Roger Wheeler

To begin, I would like to thank my nominators, Irving Rootman and Shannon Turner.  Their dedication to public health has been inspirational.  I have accepted their nomination to serve as a CPHA Director, and feel well-positioned to add value to CPHA in a governance role by sharing my public health experience, my business knowledge, and my passion: to increase attention to public health goals – and expand action toward improved health outcomes – by those outside the health sector.  I see a strong link between my passion and CPHA’s mission, and I seek a Director role in order to help the organization pursue its six interconnected goals.

My education includes an undergraduate degree in physical and health education, and Master’s degrees in science (MSc), and business administration (MBA).  My career evolved from a frontline allied health practitioner, to a healthcare administrator, to a business professor in post-secondary education.  During my time in healthcare, I was recruited to the position of Public Health Administrator by a Medical Health Officer, where I spent the most enjoyable and meaningful years of my healthcare career collaborating with a strong team of senior leaders in health promotion, epidemiology, public health nursing, health protection, and aboriginal health services.  In this leadership role, I was directly involved in the strategy and operations of a broad spectrum of public health services, and acted to support public health leaders and practitioners in their efforts to overcome challenges and advance best practices in public health advocacy and services.  Although my career has since moved outside the health sector, my passion for public health remains, and my public health work continues in a different form.

My current role as professor in post-secondary business education has provided me with the opportunity to engage in public health advocacy and intersectoral knowledge sharing.  Moving outside the health sector has heightened my awareness of the need to foster partnerships across sectors to advance public health goals.  In fact, it has become my professional passion.  I developed and teach an upper-year course on Sustainable Management in order to bring concepts such as social responsibility, social innovation, determinants of health, health equity and sustainable development goals into the classroom to positively influence the thinking of future business leaders.  As well, I have been enabled to pursue opportunities to share business knowledge and business/health collaboration insights with public health practitioners via presentations, workshops and symposia at provincial, national and international public health and health promotion conferences.

In closing, I wish to acknowledge my colleagues on the Board of the Public Health Association of BC (PHABC), who have often expressed their appreciation for my business perspective and governance skills as I fulfil my role as Treasurer of the Board.  It is very rewarding volunteer work, and I wish to further my contributions in the field of public health by taking on a governance role at the national level with CPHA.  I believe that I have the capacity to add value to the organization, its mission, and its membership.

To read more about my PH research and presentations please follow the link below:

okanagan.bc.ca/Roger_Wheeler

Veronica Fynn Bruey

Background: With almost six university degrees from across four continents, I have travelled to some 20 countries, teaching, researching, consulting and speaking at conferences. I am completing my PhD in Law at Australian National University with focus on “systematic violence and the rule of law in Indigenous Liberia and Australia.”

Experience: I am a board member of the Public Health Association of British Columbia. I also sit on the Board of the World Computer Exchange (Canada). I am an active member of the Law Section and International Health Section of the American Public Health Association. I regularly volunteer at the Seattle/King County Clinic. In Australia, I am an active member of the Indigenous Health Network, Refugee Action, ANU Gender Institute and the RECOGNISE Movement. In the past, I sat on the board of the African Peace Festival (Vancouver) and the Winnipeg Refugee Education Network (Manitoba); chaired the Centre for Refugee Studies’ Student Caucus (Toronto) and was a student board member of the International Association for the Study of Forced Migration (Toronto). Between 2002 and 2005, I founded and chaired Africa Awareness at the University of British Columbia. In 2006, I worked with the International Organisation of Migration (Switzerland) on Migrant Health and Human Trafficking. I was appointed a Research Analyst of the BC’s Office to Combat Trafficking in Persons 2007-2008. In 2008, I founded the Journal of Internal Displacement and have served as the Editor–in-Chief since. I am a peer-reviewer of the Journals of Human Trafficking, Health and Human Rights, Public Health Reviews and CPHA Conference abstracts. In 2014, I contributed toward drafting the Mental Health Law and domesticating the African Union Convention on Internally Displaced Persons (Liberia). Between 2011-2015 I taught Public Health Law at the School of Population and Public Health (UBC). Currently, I am an Adjunct Professor at Seattle University School of Law, a Director of Flower School of Health Sciences and a Senior Researcher at the Liberia’s Centre for Policy Studies. Last year, I founded the “Displaced Peoples” Law and Society Association Collaborative Research Network.

Skills: I bring over 15 years of experience in advocacy, administration and management.  As an international research scholar, I embrace interdisciplinary learning exchange. My passion for social justice affords me a broader perspective into cross-cutting intersections of law and public health. The strong sense of responsibility, attention to detail, and negotiation skills I have developed, is a reflection of several years of advocating for public health law and policy reform. I am confident that my cross-cultural communication skills, collaborative leadership and affable personality will ensure my success as a director of CPHA. Since community engagement and good governance require eloquence and respectful representation, I believe that my unique academic and practical expertise will legitimise CPHA’s commitment to equity and diversity as the voice of the public’s health.

Goals: If elected, I will work toward: 1) strengthening interest in public health law research; 2) expanding advocacy for migrant health; and 3) promoting Aboriginal health through cross-cultural exchange