Meet the PESJO Team
Dr. Pamela Chu (she/her)
Associate Dean, Precision Equity & Social Justice Office
The Precision Equity and Social Justice Office (PESJO) works under the leadership of Dr. Pamela Chu. She has served as Associate Dean, Professionalism, Equity and Diversity since 2019, when she was recruited by, served under, and was privileged to be mentored by, then Vice Dean, Dr. Glenda MacQueen. Dr. Chu began her role months before the murder of George Floyd and the beginning of the COVID pandemic and is passionate in her belief that without an equitable, diverse, and inclusive culture in medicine and medical science, there can be no healthy future for communities and the people living in them.
She is an Associate Professor in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology with a cross-appointment in the Department of Oncology, in the section of Gynaecologic Oncology. While leading the Precision Equity and Social Justice Office, Pam has championed the School’s mandate of creating a safe and just culture through work in 3 key pillars of EDIA – Literacy, Pathways, and Data & Processes.
Dr. Tito Daodu (she/her)
Assistant Dean, Research & Scholarship
Dr. Tito Daodu is a Pediatric Surgeon at Alberta Children’s Hospital in Calgary. She was born in Nigeria and raised in Winnipeg, where she attended medical school at the University of Manitoba. She completed her residency and fellowship in Calgary and a Master's in Public Health at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. Dr. Daodu is passionate about Health Equity, promoting justice, and anti-racism in medicine through advocacy, education, and research. Dr. Daodu has been an active teacher at Cumming School of Medicine at the University of Calgary, teaching topics of structural competence, anti-racism, and anti-oppression. She has been actively involved in Public Health and Anti-Racism research, focusing on improving surgical outcomes and making surgical care more equitable and accessible in Canada and worldwide.
Mairi Babey (she/her)
PESJO Program Coordinator
Working in the area of equity, diversity, inclusion and accessibility is a dream come true for Mairi, providing her an opportunity to influence systemic change and to make a difference in the lives of others. She took a meandering path to end up in PESJO, including employment as a naturalist, manager of not-for-profit organization, and project coordinator with UCalgary.
In her spare time, Mairi enjoys birdwatching, gardening, reading, curling and petting her cats.
Gauri Taneja (she/her)
EDI Specialist, Education
Having been raised in a family of educators and entrepreneurs, Gauri developed a passion for dismantling systems and improving processes in educational settings quite early. Her calling for social justice work finally sculpted into a profession during her time at the University of British Columbia where she worked on strategic planning, EDI education, and wellness.
Through her role, Gauri:
- Develops, implements, and delivers CSM-wide EDI literacy programming
- Collaborates with EDI and Education Leads within CSM and beyond to support our EDI mission, vision, and values
- Integrates EDI best practices into curriculum design/curricula; teaching, selection and assessment activities; and learning and teaching environments across CSM
When she is not thinking about EDI, Gauri plays the piano, chess, or explores nature and food.
Arden Chan (they/them)
EDI Specialist, Policy & Communication
Arden is a registered social worker by education and training. Their professional experience has been spent in the realms of sexual and reproductive health, gender and sexual diversity, advocacy, and youth education. They were led to their previous and present roles by their deep passion for community-building, anti-oppression, harm-reduction, and social change.
Outside of work Arden is a classical pianist and cellist, a voracious reader and writer, and tries their best to keep up from the back row of dance classes. They will speak to you as enthusiastically about social justice topics as they will about linguistics, heterotopia, and small-town Alberta road trips.
Dr. Tyara Marchand (she/her)
PESJO Research Fellow/Research Assistant
Dr. Tyara Marchand is an Emergency Medicine PGY-1 resident at the University of Calgary. She was born in Vancouver and raised in interior British Columbia on the lands of the Okanagan reservation. She completed her undergraduate in biological anthropology and medical school at the University of Calgary. She is currently leading a research project investigating strategies to improve Indigenous health equity within the emergency department. Her other research areas include analyzing healthcare outcome disparities for BIPOC patients, Indigenous patient experiences in Canadian healthcare, and what makes a physician ready to practice with Indigenous patients. She is also a mother to a high-energy four-year-old and in her spare time spends time chasing him around. Dr. Marchand has worked with Dr. Tito Daodu on health equity oriented research for three years and is excited to continue their mentorship as the new PESJO fellow this year.
Marina Kerr (she/her)
Support to Entry Program (STEP) Coordinator
Marina completed an undergraduate degree in Behavioural Science and has worked to advance equity-deserving individuals both as a support for low-income and marginalized students entering postsecondary through the Humanities 101 program at St. Mary’s University in Calgary, and through working with women and children fleeing domestic violence at a local Indigenous-run emergency women’s shelter. Marina works to reduce barriers so everyone can fully participate in our communities. Outside of work, Marina enjoys reading, sewing, and preserving local foods in season.