization (NAHO). Steven has had the opportunity to work with a number of leading academics and researchers on the development of a minimum data set for the Aboriginal Health Human Resources Initiative (AHHRI).

Prior to assuming his current position, Steven worked as an Education Counselor in his home community. He played a pivotal role in encouraging and supporting a number of youth to complete high school and continue to pursue post-secondary education.

Steven’s academic background includes diplomas in Advertising and Television Writing & Production. He is currently finishing his degree in Public Administration at the University of Ottawa. Some of his other achievements include being voted Student of the Year, being elected as the first student-body president of his Aboriginal high school, and giving the key-note address at his community’s annual Education Awards Ceremony, which recognizes students’ academic and personal achievements.

Janet Cooper

Janet Cooper is the Senior Director, Professional Affairs for the Canadian Pharmacists Association in Ottawa. She obtained her BSc(Pharm) and Hospital Pharmacy Residency Certificate from Dalhousie University. Janet practiced for 12 years in hospitals in Halifax, Mississauga and Ottawa before joining CPhA in 1993. CPhA’s Professional Affairs department is responsible for the association’s initiatives in the areas of pharmacy practice development, continuing education, practice research, policy development, interdisciplinary collaboration, pharmacy human resources and health informatics. CPhA is the lead organization for the pharmacy HR study, Moving Forward – Pharmacy Human Resources for the Future, which is funded in part by HRSDC.
CPhA is also leading the Blueprint for Pharmacy initiative, of which pharmacy HR is a key component.

Dr. John Gilbert

Dr. John Gilbert is Principal & Professor Emeritus, College of Health Disciplines, UBC. He serves on Health Canada’s National Expert Committee on Interprofessional Education for Collaborative Patient Centred Care. His many honours include a Fulbright Scholarship; a David Ross Research Fellowship; a Medical Research Council Post-Doctoral Scholarship; the Outstanding Alumnus Award of the School of Liberal Arts, Purdue University; a Killam Outstanding Teaching Award; a 50th Jubilee Medal from the Faculty of Medicine, and The Distinguished Service Award of the British Columbia Institute of Technology.  He is President, International Association for Interprofessional Education and Collaborative Practice, and iFaculty Advisor, National Health Sciences Student’s Association. He is a member of the Boards of the Michener Institute, the Victorian Order of Nurses, and the B.C.Women’s Hospital Foundation. He is Chair of the Board of the Women’s Health Research Institute and Project Lead, the Canadian Interprofessional Health Collaborative, funded by Health Canada. He has recently be named Co-Chair of the WHO Study Group on Interprofessional Education & Collaborative Practice.

Steven Lewis

Steven Lewis is a health policy and research consultant based in Saskatoon, and Adjunct Professor of Health Policy at the University of Calgary and Simon Fraser University (where he was Visiting Scholar from January to April 2007).  Prior to resuming a full-time consulting practice he headed a health research granting agency and spent 7 years as CEO of the Health Services Utilization and Research Commis­sion in Saskatchewan.  He has served on various boards and committees, including the Governing Council of the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, the Saskatchewan Health Quality Council, the Health Council of Canada, and the editorial boards of several journals, including the newly launched Open Medicine.  His published work covers topics such as reforming and strengthening Medicare, improving health care quality, primary health care, regionalization, and the management of wait times