Let's End Diabetes Type 2 Conference

Emily Brass is host of the CBC podcast Type Taboo: Diary of a New Diabetic, which follows her journey as she learns to cope with her recent diagnosis. In a series of audio diaries, Emily reveals her deepest feelings around type 2 diabetes, including the guilt and shame that often comes with it. She meets diabetics aged 17 to 76 who offer tips on dealing with type 2, while helping smash the stereotypes around the disease. The podcast won a prestigious RTDNA Award for the Prairie Region, while her opinion piece on learning to live with T2D also landed an RTDNA Award nomination.

Emily is also a local and national reporter at CBC Manitoba, filming for television, radio and online platforms. Before that, she worked as a journalist and radio news anchor for CBC in Montreal, Toronto, Victoria, St. John's and London, U.K.

Dr. Michael Mindrum practices general internal medicine in Kentville, Nova Scotia. His clinical interests are in metabolism, diabetes, obesity, cardiometabolic health and behavioural change. He graduated from the University of Louisville School of Medicine and completed his residency training at the University of Hawaii, the University of Vermont, and Dalhousie University. He is a diplomate of the American Board of Obesity Medicine. He married Dr. Christa Mindrum, a family physician and Newfoundlander, which led to his migration north to Nova Scotia. He is a proud father of three beautiful children.

Dr. Vallis is a health psychologist based in Halifax, Canada. He is a Health Behaviour Change Consultant and Associate Professor in Family Medicine at Dalhousie University. His main area of expertise is adult health psychology, with an emphasis on obesity, diabetes, cardiovascular risk and gastroenterology. He spends most of his time training healthcare providers in behaviour change for chronic disease management. He consults nationally as well as internationally and is heavily involved in academic publications, journal editing, and clinical practice guidelines. He is an author of the Psychology and Mental Health chapter of Diabetes Canada’s Clinical Practice Guidelines (2018, 2013, 2004). He received the 2021 Charles H. Best award from Diabetes Canada and was awarded a Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Medal by the Government of Canada on the recommendation of Diabetes Canada.

Susie is a community pharmacist where she has applied herself as a Certified Diabetes Educator, Certified Fitter of Compression Therapy and Certified Respiratory Educator.

Nationally, Susie serves on and leads several committees: with Diabetes Canada as a chapter author of Diabetes Canada Clinical Practice Guidelines, and member of the dissemination and implementation committee; and with Wounds Canada where she serves on the Board of Directors and has co-authored Wounds Canada Best Practice Recommendations. Provincially, Susie serves on a variety of committees to effect practice and health-care in our communities such as the Health Quality Ontario, Diabetes Quality Standard Advisory Committee and the Ontario Immunization Advisory Committee.

Susie is the 2020 Charles H. Best Award recipient, given to a healthcare professional who has made a significant difference across Canada towards improving the quality of life of individuals living with diabetes; and was awarded the 2021 Diabetes Canada Educator of the Year.

Dr. Robyn Houlden is Professor and Chair of the Division of Endocrinology at Queen’s University and a consultant in adult endocrinology at the Kingston Health Sciences Centre. Dr. Houlden has served as a diabetes advisor for the Canadian Optimal Medication Prescribing and Utilization Service of the Canadian Agency for Drugs and Technologies in Health, and the Ontario Ministry of Health. She is a member of the eConsult/eReferral Clinical Advisory Group for the Ontario Ministry of Health. She has been an investigator in a number of clinical trials of new therapies for diabetes, and has a research interest in innovative models of diabetes health care delivery. Dr. Houlden has played a steering role in Diabetes Canada’s Clinical Practice Guidelines for the management of diabetes since 2003 and was chair of the 2018 edition. She was awarded the Charles H. Best Award by Diabetes Canada for her advocacy work in diabetes.

Zaina Albalawi is an Endocrinologist, and clinical assistant professor at the University of Calgary. She also has a professional associate appointment with the department of Community Health and Humanities at Memorial University, NL.

Her areas of clinical and research interest include limb preservation, diabetes, health care system evaluation and clinical guideline development. She co-authored a Diabetes Canada (DC) guidelines chapter on the diabetic foot, Canadian Cardiovascular Society (CCS) on PAD, and currently member of the International Working Group on The Diabetic Foot for the upcoming 2023 guidelines. Currently specialist lead on integrating DC guidelines into provincial EMR in Newfoundland and Labrador through the Practice 360, eDOCSNL project. She is the CBD Competency Committee Chair for the Endocrinology fellowship program at University of Calgary.

