Speakers

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

Dr. Santana has received training in clinical pharmacy (BPharm, MPharm, London School of Pharmacy, UK, Universidad La Laguna, Spain), public health and clinical epidemiology (PhD, University of Alberta, Canada). Her research focuses in developing novel methods to advance person-centred care and patient-oriented research.

She is the provincial director, Patient Engagement for the Alberta Strategy for Patient-oriented Research (https://absporu.ca/patient-engagement-2/). She is the academic leader of the Patient and Community Engagement in Research (PaCER, https://www.ucalgary.ca/patient-community-engagement-research).

She was awarded with the President Award by the International Society for Quality of Life Research. Recently, she has collaborated in three major international initiatives: World Health Organization - Patient Engagement: Technical Series on Safer Primary Care; Pan-American Health Organization – World Hypertension League Hypertension Monitoring and Evaluation Framework to aid Hypertension Control Programs; and the International Consortium for Health Outcome Measurement Adult Diabetes. She is a scientific advisor for the Gothenburg Person-centred Centre, University of Gothenburg, Sweden.

Dr. Emma Dorris is the program manager for PPI Ignite Network @ UCD. Emma is a biomedical researcher by training with a PhD in Molecular Medicine and a Master of Public Policy. 

 The PPI Ignite Network works to provide a shared voice for public and patient involvement (PPI) across Ireland, aiming to change the research culture. Emma is an advocate for responsible research and innovation, and has a passion for improving research culture across all disciplines. She collaborates internationally to help scientists involve the public in research that is not naturally public-facing. Emma has a particular interest in policy and practices related to public involvement and in developing ways to embed it as part of the research culture towards more relevant and impactful research. 

Email: ppi@ucd.ie

Dr. Björkman holds the titles of RN, PhD, and Assistant Professor in Nursing at the Institute of Health and Care Sciences and the centre for person-centred care at University of Gothenburg, Sweden

Her main research interests revolve around human health related to the living environment and how healthcare providers can support processes of self-care and coping through person-centered, power-sensitive care. She is also very interested in epistemological and methodological issues concerning the conditions for knowledge creation in relation to power and authority, and how the voices of patients, relatives and the public can be strengthened in health care research and practice. Another research interest is education of future health care professionals and how the learning of person-centered care is implemented in higher education.

Email: ida.bjorkman@gu.se

Dr. Ewa Wasniewski is the Director of Domestic programs at UCalgary's Continuing Education, where she oversees the development and delivery of various market-relevant programs that include technology, business, adult learning, professional development, personal interest, Indigenous, and Patient and Community Engagement Research (PaCER). Dr. Wasniewski completed a degree in Physical Education and Education followed by a Master and PhD in Educational Psychology from the University of Alberta. Dr. Wasniewski’s areas of specialization focus on program development specifically educational technologies and their impact on teaching and learning. Current research interests include examining the impact of AI on job-related skills, online programming support needed for diverse learners, and international student mobility post-graduation.

Ingrid is the Patient Engagement Coordinator for the Alberta Strategy for Patient-Oriented Research SUPPORT Unit (AbSPORU) Patient Engagement Team. In addition, she is the instructor for the Patient and Community Engagement Research (PaCER) program. With a background in social justice, she is passionate about making health care research ecologies and patient and community informed research results more inclusive, universal and accessible to all stakeholders and end-users.

Email: ingrid.nielssen@ucalgary.ca

Dr. Eliana Castillo is a Clinical Associate Professor at the Cumming School of Medicine, University of Calgary in Canada. Her medical and academic practice focuses on reproductive infectious diseases and implementation practice. She is an emerging leader on vaccination in pregnancy and partners with patients to understand their journey during pregnancy, focusing on opportunities to engage in a dialogue about interventions that we know can protect mothers and babies, like vaccinations. She works with the National Advisory Committee for Immunization, Society of Obstetrics and Gyneacologists of Canada and the Canadian Association for Immunization Research, Evaluation and Education. 

Email: castillo@ucalgary.ca

Joanne Ganton is a Patient & Family Centred Care Specialist with Alberta Health Services, provincial Primary Health Care program. Joanne has sixteen years of experience consulting to advance patient and family-centred care practices with expertise in patient engagement to improve healthcare experiences.

Email: joanne.ganton@albertahealthservices.ca

Dr. Deborah Marshall is a Professor at the University of Calgary, and is the Scientific Director of Research and Partnership Evaluation and Impact at the Alberta Children's Hospital Research Institute (ACHRI). She also serves as the Lead for Value Impact, and Knowledge Mobilization for One Child Every Child (OCEC). She leads the health economics, patient preferences and patient-oriented research for several transdisciplinary research programs particularly in child health. Deborah is a founding co-investigator of the PaCER programme at the University of Calgary.

Email: damarsha@ucalgary.ca

Dr. Rohan D’Souza is an Associate Professor in the Department of Obstetrics & Gynecology and the Department of Health Research Methods, Evidence and Impact and a Maternal-Fetal Medicine physician at Hamilton Health Sciences. He holds a Canada Research Chair in Maternal Health. Dr. D’Souza’s research is focused on improving health outcomes for pregnant women and people with medical disorders and incorporating patient values and preferences into obstetric decision-making. 

Email: rohan@mcmaster.ca

Tracy Wasylak is the Chief Program Officer, Strategic Clinical Networks™ with Alberta Health Services. She has held numerous senior leadership roles within Alberta Health Services. 

Tracy holds an adjunct assistant professor appointment with the Faculty of Nursing at the University of Calgary. She is the Co-Lead for the ABSPORU 2.0 Learning Health System Team. Tracy received the Order of Merit, Nursing Policy Award, from the Canadian Nurses Association in March 2018. She was the recipient of the 2015 AHS Presidents Excellence Award in the category of Innovation, the 2019 award for Outstanding Achievement in Quality Improvement and in 2023 awarded the Queen Elizabeth II Platinum Jubilee Medal (Alberta). 

Email: tracy.wasylak@ahs.ca

Dr. Fiest is an Associate Professor of Critical Care Medicine, Community Health Sciences & Psychiatry at the University of Calgary. She is the Scientific Director of the O’Brien Institute for Public Health at the University of Calgary. 

Dr. Fiest received her PhD in Epidemiology from the University of Calgary and completed post-doctoral training in neuro and psychiatric epidemiology from the University of Manitoba. Her research program focuses on advancing the science of patient and family-centered critical care research. Her current work examines the role of family in preventing, detecting, and managing delirium in the critically ill. Dr. Fiest partners with patients and families to improve outcomes and experiences of ICU care.

Email: kmfiest@ucalgary.ca