Lee Saxell, RM, MA
Co-director
Lee Saxell is a Registered Midwife and Head of the Department of Midwifery at Children's & Women's Health Centre and Providence Healthcare (St. Paul's Hospital). She qualified as a midwife in 1986 after a clinical internship studying home birth in Holland and at a high-risk center in Germany. She received an M.A. in Midwifery Practice in 1994 from the U.K. where she is currently a PhD candidate. She is a Clinical Assistant Professor in the Division of Midwifery, Department of Family Practice at UBC.
She was chair of the International Congress of Midwives which was held in Vancouver in 1993. She was the Regional Representative for the Americas for the International Confederation of Midwives from 1993 to 1997 and a delegate to the ICM/UNICEF/WHO Safe Motherhood Initiative conference in Uganda in 1995. As a consultant to the Ministry of Health in BC, she helped to design the Home Birth Demonstration Project. Her research interests include maternity providers perceptions of risk, home birth and interprofessional collaborative practice. She is a partner in The Midwifery Group in Vancouver and maintains an active clinical practice. She is delighted to now be attending women giving birth whose mothers she attended when they were born.
She is currently Co-Director (with Sue Harris) of both the South Community Birth Program, a collaborative maternity care project, and the Collaboration for Maternal and Newborn Health. She is married to Phil and they have a son and a daughter.
Dr. Sue Harris
Co-director
Dr. Sue Harris has been Head of the Department of Family Practice at Children's & Women's Health Centre of B.C. since 2002. She received her B.Sc (Physical Therapy) from McGill University and her M.D. from McMaster University. She moved to the West Coast of B.C. to intern at the Royal Columbian Hospital and has been in clinical practice since 1976. In 1986 she received her CCFP. She continues to have an active Family Practice at the teaching unit at BC Women's. She is a Clinical Professor in the Department of Family Practice at the University of British Columbia.
From 1995 to 2000 she was a Medical Program Director of the Birthing Program at BC Women's Hospital. She has been involved in a number of initiatives including the Assessment Room Task Force, Single Room Maternity Care, First Births Initiatives and Healthy Beginnings Evaluation. Dr. Harris was the chair of the Maternal, Fetal, Newborn Quality of Care Committee at Children's and Women's Health Centre from 1999 to 2001, and Chair of the C&W Quality of Care Committee from 2001 to 2003. She has published on the subjects of Quality Improvement, Single Room Maternity Care and Antenatal Care. Sue is a member of BC Women's Family Practice Maternity Service, She continues to attend births and considers it a privilege and honour to provide care to women and their families.
She is currently Co-Director (with Lee Saxell) of both the South Community Birth Program, a collaborative maternity care project, and the Collaboration for Maternal and Newborn Health. She is a member of the General Practice Services Committee as well as the Multidisciplnary Collaborative Primary Maternity Care Project. She is married to Ron, a child psychiatrist. They have 2 sons and a daughter.
Wendy Hall, RN, PhD
Dr. Wendy Hall is Associate Professor in the UBC School of Nursing. She received her Bachelor of Nursing degree from the University of Manitoba (1974), her Master of Science in Nursing from the University of British Columbia (1986), and her PhD in 1999 from the University of Manchester. Dr. Hall sits as a committee member on the Committee for Interdisciplinary Support and Education for the British Columbia Reproductive Care Program. Her research area focuses on the transition to parenting, specifically, how dual-earner families manage work and family life, infant and toddler behavioural sleep problems, and breastfeeding in the full term and pre-term infants. Dr. Hall has been involved in international research collaborations with the Telethon Institute for Child Health Research in Perth, Australia and Dr. Anat Scher in Haifa, Israel. At UBC she teaches maternal-child nursing and research methodologies. She also has a clinical practice assisting parents with infant and toddler sleep problems. Dr. Hall is one of the Directors on the Collaboration for Maternal and Newborn Health.
