Professor Heather McKay, Faculty of Medicine, University of British Columbia, is in the Departments of Orthopaedics and Family Practice. She is an internationally-recognized leader in childhood and older adult bone health research. Her national recognition includes awards from the Michael Smith Foundation for Health Research (Senior Scholar) and the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (Knowledge Translation). She has published extensively in scientific journals related to the positive role of exercise and other lifestyle factors on child and older adult health. Her talent for “moving research into action” – performing research that has impact – is illustrated by her lead role in the development and implementation of Action Schools! BC. This whole school of physical activity and healthy eating model engages almost half a million children in BC. The outcomes of her school-based research influenced the development of new policy related to daily physical activity in schools.  Professor McKay plays a critical leadership role in both the overall operations of CHHM and its research programs.

Dr. Anne Wallis has a background in science (Molecular Biology PhD) and management that is key to her role in integrating the research and operational components of the CHHM. Dr. Wallis previously co-founded a biopharmaceutical company (Celator Technologies Inc.), where she served as Chief Operating Officer, advancing the company from its early stage as a university spin-off to an established venture capital-funded organization. She has substantial experience in strategic leadership and management, including successful fundraising within major programs supported by the Leading Edge Endowment Fund, the High Tech/New Emerging Technologies Fund, and the Provincial Health Services Authority.

Professor David Hart, Faculty of Medicine, University of Calgary, was formerly Head of Department of Microbiology and Infectious Diseases. He received his doctorate in Biochemistry from Michigan State University and went on to complete his postdoctoral training in immunology at the University of Illinois Medical Centre. He then joined the faculty at the University of Texas HSC at Dallas as an Assistant Professor. After promotion to Associate Professor, he became the Associate Director of the Interdisciplinary Immunology Program from its inception until 1983. In 1983, he joined the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Calgary as Chairman of the Immunology Research Group. He was subsequently a founding member of the Joint Injury and Arthritis Research Group, and served as Chair of this group for three years. Professor Hart was actively involved in raising funds from the private sector that resulted in the establishment of the multidisciplinary McCaig Centre for Joint Injury and Arthritis Research at the University of Calgary, and is currently the Interim Director of what is now the McCaig Institute for Bone & Joint Health.

Dr. Don Garbuz is Associate Professor and head of the Division of Lower Limb Reconstruction and Oncology in the Department of Orthopaedics, UBC. He graduated from McGill medical school and completed his residency in orthopaedics at the University of Toronto, followed by a fellowship on reconstructive surgery of the hip and knee. A member of the Hip Society, Dr. Garbuz is renowned for his expertise in problems that arise in the young adult hip and for seeking improved outcomes of joint replacements. His research interests include novel imaging techniques to assess early changes in articular cartilage, which may be indicators for osteoarthritis. Dr. Garbuz recently received the John Charnley award for his research on hip arthroplasty.

Dr. Pierre Guy is Associate Professor and clinician-scientist, Department of Orthopaedics, UBC. His medical training and residency were completed at McGill University, followed by orthopaedic trauma fellowships in Hannover and Berlin, Germany and UBC. Dr. Guy also holds a Master’s degree (MBA) from the John Molson School of Business, Concordia University. Dr. Guy’s research is focused on hip fracture prevention, treatment and long term function. He is renowned for evaluating the mechanism of hip fractures and imaging of the proximal femur using novel techniques for his work in clinical trials and with administrative databases. His interdisciplinary team includes graduate students, clinical-residents, mechanical and materials engineers, epidemiologists, and biostatisticians.

Dr. Karim Khan is Professor and clinician-scientist, Department of Family Practice, UBC. Dr. Khan has achieved international recognition for studies promoting greater mobility among vulnerable seniors. In a medical community that often focuses on pharmaceutical therapies, Dr. Khan has consistently reported the large benefit of physical activity for public health. He has published extensively, including those in high impact journals such as the British Medical Journal, where he also serves on the international editorial board. Dr. Khan is also the Editor of the British Journal of Sports Medicine, a leading international journal that focuses on the role of physical activity for health. Reflecting his contribution to knowledge translation, he is coauthor of the leading medical monograph for general practitioners and physiotherapists, Clinical Sports Medicine (4th Edition, McGraw-Hill).

