Dr. Catherine Brookman – CRE-MSD
Catherine is a consultant with 30 years’ experience in healthcare organizational management, partnership exploration, program development/evaluation, research, knowledge dissemination and translation. Catherine is a dynamic authority on Ontario’s personal support worker (PSW) occupation with extensive expertise in gerontology, specializing in the development and evaluation of services for seniors. Along with working with CRE-MSD, Catherine works with the Aphasia Institute, St. Clair West Services for Seniors, and McMaster University as a co-investigator for the Ministry of Labour funded PSW health and safety research project. Catherine holds a doctorate, masters and bachelor of science degrees.
Erna Bujna – Ontario Nurses’ Association
Erna Bujna is a labour relations specialist in occupational health and safety/workers' compensation at the Ontario Nurses' Association (ONA). She represents ONA at the provincial level in various forums including: the Ontario Ministry of Labour's Health Care Sector Section 21 Advisory Committee; the Public Services Health and Safety Association Advisory Committee; Workplace Violence Prevention Committees at the Toronto East General Hospital and Southlake Regional Health Care Centre; and the Niagara Health System RTW and Accommodation Project Committee.
Dr. Jack Callaghan – CRE-MSD
Dr. Jack Callaghan is a professor in the Department of Kinesiology at the University of Waterloo and the associate director, research of CRE-MSD. He holds the Canada Research Chair in Spine Biomechanics and Injury Prevention. He is a certified professional ergonomist (CCPE) and has collaborated and consulted with a wide range of industrial partners including automotive and office furniture manufacturing companies on design and component testing projects. His main research interest is injury mechanisms in the intervertebral disc and lumbar spine from exposure to cumulative loading exposure, including the development of low back pain.
Becky Chiarot – Sault Area Hospital
Becky Chiarot is the occupational health and safety officer for the Sault Area Hospital, and has been employed with the hospital for nearly 10 years. She has a degree in kinesiology from the University of Western Ontario and a certificate in occupational health and safety from Ryerson University.
Cindy De Piero – Sault Area Hospital
Cindy De Piero, BSc (ES), CEES has over 18 years of experience working within the health and safety industry and is currently employed at the Sault Area Hospital as the ergonomic and wellness consultant. She earned her bachelor of science in exercise science and physiology from Lake Superior State University, is a certified ergonomic evaluation specialist and a certified functional capacity evaluation facilitator. Her primary role as the ergonomic and eellness consultant is to enhance and develop workplace safety and health initiatives for the betterment of the employees at Sault Area Hospital. As a trainer, Cindy is constantly seeking creative ways to foster a dynamic learning environment and to promote high quality patient care and continuous improvement.
Dr. Tilak Dutta – Toronto Rehabilitation Institute
Dr. Tilak Dutta is a scientist at the Toronto Rehabilitation Institute-UHN and is the Home and Community team lead. He completed his PhD in mechanical engineering at the University of Toronto, focusing on back injury prevention in caregivers. His current work includes the development of tools to measure risk in people’s homes, as well as the formation of methods to coach caregivers in injury prevention.
Dr. Mike Fray – Loughborough University, United Kingdom
Dr. Mike Fray holds first degrees in ergonomics and physiotherapy and a PhD in patient handling outcome measures, and is a senior lecturer in human factors and ergonomics at Loughborough University. He has experience in occupational physiotherapy, rehabilitation, and injury prevention for health care workers, as a consultant, and within the National Health Service. Currently he works with organizations and companies to improve patient handling products and outcomes through scientific research.
Susan Fuciarelli – Hamilton Health Sciences
Susan Fuciarelli is the director of health, safety and wellness at Hamilton Health Sciences. She is a certified disability management professional and auditor, and has her certificate in occupational health and safety from Ryerson University. Susan has extensive experience with promoting health and safety, preventing disability, and in return to work programs.
Jaimie Killingbeck – Schlegel Villages
Jaimie Killingbeck is a registered kinesiologist and the program for active living coordinator at Schlegel Villages. She has worked within the long term care and retirement home sectors for the past 15 years. She shares her passion about improving quality of life through physical activities with the teams she supports. Jaimie also enjoys teaching and bringing more awareness to body mechanics, safe lifting techniques and falls prevention.