Harpreet Singh Bajaj is an Endocrinologist and Medical Director of Endocrine & Metabolic Research at LMC Healthcare/Centricity Research. Dr. Bajaj has completed his endocrinology fellowship at the Cleveland Clinic (Ohio, USA). Dr. Bajaj’s medical education was at University of Delhi, India, followed by a Masters of Public Health (Epidemiology) at State University of New York in Albany (New York, USA).

Dr. Bajaj is a Research Associate at Mount Sinai Hospital, Toronto and an adjunct lecturer at McMaster University. He has co-authored publications in key medical journals in the fields of diabetes prevention and management, obesity, and cardiovascular risk reduction.

He is the principal investigator of the Canadian Diabetes Prevention Program, a nationwide collaborative effort between LMC, Diabetes Canada, and the Public Health Agency of Canada. Dr. Bajaj currently serves Diabetes Canada as the Chair of the Clinical Practice Guidelines Steering Committee.

Dr. Phil McFarlane is a clinical-investigator in the Division of Nephrology at St. Michael's Hospital in Toronto, and an assistant professor at the University of Toronto. At St. Michael’s he is the Medical Director of Home Dialysis and the Chief Nephrologist in the Live Kidney Donor Program. He is a member of the Diabetes Canada Clinical Practice Guidelines group, the Canadian Society of Nephrology guideline group, and the Hypertension Canada guideline group. He has completed his Ph.D. in health economics at the Institute for Medical Sciences at the University of Toronto. His areas of research interest include health economics and outcomes research. He is currently the Ontario Renal Network Provincial Medical Lead for hemodialysis. He has published over 100 peer-reviewed manuscripts and three book chapters.

Dr. Jennifer Huynh completed her Medical Degree and Internal Medicine residency at Western University, followed by an Endocrinology and Metabolism fellowship at McMaster University in June 2018.

Dr. Huynh has privileges at the Oakville Trafalgar Memorial Hospital providing inpatient consultations and is affiliated with the Halton Diabetes Program. Her private practice is in Oakville, ON.

Her areas of practice include diabetes and various endocrine problems, ranging from thyroid, adrenal and pituitary disease. Dr. Huynh has recently expanded her practice to encompass transgender medicine, including gender affirming hormone therapy and transition related surgery assessments. Her goal is to provide local, comprehensive care to the transgender and gender diverse community.

Dr. Huynh remains involved with medical education as an Assistant Clinical Professor (Adjunct) through McMaster University. She provides educational presentations for both the Medicine and Surgery postgraduate programs. She is the community representative for the McMaster Endocrinology Resident Planning Committee (RPC).

Jyotika completed her Bachelor of Science at McGill University in Nutrition and Dietetics and went on to complete her Masters in Nutritional Science at the University of Toronto. She currently works at Halton Healthcare as a Certified Diabetes Educator and Dietitian. She’s worked in a variety of different settings including clinical, community, and corporate, but has focused on diabetes prevention and management, heart healthy eating and weight management. She has both a personal and professional passion for diabetes education and has worked with the South Asian Chapter for over 15 years.

Joy Kiddie is a Registered Dietitian with a Master's in Human Nutrition from the University of British Columbia who has provided dedicated low carb and ketogenic services since 2017 through her dedicated low carb division, The Low Carb Healthy Fat Dietitian (lchf-rd.com). She has also provided dietetic services since 2007 through her long-standing dietetic practice, BetterByDesign Nutrition (bbdnutrition.com), where she uses various dietary approaches. Joy has written over 300 referenced articles about using a low carb or ketogenic diet to control blood sugar, to seek remission from the symptoms of type 2 diabetes, and for use in other metabolic conditions. These are posted under the Food for Thought tab on her low-carb website. Joy is also the author of the book Low Carb Breads of the World (lowcarb-bread.com), which was released in July of this year.

Alka Chopra is a Registered Dietitian, Certified Diabetes Educator & Certified Intuitive Eating Counselor with a wide variety of experiences ranging from research, clinical, educational, and management settings. She is a trained healthcare communication facilitator with great interest in instructional design and healthcare communication and believes in making complex health messages simple. She also teaches clients about creating a sustainable selfcare type lifestyle. Alka has been running a successful consulting practice since 2006 and has transitioned from providing one-on-one counseling services to group programs, resource development, on-line courses and professional training.

