Joanne Barry is a Registered Nurse who acquired her Bachelor of Nursing degree at UNB- Fredericton in 1982. Her background includes working within the Rheumatology and Rehabilitation health field and also included discharge planning. In 1998 she co-authored an article in Rehabilitation Nursing, called Using Nursing Case Management to Promote Self-Efficacy in Individuals with Rheumatoid Arthritis. In 2000, Joanne accepted a position at St. Joseph’s Community Health Centre within Community Development with a focus on chronic disease prevention and management and senior’s health. She was featured in Canadian Nurse in Oct 2007 as “Nurse to Know”- Breast Health Educator and in 2008 became a Master Trainer of New Brunswick’s chronic disease self management program called My Choices-My Health.

Dr. D’Astous is a well renowned cardiologist and internist in the greater Moncton area.

Co-Chair of the New Brunswick Food Security Action Network, Micha has been Director of Community Development for the United Way of Greater Moncton and Southeastern NB Region since 2005. She oversees the development and implementation of community impact strategies and initiatives for New Brunswick’s largest United Way, which has been recognized nationally for its work in organizational change management for community impact.

Prior to joining the United Way, Micha helped individuals and organizations meet their potential as an Employment Development Counsellor and a Group Facilitator. She worked in partnership with community stakeholders to prepare for and coordinate employment experiences for persons with disabilities, persons in conflict with the law and youth.

A graduate of University of New Brunswick in 1995, Micha continued her studies in Business and Hospitality Management at Mount Saint Vincent University, completed and provided course content evaluation for Ryerson University’s inaugural course on Cross-Sectoral Community Collaborations and most recently focused learnings and practice in the fields of outcome evaluation and community economic development in rural and urban areas. Micha is a trained facilitator for the United Way of Canada’s Standards of Excellence where she supports local United Ways’ staff and volunteers through organizational transition.

Combining her passion for strength-based approaches with her ability to communicate and engage, Micha works with various stakeholders and individuals to find common ground and opportunities to allow each person, group or organization reach shared goals.

Micha is an engaged volunteer, community organizer, food and literacy advocate and most proudly: Mom to her son Dominic.

Dr. Jonathon Fowles is a neuromuscular physiologist whose work in the Centre of Lifestyle Studies at Acadia University, covers a number of avenues investigating resistance exercise and its effects on health in athletes, the elderly and persons with chronic disease or disability, including diabetes, hypertension and obesity. Dr. Fowles is also the Chair for the Canadian Society for Exercise Physiology Health and Fitness Program, which sets the ‘Gold Standard’ for exercise science and personal training in Canada. Jonathon is currently working with the Canadian Diabetes Association, the Diabetes Care Program of Nova Scotia, and Nova Scotia and Annapolis Valley Health Boards to develop practical strategies for health professionals to promote and implement exercise in chronic disease populations.

Stephanie is an Occupational Therapist with Horizon Health Network. She currently works with the Saint John Extra Mural Program where she provides in-home assessment and treatment, including energy conservation education and strategies, to adults in the community and in the nursing home settings.

Stephanie received her Bachelor of Arts Degree, with a major in Psychology and minor in the Psychosocial Dimensions of Sport in 1999 from the University of New Brunswick. Following graduation she proceeded to get her Master of Clinical Science in Occupational Therapy from the University of Western Ontario in 2002.

Nurse Practitioner Diabetes Education
Diabetes Patient Portal
Chair Diabetes Educator Sector of Southwest New Brunswick (CDA)


Terri Kean has been a registered nurse for 25 years and a nurse practitioner for 2 years. She has spent the majority of her career working in Intensive and Emergency Care areas here at home and in the United States. Terri has spent the last year and a half as a nurse practitioner in Diabetes Care. Her passion for improving access to care for this population has led to her work on the New Brunswick Patient with Provider Portal.

Diana is a graduate of Dalhousie University School of Nursing and works as a Nurse Practitioner and Program Coordinator with the Obesity/Weight Loss Surgery Team at the QEII Health Sciences Center/Capital Health. Prior to this role, Diana worked for nine years as a Diabetes Nurse Specialist/Case Manager. Diana has expertise in clinical care, tracking and analyzing outcomes and designing effective process redesign initiatives. She has been involved in development of a number of innovative diabetes initiatives aimed at facilitating evidence based best practice care and linking health care teams across the healthcare continuum.

