Speakers

Dr. Maria J. Santana

Person-Centred Care Team, University of Calgary

Dr. Maria J. Santana is a health services researcher, patient and family-centred care scientist, Professor in the departments of Pediatrics and Community Health Sciences at the Cumming School of Medicine, University of Calgary, Canada.

She is the provincial director of Patient Engagement for the Alberta Strategy for Patient-oriented Research (AbSPORU). She is the principal investigator for the Person-centred Care Research Team and the academic director of the Patient and Community Engagement in Research (PaCER).

Email: mjsantan@ucalgary.ca

Dr. Laura Templeton

British Columbia’s Office of Patient-Centred Measurement 

Dr. Laura Templeton is the Provincial Executive Director of the Office of Patient-Centred Measurement (OPCM), where she leads BC Patient-Centred Measurement (BCPCM), British Columbia’s provincial program for measuring and reporting patient experiences of care. BCPCM is undergoing substantial program modernization focused on ensuring that the experiences and perspectives of patients are meaningfully reflected in how health-care quality is understood, measured, and improved.

Dr. Maoliosa Donald

University of Calgary

Dr. Maoliosa (Mo) Donald, PhD, is an Adjunct Assistant Professor at the Cumming School of Medicine, University of Calgary. She is trained as a health services researcher, implementation scientist, and physical therapist. Her research focuses on using pragmatic approaches to identify strategies to improve person-centred care for individuals with chronic kidney disease.

Maoliosa has extensive experience in partner engagement in the implementation of health innovations nationally and internationally. She applies mixed and multi-method approaches to co-design, implement, and evaluate innovations, focusing on integrated care that spans specialist and community-based care settings.

Dr. Angela Wolff

Trinity Western University

Dr. Angela Wolff, RN, PhD, is a Professor in the School of Nursing at Trinity Western University in Langley, British Columbia. Her research focuses on advancing person-centred care by integrating patient-centred assessment tools into clinical practice using theory-informed and evidence-based implementation strategies. Dr. Wolff’s recent work has centred on partnering with patients and clinicians to support the adoption and routine use of patient-reported outcome measures (PROMs), with a particular focus on quality-of-life assessment in community mental health settings. Her research and knowledge translation efforts aim to ensure that patient perspectives are meaningfully incorporated into care planning, evaluation, and decision-making. 

Committed to advancing equitable, person-centred healthcare, Dr. Wolff is leading an innovation initiative focused on integrating patient-reported outcomes and equitable assessment practices into undergraduate nursing education, helping prepare future nurses to deliver more responsive and patient-informed care. Internationally, Dr. Wolff is actively involved with the International Society for Quality of Life Research (ISOQOL), where she serves as Co-Chair of the Clinical Practice Special Interest Group and leads workshops that equip clinicians with practical strategies for implementing PROMs in routine care. Through her research, teaching, and professional leadership, Dr. Wolff works to strengthen partnerships between patients, clinicians, educators, and researchers to improve healthcare experiences and outcomes.

Esmée Vesseur

Amsterdam UMC (University of Amsterdam)

Esmée Vesseur is a PhD candidate at Amsterdam UMC. Her work focuses on the mental health of parents of children with chronic or acute medical conditions within the EMpower Parents project. This project aims to identify traumatic events experienced by parents and to offer brief EMDR treatment to reduce trauma-related symptoms, thereby improving the care provided to parents in a pediatric healthcare setting.

In her talk, she will discuss the KLIK portal, parent-reported outcome measures (ParROMS), parental mental health, and a suitable intervention to address parental mental health.

Dr. Linda Watson

Cancer Care Alberta (CCA)

Dr. Linda Watson has been an oncology nurse in Calgary, Alberta, Canada for over 30 years. She has held a variety of nursing and inter-professional leadership and research roles within Cancer Care Alberta (CCA) and currently holds the role of Executive Director, Supportive Care Services and Patient Experience.

