Alison Gerlach
Alison Gerlach (Co-Investigator) is an Occupational Therapist and Assistant Professor at University of Victoria School of Child and Youth Care
As a Co-Investigator on this project, I bring 20 years of experience in partnering with Indigenous communities and organizations as an occupational therapist and researcher. My research is focused on the development of responsive and inclusive knowledges, and policy and practice interventions that address social justice and health equity issues for families and children who experience structural violence and inequities, and children with developmental challenges, disabilities, and/or complex health conditions. I was a Graduate Research Assistant on the EQUIP team. Currently, I am a Clinical Assistant Professor in the Dept. of Occupational Science and Occupational Therapy, and an Honorary Research Associate with CRiHHI in the School of Nursing and HELP (Human Early Learning Partnership) in the School of Population Health at UBC. In June 2017, I start a 2-year CIHR Banting postdoctoral fellowship with Dr. Margo Greenwood at the National Collaborating Centre for Aboriginal Health at the University of Northern British Columbia.
Scott Comber
Scott Comber (Co-Investigator & Change Coach at St. Paul’s) is an Assistant Professor/University Teaching Fellow at the Rowe School of Business, Faculty of Management at Dalhousie University
As a co-investigator for this study, I will be focused primarily on the areas of process evaluation, change readiness/management, and front-line ownership. I bring 20 years of practitioner experience in the field of change management within health care settings. My research focuses on understanding access and equity issues within emergency department settings using complexity science coupled with front-line ownership. I also research in the area of physician leadership development. Therefore, I refer to myself as a “pracademic”; both organization practitioner, and scholarly academic. I am very interested in understanding innovative, intervention science approaches to resolve health care issues.
Jean Carne
Jean Carne (Change Coach at Surrey Memorial Hospital)
Amélie Blanchet Garneau
Amélie Blanchet Garneau (Co-Investigator) is an Assistant Professor at Université de Montréal in Montréal, Quebec.
I am interested in critical theoretical perspectives regarding culture and health, and the relevance of cultural safety in shifting organizational practices and policies toward fostering health and health care equity. I have a theoretical and practical background in initial and continuing nursing education and I see critical pedagogy as one way to transform healthcare practices toward health care equity. My program of research aims at translating an equity-oriented approach of care for marginalized populations in health care professionals’ initial and continuing education. I envision that my research program could directly inform curriculum development in nursing and other health disciplines focusing on promoting social justice and equity in health and health care.
Aggie Black
Aggie Black (Co-Investigator & Site Lead) is a Research Leader of Professional Practice for Providence Health Care at St. Paul’s Hospital in Vancouver, British Columbia.
As one of the co-investigators for the Providence Health Care site, I bring my nursing background and my research skills to facilitate the smooth running of the EQUIP study at the St Paul’s site. I have a keen interest in social determinants of health, Aboriginal health, and in improving health care for marginalized populations. I am excited about the potential this project offers for improving our partnerships with Indigenous and non-Indigenous patients and families who visit our emergency department.
Erin Wilson
Erin Wilson (Co-Principal Investigator) is an Assistant Professor in the School of Nursing at the University of Northern British Columbia in Prince George.
I am a family nurse practitioner in Prince George. As a co-investigator in this study, I will be focused on the UHNBC site in Prince George. My clinical background is in primary care in rural and remote communities as well as urban practice with vulnerable and marginalized populations. I recently defended my doctoral dissertation, which focused on how patients feel known in the context of interprofessional primary care teams. My research interests are focused on primary health care, rural health, and promoting equity. I have also participated in a national study of rural nurses, through which I helped to develop and validate a scale to measure clinician engagement with attributes of primary health care.
Roberta Price
Roberta Price (Co-Principal Investigator) is an Elder at the Provincial Health Services Authority and Vancouver Coastal Health.
My heritage is Coast Salish – Snuneymuxw/Cowichan Tribes. I have committed to professional and volunteer work in the Health, Social Services, and Education fields for most of my career, and am dedicated to building a strong base of knowledge from which to make improvements to the health care system, specifically for Aboriginal persons. Over the past decade, I have worked in partnership with researchers at the UBC School of Nursing on a number of studies. As an Elder, I have guided study activities around Indigenous approaches to health. My role has been to ensure that the research is relevant and responsive to Indigenous contexts, and to assist in implementation of interventions within clinical settings. I oversee ceremonial and traditional aspects, including integration of traditional healing approaches with ‘Western’ approaches. The studies I have been involved with relate to structural and interpersonal violence and trauma – including colonialism, racism, and poverty – and their effects on health care access and quality for Indigenous people.
David Byres
David Byres (Co-Principal Investigator) is an Adjunct Professor in the School of Nursing at the University of British Columbia, Associate Deputy Minister of Clinical Leadership at the BC Ministry of Health.
I am a registered nurse with a clinical background in mental health, substance use, street nursing and emergency. As a co-principal investigator for this study, I also bring two decades of leadership experience in health organizations including senior executive roles and a fellowship for Nurse Executives at the Wharton School of Business. I am currently leading a province wide dialogue on nursing policy. I have supported the integration of cultural safety within health organizations including Indigenous health teams, sacred spaces, and traditional healing practices. I have lead the development of patient and family centered practices and brought the international conference on patient and family centered care to British Columbia. I have lead work to develop North America’s only opioid treatment clinic to prescribe diacetylmorphine and remain committed to social justice. My current work supports the use of evidence based policy development for nursing and health providers in British Columbia. I am a past co-chair of the Michael Smith Foundation for Health Research Nursing Research Advisory Council.
Vicky Bungay
Vicky Bungay (Co-Principal Investigator) is an Associate Professor in the School or Nursing at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver
As a co-lead for the study, I bring my nursing clinical background in critical care and public health and over a decade of research experience on issues of equity and human rights in health and social policy and programming. My work focuses on building effective community-research partnerships that support people’s rights to self-determination. I have conducted studies in the areas of mental health, addictions, and harm reduction and co-led peer-led outreach interventions to promote primary care access for women working in indoor sex venues. More recently I have been working with diverse sex worker communities to develop strength-based approaches to violence prevention. My research activities also include studies concerned with research ethics in practice and developing a new trauma and violence informed outreach intervention for women within inner-city settings.
Annette J. Browne
Annette J. Browne (Co-Principal Investigator) is a Professor in the School of Nursing at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver.
I am one of the co-leads of the EQUIP Emergency study, and a professor at the UBC School of Nursing. My research activities focus on health and health care inequities, with a particular focus on implications for Indigenous populations. I’ve led studies in Emergency departments, including a study titled, Access Issues for Aboriginal People Seeking Primary Care Services at Emergency Departments. I’ve also led studies in partnership with BC’s two long-established Urban Aboriginal Health Centres in Prince George and Vancouver. Currently, I am the co-lead of the EQUIP Primary Health Care Study, which focuses on organization-level strategies to enhance capacity to provide equity-oriented care in four clinics in Canada. I continue to work with lawyers, Indigenous health leaders, and community members on the Brian Sinclair Expert Working Group. We are finalizing a Report to put forward an alternate set of recommendations in response to the formal judicial Inquiry into the death of Mr. Brian Sinclair in an emergency department.