Dr. Amanda Skoll
Amanda Skoll is currently the director of undergraduate education for the dept of Ob./Gyn at UBC, as well as working as a consultant perinatologist at BC Women's Hospital. She did her Medical Training at the Unviersity of Saskatchewan, followed by a year of Rotating Internship at the Royal Jubilee Hospital in Victoria. After spending 6 months in the Dept of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the University of Capetown South Africa, she completed her residency training at McGIll University in Montreal. A 2 year fellowship in Maternal Fetal Medicine at the University of Tennessee, Memphis gave her the opportunity to learn everything she ever wanted to know about the King of Rock and Roll. She then returned to a faculty position at the University of Montreal, which she left in 2001 to move to current position. She is particularly interested in multidisciplinary education.
Kathleen A. Lindstrom
Kathleen is the Perinatal Program Manager responsible for Prenatal and Continuing Education in the Health Sciences Faculty at Douglas College in New Westminister B.C. She continues to be a doula in private practice and is a Doulas of North America (DONA) certified doula and trainer. She has served on the DONA Board of Directors for 8 years, her last two as president. She is also a Lamaze Certified Childbirth Educator with 22 years of experience, teaching prenatal classes, developing curriculum and presenting workshops.
Kathleen has been working with breastfeeding families for 24 years and has been responsible for setting up a number of breastfeeding clinics and training nursing staff. She is responsible for initiating and contributing to the development of the Breastfeeding Counsellor Certificate Program at Douglas College that is now offered throughout BC and Canada.
She is a committee member active in the Collaboration for Maternal and Newborn Health (CMNH). She provides doula training twice a year to medical, midwifery and nursing students, is on the faculty for the Multi-Disciplinary Intrapartum Care Workshop and is a co-recipient of an Award of Excellence in Education from Children’s & Women’s Health Centre.
Kathleen’s presentations locally and internationally have been well received and seen as instrumental in changing practice. Her commitment to keeping current as well as her personal and numerous presentations, assure a memorable and fun learning experience. She enjoys her reputation as “An outstanding leader in the childbirth community”. Kathleen is married to Ron and they have four sons and one daughter. She is mother-in-love of one and Mama Toto (grandmother) to one grandson.
Elaine Carty, BN, MSN, CNM
Elaine Carty is Director of the Midwifery Program in the Department of Family Practice, Faculty of Medicine and a Professor in the School of Nursing. She did her nursing at the University of New Brunswick and graduate work in nursing and midwifery at Yale University. Over the years, she has studied the integration of midwifery in to the British Columbia health Care System and was one of the founding members of the early midwifery pilot project (1982) at the then Grace Hospital in Vancouver. She is currently working with the Evaluation team for the South Community Birth Project in Vancouver. In addition, she continues her work using semiotic analytic techniques to examine messages and meanings in advertising and popular culture around women’s health and birth. She has published papers in midwifery, nursing and law journals.
Dr. Jan Christilaw
Dr. Jan Christilaw completed her medical training at McMaster University in 1981 and her obstetrics & gyaecology residency at UBC in 1986. She is presently Head of Specialized Women’s Health at BC Women’s Hospital in Vancouver where she recently chaired a Task Force exploring the issue of Cesarean Section on Demand. She has spoken widely on this topic provincially, nationally, and internationally. She is Past-President of the Society of Obstetrician-Gynecologists of Canada, past chair of their Women’s Health Policy Committee and is currently a member of the SOGC working group on Menopause and the WHI. At present, she chairs the Ethics committee of the SOGC, and also sits as a member of the Ethics committee of BC Women’s Hospital. She serves as a member of the Expert Advisory Panel to CIHI (Canadian Institute for Health Information) in matters of obstetrical care and its provision in the Canadian Health Care system. She is the chair of the Reproductive Health Advisory Network for Planned Parenthood and a founding member of International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War, and Physicians for Social Responsibility.
She is also a Clinical Professor in the Department of Obstetrics-Gynecology at UBC and has recently completed a Masters of Health Science and Epidemiology at UBC. She continues to maintain a small ob/gyn clinical practice in White Rock, BC at Peace Arch Hospital.
