In order of presentation:
Dr. William Jarvis, MD
Jason and Jarvis Associates, LLC
William R. Jarvis, M.D. is board-certified in pediatrics and board-eligible in pediatric infectious diseases. From 1980-2003, Dr. Jarvis worked at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), in a number of leadership positions including Acting Director, Hospital Infections Program (HIP); Assistant Director for Program Development, Division of Healthcare Quality Promotion; and Director, Office of Extramural Research, Office of the Director, National Center for Infectious Diseases. For 17 years while at the CDC, Dr. Jarvis was responsible for the supervision of outbreaks and epidemiologic studies in healthcare settings, and for the development of guidelines for the prevention of healthcare-associated infections. In July 2003, he established Jason and Jarvis Associates, LLC, a consulting company in epidemiology, infectious diseases, and HAI prevention and control. Dr. Jarvis has published more than 400 peer-reviewed publications, edited three books, and has received numerous awards, including the CDC Lifetime Scientific Achievement Award and the CDC Lifetime Achievement Award in Epidemiology.
Sydney Scharf
Project Manager, Infection Control, Vancouver General Hospital
Sydney has over 20 years experience in Infection Control at VGH. Sydney was the Senior Infection Control Practitioner for 10 years and is currently the Regional Project Manager for the 4 Cornerstones Project.
Andrea Derban
Immunization Coordinator, Health Protection Directorate
Andrea’s early career as a Public Health Nurse took place over 10 years in 3 of the 5 Regional Health Authorities across BC. In 2003, she became the first Vaccine Educator at the BC Centre for Disease Control. In 2009 she moved to the Ministry of Health’s Population and Public Health Division as the BC Immunization Committee Manager, and in 2013 joined Canada’s very first First Nations Health Authority in their Health Protection Directorate as the Immunization Coordinator. While still passionate about communicable disease control and immunization Andrea is pursuing her lifelong dream of a Master’s Degree in Theology at Regent College, UBC.
Dr. Naveed Janjua
Senior Scientist, BC Centre for Disease Control
Dr. Naveed Zafar Janjua is an epidemiologist and senior scientist with hepatitis services in the clinical prevention services at the BC Centre for Disease Control and Clinical Assistant Professor at School of Population and Public Health, University of British Columbia. Dr. Janjua is a Medical Doctor (MBBS) with a Masters of Science (MSc) degree in Epidemiology & Biostatistics and Doctorate in Public Health (DrPH). At BCCDC, his work involves surveillance, research and policy advice related to hepatitis B and C. His research interest includes hepatitis B and C epidemiology, disparities in treatment access and disease outcomes. His global health research includes unsafe medical injections and transmission of bloodborne pathogens, socio-economic disparities in health and nutritional transition in developing countries.
Craig Pienkowski
Infection Control Practitioner, Vancouver Coastal Health
In 1997 Craig completed a Bachelor of Science in Biology at the University of Lethbridge with a focus in molecular and cellular function. In 2004 he graduated from the University of Calgary with a Bachelor of Nursing and worked as a staff nurse in Calgary and Vancouver. Craig has been working as an Infection Control Practitioner at Providence Health Care since 2007.
Elayne Preston, RN
Managing Consultant, Health & Wellness, Workplace Health, Fraser Health
Elayne Preston is still around; contrary to popular belief, she was not in the same nursing class as Florence Nightengale. She is a nationally certified occupational health nurse and manages Occupational Health & Wellness at Fraser Health. She also manages the occupational health nursing services delivered to all of the BC health authorities through the Workplace Health Call Centre. These services include initial management of all communicable disease exposures occurring in the workplace.
Shannon Callaghan
Occupational Health Nurse, Fraser Health
Shannon Callaghan is an occupational health nurse working in the Workplace Health Call Centre at Fraser Health. She is working on her occupational health nursing certificate in the free time she doesn’t have. Her sordid nursing experience includes HealthLink BC (aka Nurseline), various walk-in clinics and medical offices throughout the Lower Mainland. At the Call Centre, there is rarely a TB-free day. In her work at the Call Centre, Shannon receives notifications of positive source patients, assesses potentially exposed employees, communicates with managers and provides education to the masses.
