Daniel Kollek MD, CCFP(EM)

Dr. Daniel Kollek is an award winning Emergency Physician, an Assistant Clinical Professor in the Section of Emergency Medicine at McMaster University, Chair of the CAEP Disaster Committee and the Executive Director of the Centre for Excellence in Emergency Preparedness (CEEP).

His research papers and presentations have spanned many disaster related topics such as terrorism and CBRN readiness. He has chaired the National Scientific Assembly of the Canadian Association of Emergency Physicians in 2002, was a session chair at the 2nd World Congress on CBR Terrorism the following year and the chair of the Disaster Track at the International Federation of Emergency Medicine conference in Halifax in 2006.

In addition to teaching awards he and his colleagues of CEEP also received a Humanitarian Award from the International Federation of Emergency Medicine in 2006 for their work to improve Canadian disaster preparedness.

Brian Schwartz MD, CCFP(EM), FCFP

Dr. Brian Schwartz is the Director of Emergency Management Support for the Ontario Agency for Health Protection and Promotion. In this role, he leads development of OAHPP’s strategy, design, policies, procedures and response to health emergencies and exigent circumstances, including hazardous materials, catastrophic events and outbreaks. The OAHPP supplements and supports the Province in its emergency planning and response by providing improved access to a broader range of scientific and technical specialization. Since joining the Agency, Dr. Schwartz has implemented an Incident Management System designed for circumstances like the recent pandemic alert, and during the last two weeks he has led the Provincial Scientific Response Team.

Dr. Schwartz has practiced Emergency Medicine for over 30 years in both community and academic settings. In 1992, he joined Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre as a staff Emergency Physician and since 1994, has served as Medical Director for both land and flight paramedics in its Base Hospital program. Most recently, as Senior Director of the Sunnybrook-Osler Centre for Prehospital Care, he presided over the expansion of the Base Hospital Program to include the Regions of Peel, Halton, Simcoe, and District of Muskoka in addition to Toronto.

During the SARS epidemic, Dr. Schwartz was Vice-Chair of the Ontario SARS Scientific Advisory Committee. He has served as Scientific Advisor to the Emergency Management Unit in the Ontario Ministry of Health and Long Term Care, has chaired several Ontario Pandemic Planning Committees and Working Groups, and contributes to Chemical Biological Radiological Nuclear and Explosive (CBRNE) planning and response.

In 2007 Dr. Schwartz was awarded the Ontario Medical Association Emergency Medicine Career Service Award for his contributions to the advancement of Emergency Medicine in Ontario, and holds the rank of Associate Professor in the Department of Family and Community Medicine, University of Toronto.

Bonnie Henry MD, MPH, FACPM, FRCP(C)

Dr. Bonnie Henry obtained her medical degree from Dalhousie University in Halifax, then practiced as a general practitioner, Diving Medical Officer and Flight Surgeon with the Canadian Armed Forces and in general practice in Victoria, British Columbia. Dr. Henry completed a Preventive Medicine Residency and Masters of Public Health with the University of California, San Diego and obtained her Community Medicine (Public Health) training at the University of Toronto. Dr. Henry is a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians of Canada and of the American College of Preventive Medicine. Dr. Henry is a public health physician and epidemiologist and Assistant Professor in the Division of Public, Environmental and Occupational Health in the Department of Health Care and Epidemiology at the University of British Columbia. She is also the Director of Public Health Emergency Services at the BC Centre for Disease Control (BCCDC).

She worked for the World Health Organization on the Ebola outbreak in Uganda in 2000 and the STOP polio program in Pakistan. Most recently she was the Associate Medical Officer of Health for the City of Toronto and led the operational response to the SARS outbreak in the City in 2003. She led the development of public health emergency management protocols for Ontario and was an executive member of the Ontario SARS Scientific Advisory Committee.

Her research interests are in establishment of effective surveillance systems for communicable disease, including new and emerging diseases, public health emergency response and the continuum of community and hospital infection control.

David McCann B.Sc, MD, MPH, CCFP, FAASFP

Dr. David McCann attended Dalhousie University, completing his Honours Bachelor of Science in Biology and Biochemistry in 1983 followed by his MD in 1988. He did his postgraduate medical training at Memorial University of Newfoundland. He also pursued a Master's Degree in Public Health at the University of Massachusetts, graduating in 2010. Prior to joining the faculty as an Assistant Professor at McMaster University in the Department of Family Medicine, he practiced Family Medicine and Emergency Medicine in rural Southwestern Georgia where he was a Clinical Assistant Professor in the Departments of Family Medicine and Emergency Medicine at Mercer University School of Medicine. He was named one of America's Top Physicians by the Consumer Research Council of America in Washington, DC from 2004-2007. In 2008, he was named a Senior Policy Fellow in Homeland Security at the George Washington University in Washington, DC.