Dr. Rizhi Wang is an Associate Professor and Canada Research Chair in Biomaterials, Department of Materials Engineering, UBC, and Associate, Department of Orthopaedics, UBC. Dr. Wang’s experience spans academic positions at Tsinghua University, the Weizmann Institute of Science, University of Minnesota, and Princeton. Dr. Wang is well known for his research on material-related issues around hip replacement, his expertise in implant processing and fracture mechanics. Dr. Wang’s research interests include orthopaedic implants, drug delivery biomaterials, anti-infection solutions, bone/implant fixation, and bone structure and mechanics. Dr. Wang currently serves on the Board for the Canadian Biomaterials Society.

Dr. David Wilson is Associate Professor, Department of Orthopaedics, UBC. He received his D. Phil. in Engineering Science from the University of Oxford for work on the 3-dimensional kinematics of the knee, followed by a fellowship in orthopaedic biomechanics. His research interests include sports medicine, joint reconstruction/ replacement, and medical imaging. Dr. Wilson is renowned for his research on the links between joint mechanics, clinical symptoms, and the success of orthopaedic procedures. His team has expertise in non-invasive assessments of cartilage health, including the use of emerging MRI techniques, such as delayed gadolinium-enhanced MRI of cartilage (dGEMRIC), to detect changes in osteoarthritic joints much earlier than conventionally possible.  Dr. Wilson was awarded a Canadian Arthritis Network New Investigator award.

As Vice President of Human Resources, Ellen’s mandate is to ensure that employees have the skills, commitment and passion to bring Vancity’s vision to life and that managers have the capability and leadership to create a workplace that is aligned with our values, engenders trust and enables effective performance.

Being a big ‘customer of HR’ herself throughout her career, Ellen understands that Human Resources must meet the business needs of Vancity by appropriately rewarding employees, providing consistent, timely and accurate service, ensuring that systems are in place to provide leaders with the right information to make effective people decisions and manage talent.

Ellen joined Vancity in 2006 as Vice President of Community Leadership and took on the role of Senior Vice President, Strategy in November 2007 where she was responsible for leading all aspects of corporate-wide strategy to move us towards our long term vision of ‘Redefining Wealth’.

Prior to joining Vancity, Ellen spent over 27 years in healthcare and was a Chief Operating Officer at Vancouver Coastal Health which included 11 municipalities and 14 First Nations’ communities with a population of nearly 300,000 people, 3,500 staff and a $350M budget. She previously served as Vice President, Programs in the North Shore Health Region and before that, spent nine years in Edmonton in a variety of senior positions in a regional health care system.

Ellen holds a Bachelor of Science Degree in Physical Therapy from University of Toronto (1979), a Master in Health Administration from University of Ottawa (1987) and is a Certified Health Executive (1992). Ellen was a CCHSA Health Systems Surveyor from 1997-2002.

Ellen is a Board member of the Vancity Community Foundation, the Credit Union Foundation of BC, Shareholder Association for Research & Education (SHARE) and the Co-operative Management Education Co-operative at St. Mary’s University in Halifax.

A life-long health and fitness enthusiast, you may see Ellen running, hiking, cycling or skiing near the North Shore home she shares with her husband, Howard. Ellen proudly carried the Olympic torch in Whistler for Vancity enviro Visa to

Della has dedicated the last 25 years to honing her craft as a strategic communicator, trainer and facilitator. Known for her ability to quickly grasp any situation and tailor her sessions to fit her audiences, she works well across a myriad of disciplines.

She started as Director of Communications for the Heart and Stroke Foundation, moved into running the public relations divisions of Simons Advertising and Palmer Jarvis Advertising (now DDB Canada) and, in 1995 set up Quay Strategies Inc. with business partner Patsy Worrall. After 15 highly successful years of providing top notch consulting, training and facilitation sessions, both partners decided it was time to begin new ventures. Della is concentrating her energies on workshops while carving out time to write her book.

Della’s book is based on her fundamental belief that good communications can greatly enhance your business and personal life. Her passion for teaching that belief needs the bigger audience that a book provides.

Aside from a love of helping others meet their communications goals, Della cares deeply about ethics, social causes, family and friends. Her volunteer work and personal interests reflect those passions. On the ethics front this has included a number of years on the Board of the Better Business Bureau of Lower Mainland BC ultimately leading to her role as President. She is a past committee member of the Genome BC Ethics Committee and a current Board member of Consumer Protection BC.

To complement her communications skills she has participated as a member of VTV’s (now CTV) Community Council, NABS (National Advertising Benevolent Association) Board member and has served on the Jury panel of the Webster Awards since 2007 (Western Canada’s journalism awards).

