Dr. Claire Surr, Professor of Dementia Studies and Director of the Centre for Dementia Research at Leeds Beckett University, led the national United Kingdom study examining the factors associated with effective health and social care workforce training design, delivery, and implementation. As well as being embedded across the United Kingdom in the design and delivery of health and social care providers' dementia education and training, Dr. Surr’s best practices in dementia education findings are being implemented globally. See: Tool to reduce 'variability' in dementia training quality

Rhoda, a dementia educator and researcher, is a core member of the Scottish National Dementia Champions faculty where she takes a lead role in the pedagogical design, educational delivery and the evaluation of the programme. She was coordinator of the Palliare Project, a multi-disciplinary project that designed educational solutions to support advanced dementia care practice across Europe. In Canada, Dr. MacRae was a visiting scholar in Faculty of Nursing, University of Saskatchewan and a popular keynote speaker at the Canadian Institutes of Health Research/Covenant Health Network of Excellence in Seniors’ Health and Wellness 2019 work to validate the Caregiver Centered Care Competency Framework.

Dr. Jasneet Parmar is a Care of the Elderly Physician and Professor, Department of Family Medicine at the University of Alberta has worked for the Specialized Geriatrics Program since 1992. Jasneet spent more than a decade developing the Decision-Making Capacity Assessment Model Toolkit (DMCA) which is endorsed by Alberta Health Services and Covenant Health and is used in hospitals, medical clinics, nursing homes and supportive living communities across Alberta. Dr. Parmar now leads the  Caregiver Centered Care  Program of Applied Research & Innovation in Health Services Delivery in Family Caregiving, Caregivercare.ca.

Donna Thomson facilitates two free online courses. These include Caregiving Essentials (for caregivers), and The Family Engagement in Research Certificate of Completion Program (for researchers and families who have an interest in child neuro developmental research). Both are offered through McMaster University Continuing Education. Donna is the co-author of the book titled The Unexpected Journey of Caring: The Transformation of Loved One to Caregiver and the author of The Four Walls of My Freedom. Donna is also a consultant, blogger, and speaker on issues relating to family caregiving, disability, aging, and patient and family advisor on health research and policy.

Dr. Yona Lunsky is a Senior Scientist and Director of the Health Care Access Research and Developmental Disabilities (H-CARDD) Program at CAMH (the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health). She is also a Professor in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Toronto and director of the Azrieli Centre for Adult Neurodevelopmental Disabilities and Mental Health. Dr. Lunsky's work focuses on the emotional health of people with developmental disabilities and their families. See: "This is About my Health."

Barb Maclean, Executive Director of Family Caregivers of British Columbia, is the driving force behind what makes the Family Caregivers of British Columbia a leader in supporting and partnering with family caregivers. She learned first-hand what it’s like to juggle work, a young family and caregiving when she supported her family during her mother's fight with cancer. Two innovative ways in which Family Caregivers of British Columbia is working toward family caregiver and health provider partnerships can be read about in Strengthening Family Partnerships in the Care Team and "Circle of Care: Supporting Family Caregivers in BC."

Jaime Winkler is the mom to Neurodiverse twins Bella and Mila.  Jaime’s key methodology as a mom and family caregiver is equalitarian, individualized, and family-centered.

Amélie Quesnel-Vallée is a professor with joint appointments in the Departments of Sociology and Epidemiology, Biostatistics, and Occupational Health.  She is the Canada Research Chair in Policies and Health Inequalities at McGill University in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Dr. Quesnel-Vallée will speak to her experience as a caregiver, and will discuss her work: The Structural Burden of Caregiving: Shared Challenges in the United States and Canada and research "Caregiving is like on the job training but nobody has the manual."

Nancy Mannix is the Chair and Patron of the Palix Foundation. This private foundation's philanthropy aims are to support improved health and wellness outcomes for all children and families. As resilience is a complex life outcome that is commonly misunderstood, a program of the Palix Foundation, the Alberta Family Wellness Initiative (AFWI) ), has developed a Resilience Scale metaphor. This scale demonstrates how resilience is not simply "pulling yourself up by your bootstraps," but rather, "how to build a better socio-ecological system to support resilience." Health Care providers are encouraged to use this tool to support family caregivers and families by building resilience. Importantly, this resilience is gained by supportive environments rich in serve-and-return interactions and by preventing experiences that may cause toxic stress.

