Gaynor Watson-Creed

Associate Dean of Serving and Engaging Society, Faculty of Medicine, Dalhousie University;  Former Deputy Chief Medical Officer for Health, Nova Scotia

Dr. Gaynor Watson-Creed is the Associate Dean of Serving and Engaging Society for Dalhousie University’s Faculty of Medicine, and Chair of the Board of Engage Nova Scotia. She is a public health specialist physician with 17 years experience, having served as the former Medical Officer of Health for the Halifax area and Deputy Chief Medical Officer of Health for Nova Scotia. She also sits as chair or member of several national population health councils and boards and is a passionate advocate for high-quality public health services in Canada.

Jim Barker

Professor, Herbert S. Lamb Chair of Business Education

Professor Jim Barker is the Herbert S. Lamb Chair of Business Education and a Founding Fellow of the MacEachen Institute.  He is a globally recognized expert in complex organizational behaviour, ethics and strategy who has specific expertise in leadership, safety, change management and stakeholder engagement.  As the leader of the Safe Assured research team, Dr. Barker directs the research efforts of 14 Canadian and international safety scholars in collaboration with community pharmacy regulators, pharmacists’ professional associations, and pharmacy industry partners.  He has several on-going projects with colleagues in the Faculty of Medicine including MacEachen Institute initiatives.

Tiffany Fitzpatrick

Epidemiologist, Public Health Ontario

Tiffany Fitzpatrick, PhD MPH, recently joined Public Health Ontario as a Scientist in August 2022. Prior to this, she was a Killam Postdoctoral Fellow at the Canadian Center for Vaccinology (IWK Health, Dalhousie University) and a CIHR Banting Postdoctoral Fellow at the Yale School of Public Health’s Public Health Modeling Unit. Dr. Fitzpatrick completed her PhD in Epidemiology at the University of Toronto’s Dalla Lana School of Public Health. Her research focuses on the epidemiology and evaluation of public health policies and interventions preventing viral respiratory infections, particularly respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) and COVID-19, with an emphasis on health equity.

Robert Van Der Meer

Professor of Management Science, University of Strathclyde, Scotland

Robert van der Meer is Professor of Management Science at the University of Strathclyde. Over the last decade, Robert’s research has focused on health economics, healthcare analytics and healthcare operations management, funded by the Scottish Government, NHS Scotland, NHS Lanarkshire, NHS Greater Glasgow & Clyde, Golden Jubilee National Hospital, Cancer Research UK, Pancreatic Cancer UK and others.

Robert has a PhD in Operational Research from the University of Strathclyde, an MSc in Economics (with specialisation in Mathematical Economics) from the London School of Economics (LSE) and a Cand. Econ. degree in Economics and Business Administration from the University of Amsterdam.

David Petrie

Physician, Department of Emergency Medicine, Dalhousie University

Dr David A Petrie is an emergency physician at the QE2 Health Science Centre in Halifax and a pProfessor of Emergency Medicine with Dalhousie University. He has been Medical Director of the Halifax Regional ground EMS system, the Provincial LifeFlight/critical care transport program, the Academic Head/Clinical District Chief of the Department of Emergency Medicine Dalhousie/Central Zone, and most recently, the senior medical director of the provincial Emergency Program of Care/Nova Scotia Health Authority.  Currently, he co-chairs the CAEP Future of Emergency Medicine task force. His academic interests have evolved from prehospital and trauma systems research, to studying the impact of critical thinking and complexity science on leadership decision-making and health system design.

Jim Barker

Professor, Herbert S. Lamb Chair of Business Education

Professor Jim Barker is the Herbert S. Lamb Chair of Business Education and a Founding Fellow of the MacEachen Institute.  He is a globally recognized expert in complex organizational behaviour, ethics and strategy who has specific expertise in leadership, safety, change management and stakeholder engagement.  As the leader of the Safe Assured research team, Dr. Barker directs the research efforts of 14 Canadian and international safety scholars in collaboration with community pharmacy regulators, pharmacists’ professional associations, and pharmacy industry partners.  He has several on-going projects with colleagues in the Faculty of Medicine including MacEachen Institute initiatives.

Bashir Jiwani

Lead Ethicist and Executive Director, Ethics and Diversity Services, Fraser Health Authority, British Columbia

Bashir Jiwani, PhD, is Lead Ethicist and Executive Director, Ethics and Diversity Services, at the Fraser Health Authority in BC. He heads a team that provides decision- and capacity-building support in patient care and at the system-level when dealing with complex, ethically challenging situations in contexts of diversity. Bashir currently serves as President of the Canadian Bioethics Society, as a member of the pan-Canadian Advisory Panel on a Framework for a Prescription Drug List and on the Core Team for the Aga Khan University Thinking Group on Ethics, Stem Cell Science, and Regenerative Medicine. Bashir received his PhD in Public Health Sciences from the University of Alberta.