Dr. Watson also holds an adjunct professor position with the Faculty of Nursing at the University of Calgary and is past President of the Canadian Association of Nurses in Oncology (CANO). She has also recently completed a four-year term on the Board of Directors for the International Society for Nurses in Cancer Care (ISNCC).

Over the past decade, Dr. Watson has led the development of CCA’s Patient Reported Measures Program that includes both Patient Reported Outcomes and Experience data, among other things. CCA’s consistent approach to capturing the voices and experience of patients as data has contributed to a stronger learning health system, where patient outcome and experience data is routinely used to inform point of care delivery, program development and system improvements.

Dr. Whitney Hindmarch

Mental Health Research 4 Kids

Dr. Whitney Hindmarch is the Research Manager for Mental Health Research 4 Kids and the Pan-Canadian Initiative Linking Genomic, Environmental and Mental Health Data in Children and Youth. Her research focus is on the interaction of genes, environment, and hormones in youth mental health.

Bishnu Bajgain

Person-Centred Care Team, University of Calgary

Bishnu Bajgain is a PhD candidate in the Department of Community Health Sciences at the University of Calgary and a Research Coordinator in the Department of Pediatrics. His current work focuses on implementing and evaluating patient-reported outcome measures (Measurement-Based Care) in child and adolescent mental health services. Bishnu is a recipient of a CIHR Doctoral Award (2026-29) that supports his PhD research on implementing MBC in a child and adolescent Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD) program in Calgary. His academic training includes an MSc in Health Services Research from the University of Calgary and an MSc in Healthcare Management. Before pursuing his MSc at the University of Calgary, he served as a faculty member in healthcare management at various universities in Nepal. 

In addition to his academic experience, Bishnu brings more than a decade of healthcare leadership experience, including roles in establishing, administering, and managing corporate and community hospitals. His commitment to academic and professional excellence has been recognized with multiple teaching and leadership awards. 

Dr. Monica Cepoiu-Martin

Person-Centred Care Team, University of Calgary

Dr. Monica Cepoiu-Martin holds a PhD in Health Services Research and an MSc in Epidemiology and Biostatistics, with postdoctoral training through CIHR and AHS Health Services Impact program. Her work integrates mixed-methods and systems modeling to evaluate healthcare programs and inform policy, particularly in primary care, community-based services, and clinical research operations. Dr. Cepoiu-Martin has authored numerous peer-reviewed publications and leads multidisciplinary teams in advancing evidence-based healthcare improvement. She is passionate about translating data-driven insights into strategies that enhance patient outcomes, system efficiency, and sustainable care delivery.

Sadia Ahmed

Person-Centred Care Team, University of Calgary

Sadia Ahmed is a Research Associate with the AbSPORU Patient Engagement Team. As part of her role, she carries out patient-oriented research projects, oversees and supports student projects, and supports researchers and patient-partners to work together in health research teams. She has experience with qualitative research methods, evaluation of patient engagement, patient-reported experience and outcomes measures (PREMs, PROMs) research, and co-facilitating digital storytelling workshops

Sabrina Adam

Person-Centred Care Team, University of Calgary

Sabrina is a research assistant with the team, and she holds an honors degree in psychology, having completed a thesis on the effects of mindfulness on academic performance. She has experience as a social skills counsellor for children and as a patient experience volunteer at the Alberta Children’s Hospital. Her academic background includes both qualitative and quantitative research, with interests in pediatric mental health, social development, trauma, and PTSD. Improving patient experience is especially important to her, and she hopes to pursue this focus further during her master’s training.

Fakhriyya Aghabayli

Person-Centred Care Team, University of Calgary

Fakhriyya Aghabayli is a Research Assistant with the team supporting number of patient and community engagement projects. Fakhriyya is a pediatrician, a graduate of the Patient and Community Engagement Research (PaCER) program from the University of Calgary and certified Patient Navigator and Community Interpreter. She deeply cares about children’s health and passioned about helping people to navigate complex healthcare system.