She is married to Warren Bourgeois, who teaches Philosophy at Kwantlen University College, and has two sons, David age 16, and Timothy age 9. She plays piano and Celtic harp in her spare time.
Dr. Stefan Grzybowski, MD, CCFP, MCISc, FCFP
Dr. Stefan Grzybowski is a family physician researcher
and the Director of Research for the University of British
Columbia’s Department of Family Practice. Prior
to moving to UBC, Dr. Grzybowski practiced as a family
physician for twelve years on the Queen Charlotte Islands
/ Haida Gwaii. Dr. Grzybowski’s current research
focuses on the study of rural primary care and rural maternity
care in British Columbia. He is committed to building
research capacity in family medicine and has a long standing
interest in the safety or rural maternity care. Dr. Grzybowski
is the co-principal investigator of the Rural Maternity
Care New Emerging Team.
Dr. Gerald Marquette, MD, FRCSC
Dr. Gerald Marquette completed his Medical Degree at the Univeristy of Montreal in 1975. He then completed a Residency in Obstetrics and Gynaecology at McGill University, in Montreal. He practiced as a General Obstetrician/Gynaecologist at St. Mary's Hospital and the Jewish General Hospital in Montreal. After 2 1/2 years he left to complete his Fellowship in Maternal Fetal Medicine at the Johns Hopinks University in Baltimore, Maryland. He then returned to McGill University as an Assistant Professor in Obstetrics and Gynaecology for the following four years. In 1987, he joined the Faculty of University of Montreal as an Assistant Professor in Obstetrics and Gynaecology, working primarily at Hopital Ste-Justine in Montreal. He became an Associate Professor at the University of Montreal in 1996 and in September 2001 he joined the Faculty at the University of British Columbia at Children & Women's Health Centre of British Columbia as a clinical Professor of Obsterics and Gynaecology. He is presently the Site Head for the department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology at Children & Women's Health Centre of British Columbia. He is certified in Obstetrics and Gynaecology by the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada. He is American Board Certified in the United States in Maternal Fetal Medicine as well as in Obstetrics and Gynaecology.
Dr. Marquette was previously the Director of Maternal Fetal Medicine at the University of Montreal from 1993 to 2000. In 1999, he was promoted to Head of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology at Hopital Ste-Justine. At that centre, he had been involved with the Medical Advisory Committee for seven years for which he was Chairman from 1997 to 1999. In that position, he spent two years negotiating with the Ministry of Health for an APP for that hospital.
He is presently chair of the Specialty Committee of Obstetrics and Gynaecology of The Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada. He has been a memeber of numerous committees at the Association of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists of the province of Quebec, the Society of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists of Canada as well as the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada.
Stuart M. MacLeod, MD, PhD, FRCPC
Dr. MacLeod is Executive Director, BC Research Institute for Children’s & Women’s Health, Assistant Dean (Research), Faculty of Medicine, University of British Columbia, and Vice President Academic Development for the Provincial Health Services Authority. Before moving to Vancouver, he was Professor, Clinical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Pediatrics, and Medicine at McMaster University, and a member of the Centre for Evaluation of Medicines at St. Joseph’s Healthcare in Hamilton.
Dr. MacLeod received his MD from the University of Toronto in 1967 and completed postgraduate training in Internal Medicine (clinical pharmacology) in 1973 at McGill University and the Montreal General Hospital. He obtained a PhD in Pharmacology from McGill in 1972. From 1973 until 1986, he held various positions at the University of Toronto and its teaching hospitals. At the time of his departure from Toronto, Dr. MacLeod was Professor of Pharmacology, Clinical Biochemistry, Medicine, Pharmacy, and Pediatrics, and cross-appointed to the Faculty of Pharmacy. He was the Founding Director of the Division of Clinical Pharmacology at The Hospital for Sick Children. In the period January, 1987 through March 1992, Dr. MacLeod served as Dean of the Faculty of Health Sciences at McMaster University.
Internationally, Dr. MacLeod has coordinated several projects and taught in Africa. He has worked with international agencies and institutions including CIDA, IDRC, WHO and the Rockefeller Foundation. A sabbatical year in 1993 was spent at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, Department of Clinical Sciences.