Maxwell Smith

Bioethicist and Assistant Professor, Faculty of Health, Western University

Dr. Maxwell Smith is a Bioethicist and Assistant Professor in the Faculty of Health Sciences at Western University. Professor Smith also co-directs Western’s Health Ethics, Law, and Policy (HELP) Lab, is the Associate Director of the Rotman Institute of Philosophy, and has appointments in the Department of Philosophy, Schulich Interfaculty Program in Public Health, and Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics. He is a Consulting Bioethicist at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre and serves or has served in numerous ethics advisory roles, including with the Ontario government, Public Health Agency of Canada, and World Health Organization. His research is primarily in the area of public health ethics, with a focus on infectious disease ethics and the ethical requirements of health equity and social justice for public health policy, practice, and research.

Christy Simpson

Associate Professor, Department of Bioethics, Dalhousie University

Christy Simpson is an Associate Professor in the Department of Bioethics at Dalhousie's Faculty of Medicine. Christy’s research focuses on ethics issues arising in health care, at the clinical, organizational, and systems levels. She collaborates on research which is “rethinking” rural health ethics as well as core concepts in organizational and paediatric ethics.

The most important lesson we need to draw from COVID-19:

'If we say that specific values, such as equity and solidarity, are important, then we need to critically reflect on our planning assumptions, determine how best to respond to differential impacts of polices or decisions on communities, and commit to making changes in the health system in line with these values."

Marika Warren

Assistant Professor, Department of Bioethics, Dalhousie University; Network Ethicist, Nova Scotia Ethics Network

Christy Simpson is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Bioethics at Dalhousie's Faculty of Medicine and a Network Ethicist with the Nova Scotia Ethics Network. Dr. Warren’s research interests are broadly centered on social justice and health. She is particularly interested in ethical problems that arise for health care providers in everyday practice and much of her work is devoted to building ethics capacity to address these challenges.

The most important lesson we need to draw from COVID-19:

"Even when policies are carefully considered and reflect relevant values they can contribute to ethical harms."

Sandra Bauld

Former Director of Home Care, Northwood

A nurse by profession, Sandra has taught at the Victoria General Hospital (VGH) School of Nursing in Halifax, worked in long-term care specializing in dementia care, and was an administrator in home care for nineteen years before retiring in 2015.

As a passionate proponent of home care, Sandra worked tirelessly to advance consolidated education for home support workers; to ensure appropriate wages, benefits, and worklife balance for home support workers; and to promote the value of these employees and their services to the continuum of care in Nova Scotia.

Sandra continues to advocate for homecare matters through participation on the C.A.R.P. NS Health Advocacy Committee; contributing to Mount Saint Vincent University's SALTY research project as an Advisory Group member; and seeking opportunities to educate about and champion for home care whenever possible.

Grace Warner

Professor, School of Occupational Therapy, Dalhousie University

Dr. Grace Warner is a Professor in the Dalhousie School of Occupational Therapy and an Affiliate Scientist with Nova Scotia Health. She has a PhD in Epidemiology with post-doctoral work in applied health services. Her work focuses on understanding how to facilitate the implementation of programs that address the care needs of older adults and their families. She is involved in a range of research projects partnering with health system administrators, provincial policy makers, providers, and patients; examples include remote monitoring of home care clients, care trajectories of home care clients, and family visitation in Long Term Care during Covid.

Donalda MacIsaac

Family Patient Advisor, Department of Family Medicine, Dalhousie University

Donalda has been a dedicated, full-time healthcare and social change advocate for her entire adult life and has served in a variety of roles in local, provincial, and national organizations.  Donalda serves as a Family Patient Advisor for Dalhousie Family Medicine, and for various Nova Scotia Health committees.  She has and continues to work tirelessly on behalf of people in need, helping them to navigate the systems of government and attain the services they require, while fighting for improved services and increased accessibility. 

Bill Adair

Executive Director, Spinal Cord Injury Canada

Bill is presently the Executive Director of Spinal Cord Injury Canada. Bill has extensive professional and community leadership experience in the areas of healthcare and disability. Bill has devoted his leadership and expertise to the Government of Canada through various advisory committees such as the Canadian Access and Inclusion Project; the Federal Accessibility Legislation Alliance; the Working Group on Alternate Format Materials; and others. Bill also led the committee that developed recommendations for the Government of Canada’s Accessibility Communications policy. He is a member of the Accessibility Standards Canada Board of Directors. He is also a member of the Disability Advisory Group to Canada’s Minister Responsible for Disability Inclusion.  Bill has a Bachelor of Science (University of Minnesota) and is a graduate of the Executive Leadership Course on the Management of Non-Profit Organizations (Harvard University). He received a Meritorious Service Medal from the Government of Canada in 2016.  Bill fell off a horse when he was 11, and he has a paralyzed arm as a result.

Kevin Orrell

Deputy Minister, Office of Professional Healthcare Recruitment