PSP Shared System of Care (COPD/HF)
PSP Prototype Session 4
Speaker Biographies
Clay Barber brings over 20 years of broad management experience ranging from data
management and strategic information to enterprise-wide quality improvement and risk
management to portfolio development and transformational change management. Clay combines
health management experience with consultancy in areas such as strategy and organization
alignment, medical administration, program and portfolio development, transformation and
evaluation, and policy and program analysis. Clay has worked for National, Provincial and Regional
Health Care organisations from both a private and public perspective. Clay has demonstrated skills
in facilitating multi-stakeholder groups with clinical, executive and public members in a
collaborative, results oriented approach.
Clay is currently engaged by the BC Shared Care Committee as the Executive Lead and consults to
both the General Practices Services Committee and Specialist Services Committee. He also
continues to work on smaller consultancy projects as time and interest permit.
Connie Davis, MN, ARNP, RN serves as Patients as Partners quality improvement lead for British
Columbia and is a nurse practitioner specializing in care of the elderly. She is a trainer of master
educators for the Stanford Chronic Disease Self-Management Program, a member of the
Motivational Interviewing Network of Trainers and adjunct clinical faculty for the University of
British Columbia School of Nursing. Connie is a fellow at the Center for Advancing Health based in
Washington DC, an organization that focuses on increasing patient engagement in health and
health care. The focus of much of Connie’s work is on improving interactions between clinicians,
patients and families. She is the program coordinator of the non-profit Centre for Comprehensive
Motivational Interventions (CCMI). CCMI provides training in a stepped-care approach to selfmanagement, and one of the steps, Brief Action Planning, is currently being studied in a telephone
intervention for hypertension and is being evaluated in a provincial prototype. She is the author or
co-author of publications on health promotion, chronic illness care, quality improvement, and selfmanagement support and is a frequent speaker on self-management support, health behavior
change, health literacy, clinical topics in geriatrics and geriatric nursing and quality improvement in
outpatient care both nationally and internationally.
Brian Deakin, a Patient Voices Network member since 2011, has learned he is a “poster boy” for
Shared Care. Initially encouraged by his family doctor to speak out and present his ideas, Brian has
since participated in well over 20 healthcare Initiatives – all relating to primary care.
Brian resides in a rural area northwest of Fort St. John. He is just as at home on the range as he is in
a bustling city.
Prior to retirement, Brian spent over 40 years as a Geoscientist both publicly and in private
practice. He currently plies his passion through his consulting firm.
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He is a family man with a lovely wife, 6 children and 9 grandchildren. When he is not busy dealing
with healthcare and his health, he can be found travelling and spending time on sports, rustic
furniture, and gardening. At present Brian is establishing a website where he can promote patient
engagement in healthcare.
Dr. J. Mark Fitzgerald is a Consultant Respiratory Physician at The Lung Centre, Vancouver
General Hospital, and Professor of Medicine and head of the UBC Respiratory Medicine program at
the University of British Columbia. He is the founding Director of the UBC Centre for Lung Health
and co-Director of the newly formed Institute for Heart and Lung Health at UBC. He has an
extensive program of clinical research in asthma, COPD, tuberculosis, and health outcomes. He has
worked with national and international groups to develop evidence based asthma guidelines. He is
a member of the CTS Executive and its Asthma Committee and has worked with the Canadian
Asthma Guidelines working group since 1989. He is a member of the Global Initiative in Asthma
(GINA), Executive, and Chair of its Science Committee. He has published over 280 peer reviewed
papers and editorials.
Dr. Gordon Hoag received his MD o the University of Saskatchewan and his PhD from the
University of Guelph. He did his post graduate pathology training at the University of Manitoba
and the University of Saskatchewan. He has practiced in laboratory medicine both in Canada and
the UAE. For the past decade he has practiced as Chief, Department of Laboratory Medicine,
Capital Health Region and more recently, as Medical Director of Laboratory Medicine, Pathology
and Medical Genetics for the Vancouver Island Health Authority. He has served as an executive
member in professional associations in Canada, provincially and nationally. He has been appointed
to regional, national, and international Advisory Boards of pharmaceutical corporations. He has
also served as a member on both regional and international Advisory Boards of Laboratory
instrument companies. His major medical interests are lipid disorders, protein chemistry, and
more recently, the role of Laboratory medicine in Chronic Disease Management. He has
participated in several clinical trials and collaborated with industry in evaluating new tests and
their impact on clinical care.
Marcus J. Hollander, PhD is the President of Hollander Analytical Services Ltd., a national health
services and policy research organization headquartered in Victoria, BC. He has been the lead
researcher on a number of large-scale, national studies in the areas of primary care and continuing
care. He recently received the Canadian Association on Gerontology Distinguished Member Award
(their highest honour) and the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal for Gerontology.
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PSP Shared System of Care (COPD/HF)
PSP Prototype Session 4
Aman Hundal, Lead, Partners in Care, joins us from Interior Health where over a seven year period
he has taken on many challenging assignments. He was recruited into Interior Health’s fast track
leadership program (Corporate Internship), where over a two year period; he rotated through the
Medical Administration, Pharmacy and Facilitates Management departments. Upon completion of
his Internship, Aman was appointed to lead the Environmental Sustainability program which has
received a number of awards/recognition at both the provincial and national level. Prior to IH, he
worked at Northern Health, where he worked in Human Resource and then moved onto Strategic
Planning. In addition to Aman’s healthcare experience he has worked in the financial services
industry as an Investment Specialist. Aman holds a BComm with double major in Management and
Finance, along with an MBA in Human Resources and Management.
