Heart&Stroke Health Check^TM Program

A new expert group was formed to provide strategic advice to the Health Check program and to help ensure its overall integrity. The Health Check Strategic Advisory Council (SAC) is comprised of leaders from across the country with a breadth of knowledge in nutrition policy, nutrition science, medicine, marketing/public relations and consumer relations.

SAC members bring a collective mix of skills and expertise in policy development, communications, marketing, public opinion polling, strategic planning, business and business development and performance management. SAC will provide overall advice and guidance in a number of strategic areas.

Members of SAC:

Dr. Laurette Dubé

Dr. Laurette Dubé is the James McGill Professor of Consumer Psychology and Services Marketing and Management at the Faculty of Management of McGill University. She holds a research career award jointly funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. She is the scientific director of the McGill Initiative for the Integrative Management of Health, a strategic alliance between the Faculties of Management and Medicine at McGill University . Formed in 2001 to establish at McGill a world class centre for the innovative study of modern health challenges, the McGill Health Initiative pushes simultaneously the frontiers of both the health and management disciplines.

Dr. Dubé's research interests in the health domain focus on the integration of emotions and other facets of the less rational side of human behaviour into health promotion, disease prevention, and health services delivery and management. Her work in the consumer domain, which combines experimental approaches with the dynamic modeling of emotions, is considered a breakthrough in the scientific study of the subjective experience of consumption, its engineering, and its outcomes. Dr. Dubé is the recipient of several operating grants from the health and the social sciences funding agencies. In these, she designs and tests interventions aimed at improving the effectiveness of current practices in print and electronic health communications, in clinical encounters, and in systems design and management, by the explicit consideration of emotions and other human aspects of care. The most recently funded project in this line of work is targeted to women who received a benign outcome to anomaly screening for breast cancer.

Dr. Dubé received her Ph.D. in marketing from Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, U.S.A. (1990). She has an M.P.S. in Services Marketing Management from the same university, an M.B.A. in finances from École des Hautes Études Commerciales (HEC), Montreal, Quebec, Canada, and a B.Sc. in health sciences (nutrition) from Laval University, Quebec, Canada with 10 years of experience in hospital management.

Michel R. Joffres, MD, PhD.

Degrees:

• Baccalauréat: Mathématiques, Lycée Gabriel Fauré, Foix, France, 1971.
• M.D.: Faculté de Médecine, Université de Toulouse, France, 1979.
• M.S.P.H.: Master of Sciences in Public Health, 1981 Major: Epidemiology, School of Public Health, University of Hawaii, Honolulu, Hawaii, U.S.A.
• G.P.M.R.P.: General Preventive Medicine Residency Program, Certificate of Resident Study, 1983. School of Public Health, University of Hawaii, Honolulu, Hawaii, U.S.A.
• Ph.D.: Biomedical Sciences (Epidemiology-Biostatistics), School of Public Health, University of Hawaii, Honolulu, Hawaii, U.S.A., 1985.

Positions and Research Experience:

• 1978-79: University hospital of Toulouse Purpan.
• 1979-81: Wallis Hospital, Wallis Island, South Pacific (French oversea territory
• 1982:  Epidemiologist, Honolulu Heart Program and Japan Hawaii Cancer Study. 
• 1982-83: Instructor, School of Public Health, University of Hawaii:
• 1983: Epidemiologist, Epidemiology Unit, Wellington Hospital, New Zealand.
• 1983-84: Epidemiologist, (Co-Investigator) Honolulu Heart Program, Hawaii.
• 1986-94: Assistant Professor, Division of Pediatric Cardiology, Department of Pediatrics, University of Alberta, Canada. 
• 1988-94: Chronic Disease Epidemiologist, Alberta Health. Principal Investigator of the Alberta Heart Health Program.
• 2001-03: Director, Population Health and Chronic Diseases Prevention Unit. Department of Community Health and Epidemiology, Faculty of Medicine, Dalhousie University.
• 1995: Associate Professor and Director of Research, Nova Scotia Environmental Health Centre. Department of Community Health and Epidemiology, Faculty of Medicine, Dalhousie University
• 2005: Professor and Director, Graduate Programs. Faculty of Health Sciences, Simon Fraser University, Vancouver, British Columbia.

Total Grant funding: PI 3.2 Million; C0-I 7.2 Million.
 
Publications: Total 99 papers/books/reports plus 54 presentations.
High impact journals: Lancet, JAMA, American Journal of Epidemiology, American Journal of Hypertension, Hypertension, American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, BMC, Environmental Health Perspectives, CMAJ.

Experience in: Population Health, CVD prevention, Hypertension epidemiology, Sodium, other nutrients and blood pressure, Breast Cancer care, Environmental Sensitivities, Nutrition and health surveys.

Dr. Rena Mendelson

Rena Mendelson MS DSc RD has taught in the School of Nutrition at Ryerson University for more than twenty years.  She has served as Director of the School and has also served at Ryerson as the Associate Vice President Academic and Dean of Graduate Studies.  Rena was the principal investigator of the Ontario Food Survey and is working on a study of the obesogenicity of the Canadian landscape.  She chairs the Board of the Canadian Council on Food and Nutrition and was a member of the Transitional Council of the Ontario College of Dietitians.  Rena also acts as the Nutrition Section Head for the Canadian Obesity Network.  In 2008 Rena was the Faculty Teaching Award recipient for Ryerson’s President’s Award for Teaching Excellence!

Brian A. O’Connor, M.D.