Diana has been speaker at a number of local, national and international diabetes conferences and events and, is passionate with regard to addressing the obesity and diabetes epidemics. She sits on a number of local and national diabetes advisory boards. Diana has an interest in obesity management and prevention, metabolic syndrome, and enhancing communication and collaborative practice for health care professionals across the continuum of health. She is involved in many steering committees related to addressing these major health challenges. Diana has been a Gold CDHA Quality Award winner x2 and has in the past been a winner of the Peggy Davidson Award -an award given to an outstanding CDHA health care professional.

Roger earned a doctorate from the National School of Physical Education of New Zealand majoring in Sociology of Sport. He also holds a Masters degree in Sport management from l’Université de Montpellier France and an undergraduate BPE from l’Université de Moncton. He is the lead researcher for In Motion New Brunswick, student body advisor for U de M’s LGBT group UNsurDIX and student body advisor for U de M’s Right To Play Club. Roger has 20 years teaching experience in junior and secondary school Physical Education, has played hockey all his life and has coached the New Zealand Ice Blacks at world junior and senior championships.
He has lived and/or travelled to 76 countries, is trilingual and has done humanitarian relief work in Haïti both in 2009 and 2010. He is also the father of a beautiful 24 year old daughter and future educator and is a proud 11th generation South-East New Brunswicker.

Véronique Maillet received her diploma in Nutrition from the Unversité de Moncton in December 2000. She has been working as a Registered Dietitian with Sobeys since 2001 where she teaches a variety of nutrition classes, both in the stores as well as in the community. Prior to her current position, she worked out of her private practice.

Véronique was raised in St-Antoine, where she still lives today with her husband and two girls. In her spare time, she enjoys running, camping, reading and spending time with her family.

Bonnie is a Registered Nurse with over 35 years of experience. She has been working at St.Joseph’s Community Health Centre as a community developer for the past 13 years. She was one of the first graduates to receive a BN at the University of New Brunswick Saint John Campus. She received a Certification in Community Based Development from St. Francis Xavier University.

She currently co chairs the Urban Core Support Network which is an organization that addresses barriers for women in their attempt to move out of poverty. Bonnie also chairs the Board of Directors of Sophia Recovery Centre. This is a centre that supports women in recovery from addictions. She is a member of the Provincial Diabetes Task Force.

In her work at St. Joseph Community Health Centre her practice focuses on the social determinants of health and through her health clinic at a local soup kitchen she observes how poverty is such a key determinant of health. Bonnie has helped develop an intra disciplinary team to assist individuals with diabetes better manage their care. She and Joanne will be sharing some of that work today!

Sue has been a critical care nurse for over 25 years. Graduating from the Saint John School of Nursing in 1984 with a diploma in nursing she began work in the coronary care unit of the Saint John Regional Hospital in New Brunswick where she administered the first dose of thrombolytics in the province. Her love of cardiac nursing took her to the surgical ICU where the New Brunswick Heart Centre performed its first heart surgery in 1990 and she cared for its first heart surgery patient in New Brunswick. For the next twenty years she advanced her education and obtained a certificate in critical care in 2002, a baccalaureate degree in nursing in 2004, a diploma in university teaching in 2006 and a master’s degree in adult education in 2010. She is CNA certified in both critical care and cardiovascular care.
Her career has progressed from frontline critical care nurse, charge nurse, resource nurse and currently she is employed as a clinical nurse educator at the New Brunswick Heart Centre. She is a BLS and ACLS instructor in addition to teaching the provincial critical care course through the University of New Brunswick.
She is provincial director for the Canadian Council of Cardiovascular Nurses for the province of New Brunswick. She is committed to increasing provincial membership and enhancing cardiovascular education for the nurses of New Brunswick. Her teaching philosophy suggests “everyone can learn; but not on the same day, or in the same way”.

Joanne Turbide is a Resident in Psychology and a graduate from Université de Moncton with a master's degree in Psychology. For close to 20 years she has worked with injured workers at the Workers Rehabilitation Centre. For the past eight months she has been working at the Moncton Hospital. She currently works for the Day Therapy Program.

Merv Ungurain is the Associate Dean of Policy and Planning and Office-Faculty of Health Professions at Dalhousie University in Halifax, NS. He has worked professionally in various roles and capacities in the health field for 30 years.

He is a Past President of both the Public Health Association of Nova Scotia and the Canadian Public Health Association. He has an undergraduate degree from Acadia University in Physical Education & Recreation and a Masters Degree in Public Administration specializing in Health Services Administration from Dalhousie University.