Jenna Walsh completed her degree in Human Nutrition at the University of Guelph, followed by a dietetic internship through the Ottawa Hospital. She has been working as a clinical RD in Renfrew County since 2010, dividing her time between Long Term Care, inpatient and outpatient support, private practice, as well as community nutrition, including developing and coordinating Kids in the Kitchen, and more recently, a Virtual Eating Disorders Support Program. She added CDE to her resume in 2017 and continues to support those living with diabetes in her community by normalizing food and movement as part of their diabetes management. She loves spending time outdoors with her spouse and three daughters and in the kitchen whipping up new recipes.

Rachel was born and raised in Prince Rupert, a small coastal town in Northern BC. She is of mixed ancestry; her mother immigrated from Hong Kong in 1978, and from her fathers’ side she is a member of La̱x Kw’alaams, a Ts’msyen Nation made up of 9 of the 14 Allied Tribes. She now currently has the privilege of living and working on the unceded ancestral homelands of the Tla-o-qui-aht First Nation, colonially known as Tofino. Rachel works alongside the Nuu-chah-nulth Peoples as a Registered Dietitian and Certified Diabetes Educator and is currently employed by the Nuu-chah-nulth Tribal Council. She is grateful for the opportunity to work with other Indigenous-led organizations, including ISPARC (Indigenous Sports and Recreation Council) and NIDA (National Indigenous Diabetes Association), who are actively promoting wellness through a decolonized lens. She recognizes that diabetes was rare in Indigenous communities prior to the 1940s and that the loss of land, legacy of residential schools, displacement, trauma, and racist policies have contributed to the disproportionate representation of diabetes in Indigenous communities. As an advocate for food sovereignty and social justice, she hopes to raise awareness around and dismantle some of the colonial and anti-Indigenous racist policies that impact Indigenous peoples’ access to traditional foods. Traditional foods not only provide nourishment for the body, but also for the mind and spirit through the harvesting and gathering, and connection to culture.

Lindsey Cosh is the Foot Care Program Coordinator for the Indigenous Diabetes Health Circle (IDHC), formerly SOADI. She has been with IDHC since 2008 after graduating from Brock University and has enjoyed the many years of providing diabetes services to the Indigenous community.

She was raised on the north shores of Georgian Bay in a small Indigenous village of Shebahonaning, colonially known as Killarney, Ontario, and belongs to the Wahnapitae First Nation. She currently lives and works out of Sudbury. With both Scottish and Aanishnaabe ancestry, she spent most of her earlier years learning and living off the land. After attending and graduating Brock University, her journey took a new turn in providing the Indigenous community with diabetes prevention services through a holistic model of care. Her work involves collaborating with Diabetes Canada, Diabetes Action Canada, Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences (ICES), the National Indigenous Diabetes Association (NIDA), the First Nation Technical Institute (FNTI), Nishnawbe Aski Nation (NAN), Health Quality Ontario (HQO), Union of Ontario Indians (UOI), Wounds Canada, many of Ontario’s AHACs, Family Health Teams, Native Organizations, programs and health centres, and multiple healing and wellness leaders within the Indigenous community of Turtle Island.

Kathleen LaForme is of both Mohawk of Six Nations and Mississaugas of New Credit First Nations. She is the mother of two daughters, a son, and is a grandmother. She is the Diabetes Wellness Coordinator for the Indigenous Diabetes Health Circle (formerly SOADI) South Region for 20 years. Kathleen has many family members and friends who are living with diabetes, and upon learning that diabetes was becoming an epidemic among Indigenous Peoples, knew that she had to do something to help stop this. She strives to do her best in promoting diabetes awareness and prevention among Indigenous Peoples not only through IDHC, but also among family, friends, and community.

Crystal Bomberry is from the Mohawk Nation-Turtle Clan of the Haudenosaunee, and a proud community member of Six Nations of the Grand River First Nations Territory in Southern Ontario. She values her many family and community relationships, in addition to her role with the Indigenous Diabetes Health Circle as a Community Knowledge and Partnership Worker since 2009. During this time and beyond, she has found great value and contentment in her work around diabetes prevention and holistic health promotion. With additional certifications in Personal Training, Healthy Eating, Yoga, and Mindfulness, she has a deep passion for promoting the profound benefits of engaging a holistically balanced lifestyle. The Indigenous Diabetes Health Circle approach combines Western diabetes knowledge with traditional wisdom and Indigenous influences.

