Team
Our board of directors and our members are located all across Canada. The VWB/VSF-Canada head office in situated in Guelph, Ontario and we have a few staff members located in Ontario, Quebec, British Columbia, and even one staff member based in Bangkok, Thailand! Our team includes a Board of Directors, Liaisons with a variety of organizations, Program Coordinators, and an Advisory Council. The Advisory Council provides ongoing advice to the Board of Directors on important policy issues.
ADVISORY COUNCIL Brian Bedard, World Bank Theresa Bernardo, Pan American Health Organization Brian Evans, CFIA Ralph Goldman, NY-based practitioner - international project development expertise Alden Hadwen, Manager, Corporate Social Responsibility, Groupe Aeroplan John McDermott, ILRI Ole Nielsen, retired Dean of OVC and WCVM Chas Povey, Director Centaur VA and the Veterinary Pharmacy Alastair Summerlee, University of Guelph
BOARD OF DIRECTORS Dr. Jim Fairles is a 1980 graduate of the Ontario Veterinary College and a 1999 graduate of the University of Guelph, MBA. He is semi-retired from private practice at Fairles (previously Harriston - Mount Forest) Veterinary Services in Mount Forest, Ontario where he practiced for 25 years. From April 2002 to December 2003 he gained international experience working with CIDA on a two-year animal health initiative in China and has made several trips back to China since then. Since October 2004, he has been Client Services Veterinarian at the Animal Health Laboratory, Laboratory Services Division, University of Guelph. He is a member of the CVMA, OVMA, Grey Bruce Veterinary Association, Ontario and American Association of Bovine Practitioners and Ontario and American Association of Swine Veterinarians. He has held positions in the CVO, OABP, OASV and AABP. He is currently the CVMA representative to the Canadian Animal Health Coalition and board member and treasurer of Veterinarians without Borders – Veterinaries sans Frontieres Canada. Jim currently lives with his wife Mary Lou in Mount Forest where he indulges in his hobbies of astronomy, airplanes and computers besides trying to keep track of his three children who have “left the nest”. David is an associate professor of animal health economics and policy at the University of Calgary Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Department of Ecosystem and Public Health. His academic qualifications include a DVM (OVC’89) and PhD in agricultural economics (Texas A&M, 2001). His current research focuses on a number of themes including the impact and quantitative measurement of ecosystem health management, welfare changes from integrated farming in developing countries, the economics of newly emerging infectious diseases, delivery systems for veterinary services, and prion diseases in ruminants. Much of his work is in developing countries including Bangladesh, Vietnam, and Tanzania. Prior to joining UCVM, David spent a combination of eight years working with the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations based in Rome and Bangkok, the International Livestock Research Institute based in Nairobi, and on contract with several international institutions including the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank. In the last year David has been actively involved with VWB/VSF-Canada helping to develop projects and programmes in South and South-East Asia. He has made presentations on behalf of VWB/VSF-Canada and is developing a number of research and applied development proposals that involve VWB/VSF-Canada. He advocates future activities of VWB/VSF-Canada that would involve greater integration with other NGOs and a broader reach of participatory activities involving several professions that address positive welfare change through livestock, companion animals, and wildlife. Josiane is a veterinarian who completed an internship in companion animal medicine at the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine (FVM) at the University of Montreal in 2000 and then has worked for a number of years in emergency veterinary medicine. Having always hoped to eventually merge her veterinary skills with humanitarian issues and issues of global importance, Josiane decided in 2002 to return to school to pursue a degree in international development at McGill. She currently teaches emergency medicine at the University of Montreal. She also works with the Groupe International Vétérinaire (GIV) at FMV and with fellow McGill faculty members and students on international veterinary development projects. She has been a member of VWB/VSF for the past two years and participated in their canine disease and population control meeting in Montreal in March 2008. She has also been involved with VWB/VSF activities at the AVMQ Congress this past spring. Jane Jardine, (DVM) Junior Student Representative Born, raised and early educated in Ingersoll, Ontario. One of four children of a school principal and a nurse, I was lucky to have access to, and in frequent need of, the structure, discipline and frequent medical attention I required! Walking traplines alongside my grandfather and father, I gained an interest and knowledge of wild animals, birds, habitats and the influence of human populations on these, from a very young age. My first international travel experience was at the age of 17 where I spent a year in South Africa disguised as an exchange student – my host families thought it was far more