Dr. MacLeod’s scientific interests are in improved understanding of the determinants of drug disposition and action, particularly in children and women. His concerns embrace the multitude of factors that influence optimal therapeutic drug use and the use of research findings to inform clinical and public policy.
Elizabeth M. Whynot, MD, MHSc
Dr. Whynot is President of BC Women’s Hospital and Health Centre (PHSA). She is Clinical Assistant Professor, Department of Family Practice at the University of British Columbia, and an Associate Member of the Department of Health Care and Epidemiology. Most recently she has been the Chair of the BC Maternity Care Enhancement Project, as well as Chair of the Expert Advisory Group for CIHI Reports: "Giving Birth in Canada: Providers of Maternity and Infant Care and a Regional Profile"
Dr. Whynot possesses an MD from Queen’s University
in 1972; a MHSc. from the University of British Columbia
in 1994. She was a Family Physician at the Pine Free clinic
from1973-78 and a Family Physician in private practice
from 1979-1990. She founded the Vancouver (now BC Women’s)
Sexual Assault Service; assisted in both the development
of the Sheway Outreach Program for Substance Using Pregnant
Women and the development of strategies to address the
HIV and Hep C epidemics in Vancouver’s Downtown
Eastside.
She has had extensive experience as a Medical Health
Officer in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside and has
held various leadership roles at Children’s and
Women’s Hospital, most recently as Vice President,
Women’s and Family Health.
Roanne Preston, MD, FRCPC
Department Head of Anesthesia, BC Women's Hospital
Divison Head Obstetric Anesthesia, UBC
Clinical Associate Professor
Faculty of Medicine, UBC
Training:
Medical Degree in Ottawa
Internal Medicine residency for 2 years, then Anesthesia
residency for 3 years in Ottawa
Fellowship in Obstetrical Anesthesia at Women’s
College Hospital in Toronto 1993-94
Anesthesiologist at The General Hospital, Ottawa 1994-2004
Site Chief Anesthesia, General Site, The Ottawa Hospital
2001-2004
Head, Obstetrical Anesthesia 1999-2004 (General Site,
The Ottawa Hospital)
Chair, Obstetric Section of the Canadian Anesthesiologists
Society 1997-2000
Member, Editorial Board Canadian Journal of Anesthesia
2004 to present
Member of Core Group for Family-Centred Maternal and Newborn
Care 1997-1999
Research interests: The ideal labour epidural, the obstetrical
airway, patient safety in anesthesia
Outside interests: Cycling (mountain and road), gardening,
sailing, my cats and husband
Robert F Woollard, MD, CCFP, FCFP
Dr. Woolard is Royal Canadian Legion Professor and Head of the Department of Family Practice, Faculty of Medicine at the University of British Columbia in Canada. He currently chairs the Committee on the Accreditation of Canadian Medical Schools (CACMS) and the Committee on the Accreditation of Continuing Medical Education (CACME) and sits on the Executive of the International Liaison Committee on Medical Education (LCME). He has chaired senior committees, councils, and task forces for the BC Medical Association, Canadian Medical Association, and the College of Family Physicians of Canada in the areas of medical education, environmental health and ethical relations with industry. His primary research focus is the study of complex adaptive systems as they apply to the intersection between human and environmental health. His book, "Fatal Consumption: Rethinking Sustainable Development" details his work in this regard. His background in the full continuum of the life-long-learning of physicians has informed his commitment to understanding the links between medical education and health outcomes. He is Co-Chair of the UBC Task Force on Healthy and Sustainable Communities and has provided leadership in a number of major initiatives grant-funded through the Science Council of British Columbia, the Tri Council Research Fund and is currently a co-investigator in a Major Collaborative Research Initiative (MCRI) grant being administered through the Sustainable Development Research Institute. He is a member of the SDRI, Centre for Health Services and Policy Research, and the Institute of Health Promotion Research. He is Past Chair of the Board of the Canadian Hunger Foundation Partners in Rural Development, an international development organization. He has completed a five year, five university CIDA project on Localized Poverty Reduction in Vietnam.
