Executive Committee (2009 to present)
At the 14th International Congress on Circumpolar Health in 2009, CSCH elected a new executive to carry out and expand the activities of the organization. With the dawn of a new era of circumpolar research and cooperation, the executive looks forward to working with members on initiatives of mutual interest.
The Executive Committee of the CSCH consists of an elected President, Secretary and Treasurer as well as additional Directors. In addition, CSCH is striving to reactivate a Regional Advisory Council consisting of one member from various regions and Aboriginal organizations.
President
Susan Chatwood is the Executive and Scientific Director of the Institute for Circumpolar Health Research in Yellowknife, Northwest Territories and assistant professor in the Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto.
Susan has an interest in building sustainable health research capacity in northern regions. She has spent most of her career in remote and northern communities, working in the clinical setting, public health and research. Her current projects within ICHR include the development of health research ethics boards and models for review, knowledge synthesis, and dissemination of evidence for northern populations, participatory projects with a focus on community wellness and the facilitation of a number of research projects and related activities in the circumpolar regions.
Treasurer
Catherine Carry has been a member of CSCH for a number of years. Between 1994-2004, Catherine held a variety of coordination and management positions at Pauktuutit Inuit Women’s Association, developing health promotion projects, multi-media resources and training for community workers. In 2004, she joined Inuit Tuttarvingat (formerly the Ajunnginiq Centre) at the National Aboriginal Health Organization (NAHO) in Ottawa and is currently the Senior Program Officer.
Catherine focuses on Inuit health and wellness information and a range of public health issues including health promotion, maternal health, lung health and related research. She coordinates a Web site on Inuit midwifery (www.inuitmidwifery.ca) with an accompanying E-mail listserv for the Irnisuksiiniq – Inuit Midwifery Network and another for the Inuit Tobacco-free Network (ITN). Catherine’s connection with the North and its peoples is life-long and her family spent over a decade in Iqaluit, Nunavut, where she learned rudimentary Inuktitut, worked as an educator, taught dance classes and volunteered with various community groups.
Secretary
Crystal Lennie is the Inuvialuit Regional Corporation’s Health Policy Coordinator. Overseeing and supporting programs related to the Aboriginal Health Transition Fund, Aboriginal Health Human Resources Initiative, and various Health Research Projects.
She coordinates and facilitates the steering committee for the Inuvialuit portion of the Inuit Health Survey “Qanuqitpit?” She has directed various logistical components of the ship and land based surveys. Her experience working with broad partners and facilitation of health projects allows for ongoing commitment to Inuvialuit Healthcare within the Inuvialuit Settlement Region. Crystal represents the Inuvialuit on NICoH (National Inuit Committee on Health).
Directors
Michael Jong
Michael Jong is rural family physician and has spent the past 27 years in the remote community of Happy Valley-Goose Bay in Labrador, Canada.
He is a professor of family medicine at Memorial University of Newfoundland and Vice President of Medical Services for Labrador Grenfell Health. His interests are in rural and aboriginal health, health education and research. He developed the Northern Family Medicine (Norfam) program to train medical students and residents for rural and remote practice.
Marilyn Van Bibber
Marilyn Van Bibber has spent the last twenty-five years working for First Nations and Aboriginal organizations in BC and Yukon. Her education is in nursing, midwifery and political science. Marilyn has a long standing commitment to Aboriginal community health issues and the promotion of healthy families. She is a founding member of the Aboriginal Nurses of Canada, the BC FAS Resource Society and the Medical Services Foundation Ethics Review Committee (Vancouver Foundation).
Marilyn has participated in numerous community research projects including health needs assessments, evaluations and maternal child health. She researched and wrote the Health Canada publication, It Takes a Community: A Resource Manual on Community-Based Prevention of Fetal Alcohol Syndrome and Fetal Alcohol Effects and is currently working on the second edition.
Paul Brassard
Paul Brassard is a community medicine physician with graduate training in epidemiology and parasitology. As a clinician researcher at the McGill University Health Centre his current research has been looking into the natural history of the human papillomavirus (HPV) infection and cervical cancer in Inuit women of Northern Québec. This research will hopefully help in the formulation of policies for inclusion of some form of HPV testing in a more effective cervical cancer screening and prevention program.
paul.brassard@clinepi.mcgill.ca
Guiding Documents
For a copy of the 1990 CSCH bylaws, click here. In 2004, the Regional Advisory Council met to develop a strategic outlook for the Society. It is available here.