valuable for me to travel and work in their country, so for the first time in my life school was not a priority! After a few years of pursuing an arts degree at the University of Western Ontario, returning to high school to gain math and science credits I failed to get the first time around, working and living life, I found myself at the University of Guelph studying Biological and Biomedical sciences and focusing on becoming a veterinarian. I wasn’t really sure what a small animal veterinarian did at the time I was accepted as a preveterinary student but five years later, upon graduating in 2003, I decided to hone my skills as an emergency and locum veterinarian for a few years until I felt prepared to pursue graduate studies. Those few years turned into six years, but I am finally returning to OVC in the fall of 2009 to benefit from the new Master in Public Health program where I hope to focus on zoonotic disease and ecosystem health studies. I’m not quite sure what I want to be when I grow up, but I hope it involves a good integration of ecosystem health care within communities in need, whether they be in Canada or elsewhere on our vast planet. I am still not convinced I can’t save the world! Having descended from Hungarian immigrant parents, Scarlett’s childhood was filled with multicultural experiences as she was not only exposed to Hungarian traditions but Serbian, Croatian, Indian and many others as her parents made acquaintances with other immigrant doctors in their professional field. This exposure allowed Scarlett to appreciate her roots as well as the rare freedoms, diversity and standard of living Canada has to offer. In 2005, Scarlett received her Bachelor of Science in Biological Sciences from the University of Guelph. She subsequently obtained her Doctor of Veterinary Medicine from the Ontario Veterinary College of the University of Guelph in 2009. In her second year of veterinary studies, Scarlett managed to organize and fund a research project investigating saddle related injuries in working Asian elephants in the Thai tourism industry. This project raised $8000 CDN and won another $5000 US for winning the 2008 Ballard Award from Morris Animal Foundation’s Veterinary Student Scholars North America‐wide competition. Sponsors involved included the Chester Zoological Society, University of Guelph, Morris Animal Foundation, and VWB/VSF. In her final year of veterinary studies, Scarlett was determined to work in Africa in a project involving AIDS victims and children. She received travel and financial support from VWB/VSF to take part in a project investigating and training farmers to monitor basic health management issues in goat husbandry and production. While in Uganda, Scarlett visited the United Nations Millennium Villages Project (UNDP) in Ruhiira and started preliminary discussions to establish a partnership with UNDP Uganda and VWB/VSF. A memorandum of understanding is pending. Scarlett is currently living in New York City while completing an internship in Small Animal Medicine and Surgery. Elroy is a veterinarian and a microbiologist with 25 years of experience in microbiological food safety, infectious disease surveillance and surveillance data management. He has been a leader in the development of standard health surveillance data models and standard nomenclatures for Health Canada. He has made presentations on Health Canada’s surveillance programs at a number of international conferences and has been invited to speak at national meetings. He also has nearly 4 years experience working in developing countries (with CUSO in Nigeria and with CIDA in Ethiopia) during the 1970’s. Since retirement in April 2007, he has been continuously involved in volunteer work with Habitat for Humanity – KW region, and VWB/VSF-Canada. Ron has practiced small animal medicine and surgery for 23 years. Nineteen of those years have been spent leading his own practice. He has developed the necessary skills to succeed as a veterinary practitioner, administrator, and mentor. Teaching students has become an integral part of his practice. He has also spent time in his community participating on various hospital, school, and church governing boards and has been a member of Rotary International since 1994. Through his experience with Rotary has developed, he has developed his skills in fundraising, public speaking, and encouraging others towards volunteerism. He is seeking to enrich his career with volunteer work with VWB/VSF, and have sought further education in the field of epidemiology in an effort to broaden his knowledge of veterinary public health. Enid is a small animal practitioner working in the West Island of Montréal. She has been Vice President of Veterinarians without Borders/ Vétérinaires sans Frontières‐Canada since its inception in 2005, and also serves as the Co‐ordinator of its Canine and Feline Programs. Dr Stiles is continuing her academic studies at the University of Montreal, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, by fulfilling a part‐time residency and masters program in Clinical Sciences and Behaviour Medicine under the supervision of Dr Diane Frank, DVM, DACVB. Her interest in international work has been evident throughout her studies with the initiation of Global Vets India in 1998 at the Ontario Veterinary College with her classmate Michelle Cutler. Dr Stiles is now combining her interests in global health and veterinary behaviour medicine through