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25 Nov 13 25 Sep 19

Board of Directors - Doctors Without Borders Canada

WENDY LAI

PRESIDENT, ELECTED 2015-2018, 2018-2021

Dr. Wendy Lai is an emergency physician at Humber River Hospital in Toronto. She has worked with Doctors Without Borders/ Medecins Sans Frontieres since 2006, in a variety of settings including the Democratic Republic of Congo, Haiti both before and after the earthquake, and Central African Republic. Domestically, she has practiced in rural community hospitals and in the Canadian Arctic. She is currently on the board of directors for MSF-Canada, elected in 2015.

Wendy earned a biochemistry degree with great distinction from McGill University, a medical degree from the University of Western Ontario, and studied Family Medicine at the University of Toronto. Her Emergency Medicine qualification was earned through years of practice. She is currently working towards a Masters of Public Health at Johns Hopkins University.

Wendy is the inaugural chair of the Global Health committee at Humber River Hospital, which has a mandate to connect local health equity issues in Toronto’s northwest neighbourhoods with global health-related activities.
 

SALEEM KASSAM

VICE-PRESIDENT, ELECTED 2015-2018, 2018-2021

Saleem was born in Kenya and raised in Toronto, where he obtained a medical degree from the University of Toronto and specialized in cardiology. Currently Saleem practices cardiology at Rouge Valley Health System in Toronto, and is the cath lab director. Additionally, he has a Masters in Clinical Epidemiology.

Saleem has worked with MSF since 1999 in DRC, Zambia, Kenya and Haiti as field MD and project coordinator. In Canada, he has volunteered with the MSF peer-support network, has done numerous public talks and outreach events, and supports the MSF telemedicine project. He speaks English, French and Gujurati.

Saleem is a father, husband, son, brother and friend to many.  He enjoys a good movie, a warm tea by a campside fire, and early morning trail runs. 

IAN ADAIR

TREASURER, CO-OPTED 2017-2019

Ian is a retired Chartered Professional Account (CPA, CA). After earning a Bachelor of Commerce degree at the University of British Columbia he articled with KPMG in Victoria, B.C. and then went on to a career working with BC Hydro. He first worked with MSF as a Financial Coordinator in 2005 and has served long missions (one year or longer) in both Pakistan and Uzbekistan, as well short assignments in Zambia, Sri Lanka, Nigeria (twice), and Haiti. Ian resides with his wife and son in Coldstream, B.C.

DAPHNE HEMILY

SECRETARY, ELECTED 2017-2020

Daphne Hemily’s training is in Biomedicine, International Development, and Business. She started working with MSF in 2010, with field placements in Haiti, Democratic Republic ofCongo, Central African Republic, and South Sudan as either project coordinator or logistician. She has held various roles in MSF Canada’s Program Unit, working on institutional funding, telemedicine, and innovation. Daphne co-authored an operational review (Adapting MSF interventions in middle-income contexts) and teaches a global health module at University of Toronto. She is currently working as a management consultant.

ANNE CONNELLY

BOARD MEMBER, ELECTED 2017-2020

 

Anne Connelly is an entrepreneur and consultant who has been working in the technology sector since 2012. She previously worked with MSF in Central African Republic and the Democratic Republic of Congo, and in the Toronto and Dublin offices.She is passionate about blockchain technology and harnessing its potential to transform the lives of people in developing countries. Anne recently graduated from Singularity University’s Global Solutions Program at NASA Ames. She also has a Bachelor of Life Sciences from Queen’s University, an MBA from McMaster University, and a Fintech Certificate from MIT. Anne was honoured as one of CBC’s 12 Young Leaders Changing Canada.

ALIA AHMED

LEGAL OFFICER, CO-OPTED 2018

Alia is counsel with the Ministry of the Attorney General.  She was called to the Ontario bar in 2003, the New York bar in 2011 and has earned her LLM in Administrative Law.  Over her 16 years as a public servant, Alia has worked in legal services, policy and legislative development and implementation, project management and operational support.  With a background in human rights and international development and over ten years of experience in strategic governance, Alia is excited to assume the role of Legal Officer for the Board of Directors for the 2018-2019 term.

VERONICA VAN DAM

ELECTED, 2017-2020

Veronica Van Dam was born and raised in Holland, but started wandering around the world at the age of 19. While traveling in Africa, she met Sandy, her now Canadian husband of many years. Together they decided to become nurses so they could work with MSF overseas, as well as with First Nations people in Canada.  In 1995, after first working for 1.5 years in Attawapiskat, they both did their first mission with MSF. The wandering continued and along the way they both became nurse practitioners and had two daughters. Veronica pursued additional education in Public Health, Alternative Dispute Resolution and Human Security & Peacebuilding. 

