Wear Red Gala-entines Day

Dr. Colleen Norris, '78 Dip(Nu), '82 BScN, '92 MN, '02 PhD
Professor and Associate Dean, Research, Faculty of Nursing. Assistant Adjunct Professor in the Department of Medicine in the Faculty of Medicine & Dentistry.
Dr. Norris' program of research focuses on the sex and gender factors that impact women’s heart health. Dr. Norris is the Cavarzan Chair in Mature Women’s Health Research with Women & Children's Research Institute (WCHRI), she focuses on promoting and linking research with practice for the benefit of women. She is also the past Chair of the Canadian Women’s Heart Health Alliance, Health Policy and Services working group, whose mandate is to implement policies that advance our understanding of the unique sex and gender factors affecting the outcomes of women’s heart health. She is a committee member on the Women’s Heart and Brain Health Network Research Steering Committee and is actively involved in advancing sex and gender-based analysis and reporting in Heart & Stroke funded research. Dr. Norris has mentored over 80 students/trainees. She has presented extensively and has over 350 publications in the areas of sex and gender differences in cardiovascular treatment and outcomes, and women’s heart health.

Elisa Proulx is a Certified Communication Coach, and Founder of The Self-Assured Speaker, a coaching and training company for self-led businesswomen who want to show up & speak up with greater confidence and authority. Elisa works with women entrepreneurs, business groups, and organizations to empower women with the skills and mindset to become Self-Assured Speakers. Through her training, background, and experience, she provides women with the tools to build strong communication skills, so they can effectively talk about their business, confidently promote themselves, and grow their impact and their influence.

Elisa is passionate about empowering women to deeply trust themselves and to use their voice as a tool to create the results they desire in both business and personal life.

A born and raised Torontonian, Elisa moved out west 10 years ago and fell in love with the Edmonton community. She settled down in St. Albert, Alberta, where she now lives with her husband and 2 babies

Emeleigh Brown was born and raised in Edmonton, Alberta. She earned her Bachelor of Commerce at the University of Alberta, and her MBA at the University of Calgary. During her master's, she decided she was very passionate about the psychology aspect of business, and started her journey to becoming a counsellor. She now has her Master of Counselling with a specialization in Counselling Psychology from the University of Athabasca. She is a Registered Clinical Counsellor.

Sharon Gingara - An avid runner and all-around outdoorsy gal, was the last person anyone thought would have a heart attack — but she did. As women, we share every detail of our lives with each other — our passions, our hardships, even our secrets. But somehow the topic of heart attack and heart disease, which is killing women at an alarming rate, rarely seems to come up. In Sharon’s talk, she shares an eye-opening look at what went wrong, what she and others didn’t know or ignored along the way, and starts the conversation that we really should be having with our gal pals.