the promotion and development of global rabies control and bite Roger Thomson, DVM was born and raised on a farm in Bruce County. He graduated from the University of Toronto with a BSc degree in 1970. He then completed a fourth year in science at the University of Guelph and went on to graduate from the Ontario Veterinary College in 1975. He worked in a mixed practice in Uxbridge Ontario for two years and in 1977 bought a mixed practice in Kincardine where he remained the sole owner at Kincardine Veterinary Services until 2005. In 1991‐92, he completed the first Dairy Health Management Certificate Program at the Ontario Veterinary College. He served as a member of the board of directors of Lifelearn Inc. from the start up of the company in 1995 until 2002. Since 2005 has been employed as Technical Services Veterinarian with Wyeth Animal Health and is responsible for technical support for Bovine and Equine products in Ontario and the Maritimes. Roger has been involved with international development in Tanzania from 1988 to the present through Dr. Uswege Minga, a veterinary colleague and good friend. This work with Dr. Minga has been in partnership with the veterinary school at the Sokoine University of Agriculture, the Open University of Tanzania and now with VWB/VSF‐Canada. These projects have involved veterinary journal exchanges, building desks for a primary school, building new classrooms, and the latest project with VWB/VSF has been working to improve poultry health and management in Ilima. A Professor in the Department of Population Medicine, Ontario Veterinary College, University of Guelph, David Waltner‐Toews is a veterinary epidemiologist, essayist, poet, and fiction writer. He teaches and does research on ecosystem health, and the epidemiology of zoonoses, and of food‐ and water‐borne diseases. He is the founding president of Veterinarians without Borders/ Vétérinaires sans Frontières – Canada (www.vwb‐vsf.ca), and of the Network for Ecosystem Sustainability and Health (www.nesh.ca). He has collaborated on interdisciplinary research and teaching in Africa, Asia and Latin America. Besides being an author on about 100 scholarly papers, he has published half a dozen books of poetry, an award‐winning collection of short stories, a murder mystery (Fear of Landing), three books of popular science (including "The Chickens Fight Back", in 2007 and "Food, Sex and Salmonella", in 2008). His texts include "Ecosystem Sustainability and Health: a practical approach" (Cambridge University Press, 2004), and "The Ecosystem Approach: Complexity, Uncertainty,and Managing for Sustainability" (Columbia University Press, 2008). Staff Erin Fraser, DVM, MSc - Managing Director Erin is a veterinarian and an epidemiologist. She completed a Bachelor of Science at the University of Guelph in 1993. She is a 1998 graduate of the Ontario Veterinary College. In 1999, she completed a Master of Science degree in epidemiology at the University of Guelph. Her MSc research was conducted in Honduras where she investigated the role of small livestock in hillside farm communities and cooperated with sociologists, agronomists, and farmers to identify the key constraints and opportunities related to small livestock health and production. Between 2000 and 2007, she worked as an epidemiologist at the Centre for Coastal Health on a variety wildlife health, risk assessment, zoonotic disease outbreak, and aquaculture projects. During the same period she also worked with the Canadian Integrated Program for Antimicrobial Resistance Surveillance at the Public Health Agency of Canada. Erin was a founding executive board member of VWB/VSF and in late 2007, was hired as its Program Director. Sonia Fèvre , MSc - Regional Program Manager, Southeast Asia Specialised in community development and capacity building, Sonia read Social Anthropology at King's College, University of Cambridge and completed her Masters in Environmental Technology at Imperial College London. With experience in Asia, Europe and Latin America, Sonia is coordinating VWB-VSF's regional programs in Southeast Asia. The focus of these programmes is to develop pilot projects to support the growing Community of Practice for Ecohealth (COPEH) in the region. Jaelithe Piccolo - Office Manager Jaelithe graduated with a diploma in Television Broadcasting from Loyalist College of Applied Arts and Technology in 1998. Following that she completed a three month internship at City TV in Toronto and went on to succeed a full time position with Much Music. The next couple years were spent living in the hustle and bustle of the city until she traded the concrete jungle of Toronto for the lush forests of the West Coast of Canada. This move also saw a career shift into the non profit sector of which she has spent the last four years working in roles such as Event Planner, Executive Assistant, Bookkeeper and most recently Office Manager. Jaelithe finds this type of work to be both motivating and rewarding. Sheila Taylor - Communications Manager Focusing on South Asian politics and development, Sheila studied Political Science at the Univeristy of Victoria. Sheila has since worked in Communications and Public Relations for private, public and non-profit organizations. As the Communications Manager of Veterinarians without Borders, Sheila has the exciting job of sharing stories of VWB/VSF's important work around the world.
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