Board of Directors

CHNC Board of Directors

	President: Donna Jepsen RN, CCHN(C), BSN, IBCLC, MSc (Public Health) Donna has been the BC Representative to CHNC since 2016 to 2018 and is serving a second term (2018 to 2020). She chairs the CHNC Governance Standing Committee since 2016. Donna is a contributing member to the Community Health Nurses of BC (CHNBC), sits on the CHNBC Steering Committee, Annual Newsletter working group and CHNBC Education Planning Committee. She works as the Provincial Coordinator of the Nurse-Family Partnership (NFP) Program in British Columbia for the Ministry of Health, Population and Public Health Division. Donna became certified in Community Health Nursing through CNA in 2009 and continue to recertify. She has a diploma in nursing from the Vancouver General Hospital School of Nursing, a BSN from the University of Victoria, and an MSc in Health Promotion from the University of Alberta (2006). Donna became CCNE designated in 2016 from the Canadian Association of Schools of Nursing (CASN).
	Cheryl Cusack is currently the A/Executive Director at Manitoba Health, Seniors & Active Living and a sessional instructor at the University of Manitoba. Past work experiences have focused on public health practice in areas of nursing leadership and management, government, and direct care. Cheryl holds an inter-disciplinary PhD and a Masters of Nursing. Work and academic interests include public health practice, nursing role development, health equity, and inter-professional collaboration. Cheryl is a long-standing member of CHNC. She has held positions as treasurer, provincial board representative, and has chaired multiple subcommittees. Cheryl is currently President. In this role, Cheryl represents CHNC with several external organization (e.g., Canadian Nurses Association and Public Health Agency of Canada); chairs the CHNC Board of Directors and Executive Committees; and participates in the membership, finance, and conference standing committees.
	Secretary:
	Treasurer: Barbara Chyzzy RN, BN, MN, PhD, CCHN(C) Barbara is an Assistant Professor at Ryerson University and teaches in the area of community health nursing. She has over 15 years of clinical experience spanning the areas of critical care, primary care, global health, and home health. Barbara also has over 10 years of teaching experience in clinical and theory nursing courses. She received her BN from the University of Manitoba and her MN (Community Health/Collaborative Program in Community Development) and PhD from the University of Toronto. During her PhD she participated in a one-year pan-Canadian training program on Transdisciplinary Understanding and Training on Research in Primary Health Care (TUTOR-PHC). The focus of Barbara's PhD was evaluating the feasibility and acceptability of a mobile phone-based peer support intervention designed to prevent postpartum depression in adolescent mothers. Her current area of research focus is with vulnerable maternal populations including adolescent mothers and those facing homelessness and food insecurity. She collaborates with the Young Parents No Fixed Address network in Toronto on various research and advocacy projects.
	Communications: Leinic Chung-Lee RN, BScN, MN Leinic Chung-Lee: Leinic’s practice as a Registered Nurse has afforded her diverse opportunities to work with individuals, families, and communities. She has practiced in the hospital on postpartum and newborn care, in the community as a public health nurse in healthy families and chronic disease prevention, and in academia as a Research Nurse at the University of Toronto. She has had the pleasure of teaching in various capacities at Toronto Metropolitan University (formerly Ryerson University). Leinic is currently a Quality Improvement Specialist at Toronto Public Health. In this role, she is able to collaborate with other professionals and engage in initiatives focusing on improving the quality of care and achieving service excellence. Leinic is invested in advancing population health from a collaborative nursing, interprofessional, cross-sector, and community-driven perspective. Leinic has been involved with CHNC as a communications committee member, and is currently serving her second term as the CHNC Communications Officer.
	Alberta: Edith-Rose is the Calgary Zone Notifiable Disease Clinical Development Nurse with Communicable Disease Control (CDC). Obtaining her Bachelor of Nursing from the University of New Brunswick Saint John, and her Master of Public Health from the University of Manitoba, Edith-Rose's nursing career has always been rooted in public and community health. Prior to her specialization in CDC, Edith-Rose was a public health nurse in a remote, subarctic First Nations community where she was the sole registered healthcare provider for hundreds of kilometers. Harm reduction, health equity, knowledge translation, and working with marginalized populations have been her core priorities and passions. Many years ago, Edith-Rose served on CHNC's Political Action and Advocacy Committee, and she was also one of the original steering committee members for the Community Health Nurses of Manitoba (CHNC) serving as the secretary. Edith-Rose is also a graduate of the Trauma-Informed Yoga Psychology School in Canmore and has further training in accessible yoga. In her spare time, Edith-Rose enjoys biking, kayaking, and spending time in the mountains.