Her social causes have been many and include the Dr. Peter Foundation (an aids support group), the Potluck Café (an organization dedicated to helping people learn skills and feed those less fortunate) and the Burnaby Hospital Foundation. Her current social involvement is with Streetohome, an organization dedicated to ending homelessness in Vancouver.

Anne Stewart acts for both public and private companies, participating in major business decisions from the legal point of view and providing proactive legal/business advice on a day-to-day basis. She is also involved in major project work, including:

• Corporate structuring and reorganization - establishing appropriate relationships between parties involved in a business and to simplify or improve corporate structure
• Mergers, acquisitions and divestitures - assisting in the detailed negotiations and documentation necessary to complete the business arrangement between the parties
• Major financings - representing the interest of the lender or borrower on the terms of the loan and the security, both for major project or capital financing and for operating financing
• Commercial contracts - extensive experience in negotiating and drafting most kinds of commercial contracts.

Anne has acted in major infrastructure projects in British Columbia, Alberta, Ontario and Quebec, including the Sea-to-Sky Highway project (British Columbia), the Richmond Airport-Vancouver Rapid Transit (Canada Line) project (British Columbia), the Golden Ears Bridge project (British Columbia), the Port Mann Highway 1 (Gateway) project (British Columbia), the Stoney Trails (Calgary Ring Road) projects (Alberta), the first Alberta Schools project (Alberta), the A25 Highway project (Quebec), the Sault Area Hospital project (Ontario), the Royal Victoria Hospital project (Ontario), the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (Ontario) and numerous other projects in Ontario.

Anne is acknowledged as one of "Canada's Top 25 Women Lawyers" by Lexpert magazine. She is also the winner of the 2009 Lexpert Zenith Award for women lawyers in business law, Business in Vancouver's 2006 Influential Women in Business Award, and the 2006 Canada's Most Powerful Women: Top 100 Award in the professionals category, presented by the Women's Executive Network. Anne is recognized in The Canadian Legal Lexpert Directory, The Lexpert/American Lawyer Guide to the Leading 500 Lawyers in Canada and Law Business Research's The International Who's Who of Business Lawyers. Since 2006 inclusive to 2010 editions of The Best Lawyers in Canada in 2006, she has been voted by peers as one of the leading lawyers in Canada in the areas of banking law, corporate governance, corporate law, mergers and acquisitions law, and project finance law. The 2008, 2009 and 2010 editions of Chambers Global: The World's Leading Lawyers for Business ranks both the Vancouver office of Blakes and Anne individually in Band 1 in the public-private partnership and infrastructure category. She is also recognized in the 2009 and 2010 editions of Law Business Research's The International Who's Who of Public Procurement Lawyers and Legal Media Group's Guide to the World's Leading Project Finance Lawyers 2009. IFLR1000: The Guide to the World's Leading Financial Law Firms - 2009 Edition lists Anne in Tier 1 in the area of project finance.

Anne has written and spoken extensively on many topics in her area and is active in various professional, community and charitable organizations. She is a member of the Ethics Committee of The Law Society of British Columbia and is a dame of the Order of St. John.

Education

• Appointed Queen's Counsel - 1993
• Admitted to the British Columbia Bar - 1976
• LL.B., University of British Columbia - 1975
• B.Sc., University of British Columbia – 1972

As President of Strategies West Consulting Group, Lorne Valensky brings over 30 years’ experience working directly with government, public and private organizations.   As global economies and socio-political infrastructures strain under the weight of once inconceivable change, Lorne assists clients in mapping out strategies which will ultimately lead to a more productive partnership between private and public sectors.

In addition to previous experience working with federal and provincial political parties, he brings expertise in corporate and public strategy, policy development, issues management, legislative analysis, corporate communications and public opinion research.  Lorne lives in White Rock and is married with a 6 year old son.

In 2007, Ron Zernicke joined the University of Michigan (UM) as a Professor in the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Department of Biomedical Engineering, and School of Kinesiology. He was the Director of the UM Bone & Joint Injury Prevention & Rehabilitation Center (2007-2009), and January 2010 he also became Dean of the UM School of Kinesiology.