Piraveena (Veena) Piremathasan is a Registered Dietitian, Certified Diabetes Educator, Certified Bariatric Educator and Certified Insulin Pump Trainer. She is a graduate from the McGill University and an active member of the Ordre des diététistes-nutritionnistes du Québec (ODNQ) and the College of Dietitians of Ontario (CDO).

Piraveena is passionate about improving access to nutrition and health education to people that come from many different backgrounds. As an Affiliate Member of the School of Human Nutrition, she gives lectures to McGill Dietetic students on Cultural Competence and Cultural Safety as well as Diabetes in Diverse Populations. She is the Co-Chair for the Mavis Verronneau Diabetes Canada Professional Chapter and as a Dietitian for the Montreal Tamil Health Initiative. She also delivers trilingual (English, French and Tamil) presentations on nutrition and diabetes to health professionals and the public across Canada.

Vidhi Agrawal is a registered dietitian and a certified diabetes educator. Vidhi has over 20 years of experience working as a Registered Dietitian in various hospitals as well as community settings. She has been working as Diabetes Dietitian educator for the Community Diabetes Education program of Ottawa for over 12 years. She has expertise in facilitating workshops on healthy eating for people living with type 2 diabetes. Vidhi is passionate about using evidence-based strategies to help clients in their healthy eating journey with diabetes.

Vidhi earned her bachelor's degree in foods and nutrition and post graduate diploma in public health and dietetics from Delhi University, India. She is regulated by the College of Dietitians of Ontario.

Vidhi has been volunteering with many South Asian seniors’ associations in Ottawa to provide culture-specific healthy eating tips and guidelines.

Lillian has been practicing as a dietitian for over 6 years, working in spaces supporting individuals and communities living with diabetes across the lifespan. She was also a previous co-chair of the Diabetes Canada British Columbia Professional Membership Chapter. During her 2-year term, she facilitated multiple in-person and virtual learning opportunities spanning topics including physical activity, nutrition, cultural safety, virtual care, medication access, best practice updates and bringing lived experiences to the conversations of how healthcare professionals can best support folks in delivery of healthcare services. She is currently pursuing a master’s degree in Public Health at Johns Hopkins University to better inform policy changes that will improve healthcare access and preventive care with a lens of justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion.

Krisel (Maria) Quiambao is a registered nurse and Certified Diabetes Educator with 10+ years of experience in the healthcare field. She is based in Mississauga, Ontario where she works for Trillium Health Partners, providing direct clinical services to people living with Type 1 and Type 2 Diabetes. Krisel also has experience providing consultative/subject matter expert services for companies in the diabetes space and is a contributor to Diabetes Canada’s various healthcare provider and patient education initiatives. She is passionate about advancing diabetes self-management support and education through using behaviour change principles while leveraging the use of technology.

Linda is a Registered Dietitian and a Certified Diabetes Educator who has been providing diabetes and nutrition education/counselling for over a decade supporting clients with the management of type 2 diabetes, gestational diabetes, hypertension, high cholesterol, PCOS and other chronic diseases. She has conducted numerous nutrition and diabetes prevention/management workshops for different population groups in the community. In her private practice, she provides nutrition consultancy services for several organizations and clinics. She is a member of the College of Dietitians of Ontario.

My name is Juliet Opoku BSCN, RN, CDE, CBE. Mother of four children aged 9-15 years old. I graduated from Queen’s University. I have been a registered nurse for 18 years and worked across North America in many disciplines of nursing from cardiac, oncology, medicine, medical-surgical, diabetes care and bariatric health.

I am a full-time certified diabetes educator and certified bariatric educator at Unison Health and Community Services in Toronto, Ontario.

I am a health promoter and specialize in chronic illness management through my health and wellness company, Living A Balance Life Inc.

I am the health lead and Vice President of the Ghanaian Canadian Association of Ontario (GCAO). As VP, I oversee, and coordinate operations with community leaders and members to provide resources for the Ghanaian community in Ontario and beyond.

Through Living a Balance Life Inc., I collaborate with organizations in partnership to allocate health, wellness, and social resources to improve the lives of Ghanaians in the community.

I provide counselling to the community in group education sessions and to individuals.

I provide health education through many avenues to the African communities in Ontario by volunteering my expertise and services to educate both in-person as well as through many social media channels. Increasing access across geographical areas to improve the lives of people.

I provide health and wellness education through my website at livingabalancelife.com and YouTube channel: Living A Balance Life with Julie Oo