Dr. McCann is board certified in Family Medicine and Disaster Medicine in the United States, a fellow in the Academy of Specialists in Family Practice in the US and he is a certificant of the College of Family Practice in Canada. His interest in Disaster Medicine began when he deployed to the Twin Towers on 9/11 and he has pursued extensive training in that specialty ever since, publishing a number of articles and book chapters. He has been the Chief Medical Officer of the Florida One Disaster Medical Assistance Team since 2003 and has coordinated medical disaster relief at a variety of events including Hurricanes Charley, Jeanne, Katrina, Rita, Wilma and Ike and most recently for the Port-au-Prince, Haiti earthquake disaster in January 2010. He serves as one of the disaster relief physicians on the Ontario Emergency Medical Assistance Team (EMAT) at Toronto Sunnybrook Hospital. Dr. McCann is the Deputy Incident Manager for the Health Sector of the City of Hamilton and helped coordinate the city's pandemic response to H1N1 in 2009.

Dr. McCann was a founder and immediate past Chair of the American Board of Disaster Medicine. He is also Vice President of the American Association of Physician Specialists, one of the three board certifying organizations for doctors in the United States. His research interests include Disaster Medicine and public health response to populations under extremeduress. He is married and the proud father of five children.

Carl Jarvis, MSc, MD, CCFP(EM)

Dr. Carl Jarvis is the Medical Director of the Emergency Department Disaster Planning and Assistant Professor in the Department of Emergency Medicine at Dalhousie University. He is a staff physician in the Emergency Department at the QEII Health Sciences Centre in Halifax, NS.

Janice Spivey, RN ENC(C) CEN

Janice Spivey graduated from Chatham General Hospital School of Nursing in 1973. Janice is the current President of the Emergency Nurses Association of Ontario (ENAO) and is also a past-president of the National Emergency Nurses Affiliation (NENA).

Janice currently works in the Emergency Department of Kingston General Hospital and in the Critical Care Recovery Unit of the Samaritan Medical Centre in Watertown, New York. She also works as a Legal Nurse Consultant.

Janice has given presentations on emergency nursing and emergency management at international conferences across the globe. She has been twice awarded the Kingston General Hospital Nursing Education Award and in 2008, received the National Emergency Nurses’ Affiliation (NENA) President’s Award.

Valerie Rzepka, RN, BScN, MSc.

Valerie Rzepka is a Nursing Policy Analyst with the Registered Nurses’ Association of Ontario (RNAO). In this role she formulates RNAO’s policies, positions and initiatives and identifies critical nursing practice issues, which enhance and contribute to the quality of clinical nursing practice and healthy work environment areas in Ontario. In her role with RNAO she has been involved in influencing public policy on a variety of issues such as nurse practitioner-led clinics, and non-physician prescribing.

Valerie received her Bachelor of Science in Nursing from Ryerson University in Toronto, and Master’s in Health Policy, Planning and Financing jointly from the London School of Economics and London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine in the United Kingdom. Her dissertation was entitled “The Human Impact of Neglect: A critical review of accountability after natural disaster.”

Valerie’s clinical nursing background is very diverse, and ranges from paediatric critical care, to community home care, and primary care and trauma/emergency practice in remote nursing outposts in the Canadian Far North.

In addition, Valerie volunteers her time as National Chairperson of a grassroots emergency medical response organization, Canadian Medical Assistance Teams (CMAT) which provides medical aid in the wake of major global disasters. She has coordinated and supervised medical projects in post-Tsunami Thailand (2005), earthquake-affected Kashmir, Pakistan (2005) and Sichuan, China (2008) as well as cyclone and flood-ravaged Bangladesh (2007). Most recently, she participated in CMAT’s immediate rapid assessment and coordinated CMAT’s overall response to the 2010 earthquake in Haiti.

Kathryn Harms, ACP

Kathryn Harms is an Advanced Care Paramedic who works as the Program Coordinator of the Paramedic Academy in The Justice Institute of British Columbia (JIBC). Applying her considerable experience as an Advanced Care Paramedic, Kathy provides her expertise to one of Canada's leading educational institutions in public safety. Kathy also volunteers her time as Director of Canadian Medical Assistance Teams (CMAT).

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