Born and raised in Fort St. James, BC he appreciates the challenges rural communities face with
respect to health care services. On his spare time, Aman enjoys cycling, hiking and spending time
with his wife, 3 year old son and 1.5 year old daughter.
Bruce McManus, MD, PhD, FRSC, FCAHS is Professor, Department of Pathology and Laboratory
Medicine, at the University of British Columbia. He serves Co-Director of the Institute for Heart +
Lung Health, and as Director of the NCE CECR Centre of Excellence for Prevention of Organ Failure
(PROOF Centre). Dr. McManus served as the inaugural Scientific Director of the Institute of
Circulatory and Respiratory Health, Canadian Institutes of Health Research, from December 2000
until April 2006. In this capacity, he led the development and implementation of a strategic
research plan for Canada to address scientific questions related to cardiac, respiratory, vascular,
brain (stroke), blood, sleep, and intensive care-related disorders and diseases.
Dr. McManus’ basic and clinical investigative program is focused on mechanisms, consequences,
detection and prevention of injury and repair involved in inflammatory diseases of the heart and
blood vessels, with particular emphasis on environmental infections of the heart and transplant
vascular disease.
Dr. McManus has co-authored over 350 peer-reviewed publications, as well as many chapters. He
has edited four books. He has served as Councilor for the International Society for Heart Research
and for the American Society for Investigative Pathology. He is past-president of the Society for
Cardiovascular Pathology. He currently serves on the editorial board of several professional and
scientific journals, and on many advisory committees and boards. He has long been committed to
training and mentoring scientist trainees across a range of disciplines.
Dr. McManus has been recognized for his scientific contributions by numerous institutions,
including being elected to the Royal Society of Canada as a Fellow of the Academy of Sciences in
2002—the highest academic honor in the country.
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Janet Wilson-McManus is currently Chief Operating Officer for the Centre of Excellence for the
Prevention of Organ Failure (PROOF Centre). The PROOF Centre is a not-for-profit society with a
mission to accelerate production of blood tests to optimize management strategies for patients
with heart, lung or kidney ailments. Janet brings more than 30 years of hands-on health research
and program management experience from the clinical laboratory and translational health
environments in the US and Canada. Over the last decade, Janet has been instrumental in realizing
more than $75 million of infrastructure and operating funds to the University of British Columbia
and BC health communities. These initiatives are focused on large scale health translation
including engagement and funding from local and international academia, health care, industry,
and private foundations. Janet obtained her Bachelor of Science degree in Biology and Chemistry
from the University of Southern Colorado and a Bachelor of Science in Medical Technology as well
as post-graduate courses in Statistics at the University of Nebraska Medical Center.
Christina Southey, Quality Improvement Team Lead at ImpactBC, helps ImpactBC teams and
partner organizations improve their service delivery by supporting an environment where planning,
testing, and creativity are the guideposts. As the team lead for Quality Improvement, her ability to
re-frame ideas in ways that generate excitement is valued by clients and partners. She holds a
Masters degree in Community Health and Epidemiology as well as a certificate in Health Care
Quality Improvement. Christina says the best part of her work is teaching and facilitating groups
while helping her students to approach their work with a sense of fun. Her sense of humour and
high energy approach are appreciated by seminar attendees who rate her sessions with
consistently high marks. New discoveries and a fresh perspective are important to Christina during
off work hours as well.
Ella Young, the current Director of Care Continuum and Actuarial Analytics at VCH was recently
Director, Actuarial and Risk Analytics with the Ministry of Health where she was responsible for
building predictive models focused on chronic diseases, informing health sector decision making
and providing leadership in modeling and data access. Prior to that, she held a number of seniorlevel roles with HEABC, CHSPR at UBC, PHC, the Provincial Blood Coordinating Office, etc. In
addition, she has held senior positions in the energy and insurance industries including Risk
Manager for Worksafe BC where she built and implemented predictive models that highly
accurately identified likely future high-risk claims, and Western Region Business Development for
Marsh Canada.
Ella also has a wide range of volunteer and personal interests, including having served on the Board
of the Renfrew-Collingwood Seniors Society and qualifications in diving, sailing, ballroom dance,
bridge, and swimming.
Ella holds a Masters’ in Health Administration from UBC and a Bachelor of Commerce (Hons) in
Actuarial Science and Finance from the University of Manitoba. In addition, she has certifications
as a Risk Manager, and as both a Canadian and American Health Executive.
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PSP Shared System of Care (COPD/HF)
PSP Prototype Session 4
Dr. Sean Virani is the Director of Heart Failure at Vancouver General Hospital and Clinical Assistant
Professor of Medicine at the University of British Columbia.
He completed his internal medicine and cardiology training at UBC before embarking on a subspecialization in heart failure and cardiac transplantation at Stanford University. His academic
interests include public policy related to health care delivery with specific reference to access and
capacity in the Canadian context. He has a Master’s degree in Public Health from Columbia
University with a focus on healthcare management.
He has authored a number of papers on chronic and acute decompensated heart failure; he is
active as a principal investigator in numerous research trials and serves on the Provincial Advisory
Committee for Heart Failure.
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