Please get in touch! We are looking for new members to join our Board of Directors with specific interest or experience in:

  • social work or social resource navigation,

  • communications, and

  • human resources

STAFF

SHOSHANA WARD, Executive Director

Shoshana is a Registered Therapeutic Counselor and Program Coordinator who joined Basics for Health in winter of 2021-2022 as Executive Director. She brings exceptional communication and organizational skills and invaluable lived experience to this role. Welcome, Shoshana! We are grateful to have you with us.

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

(chair - VACANT)

Dr. Vanessa Brcic (vice-chair & co-founder)

Dr. Vanessa Brcic is a mother, person with invisible disability, family physician, Registered Therapeutic Counselor, UBC Clinical Associate Professor and community-based researcher with a special interest in health inequities. She co-founded Basics for Health Society (B4H) alongside her esteemed colleagues Sarah and Manjit.

Her clinical interests are in the interdisciplinary care of vulnerable patients and those with complex chronic conditions often neglected in the medical system.  In 2011, she published a seminal study that developed a screening tool to identify poverty in primary care settings. Since then, she has worked with groups across Canada to further the ability of health care workers to address poverty and related social needs in clinical settings. Her research and advocacy focus continues to be how to address inequities in primary care, including interventions for structural violence, trauma, and social determinants of health.

She is a Research Associate with the BC office of the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, UBC (St. Paul’s Site) Interim faculty for research, and has volunteered with Canadian Doctors for Medicare, the BC Health Coalition, the Public Health Association of BC, the Poverty Reduction Coalition, and Health Providers against Poverty. He is pursuing her MSc part time at the UBC School of Population and Public Health. In her spare time, she spends as much time as possible with her young daughter, and in nature.

(Secretary - Vacant)

Daniel Chernov (Treasurer)

Daniel is a cycling, camping, and local beer enthusiast, and a recent graduate of the Chartered Professional Accountants program. Through his studies and experience in public practice, he discovered a passion for advising and supporting individuals in achieving their business goals. Daniel is enthusiastic about being of service, and believes that companies and individuals have an opportunity to contribute to their communities and the people they serve.

Mandy Behnia

Mandy joined the Basics for Health Society board in May 2020. She completed her Master of Public Health degree at Queen’s University and is currently working as a Senior Program Coordinator at the Provincial Health Services Authority. Mandy is interested in chronic disease prevention, program planning and evaluation, and health policy development with a focus on health inequities and the social determinants of health.

Tiffany chiu

Tiffany joined Basics for Health in 2021 and was the Board Secretary from 2021-23. She is in the process of completing her Master of Public Health Degree at the University of British Columbia.

claire doherty

At Providence Health Care, Claire collaborates with health professionals and patient partners to improve access and quality within the health care system. She joined the Basics for Health board in 2021 to extend her work upstream and take action on systems that drive inequities in health outcomes. Claire's educational background includes public health, management and anthropology. To relax, she enjoys communing with nature, and playing guitar and piano.

Becky Gormley

Becky is a research coordinator for two national, community-based studies focused on the sexual and reproductive heath and rights of women living with HIV in Canada. She has a Master’s of Public Health with a concentration in social inequities and health from Simon Fraser University. 

Jennifer Leavitt

Jennifer Leavitt is a family physician with St. Paul’s Maternity Clinic, where she loves getting to know families and empowering them on their parenting journey, and Pender Community Health Centre, where her practice focuses on patients who are experiencing marginalization and substance use. She is passionate about social interventions in the pre- and post-partum periods, and brings this interest to her role as a Basics for Health board member. Outside of work, she is the mother to two fun kiddos Jackson and Charley. Outside of work and parenting, she loves to spend time outside hiking, biking and skiing.

Sharon mah

Sharon joined the Basics for Health Society board in September 2021. She currently manages the communications portfolio at SFU's Faculty of Health Sciences and spent more than a decade supporting rural health and family physicians in BC. Sharon is interested in: advocacy for improved access, equity and representation; health policy development and implementation; and, supporting community empowerment and action.

Curtis May

Curtis is a public health and preventive medicine (including family medicine) resident in Vancouver BC. He has an interest in the social determinants of health and its intersection with chronic pain, and has worked with Basics for Health on research projects on these topics since he was as a medical student. In his spare time, he enjoys playing the saxophone, making soap, chasing storms, and gardening. 