	British Columbia: Mary Ann Taylor
	Manitoba: Daniel Nagel, RN Daniel Nagel completed his RN diploma at the Misericordia Hospital (Edmonton) and baccalaureate at the University of Alberta before moving to Vancouver in 1994. After five years of acute care nursing in surgery and ICU, Dan started his community health career with palliative home respite and the home IV program before becoming a primary care nurse with a pilot project for community health centres in Vancouver. Based near Vancouver’s downtown core, Dan’s focus was on structurally disadvantaged and at-risk populations, including the 2SLGBTQ+ community, street youth, and persons using injection drugs. After finishing his MSN at the University of British Columbia, Dan began teaching community health and community development at Douglas College, Canada’s first degree-granting college. Dan completed his Ph.D. at the University of Ottawa in 2017 and currently teaches at the University of Manitoba. His research and education interests have returned to community health with a particular interest in enhancing access to health care for underserved populations.
	New Brunswick: Colleen Parker Colleen Parker currently works as a community health nurse for the Department of National Defense in New Brunswick. She is a certified diabetes educator and works in public health, infection prevention and control, chronic health management, and patient safety. She graduated with a Bachelor's degree from the University of New Brunswick and later with a Master's degree from Athabasca University. When she is not working, she is spending time with her husband and three children.
	Newfoundland and Labrador: Vanessa House Vanessa House: Vanessa has dedicated her entire career to Community Health Nursing. With a focus on quality care standards, team development, and program support. She has spent over 25 years working in both private and public sector positions in Homecare, Public Health, Community Support, and Home Health Nursing. Vanessa completed her CHNC certification in 2009, she served on CHNC COmmunications and Conference Marketing committees and is currently a member of the CHNC Competency Review and Exam Development Team. Vanessa chairs the CHNC Certification Committee.
	Northwest Territories: Melanie Kearley Melanie lives in Fort Smith, NT. She moved to NT in 2005 and is originally from Newfoundland. Melanie has been a nurse for 23 years and is currently completing her MPH. Melanie loves yoga, running, and skiing.
	Nova Scotia: Karen Curry, RN, MN, CCHNc Karen has been involved with CHNC for over 10 years in a variety of roles. Karen was part of the first cohort to take the CNA Certification for Community Health Nursing in 2006, NS Board Representative 2001-2016, and CHNC Executive as Communication Officer 2016-2018. Karen is currently Practice Consultant Educator for VON Canada. Karen has held a variety of roles with VON Canada. Project Management, leadership development, and collaborative practice education are her main areas of focus. As Practice Educator, Karen is an advocate for practice change initiatives to develop community health nurse capacity. As a home health nurse, Karen continues to bring the voice of home care nurses and connection to CHNC work. Currently, Karen has come back to the board as NS Director (2021-2023) and continues to support CHNC as co-chair of the national conference planning committee and co-chair of the Standards and Competencies COmmittee (2021-2023). The connection, learning, and growing professional practice for community health nurses keep her motivated and engaged in the work of CHNC.
	Nunavut: Vacant
	Ontario: Cheryl van Daalen-Smith is a critical public health nurse, pediatric nursing child rights advocate, and associate professor in the School of Nursing at York University. She is cross-appointed to the School of Gender, Feminist and Women’s Studies, the Child, Children and Youth Studies Program, and the Graduate Program in Interdisciplinary Studies where she served as director for several years. Her program of scholarship arose from what she calls ‘privileged opportunities’ to bear witness to the lives and quality of life of diverse peoples and populations as a PHN. From early on, Cheryl understood the necessity to partner with communities, look for strengths and build upon them, and collectively work to identify and dismantle attitudinal, structural and policy barriers preventing equitable health outcomes. She is thrilled to join the CHNC Board.
	Prince Edward Island:
	Quebec: Catherine-Anne Miller est une chargée d’enseignement à l’École des Sciences Infirmières Ingram à l’Université McGill. Munie de son BScN de McGill et sa maîtrise en promotion de la santé et santé globale de l’Université de Toronto, elle enseigne majoritairement dans le domaine de la santé communautaire et globale. Son expérience clinique inclut la neuro-oncologie, les milieux ambulatoires, info-santé et le développement communautaire au Népal. Elle est la représentante pour le Québec pour le IISCC. Catherine-Anne Miller is a faculty lecturer at the Ingram School of Nursing at McGill University, Montreal. With her BScN from McGill and her MHSc (Health Promotion and Global Health) from Dalla Lana school of Public Health, she mainly teaches in the community health curriculum. Her nursing experience includes being a CNS in neuro-oncology, working in telehealth in a CLSC, and working with Internally displaced communities in Nepal. She is the CHNC provincial representative for Quebec.