He was the Executive Director of the Alberta Bone and Joint Health Institute, and at the University of Calgary, he was Wood Professor in Joint Injury Research in the Faculty of Medicine, Professor and former Dean of the Faculty of Kinesiology, and Professor in the Schulich School of Engineering (Department of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering). He was Director of the Alberta Provincial CIHR Training Program in Bone and Joint Health, a combined doctoral program of the University of Calgary and University of Alberta. He was an Adjunct Professor, Faculty of Rehabilitation Medicine, University of Alberta. He continues to hold an Adjunct Professor position at the University of Calgary, in the Faculties of Medicine, Engineering, and Kinesiology.

His baccalaureate was from Concordia University Chicago (1970), and his MSc (1972) and PhD (1974) were from the University of Wisconsin–Madison. He joined UCLA in 1974 and was Chair of the Department of Kinesiology when he was recruited to Calgary in 1991. He received the UCLA Award for Distinguished Teaching, City of Calgary Community Achievement Award (Education), University of Calgary Award for Outstanding Achievement in Graduate Supervision, Alumnus of the Year for Concordia University Chicago, and was awarded an honorary Doctor of Science from the University of Waterloo, Ontario, Canada.

He was president of the Canadian, American, and International Societies of Biomechanics. He received research awards from NASA, the Society for Physical Regulation in Biology and Medicine, the American and International Societies of Biomechanics, Career Award from the Canadian Society for Biomechanics, the Founder’s Medal for Best Research from the Canadian Orthopaedic Research Society, and the Partnership Award from the Canadian Institutes for Health Research. He is a Fellow of the Canadian Society of Biomechanics, the American College of Sports Medicine, and American Academy for Kinesiology and Physical Education.

His research has been supported by the Arthritis Society of Canada, Alberta Heritage Foundation for Medical Research, Alberta Ingenuity Fund, Canadian Space Agency, Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC), Canada Foundation for Innovation, Alberta Innovation and Science, Canadian Institutes for Health Research, Lew Reed Spinal Cord Injury Foundation, the Fraternal Order of Eagles (Alberta and Saskatchewan & International), NASA, National Science Foundation, and National Institutes of Health.

His research focuses on: (1) the adaptation of bone to exercise, disuse, diet, and disease and (2) joint injury and post-traumatic osteoarthritis, and he has authored more than 580 peer-reviewed research publications and abstracts, and two books (e.g., Whiting & Zernicke, Biomechanics of Musculoskeletal Injury, 2nd Edition, Human Kinetics Publishers, Champaign, IL, 2008).

Harpreet Chhina is a MSc candidate, supervised by Dr. Diane Lacaille, Department of Experimental Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, UBC. Harpreet holds an MSc degree in Human Anatomy from India and she is currently pursuing her academic goal of a Doctoral degree.  The focus of her research is to evaluate the acceptability and feasibility of Academic Detailing for improving care for those with Rheumatoid Arthritis. The use of Academic Detailing to improve the management of a chronic disease is a novel application. Once proven effective in Rheumatoid arthritis, academic detailing can be used to improve care of other chronic diseases.

Sarah Moore is a PhD Candidate, supervised by Professor Heather McKay. Sarah joined CHHM in 2007 after completing her MSc in Applied Health Sciences in Ontario. Her research program will examine the growth and development of bone and muscle tissue across puberty using novel technologies such as high resolution peripheral quantitative computed tomography (HR-pQCT). Sarah is a researcher with the Healthy Bones Study and is evaluating the sex-, maturity- and ethnicity-related differences in bone strength and muscle accrual. In particular, Sarah is interested in the role of physical activity, fat mass, and nutrition on the developmental trajectory of these tissues.

Dr. Maureen Ashe is an Assistant Professor in the UBC Department of Family Practice and a physiotherapist. She is a CIHR New  investigator and a Michael Smith Foundation for Health Research Scholar. Her research focuses on characterizing the mobility-disability continuum for vulnerable older adults and developing and testing interventions to encourage older adults' participation through physical activity and reducing sedentary behaviour. Recently she has extended this to include the role of the built environment on older adults’ community participation and health outcomes.

Dr. Maureen Ashe is an Assistant Professor in the UBC Department of Family Practice and a physiotherapist. She is a CIHR New  investigator and a Michael Smith Foundation for Health Research Scholar. Her research focuses on characterizing the mobility-disability continuum for vulnerable older adults and developing and testing interventions to encourage older adults' participation through physical activity and reducing sedentary behaviour. Recently she has extended this to include the role of the built environment on older adults’ community participation and health outcomes.