Anne Rochon Ford - Executive Director - In her 3+ decades of work as an advocate for women’s health, Anne has worked in varying capacities as a researcher, a writer, a community organizer and a program manager. She was for 10 years the Coordinator of Women and Health Protection (WHP), a national working group that conducted research and advocacy on women and pharmaceuticals. With WHP, she published in 2009 a book entitled, “The Push to Prescribe: Women and Canadian Drug Policy”. Additional areas of her research and publishing work have included: midwifery, breast cancer, menopause, assisted human reproduction and various facets of women’s prescription drug use.
In addition to being the CWHN’s Executive Director, Anne is a Research Associate at the National Network on Environments and Women’s Health (NNEWH) at York University, where she has been able to pursue one of her stronger passions, women’s health and the environment. She lives and works in Toronto and hopes for a day when she can leave the Big Smoke for a cleaner environment and a slower pace.
Léonie Lafontaine - Administrative Services Coordinator - Léonie came to CWHN in 2001 from the East Coast and brought with her over 12 years of administrative experience. In Halifax-Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, Léonie was working in the Minister of Natural Resources’ office. In 1999, she moved back to her home province of Manitoba and began working for CWHN.
She is CWHN’s “first responder” in that she is one of our few full-time employees and she is fully bilingual (a Franco-Manitoban). A few of her many responsibilities include providing support to the Board of Directors, maintaining CWHN’s outreach database and overseeing the shipping of publications produced by partner organizations in the Women’s Health Contribution Programme.
Alex Merrill - Writer and Editor - Alex has been working with CWHN for ten years. She keeps the website current with what's hot in women’s health in Canada and the world. She creates Brigit’s Notes/Le Bloc-notes de Brigit, CWHN’s monthly e-newsletter that goes out to approximately 4000 subscribers. She also contributes to CWHN’s searchable bilingual database of over 15,000 resources and organizations. In addition, Alex writes and edits for Network, our online magazine, and for other sections of the website. She has many years of experience in – and a great passion for – women’s health and health education.
Ellen Reynolds - Editor, Network magazine - Ellen returned to work part-time with CWHN at the beginning of 2012 as the editor of Network magazine – now in a new online format. She also assists with website maintenance. From 2007 to 2009, Ellen was the Director of Communications at CWHN and is happy to be back working with this dedicated group of women on the issues of women’s health. Ellen’s background in women’s health includes many years working with DES Action Canada, and on various projects related to patient safety, drug policy and the health impacts of endocrine disruption. She is a freelance editor and writer, a research coordinator at UBC, and is currently pursuing a Master of Public Administration at the University of Victoria.
Magali Rootham - Social Media Coordinator - Magali has been with the CWHN part-time since early 2012, working both as social media coordinator and in handling publication distribution outreach. By training, she is a Registered Nurse with a B.Sc. in Nursing from McGill University. While she was in Nursing and soon after graduating, she discovered a passion for women's health and social justice issues. She assisted on several projects relating to women's health before joining the CWHN, including the use of pharmaceuticals in pregnancy, migrant maternal health, and various projects in environmental women's health. Magali lives in Toronto.
Polina Rozanov - Systems Administrator - Polina is often referred to fondly as our "computer goddess." Coming to Winnipeg originally from Ukraine, via Israel, Polina brings many years of experience in keeping computer systems running efficiently and securely. She also helps with the maintenance of our website and websites we host for other women's health organizations.
Jane Shulman - Webinar Producer - Jane has developed and promoted projects in the community sector for 15 years, focusing on women’s health and environmental themes. She coordinated events at Breast Cancer Action Montreal and served as a committee member of the national lobby Prevent Cancer Now. A trained journalist, Jane writes about queer culture, mental health and social inequalities. Jane advocates for the needs of young adults with cancer. She is a collaborator on the CIHR-funded project Cancer's Margins and the Choreography of Knowledge. She co-edited the anthology Cancer Under the Radar: Young Adults Tell Their Stories in 2010. Jane recently finished a three-year term as CWHN’s Director of Knowledge Exchange. Her current role at CWHN is to help deliver women’s health research and information through our popular webinar series. She is also a regular contributor to Network magazine.
Susan White - Assistant Executive Director - Susan has been CWHN’s Assistant Executive Director since 2000. With more than 30 years experience in NGO management, she focuses on financial and personnel management and funder relations. She also contributes to various areas of programming, including several years as CWHN’s Production Coordinator, getting CWHN’s Network magazine and many partner organization publications into print. Susan brings to CWHN’s knowledge transfer work her more than 35 years of experience as a trained adult educator and university lecturer in Women’s Studies together with as many years as a feminist community educator, researcher and activist in international development, social policy and trade union leadership. Susan’s particular passions are the well-being of newcomers and refugees and anti-racism education.
The CWHN also thanks Signy Gerrard, former Director of Communications, Janice Nagazine, former Finance Officer, and Tanya Smith, former Resource Clerk, who recently left the organization. All have made much-valued contributions to the CWHN in the years they were with us.