During his career, Merv has worked in Physical Education, Health Promotion, Public Health, Population Health, Tobacco Control, Chronic Disease Prevention and Management and Primary Health Care in various leadership, management, consulting, teaching and research roles.

Merv was seconded as a Research Fellow to the Department of Community Health and Epidemiology - Unit for Population Health and Chronic Disease at Dalhousie University to help develop a Chronic Disease Prevention Strategy for Nova Scotia. He also served as a Advisory Committee member for the “ Tides of Change” project addressing inequity and Chronic Disease in Atlantic Canada.

He was also the first appointed Director of the Nova Scotia Tobacco Control Unit responsible for establishing an effective, comprehensive Tobacco Control Policy for the Province. He has served on several Federal/Provincial/Territorial Advisory Committees on Population Health, Public Health, Tobacco Control, Chronic Disease and Primary Health Care. Merv has consulted internationally on Public Health, Population Health and Health Promotion in India, Turkey, and Russia. Merv was the Senior Consultant with Primary Health Care Reform for the Nova Scotia Department of Health. He was responsible for the Atlantic Region Interprofessional Project called “ Building A Better Tomorrow”, Selfcare/Telecare Initiative, Chronic Disease Management, and Primary Health Care Evaluation. He served on the CIHI National Expert Committee on the development of the National Primary Health Care Indicators Project.

Merv Ungurain was seconded to serve as the Acting Director of the School of Health and Human Performance at Dalhousie University. He is an investigator with the Atlantic Rural Center. His teaching has included required Masters level courses on the Canadian Health Care Delivery System and the Determinants of Health-Implications for Healthy Public Policy. He joined the Dean’s office as Associate Dean, Policy and Planning effective August 1, 2009.

Dr. Vallis is a registered clinical psychologist employed at the Queen Elizabeth II Health Sciences Centre, Halifax, where he practices health psychology. He is the founder of the Capital District Health Authority Behaviour Change Institute and is an associate professor at Dalhousie University. A native of Dartmouth, he obtained his undergraduate training from Dalhousie University (1977), and his postgraduate training in clinical psychology from the University of Western Ontario, London (M.A.-1979; Ph.D.-1983). After holding clinical positions at the Clarke Institute of Psychiatry, Toronto (1982-1985) and the Credit Valley Hospital, Mississauga (1985-1988) he returned to Nova Scotia in 1988. Dr. Vallis has held academic appointments at the University of Toronto (Lecturer, Dept. of Psychiatry, 1984-1988) and currently is Associate Professor, Department of Psychiatry, and Adjunct Professor, Department of Psychology, Dalhousie University. His main area of expertise is in adult health psychology, with an emphasis on diabetes, Gastroenterology, cardiovascular risk and obesity.

Dr. Vallis is interested in the areas of motivational enhancement, behaviour modification as well as the role of emotions and psychological processes in obesity assessment, management and prevention. Dr. Vallis is Co-Chair of the Capital District Health Authority Research Fund committee and is on the Promotions and Tenure Committee for the Dalhousie Department of Psychiatry. He sits on the Clinical Practice Guidelines Committee of Obesity Canada and sat on the most recent Clinical Practice Guidelines Review Committee of the Canadian Diabetes Association. He was awarded the Clinical Community Recognition Award from the Dalhousie University Psychology Department in 1997 and received the 2005 Brian Dufton Memorial manuscript award from the Canadian Diabetes Association.

Andrea West is a physiotherapist at the Moncton Hospital. A graduate of the South Teesside School of physiotherapy, England she has been interested in the treatment of chronic pain for many years. She has worked as a member of the pain management team at the Moncton Hospital and through participation with the physiotherapy CQI team she has helped to develop the multi disciplinary self management program. She is a strong believer in patient efficacy and the need to move away from more passive approaches involving the client in their treatment.

Lisa has a well developed background and training/experience in interdisciplinary medical science and research. She has been employed with the Urban Core Support Network Saint John Inc. for 4 1/2 years. Lisa’s areas of interest include the impact of poverty and social policy on women and the complex interplay between poverty and health. Utilizing a community-based participatory research design the Urban Core Support Network, together with low income women, have developed a peer leadership training program as a mechanism to increase awareness, prevention and management efforts in the domain of chronic disease with a particular focus on Type 2 diabetes. Lisa is the Dodging Diabetes Project Coordinator for Saint John, NB.