Matthew Lam – West Park Healthcare Centre
Matthew Lam is an occupational therapist and WSIB Specialty Programs Coordinator with the West Park Healthcare Centre. He has a Master of Science in Occupational Therapy from the University of Toronto, with certifications in lifting, handling, and occupational health and safety.
Rhonda Lammert – CarePartners
Rhonda Lammert has a degree in psychology and started her career in health care as a social research/community development specialist. While working as an assistant manager for Canadian Red Cross, she was seconded into the position of claims management specialist and continued in the company as the manager and developer of the CRC WorkSafe program. While completing post graduate education in human resources she became interested in behaviour and safety. Rhonda enrolled in Ryerson University and completed the occupational health and safety program in 2013. Currently she is a senior advisor for health and safety at CarePartners.
Pam Mancuso – Ontario Nurses’ Association
Pam Mancuso is the vice president for region 1, with the Ontario Nurses’ Association. She is a registered nurse from Lake Superior State University, and has work experience in a variety of fields including critical care, medicine, surgical areas, and stroke.
Sandra McKay – VHA Home Healthcare
Sandra McKay is the manager for research and evaluation at VHA Home Healthcare. She has a PhD in kinesiology and exercise science from the University of Michigan, and a master’s degree in human kinetics from the University of Windsor. She has experience in both teaching and research, and currently promotes, facilitates, and provides support for various activities within the research program.
Ivy Nanayakkara – Halton Healthcare Services
Ivy Nanayakkara is the manager of occupational health and safety at Halton Healthcare. She has over 15 years of experience working in the field of occupational health and safety. Her area of expertise is in disability management, return to work planning and organizational health and wellness solutions aimed at creating and sustaining healthy and productive work forces. Ivy has worked with many organizations across Canada in both the private and public sector in the design, implementation and evaluation of employee health programs. She is a graduate of the University of Western Ontario.
Dr. Barbara Silverstein, Senior Epidemiologist, Washington Department of Labor & Industries
Barbara Silverstein, MSN PhD, MPH, CPE has been the research director for the Safety & Health Assessment and Research for Prevention (SHARP) program in the Washington State Department of Labor and Industries since it began in 1990. She recently retired but still works on her favourite project part-time. Her background is in ergonomics, epidemiology and nursing. Her main interests are in figuring out ways to prevent musculoskeletal disorders related to work, how to develop healthy workplaces, evaluating the effectiveness of different prevention strategies. She is also affiliate professor in environmental and occupational health sciences at the University of Washington. She has been the chair of the Industrially Developing Countries Committee of the International Ergonomics Association for the last 6 years.
Susan VanderBent – Home Care Ontario
Susan VanderBent is the chief executive officer at Home Care Ontario. She holds a master’s degree in health administration from the University of Toronto, and a master’s degree in social work from the University of Toronto. She has worked in multiple aspects of the health care system such as acute and long term care, mental health and addictions, and home and community care. Susan is also an associate professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioural Neurosciences at McMaster University.
Henrietta Van hulle – Public Services Health & Safety Association
Henrietta Van hulle is the executive director, health & community services for the Public Services Health & Safety Association (PSHSA). She has her nachelor of nursing from Charles Sturt University, has 17 years-experience as a registered nurse, is a certified occupational health nurse, a Canadian certified safety professional, and CBDMA Auditor.
Arlene Whitehead – Woodstock General Hospital
Arlene Whitehead is a physiotherapist by profession with a degree emphasis in occupational health. She has held director positions for physiotherapy, occupational therapy and recreation therapy for 32 years in a hospital setting. During her career, she has been responsible for programs and committees relate to hospital staff and patient safety, as well as injured employee return to work programs. Currently Arlene is a director and the lead of a patient handling program at Woodstock Hospital.
Dr. Richard Wells – CRE-MSD
Richard Wells is a Professor in the Department of Kinesiology at the University of Waterloo and the Director of CRE-MSD. He is also an Adjunct Scientist at the Institute for Work & Health (IWH). His interests are work-related musculoskeletal disorders (MSD) of the back and upper limbs; their causes, patho-physiology and prevention. He is involved in the development of workplace processes and changes to prevent musculoskeletal disorders and also to monitor their health effects.