Liv Mendelsohn, MA, MEd, is the executive director of the Canadian Centre for Caregiving Excellence. Over the course of her career, Liv has founded and helmed several organizations in the disability and caregiving space, including the Wagner Green Centre for Accessibility and Inclusion at the Miles Nadal JCC. In addition, she served as the founding artistic director at the Reel Abilities Toronto Film Festival and serves as the chair of the City of Toronto Accessibility Advisory Committee. In 2019 she was recognized as a recipient of the City of Toronto Equity Award and is a senior fellow at Massey College. Liv has been a lifelong caregiver and has the lived experience of disability.

Dr. Barb Pesut, Professor, University of British Columbia, is a Tier1 Principal Research Chair in Palliative and End-of-Life Care. She leads Nav-CARE, an intervention in which volunteers, who are trained in navigation, provide services for older persons living at home with chronic illnesses to improve their quality of life. 

Sonia Hsiung is Director at the Canadian Institute for Social Prescribing at Canadian Red Cross. Sonia Managed the successful completion of social prescribing research pilot in Community Health Centres across Ontario. This aims to implement a structured way of connecting clinical care and community-based social supports to address the social determinants of health, with a particular focus on loneliness and social isolation. The asset-based and equity-focused pilot showed promising results in decreased loneliness, improved mental health, and an increased sense of connectedness, purpose, and belonging. Fostered engagement and partnership across diverse health, community, social service, and arts and culture sectors to deepen and scale this work.

Emily Holzhausen is the OBE Director of Policy and Public Affairs Carers UK, and leads on Carers UK policy, parliamentary, research and media work, encompassing many issues relating to caring including employment. She was responsible for Carers UK’s Advice and Information services for 15 years, transforming the service into a wider digital offer. She has worked on two successful Private Members Bills and numerous pieces of legislation which have introduced carer’s rights. She leads Carers Week, one of the UK’s biggest awareness weeks, that involves thousands of local events and established Carers Rights Day now in its 19th year. Research and evidence have been at the heart of her work in order to demonstrate how change and practice can benefit carers. She has undertaken over 40 pieces of original research into carers and caring, most recently with her team delivering Caring Behind Closed Doors, (April 2020) . This is one of the first major pieces of research on carers globally, with Caring behind closed doors: six months on (October 2020).

Susan C. Reinhard, RN, PhD, FAAN is senior vice president and director of the AARP Public Policy Institute and chief strategist for both the Center to Champion Nursing in America (CCNA) and family caregiving initiatives. CCNA (an initiative of AARP Foundation), AARP and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, are national initiatives to ensure America has the nurses it needs to provide care in the future.
Susan is a nationally recognized expert in health and long-term care policy, with extensive experience in conducting, directing, and translating research to promote policy change. Previously, she served as professor and co-director of Rutgers Center for State Health Policy, directing several national initiatives who aim to help people with disabilities of all ages live in their communities. See: RAISE Family Caregivers Act Initial Report to Congress and Social WOrkers Supporting Family Caregivers. On September 22, 2021, the Recognize, Assist, Include, Support, and Engage (RAISE) Act Family Caregiving Advisory Council delivered its initial report to Congress .Carol Fancott, “Co-designing policy guidance with and for essential care partners: Moving policy into action”

Carol Fancott, PT, PhD,  Director, Patient Engagement and Partnerships Healthcare Excellence Canada has a unique mix of skills and experience in the healthcare system, spanning front-line clinician, educator, academic, leader and caregiver. She seeks to build and strengthen relationships, and engagement and partnership are central to her work. Carol has led the co-development and co-delivery of programs and activities that focus on the needs and priorities of patients, caregivers, and communities. A physical therapist by training, Carol also obtained a PhD at the Institute of Health Policy, Management, and Evaluation at the University of Toronto focused on patient engagement and storytelling for organizational learning and improvement.

James Janeiro is a Policy Director at the Canadian Centre for Caregiving Excellence and is a public policy and advocacy professional with over a decade of experience in politics, policy and government relations. He began his career in the Ontario public service working on disability legislation. He then transitioned to the political policy space and served two successive Ontario ministers of community and social services as a senior policy advisor on social assistance, poverty, and veterans' issues. In 2014, James assumed a new role serving Premier Kathleen Wynne as her social policy advisor. In this position, he was responsible for a diverse array of policy areas, including poverty reduction, housing, the basic Income Pilot, disability issues, autism services and municipal affairs. In 2018, James left the public sector for a role in the not-for-profit sector. He was director of community engagement and policy at Community Living Toronto from 2018 to 2022. In this role, James led an ambitious advocacy agenda focused on housing, income security, and service improvement.