	Saskatchewan: Patricia King Patricia (Tish) King graduated from Memorial University of Newfoundland in 1989 with a Bachelor of Nursing (BN). She completed her Master's Degree in Nursing from the University of Saskatchewan in 1994. She has been a nurse for 31 years. She considers herself a "family" nurse with an extensive background in pediatrics, pediatric critical care, neonatal critical care, adult critical care, school health, and community health nursing. She is currently a faculty member with the College of Nursing, where she teaches specialties that involve family nursing, teaching and learning, senior learning in preceptorships, and community health practice. She has been teaching for 25 years. Her current clinical practice is in school-based health promotion, where the family comes first as a critical partner for health and wellness. Within her teaching practice, Tish has been responsible for the initiation and maintenance of two community partnerships within school health (St. Luke School 2002-current; BJM 2016-current). Here she demonstrates an exceptional capacity for innovation, leadership, collaboration, and professional communication & negotiation. In these partnerships, she and nursing students work with and for communities. The program is called Safe SHIP (Safe, School Health Improvement Project)
	Yukon: Samantha Piper
	Juliana Barry:Juliana enjoys spending time with her family and enjoying the wonderful island life! Originally from rural Nova Scotia, Juliana moved to Newfoundland and Labrador to attend University. After receiving her Science Degree in 2001, she enrolled in a Nursing Program and found her life passion: community health nursing. Since graduating from University in 2005, and moving to PEI, she has assumed a variety of nursing roles in the community setting. Juliana’s experiences range from public health nursing, health promotion, infection prevention and control consulting, and school health nursing! In 2020, Juliana achieved many personal and professional goals by obtaining her Master of Nursing from UPEI, and CNA certification in Community Health Nursing. Juliana joined CHNC and is a member of the research and health policy committee.
	Nicole Chen RN (she/her), MN, BN, BA, PgCert-Counselling: Nicole has recently begun a new role as an Assistant Head Nurse with Alberta’s provincial Communicable Disease Control Guidance and Training team. Prior to this opportunity, she worked various roles as a public health RN with Alberta’s school health nursing programs, well child health clinics, refugee health, notifiable disease and outbreak control, and she worked as an assistant head nurse running COVID immunization clinics. Her love of public health developed out of an interest in immunizations and the prevention of vaccine-preventable diseases. Nicole received her BN from the University of Calgary and will be completing her MN via the University of Athabasca in December 2022. She obtained her CCHN(C) certification in 2016 and has maintained her community health competencies. She’s keenly interested in deepening and expanding her knowledge and contributions to public health practice. Her role with CHNC is brand new and she hopes it will ignite many more opportunities in the future. When Nicole is not working, she is an avid reader, enjoys long walks, and spending time with her family.
	Poonam K Sharma: Poonam Sharma is a Registered Nurse with a diverse background in community health nursing. She has worked as a public health nurse in Reproductive Health, Healthy Babies Healthy Children, Child Health, Communicable Diseases- Immunization Services, and Chronic Disease Injury Prevention in the Oral Health program. She is currently working as a manager in the COVID response at Peel Public Health. Maternal health is one of her passions and she continues to teach as a childbirth educator. Poonam graduated with a Bachelor's degree from the University of New Brunswick and a Master's degree in Nursing with a thesis from Toronto Metropolitan University University. She is the past president of the Peel Chapter of the Registered Nurses Association of Ontario and an active member of the Community Health Nurses' Initiatives Group (CHNIG). Poonam is dedicated to population health and strongly believes in interdisciplinary collaboration to support clients and communities at large. Poonam's happy place is getting lost in her garden and exploring new recipes. She is excited to be part of the CHNC board!
	Anna Tazian: Anna Tazian is the granddaughter of The Armenian Genocide survivors and the daughter of refugees, with 29 years of experience in nursing. Presently works as a nurse educator in the community health care sector at the CIUSSS West –Central in Montréal. Has a bachelor’s degree in nursing and a master's degree in Public health both acquired at the American University of Beirut. Started her career in nursing as a cardiology nurse but her experience is rooted in community health nursing as a nurse and as an educator since 2001. Has taught at the Institute of Nursing in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, and later at the Ingram School of Nursing -Mcgill University, as a faculty lecturer. As a community health nurse has worked with various populations including maternal –child-family health care sectors, and refugees. Presently her work concentrates on re-establishing/ strengthening the role of community health nurses in Quebec through various projects. Anna Tazian est la petite-fille de survivants du génocide arménien et la fille de réfugiés, avec 29 ans d'expérience en soins infirmiers . Actuellemet , elle travaille comme une conseillère cadre en soins infirmiers dans le secteur de la santé communautaire au CIUSSS Centre-Ouest-de-l’île-de-Montréal. Titulaire d'un baccalauréat en sciences infirmières et d'une maîtrise en santé publique (Université américaine de Beyrouth), elle a commencé sa carrière en soins infirmiers en cardiologie, mais son expérience est enracinée dans les soins infirmiers en santé communautaire en tant qu'infirmière et en tant q’une professeure depuis 2001. A enseigné à l'Institut des sciences infirmières d'Abu Dhabi, aux Émirats arabes unis et plus tard à l'Ingram School of Nursing , Université Mcgill . En tant qu'infirmière en santé communautaire, elle a travaillé dans les dvérses secteurs, notamment les secteurs enfance-famille-jeunesse et les réfugiées . Présentement, son travail se concentre sur le rétablissement/renforcement du rôle des infirmières en santé communautaire au Québec à travers ses divers projets.