Hilary Espezel, RN MSN
Quality Improvement Consultant, Infection Prevention & Control, Fraser Health
Hilary Espezel began her nursing career in the area of pediatric neurosciences and has 14 years’ clinical experience. She has conducted and published clinical research and led program development initiatives before entering the world of healthcare improvement and patient safety in 2006. Since then she has held leadership positions in quality, patient safety and accreditation, and now offers that lens to improvement work with the Infection, Prevention & Control team at Fraser Health. As an Adjunct Professor at the UBC School of Nursing, Hilary continues to work with undergraduate and graduate students to incorporate a quality and patient safety focus into the nursing curriculum.
Jacquie Hlagi
Infection Prevention and Control Consultant, Fraser Health
Jacquie is an Infection Prevention and Control Consultant at Fraser Health covering the Residential Care and Assisted Living Program. She started working in infection control in 2003 covering Riverview Hospital and the Forensic Psychiatric Hospital. She moved to Fraser health in 2008. Jacquie obtained her diploma of Psychiatric nursing at BCIT, a Bachelor of Psychiatric Nursing from Kwantlen Polytechnic University and Certificate of Infection Prevention and Control at UBC. She is an active member of IPAC Canada and has been involved in PICNet since its inception. Jacquie is a member of the hand hygiene working group that developed the processes for hand hygiene auditing at Fraser Health.
Dr. Evan Wood
Canada Research Chair in Inner City Medicine
Professor of Medicine, UBC
Director, Urban Health Research Initiative
BC Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS
Dr. Wood is an an internal medicine physician, the Co-director of the Urban Health Research Initiative at the British Columbia Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS, a Professor in the Department of Medicine at the University of British Columbia, and a Canada Research Chair in Inner City Medicine. In addition to being an active Canadian Institutes of Health Research and National Institutes on Drug Abuse funded investigator, he was also the inaugural director of the St. Paul’s Hospital Goldcorp Fellowship in Addiction Medicine.
PICNet Education Steering Committee:
Coleen Reiswig – ICP, Interior Health
Carolyn Bouchard – Public Health Manager, Northern Health
Isobel McDonald – Clinical Nursing Instructor North Island College
Ted Pincock – ICP, Providence Health Care
PICNet Education Steering Committee members have come together to examine four major public health/infection control events that occurred in Canadian history. Each event will briefly outlined, and the common themes of key lessons learned explored with a focus on the questions: Have we really acted on the key lessons learned? What are the chances that these types of situations could happen again? What key lessons do we still need to work on in the future?
Dr. Linda Hoang
Program Head, Public Health Advanced Bacteriology & Mycology, BC Public Health Microbiology & Reference Laboratory, Provincial Health Services Authority Laboratories; Clinical Assistant Professor, Department of Pathology & Laboratory Medicine, UBC
Dr. Linda Hoang received her Master’s and Medical Degrees from UBC and is FRCP(C) qualified in Medical Microbiology (UBC). She also obtained a Diploma in Tropical Medicine and Hygiene from the London School of Hygiene and Epidemiology, UK. Dr. Hoang has been formally based at the BC Centre for Disease Control as the Program Head for Bacteriology & Mycology laboratory since 2006, but has been involved in BCCDC-led projects in Vietnam and BC starting in 1998. She enjoys teaching and is the BCCDC site-supervisor for the UBC Medical Microbiology Residency Training Program. Her clinical and academic interests include agents of bioterrorism and containment level-3 pathogens, healthcare-acquired infections and antibiotic resistant organisms, Cryptococcus gattii, and enteric bacterial pathogens related outbreaks in BC.
Dr. Victor Leung
Infection Control Physician, Providence Health Care
Dr. Victor Leung completed medical school and residency training in Internal Medicine at the University of British Columbia. He subsequently completed a combined fellowship in Infectious Diseases and Medical Microbiology at McGill University. He now works as the Infection Prevention and Control Physician at Providence Health Care (PHC) and will be leading the Antimicrobial Stewardship program at PHC.
Lisa Young
Leader, Infection Prevention and Control, BC Emergency Health Services
Lisa is the Infection Prevention and Control Leader with BC Emergency Health Services, with 17 years experience working in infection prevention and control (IPAC). As an RN, Lisa started her IPAC career in England as an Infection Control “link nurse” while working on a Neonatal Unit. Lisa moved to Canada in 2007working as an IPAC practitioner, later IPAC Manager, for Vancouver Island Health. In May 2013 she became the ‘first’ Leader for IPAC with BCEHS, moving her IPAC lens from acute and long-term care to pre-hospital care and its unique challenges. With this move, Lisa has taken on an active role with IPAC Canada, co-chairing the Pre-Hospital Interest Group and becoming IPAC BC’s President Elect.