Governance

Kimberly Fairman is an Inuk scholar living and working in the North, she has been creating space for Indigenous ways of knowing and doing in research and academia. Her research is focused on Community Engaged practice, food security, climate change, and Indigenous research methods.

Her current contributions are supported by nationally competitive grants, including from Canadian Federal Tri-Council. This includes the NT NEIHR grant of $2.4 million, which is a five-year institutional grant that creates a regional Indigenous health research network in Community Based Research and capacity building. She is a Co-Investigator leading the Indigenous engagement component of a Patient Oriented grant in the Primary Care Network and she holds an engagement grant from CIHR in Food Security and Climate Change.

As the Executive Director of the Institute for Circumpolar Health Research, she works with researchers, Indigenous knowledge holders, clinicians and policy makers in health systems research that impacts on the northern patient experience.  Playing an important role by weaving partnerships into the research fabric, engaging with communities and building northern capacity for health research.  She has been showcasing the valuable contribution of northern communities, practitioners, and Indigenous knowledge holders to the modern research agenda. She is also an active board member for Polar Knowledge Canada, and the current President of the board of the Canadian Society for Circumpolar Health.

Marianne Jacques is the acting Scientific Lead for the National Collaborating Centre for Healthy Public Policy (NCCHPP), which is hosted in Montréal at l’Institut national de santé publique du Québec. She has worked for the NCCHPP for the 15 past years in various positions.

Her academic background is in communications, political science and public administration. Marianne graduated from the Université de Montréal, where she discovered a passion for the field of public health.

In addition to her role as Scientific Lead, she is also acting Chair of the Canadian Network on Health in All Policies, a network whose goal is to facilitate the implementation of Health in All Policies approaches in Canada through knowledge mobilization.

Don Juzwishin, BA, MHSA, PhD, FCCHL, Adjunct Professor, University of Victoria, University of Alberta, and University of Calgary.  Retired on Vancouver Island Don brings 40 years of experience in health administration, research, and education.  He is committed to bridging science and values to inform improved equity, diversity and inclusion in health care policy, decisions, health care reform and informatics.  His specialization is HTA examining the clinical and cost effectiveness of interventions.  He teachers in the Health Information Science program at University of Victoria, is Editor in Chief of Healthcare Management Forum, serves as challenge area lead for AGE-WELL, Canada’s technology and aging network, and is a member of the CIHR Western Regional Council on Aging.  Don chairs the Genome Alberta ROC studying genomics and precision health.  He is co-author of a book on the history of public health in Alberta 1919 – 2019 to be released later this year and is currently co-authoring a book on aging and digital technologies.  

Laura Nieuwendyk, MSc is the Senior Program Lead of the Centre for Healthy Communities and the Policy, Location and Access in Community Environments (PLACE) Research Lab (led by Dr. Candace Nykiforuk).  Specifically, her role in the Centre for Healthy Communities includes providing leadership and direction for the development and operations of the Centre. Laura oversees the day-to-day activities and upholds key local, provincial, and national partnerships as necessary. She contributes to research and evaluation activities and associated knowledge exchange, strategic planning, grant development, financial planning and management, communications, and community engagement.

Candace Nykiforuk, PhD, CE works as a Professor and Associate Dean (Research and Research Programs) and as the Scientific Director, Centre for Healthy Communities with the School of Public Health, University of Alberta. From 2014-2019, she held a national Applied Public Health Chair in Public Policy and Community Environments, which was funded by CIHR in partnership with the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) and Alberta Innovates. Candace is a public health scholar with expertise in community environments, health equity, and systems approaches to improve population well-being. She currently leads several interdisciplinary, cross-sectoral collaborations on healthy public policy research. She also has an extensive track record of mobilizing scientific evidence into tools and strategies, which has directly informed practice and policy in municipal and provincial governments, workplaces and communities, and national NGO strategic directions. Candace was honoured to be inducted as a Member of the Royal Society of Canada’s College of New Scholars, Artists and Scientists among other honours for outstanding, innovative research and engaged scholarship. Candace is a first generation Canadian, born and raised in Edmonton, Alberta. She now lives in the Edmonton region with her young family and enjoys exploring community trails and provincial parks with them.

