I’m Charlotte Munro and I reside in Stratford, Ontario.

I am a graduate of the Child and Youth Worker program at Fanshawe College and currently enrolled in the Indigenous Social Work program at Laurentian University. I am a single mother by choice, a support worker, and volunteer.

I am also a person with lived experience and I have drawn on to present at conferences, co-author opioid related research publications, and advise on drug policies. I am a social justice warrior in my community and promote peer support, harm reduction, trauma-informed approaches. I work to address social inequalities in marginalized populations.

I am an artist and maker, an avid vinyl collector and a cruiser bicycle collector. I enjoy walks in nature, exploring new places, museums, podcasts and thrifting.

Hi, I’m Christo Lotz and I’m from Prince Albert, Saskatchewan.

My passion for health care stems from being a family physician having to navigate patient data, both existing and generated, in consults via Electronic Medical Records (EMR).

Despite significant improvements in EMR, the majority of our time is consumed by data capturing and not data interpretation, with subsequent loss in patient interaction and suboptimal outcomes.

I know we can do better. Improved system integration and data access are key to this improvement. New strategies by using machine learning, GIS and graph theory excites me in this improvement journey.

Outside of work, I am committed to volunteering and Ubering my kids to their activities. In my spare time, I repair bicycle drive trains, 3D print clock mechanisms and I am the residing IT specialist to four kids, ensuring Paw Patrol, Youtube and the next Mandolorian episode streams without a glitch.

Cris Carter is a patient partner who lives in St. John’s in the province of Newfoundland and Labrador.

Cris became engaged in health and research in 2010 when she joined the Health Research Ethics Board (HREB) as a community representative. At the same time, she was helping her mother navigate  the health care system and dealing with its day-to-day challenges.

In 2016, when NL Support’s SPOR Unit was looking for patient partners, Cris was among the first to join its Patient Advisory Council (PAC) and soon after co-delivered and facilitated initial training to promote patient engagement in the province. She has extensive education and practical experience in training and human resource development and is looking forward to serving on the community advisory board for AI4PH.

As for other volunteer activities, Cris is currently engaged in a patient-initiated health research project looking into the impact of COVID on families and residents of Long-Term Care in NL. She also sits on several patient advisory councils engaged with research activities, including CIHR (Canadian Institutes of Health Research) and HDRN Canada (Health Data Research Networks).

Hi, I’m Jean Marie Tshimula and I’m from Sherbrooke, Quebec.

My research focuses on building predictive models and uncovering insights into health outcomes and psychological states of individuals and communities. I am passionate about the application of AI and neural language processing (NLP) in public health. I build knowledge graphs and large language models and conversational AI for healthcare.

Outside of work, I enjoy spending time with loved ones, exercising, photography, watching documentaries and making origami.

Hi, I’m Kim and I currently split my time between Calgary and Vancouver Island.

After leaving a career in Oil and Gas, I find I have more passion for health care. This passion stems from a belief that we are all accountable for our own health and that a better understanding of health principles is critical for individuals to gather their health care team and find their own personal strategies. A second passion is to help find solutions in a health care climate that is challenged by an aging population with a dwindling pool of health care professionals.

I am a recent graduate of the Patient and Community Engagement Research (PaCER) program at the University of Calgary and currently work as a student support for this program. I sit on two Strategic Clinical Networks for Alberta Health Services and engage in various committees and initiatives with both. Additionally, I sit on committees for the Alberta SPOR SUPPORT Unit, including the Implementation Science Collaborative and the Re-purposing the ordering of ‘routine’ laboratory testing in health care systems (RePORT) team.

Other interests include traveling, hiking, reading and learning.

Hi, I’m Mahmoodur Rahman and I’m from Vancouver, BC.

My passion for health care stems from my research on newborn, child, adolescent, and maternal morbidity and mortality. I am particularly interested in improving quality of care among this population.

Along with my work on the community advisory board, I am a physician by training, and an epidemiologist by profession. I completed my medical education, as well as Master of Public Health in Epidemiology in Bangladesh, and later completed my Master of Data Science from UBC.

In my spare time, I enjoy time with friends and family.

Hi, I’m Paula Orecklin and I’m from Winnipeg, Manitoba.

My passion for health care stems from my lived experience. I’ve had a severe chronic pain disease, Complex Regional Pain Syndrome, for the last twenty-two years. I want to use my experience with this pain to share my point of view and improve the system. As such, I do as much patient engagement work as I’m able to.

Along with the community advisory board, I have been a part of many other organizations on the local, provincial, regional, national, and international levels for the past seven years. These include the Shared Health Manitoba Patient and Advisor Network of Manitoba, the Centre for Healthcare Innovation Patient and Public Collaborative Partnership (of which I’m the co-chair), Patient Advisors Network, Healthcare Excellence Canada and Patients for Patient Safety Canada, and the Manitoba Primary and Integrated Healthcare Innovation Network. I’ve previously been part of the Patient and Community Advisory Committee of the Canadian Agency for Drugs and Technologies in Health and the Healthcare Technology Assessment International Patient and Citizen Involvement Interest Group. I’m also a member of the Ten Ten Housing Inc Board of Directors.

Outside of work, I am committed to advocating for people with chronic pain. Since chronic pain is so often an invisible disability, we are sometimes written off or not believed. As a person with chronic pain, I try and combat this stigma. I’ve been advocating for two decades. In fact, I carried the Olympic torch on behalf of the millions of Canadians with chronic pain in 2010 for the Vancouver Winter Games. This remains one of the most special days of my life.

I can usually be found with a book in my hand or my laptop by me. I’m a bit of a nerd and my home is filled with books.

Robert Wells is a Newfoundlander living in Ottawa.

Rob is a retired senior higher education administrator with expertise in Information Technology and Educational Technology. An experienced leader who has executed numerous technology projects over a 30+ career, he brings knowledge of project management, quality management systems, technology platforms and user experience to the Community Advisory Board.

As patient partner, Rob joined the SPOR Evidence Alliance and is a member of the NL Support Patient Advisory Council. He also has an individual membership with Digital Health Canada. Rob brings lived experience to the project, having undergone two major surgical procedures in 2019. He currently lives with a chronic illness.

Rob is committed to Canadian healthcare improvement and is particularly interested in the areas of Learning Health Systems, Digital Health, Patient Education, and Transition from Hospital to Community.

In his leisure time, Rob enjoys hiking, music, cooking, family time and English football.

Hi, I’m Shayna and I live in Whitehorse, Yukon.

My passion for healthcare stems from being surrounded by various working professionals in my family. From members who work on reshaping health policy to project managers responsible for information system implementation in hospitals globally, I’ve been exposed to several different avenues of health care systems from a young age.

I was excited for the opportunity to join this committee because I feel that AI has significant potential for contributing to the future of health care in Canada. Along with the community advisory board, I am the Project Officer for the Yukon SPOR SUPPORT Unit (YSPOR) that champions patient-oriented research in the territory. In addition, I sit on the Yukon University Animal Care Committee that oversees all ethics applications for research projects involving animals at the university.

Outside of work, I am committed to helping rehabilitate shelter dogs in hope that they can one day find their forever homes. I hope to one day assist in starting up an organization to help train therapy animals to provide support and companionship in facilities across the territory. In my spare time, I am an avid hiker and I am currently training for several upcoming trips including trekking to Mount Everest base camp.