After five years in Malawi working for Dignitas International, Veronica and the family moved to Toronto in 2011, for a temporary break from wandering. Currently Veronica divides her time between studying, working up north, doing short contracts in Community Health Centres in Toronto, family mediation, and raising teenagers. She is excited to add responsibilities as a Director on the Board of MSF-C to the mix. 

LORNA ADAMS

BOARD MEMBER, ELECTED 2018-2021

Dr. Lorna Adams is a Family Physician, currently relocated to British Columbia after practicing in Ontario for 30 years. She has worked with MSF/Doctors Without Borders since 2011 in South Sudan, Jordan, Turkey, Syria and Iraq, has provided medical care in First Nations communities in northern Ontario and  Malawi, Zimbabwe and Ghana. She has worked with the Peer Support Network, the Speaker’s Bureau, trained as family liaison with the Critical Incident Response Team, and co-produced the original MSF inspired play ‘Dispatches Without Borders’.  An inveterate traveller, she has visited over 80 countries for both fun and work. She is currently enjoying semi-retirement and doting on her new granddaughter, and very much looking forward to working on the MSF Canada Board of Directors.

 

CHLOE CEBRON

BOARD MEMBER, ELECTED 2018-2019

Chloé Cébron has been working for humanitarian organizations as an expert and advisor in law, policy and advocacy for the last 10 years. She holds a LL.M. in international humanitarian law and human rights from the University of Geneva. Chloé started with MSF in 2009, and worked for the organisation for 6 years in France, the Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of Congo, the Netherlands, South Sudan, Ethiopia, Tanzania, Myanmar and Bangladesh. Previously, Chloé has also worked for the International Committee of the Red Cross’ representation to the European Union. She is currently an advisor for Médecins du Monde Canada in Montreal, focusing on access to health care issues for marginalized populations in Canada.  She is a guest lecturer in international relations and international law in several universities in Québec.

BRUNO JOCHUM

BOARD MEMBER, CO-OPTED

Bruno Jochum is the outgoing Director General of MSF’s Operational Centre in Geneva / MSF Switzerland and a current executive-in-residence at the Geneva Centre for Security Policy (GCSP). Bruno studied at the Institutes for Political Studies of Strasbourg and Paris and holds Masters' degrees in international relations and international law from the Universities of the Sorbonne in Paris and Nancy.

With 20 years of experience in delivering emergency health programmes and a successful record of taking leadership positions at the strategic level of a medical humanitarian organization, Bruno became the Director General of OCG in 2011 - leading the management team, elaborating the 4-year vision and strategic plan, crisis management and external representation – and acting as one of the 5 voting members of the Executive Committee coordinating the MSF movement internationally. Bruno has also been an active Board member of Epicentre, the Access Campaign for Essential Medicine and MSF Logistique before joining the MSF Canada Board of Directors.

ANDREW ZADEL

BOARD MEMBER, ELECTED 2019
Andrew Zadel

Andrew Zadel completed missions with MSF as a Field Coordinator in South Sudan, Yemen, and Iraq. He is currently a volunteer with the Peer Support Network (PSN) and the organizing committee for the 2019 AGA, and was previously a volunteer in the Montreal office of MSF.

Andrew has had a seventeen year career working abroad with MSF, other NGOs, the United Nations and the World Bank. He worked as Head of Mission for Solidarités International and as Security Coordinator for Merlin. Andrew is from Montreal and he holds a master’s degree in Economics for Development from the University of Oxford

RUBY GILL

BOARD MEMBER, ELECTED 2019
Ruby Gill

Ruby Gill was born in the UK, raised in Vancouver and recently moved to Toronto. She is a Registered Nurse with an International Masters’ in Health Leadership from McGill University. Ruby started her MSF journey in 2004 with Friends of MSF UBC. She worked with MSF in various roles, as a nurse in Nigeria, as the International Association Coordinator, and as the Diversity and Inclusion Advisor to OCA.

Ruby’s work experience is a mix of direct clinical experience (burns and trauma as well as harm reduction), project management/consulting, and most recently, teaching in the Bachelor of Science Nursing Program. She plans to continue teaching and consulting in Toronto.
   
   
 
 
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