Giri Puligandla is Executive Director of the Canadian Mental Health Association (CMHA) Edmonton Region. Over the past two decades, he has built a strong reputation in Edmonton’s health and social services sector for innovative service design, strategic collaboration, data mobilization, and cross-system planning. Giri believes that involvement of the broader community and people with lived experience can create environments and service systems that promote recovery, resilience, and well-being. Prior to joining CMHA Edmonton, he held leadership roles in Homeward Trust for over seven years as Chief Strategy Officer and Director of Planning and Research, and served in a management role in Alberta Health’s Addiction and Mental Health branch. Earlier in his career, Giri was Executive Director with the Alberta Caregivers Association and Schizophrenia Society of Alberta Edmonton Chapter. He also holds a MSc in health promotion from the University of Alberta.

Kim Raine, PhD, FCAHS is a Distinguished Professor Emeritus in the School of Public Health, University of Alberta. She is a Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences. 

Dr. Raine's research career focused on social-ecological health promotion, including demonstrating the potential of large-scale population interventions at community and policy levels. Specifically, she led a 5-year community-university-government partnership 'Healthy Alberta Communities' and co-led the Alberta Policy Coalition for Chronic Disease Prevention and Alberta's Nutrition Report Card on Food Environments for Children and Youth. 

Dr. Raine held competitive career awards for 14 years, including an Applied Public Health Chair from CIHR. She has led research teams that have garnered over $20 million in funding; published nearly 200 peer-reviewed papers; mentored over 60 MSc, PhD and postdoctoral research trainees; and influenced research strategies and policy development. Raine has used her leadership skills as Director of the Centre for Health Promotion Studies; President of the Alberta Public Health Association and as Associate Dean (Research) in the School of Public Health. In 2020 she received the Ron Draper Health Promotion Award from the Canadian Public Health Association. 

Jane Springett, BA MA PHD FRGS is Professor Emerita, School of Public Health, University of Alberta. An experienced participatory researcher and engaged scholar she has been working in the area of health and health promotion for over 30 years.  Originally an urban geographer she came to health promotion through the WHO Healthy Cities project, serving on the Liverpool Joint Public Health Team. She is now a recognised international leader in developing the use of participatory practices in evaluation, research and health promotion. She currently works with international partners to coordinate both the International Collaboration on Participatory Health Research (ICPHR) and the Collaborative Action Research Network (CARN). Over the last 15 years, she has been at the forefront of the development of participatory evaluation in the field of health promotion and was a member of the influential WHO Working Party on the Evaluation of Health Promotion. She is co-author with Margaret Ledwith of the second edition of the best selling Participatory Practice: Community-based action for transformative change. Bristol, UK: Policy Press.

Gary F Teare, PhD MSc DVM, Scientific Director, Provincial Population and Public Health, Alberta Health Services (AHS). Gary joined AHS late in 2018 and since February 2021 has been Scientific Director in the Provincial Population and Public Health program. Prior to moving to Calgary in 2018, Gary was with the Saskatchewan Health Quality Council for over 13 years – where he led their research and quality measurement team and then served as CEO during his last 4 years in Saskatchewan.  As co-principal applicant, Gary was instrumental in the initial development of Saskatchewan’s CIHR Strategy for Patient Oriented Research SUPPORT Unit – and he also provided leadership for Saskatchewan’s participation in the nation-wide Health Canada/CIHR Canadian Network for Observational Drug Effect Studies (CNODES). Gary is an epidemiologist by training and a health services, implementation science and population health researcher and organizational leader by practice, over the past 25 years.  He lives in Calgary with his wife and dogs – who all enjoy doing as many mountain day-hikes as possible each year.

Merry Turtiak, MSc, CPHI(C) is currently the Executive Director of Regional and Northern Economic Development with the Ministry of Jobs, Economy and Northern Development for Alberta. This role looks at opportunities to support the province’s economic growth, diversification and connect municipal and business stakeholders to partners and funding that support local communities and regions. Previously, Merry was the Director of Environmental Public Health Science within Ministry of Health for Alberta and a practicing public health inspector.

Her knowledge and skills rest in stakeholder engagement, leadership, and systems thinking that can draw connections across the physical and figurative landscape. While income is a strong determinant of health, it does need to be balanced against protecting the environment, our communities and global influences like climate and economy. Using her past experience in industrial development, emergency management, pandemic response as well as surveillance and data collection, her goal is to support the creation of healthy communities that are resilient in the short and long terms.

Outside of the office, she completed a Fellowship in Health System Improvement working with Interior Health on dementia and community care models and is exploring further training and skills in Canadian law. As often as possible, she tries to dash off to dive the deep blue sea to meet and greet whales, seahorses and nudibranchs, spend summers in her backyard garden and camping throughout the western provinces.