Brian O’Connor is currently Medical Health Officer with Vancouver Coastal Health (North Shore).  He has 25 years of experience in the areas of public health, health promotion and population health in both Alberta and British Columbia.  He is a Graduate in Medicine from the University of Toronto and has a Master of Health Sciences degree from the same university.

Dr. O’Connor has been involved in the promotion of Heart Health and the primary prevention of cardiovascular diseases for the past 23 years.  He was the Principal Investigator of the British Columbia Heart Health Survey and the Co-Principal Investigator of the British Columbia Heart Health Demonstration and Dissemination Programs.  He was the chair of the 1st International Heart Health Conference held in Victoria in 1992 and has been a member of the Advisory Board of all five International Heart Health Conferences, and a member of the Editorial Board of the five Heart Health Declarations.

He has volunteered with both the Heart and Stroke Foundation of British Columbia and Yukon (President; Chair of Health Promotion) and the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada (Chair of Health Promotion and member of several other committees).

Dr. Andrew Pipe

Dr. Andrew Pipe is Chief of the Division of Prevention and Rehabilitation at the University of Ottawa Heart Institute.  He is a Professor at the University of Ottawa, with appointments in the Department of Family Medicine and the Division of Cardiac Surgery.  He graduated from Queen's University in 1974. 

His research interests have included smoking cessation, the clinical performance of artificial heart valves, cardiovascular adaptations to exercise, and drug use in sport.  He is currently involved in clinical research assessing new approaches to smoking cessation, strategies designed to facilitate exercise adoption, and novel initiatives to prevent cardiovascular disease.

A former chairman of Physicians for a Smoke-Free Canada, Dr. Pipe is a Life Member of the Canadian Council on Smoking and Health.  He is the recipient of the International Olympic Committee's Award for "Sport, Health and Wellbeing" and holds honourary degrees from Queen's University (LLD), Brock University (DSc) and University of Guelph (DSc).  In 2002 he was named to the Order of Canada.

Zenia Wadhwani

Zenia Wadhwani is the Director of Program Development at CanadaHelps.org – the only donation portal to Canada’s 82,000+ charities. She has volunteered her time and leadership to such organizations as the South Asian Professionals Networking Association, the Ontario Premier’s Council on Health, Well-being & Social Justice, the Canadian Millennium Scholarship Foundation, and the Canadian Centre for Political Leadership. She has published two literary anthologies, is currently pursuing a PhD in Communication and Culture at York University and is a recipient of the Action Canada Fellowship.

Bretta Maloff, RD, MEd

Bretta is Chair of the Health Check Program Committee and the Program’s Technical Advisory Committee, supplying technical advice and developing and monitoring the program criteria.  She has been involved with the Health Check Program since its inception in 1995. 

In her professional capacity, Bretta is Leader, Community Development, Calgary Health Region.  She has been active with professional and volunteer organizations for many years and has served as President of the Alberta Public Health Association, Dietitians of Canada (formerly Canadian Dietetic Association), and Chair of the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada’s Health Promotion Committee. 

Her work in health promotion focuses on encouraging and supporting communities to become effective advocates in improving health; promoting citizen participation on issues that impact their health; and supporting alliances on health issues.  

Current priority areas are Calgary Cardiovascular Network, Calgary Community Prevention of Obesity initiative, young children and youth initiatives, and building organizational capacity for community development.
 

Gilles Paradis, MD, MSc, FRCPC, FACPM, FAHA

Present Positions

• Scientific Director, Quebec Population Health Research Network
• Associate-Director, Population Health and Preventive Medicine of the McGill University Health Centre Research Institute
• Medical Consultant, Public Health Institute of Quebec
• Professor, Department of Epidemiology, Biostatistics and Occupational Health of McGill
• Director, Quebec Public and Population Health Research Training Program

Past Positions

1997- Secretary-General of the Organizing Committee and chaired the Scientific Program Committee of the 4th International Conference on Preventive Cardiology in Montreal

Education

MSc, Epidemiology, McGill University
MD, University of Montreal
Two-year fellowship, Stanford University

Specialties

• After completing his fellowship, Dr. Paradis returned to Montreal and became involved in community-based cardiovascular disease prevention research in low-income populations and Aboriginal communities, as well as the epidemiology of CVD risk factors, particularly in children and adolescents
• Currently, Dr. Paradis leads a large trial disseminating best practices for CVD prevention in Quebec. He is involved in studies of the metabolic consequences of childhood obesity and of the development of nicotine addiction in novice smokers.

Sylvie Stachenko, MD, MSc, FCFP

Present Position

Dean, School of Public Health, University of Alberta

Past Positions

• 1984-1988 – Associate Professor and served as Research Director, Department of Family Medicine, Université de Montréal
• 1988- Appointed Director, Preventive Health Services, Department of Health and Welfare, Federal Government of Canada
• 1997-2002 – Director, Health Policy and Services, World Health Organization (WHO) Regional Office for Europe, Copenhagen, Denmark
• 2002-2004 – Director General, Centre of Chronic Disease Prevention and Control, Public Health Agency of Canada
• 2004-2008 – Deputy Chief Public Health Officer, Public Health Agency of Canada
   

Education and Training

• BSc., Université de Caen, France
• BSc., Biophysics, McGill University
• MA, Epidemiology and health services administration, Harvard School of Public Health
• MD, McGill University
• Residency in family medicine, Université de Montréal

Specialties

• Public Health Policy
• Nutrition/Diet
• Physical activity
• Obesity