Justin Neves

Justin is a community family physician in East Vancouver. He obtained his medical degree at McMaster University before completing his family medicine residency at the University of British Columbia. He is interested in addressing the social determinants of health through primary care reform, both at an individual level through his clinical work as well as at a systems and policy level. He has previously worked with the McMaster Health Forum and World Health Organization on evidence-informed policymaking initiatives before pursuing medicine.

michael schwandt

Michael Schwandt is passionate about supporting good health through prevention and upstream health promotion, and is a former board member of Upstream Institute for a Healthy Society. Michael is interested in how the environments where we live, work and play affect wellbeing and equity in communities, including through clean air and water, access to healthy food, transportation options and sustainable community planning. He is trained as a Family Physician and a specialist in Public Health and Preventive Medicine, works as a Medical Health Officer with Vancouver Coastal Health, and is a Clinical Assistant Professor in UBC’s School of Population and Public Health. Michael’s interest in healthy public spaces extends to pastimes as an avid runner and fan of local music.

Paige Zhang

Paige joined the Basics for Health Society board in 2019. She is a psychiatrist who recently completed her residency at the University of British Columbia, after completing her MD at the University of Toronto. Previously, she has worked in international development and health promotion, and her current interests are in mental health, advocacy, and the medical humanities.

COLLABORATIONS (current and past)

  • First Call Child and Youth Advocacy Society

  • University of British Columbia

  • Cloud Innovation Centre (UBC-CIC)

  • Centre for Effective Practice

  • BC College of Family Physicians

  • HealthConnection Clinic (North Vancouver, BC)

  • Pain BC

  • Reach CHC (Vancouver, BC)

PAST MEMBERS

We extend our sincere thanks to colleagues who have completed their terms and shared their diverse expertise and passions for SDOH:

  • Sarah Dobson (Co-founder, Operations Manager - bio below)

  • Manjit Chand (Co-founder, Program Manager, Volunteer Lead - bio below)

  • Sarah Kesselring (Chair, Public Health / PopDataBC)

  • Lyana Patrick (Chair / SFU Faculty of Health Sciences Assistant Professor, Centre for Restorative Justice)

  • Kasra Hassani (Vice-Chair / Public Health, Evaluations Analyst)

  • Charlotte Humphries (Executive Director / Community Planing and health promotion)

  • Donna Jepsen (Founding Board Member / Community Health Nursing / Nurse-Family Partnership)

  • John Millar (Founding Board Member / Community Medicine)

  • Kyle Pearce (Founding Board Member / Treasurer, Consulting)

  • Joel Finlay (Founding Board Member / Finance)

  • Kristen Piper (Board member / Social Work)

  • Sheri Johnson (Board member / Social Work)

  • Cindy Nguyen (Board member / Social Work)

  • Shovita Padhi (Board member / Community Medicine)

  • Erika Ono (Board member / PhD Candidate, Social Work)

  • Lisa Allyn (Board member / Occupational Therapist)

  • Shadi Mahmoodi (Board member / Public Health & Evaluation)

  • Melissa Wan (Board member / Public Health & Community Medicine Resident)

  • Sophia Ly (Board member / Psychiatry resident)

  • Amy Antonsen (Medical student)

  • Richard Kramer (Connect for Health Volunteer Coordinator)

  • Asal Vahabimoghaddam (Program Assistant)

ADVISORY BOARD

  • John Millar

  • Lyana Patrick

  • Joan Hill


FOUNDERS

VANESSA BRCIC

MANJIT (JEET) CHAND

Manjit was the driving force behind the development and implementation of the pilot Basics for Health program and is a co-founder of Basics for Health Society.  Her background is in social work and community planning. She has been working in social and health services – locally and internationally – for over 20 years with a particular focus on volunteer management, cross-cultural communication, anti-oppression training, community development and adult education.  Jeet believes a better, more equitable world is possible and has been proud to be work with Basics for Health Society towards that goal.

SARAH DOBSON

Sarah has a Masters degree in community health research from the Université de Montréal and has spent the last decade in research management and grant development in universities across Canada. Since 2018 she has led a successful grant consulting and training business supporting researchers internationally in their work. She is also a researcher with an interest in health services, health professions education, health inequities, and the role that health professionals play as advocates. This work has been published and presented nationally and internationally. She has worked with the health advocacy curriculum development committee in the UBC Faculty of Medicine and has contributed to national medical education projects including the Future of Medical Education in Canada - Postgraduate Project and the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada's CanMEDS 2015 initiative.