He has assisted in the development of a rural practice undergraduate program, the design and development of the distributed expansion of UBC Medical School, and continues the active practice of medicine.
During his first term as Department Chair he led a Faculty initiative on Integrating Study & Service which contributed to the success of the Strategic Teaching Initiative, a substantial, targeted increase in resources for the Faculty of Medicine to help focus its resrach and educational capacity on the priority health needs of British Columbians. He currently chairs a Task Group of the Association of Faculties of Medicine of Canada (AFMC) charged with implementing the policy paper Social Accountability: A Vision for Canadian Medical Schools. At these various levels he is leading the development of five-way partnerships (policy makers/ health managers/ communities/ professional organizations/ academy) to build responsive and responsible academic systems in support of responsive and responsible health care systems.
He is currently working in a number of venues. These address issues relevant to social responsibility of the profession and range from local (Department pilot initiatives) through regional (BC Academic Health Science Initiative on Towards Unity for Health) through provincial (Steering Committee for the Primary Health Care Transition Fund, BCMA Board of Directors, BC Cancer Agency Primary Care Oncology Network, etc.) and to national (Primary Health Care Transition Fund National Envelope initiatives with AFMC) and international realms (World Federation of Medical Education and Localized Poverty Reduction in Vietnam initiatives).
He has worked on the development of primary care electronic networks in the rural undergraduate program at UBC and has been part of an interdisciplinary team looking at community preparedness for information technology and telemedicine.
He is married to Erlene and has three sons and one granddaughter.
Saraswathi Vedam, MSN, CNM
Saraswathi Vedam is the director of the Division of Midwifery
at the University of British Columbia.
Saraswathi received a Master of Science in Nursing and
Nurse-Midwifery from Yale University twenty one years
ago. Since then she has practiced in a variety of both
private and public health care settings in New York, California,
Indiana, and Connecticut. Her area of scholarship is evidence-based
midwifery practice and midwifery care in low resource
settings.
In 2002, Saraswathi was invited to join the faculty
at Yale University to teach nurse midwifery students.
As the coordinator for the Intrapartum and Newborn courses,
part of her charge was to develop and direct a full-scope
midwifery private practice to serve as a site for clinical
experience for midwifery students. Her practice offered
students their primary experiences with a continuity of
care model, out-of-hospital birth, and low intervention
care. Her students have nominated her twice for the American
College of Nurse Midwives (ACNM) Excellence in Teaching
Award.
In 2006, she was nominated by peers and appointed by
ACNM Division of Standards and Practice to chair the Home
Birth Section. She was also nominated by peers and appointed
by the Midwives Alliance of North America (MANA) Board
to chair the Research and Publications Section, Division
of Research, Midwives Alliance of America.
At Yale School of Nursing she was chair of the Diversity
Action Committee since 2003. She was also founding chair
of the Coalition for Diversity at Yale, a university wide
interdisciplinary consortium of faculty, staff and students
addressing similar issues.
Deborah Money, MD
Dr. Money is an Associate Professor at the University
of British Columbia and is the Head of the Division of
Maternal Fetal Medicine, Dept. of Obstetrics and Gynaecology
located at the Children’s and Women’s Health
Centre of B.C.
She is an Obstetrician/Gynaecologist who obtained fellowship
training in Infectious Diseases at the University of Washington.
She returned to UBC in 1994 and developed a clinical and
research program in Ob/Gyn Infectious Diseases with research
focussed on viral pathogens in women and in pregnancy,
specifically HIV, HPV, Hepatitis C and genital herpes.
She was the Associate Director for STD/AIDS Control for
BCCDC from 2001-2002.
She is currently the chair of the Infectious Diseases
committee for the Society of Obstetricians and Gynaecologist
of Canada (SOGC), and a Member of the Infectious Diseases
Society of Obstetrics and Gynaecology (IDSOG).
She joined National Advisory Committee on Immunization
as the SOGC liaison representative in October of 2005.