Allison Soprovich

End-User Lead, Alberta PROMs and EQ-5D Research and Support Unit (APERSU) | School of Public Health, University of Alberta

Allison Soprovich, BScN, MPH, is the End-User Lead with the Alberta PROMs and EQ-5D Research and Support Unit (APERSU), in the School of Public Health, University of Alberta. Her main roles include relationship building and bridging practice gaps between patients, clinicians, researchers, policy makers and administrators. This includes co-developing knowledge translation and mobilization resources to integrate patient-reported outcomes into healthcare in Alberta, as well as for other research project initiatives. Allison completed her BScN from the University of Alberta in 2004. She worked as a Registered Nurse in community and primary care settings before completing her MPH degree in Global Health in 2011. She received a post-graduate certificate in Knowledge Mobilization from the University of Guelph in 2017. Her main interest areas are improving access to research findings for all audiences, to inform, develop and improve healthcare, services and programming.

Kyle Kemp

Person-Centred Care Team, University of Calgary

Kyle Kemp is an Adjunct Assistant Professor and Senior Research Associate at the University of Calgary. He leads a variety of projects which focus on improving the experiences of hospitalized patients and families. Kyle has over 20 years of experience in a variety of research and analytic roles in the healthcare system. This includes work with Alberta Health Services, the Health Quality Alberta, the Ottawa Hospital Research Institute, and the Nova Scotia Health Authority.

To date, Kyle has authored over 50 peer-reviewed publications and has presented over 100 conference abstracts. His research has been recognized with awards from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), Alberta Innovates, the Canadian Association for Health Services and Policy Research (CAHSPR), the International Society for Quality of Life (ISOQOL), and the International Population Data Linkage Network (IPDLN). 

Matthew Luzentales-Simpson

Person-Centred Care Team, University of Calgary

Matthew is a bench-trained scientist with previous work in the field of human immunology and experimental medicines. His passions lie in quality improvement in health systems and health policy, and exploring innovative methods to improve the patient experience in primary care in Alberta.

Dr. Henry Michael

University of Calgary

Dr. Henry Michael is a Postdoctoral Research Associate in the Department of Community Health Sciences at the University of Calgary and a health outcomes scientist focused on advancing equitable health measurement. Trained as a pharmacist, he completed his PhD in Experimental Medicine at McGill University, where his research centered on patient outcomes and advanced quantitative methods. His current work integrates modern psychometrics, adaptive measurement, machine learning, and natural language processing to develop patient-reported outcome approaches that are more equitable, less burdensome, and more responsive to how people experience and describe their health. His research spans cardiovascular health, aging, infectious diseases, and digital health, with the goal of building measurement systems that support more precise, inclusive, and person-centered care.

Dr. Lucas Wollmann

Person-Centred Care Team, University of Calgary

Dr. Lucas Wollmann, MD, PhD, is a family physician, medical educator, and epidemiologist with over ten years of experience in teaching, clinical practice, and health policy. He earned his PhD in Epidemiology at the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. His research focuses on medical education, primary healthcare performance, and the physician–patient relationship.

He is currently a Postdoctoral Fellow with the Person-Centred Care Research Team at the University of Calgary, where his research explores how to bridge medical education and patient outcomes and experiences.

Alessandra Paolucci

Alessandra Paolucci holds a BA in Psychology and is a PhD Candidate in Community Health Sciences, specializing in Health Services Research, at the University of Calgary. Using a patient-oriented, integrated knowledge translation research approach through a multi-phase exploratory sequential mixed-methods design, her doctoral work explores how healthcare professionals perceive their roles and needs in supporting and partnering with family caregivers of advanced lung cancer patients, with the goal of strengthening the family caregiver-healthcare professional dyad. She is also drawn to this project by a personal connection to caregiving—as a secondary caregiver. She hopes to contribute to helping the healthcare workforce become more collaborative, unified, and supported.