TCPCN Board
Dena Maule – Chair
Dena Maule has worked in the areas of disability and Palliative Care for many years. With an educational background focused on Family Studies and over 25 years experience acting as an Executive Director in the ‘not-for-profit’ sector, she is a respected figure in our community. Currently, Dena is the Executive Director of Hospice Toronto, is a Board member at OCSA and sits as Co-Chair of the TC CSS Network. Dena also served as a member of the Toronto Central LHIN Senior’s Advisory Council as the Palliative Care representative
In 1985, she co-founded the first non-profit organization in Ontario to provide skills training and on-the-job support for persons with cognitive disabilities, she later served as its Executive Director for several years. Prior to returning to organizational management, Dena worked independently, providing assistance to organizations on initiatives that included strategic planning, community economic development, which culminated in her participation on a national study with focus on home-based employment. In her consulting role, she authored a guidebook on the “Telework Trend” and also co-authored “An Exploration of Community Economic Development for People with Developmental Disabilities”.
Dr. Lesia Wynnychuk – Vice-Chair
Dr. Lesia Wynnychuk is presently the Vice-Chair of the Toronto Central Palliative Care Network and has served the Network previously as Co-Chair of its Education Taskforce.
Dr. Wynnychuk is a Family Physician practicing within the inter-professional Palliative Care Consult Team at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre and the Odette Cancer in Toronto. She also holds the rank of Assistant Professor in the Division of Palliative Care within the Department of Family and Community Medicine at the University of Toronto. She completed her Medical Degree at the University of Alberta, fulfilled her post-graduate training in New York City, and subsequently attained her Master of Business Administration from the Rotman School of Business at the University of Toronto. Dr. Wynnychuk has served on the Board of Directors of both the Canadian Medical Association and the Ontario Medical Association. As well, she has sat on the Board of Directors of the Ontario Palliative Care Association and was Co-Chair of the inaugural joint conference of the Ontario Palliative Care Association and the Hospice Association of Ontario, entitled “One Vision, One Voice”. Currently, she is involved in the institution-wide Quality Dying Initiative at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre where she serves as an Executive Member of the Steering Committee and the Lead of its Literature Review Working Group.
Bill O’Neill – Treasurer/Secretary
Dr. S. Lawrence Librach, MD, CCFP, FCFP – Past Chair
Dr. Larry Librach’s involvement in Palliative Care began in 1978. He served as the Director of the Temmy Latner Centre for Palliative Care at Mount Sinai Hospital for 22 years until July 2011.
Dr. Librach is a full professor in the Department of Family and Community Medicine at the University of Toronto and is also an associate in the Centre for Studies in Pain and an Academic Educator in the Centre for Faculty Development at the University of Toronto. He was appointed as the Sun Life Financial Chair in Bioethics and as the Director of the Joint Centre for Bioethics at the University of Toronto for a five year term in July 2011.
Dr. Librach is the recipient of countless awards from numerous organizations including the Canadian Hospice Palliative Care Association, the Ontario Palliative Care Association, the Ontario Medical Association, the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario, and the University of Toronto.
He has delivered over 500 lectures and workshops.
Tracey Human
Tracey Human is a passionate proponent of transformative healthcare.“Meeting standards equates to doing the minimum, consistently surpassing them is the goal.” She combines proficiency as a business owner developing creative strategic solutions, operational efficiency, program development and 29 years as a registered nurse in several areas of palliative care to build capacity in front-line healthcare providers. A frequent keynote speaker and mentor, her pedagogical approach is progressive, rooted in the synergy of clinical knowledge and applied empathy, “Knowledge must resonate for acquisition to be transferred to practice.”
Tracey currently is a Consultant with the Palliative Pain & Symptom Management Consultation Service for Toronto; a graduate of the St. Boniface School of Nursing; on the Ryerson University Advisory Council to the Health Services & Health Information Management Programs; and member of the provincial Palliative Care Consultation Network.
“To move upward you do so alone, to move further we do so together.”
Dr. Mary Jane Esplen
Dr. Esplen, PhD. RN is a Clinician-Scientist and Professor, Department of Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto, as well as the Director of the de Souza Institute, a centre for educating health professionals in oncology. She has held two national career scientist awards (NCIC and CIHR) for her research program in psychosocial oncology and works as a therapist and researcher with a strong interest in developing psychological screening and measurement tools, support groups or therapy interventions for oncology patients and for cancer genetics populations.
Dr. Esplen has a PhD with a fellowship in psychosomatic medicine from the Institute of Medical Sciences, University of Toronto and completed a post-doctorate fellowship in cancer genetics and psychosocial oncology at the prestigious Samuel Lunenfeld Research Institute. Dr.Esplen has received previous awards in the departments of medicine and in nursing for her research contributions and for her work in the field of psychotherapy. She is a past President of CAPO and the 2011 recipient of CAPO’s lifetime achievement award given to an individual who has made exceptional and enduring career contributions to the field of psychosocial oncology.
Dr. Adam Rapoport, MD, FRCPC, MHSc
Adam Rapoport completed his pediatric training at the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto, where he was chief resident in his final year. During a two-year academic fellowship, Adam received a Masters of Health Sciences in bioethics at the University of Toronto Joint Centre for Bioethics and furthered his clinical training in the field of pediatric palliative.
In 2008, he joined the Division of Paediatric Medicine at the Hospital for Sick Children, where his focus was on providing care to children with chronic complex conditions. He joined the Max and Beatrice Wolfe Children’s Centre, a part of the Temmy Latner Centre for Palliative Care at Mount Sinai Hospital, as their pediatric palliative care consultant in June 2009. In this capacity, Adam provides home-based palliative care to children in the Greater Toronto Area.
Adam ethics training is called upon regularly for teaching trainees, and in 2010 he was asked to take on the role of Pediatric Undergraduate Ethics Coordinator at the University of Toronto. In July 2011 Adam became the first Medical Director of the Palliative and Bereavement Care Service at SickKids. His academic work focuses on the intersection of his 3 primary interests: pediatrics, palliative care and ethics.
Heather Nicolson-Morrison MA, Ec.D, F – Executive Director
Heather has an interesting mix of administration, association, government and media relation’s experience and expertise. Most recently she was CEO of the Ontario Home Respiratory Services Association (OHRSA) and previous to that held the position of Executive Director to the Ontario Funeral Services Association (OFSA). For four years she was the Executive Director and COO of the Canadian Snowbird Association (CSA). During her tenure there she became greatly involved in the aftermath of 9/11, assuming a high profile and pivotal involvement with USA/Canadian border issues which culminated in an appearance, representing Canadian interests, before a US Congressional Hearing. During that period, she also led work done on a Canadian Provincial/Federal Seniors/Travellers Health Report Card. Heather was Senior Policy Advisor to two Ontario cabinet ministers whose portfolios were Intergovernmental Affairs with Resposibility for Women’s Issues, and Children’s Issues.
Her educational background includes two bachelor’s degrees and a Masters. Also holding a Diploma and a Certificate in Economic Development with the Senate of the University of Waterloo, her studies in this field culminated with her completion of a Fellowship in Economic Development. The subject of her published Fellowship paper focused on Canada’s readiness for the demands of the baby boomers as an aging society.