Carol Timmings – 2015
Carol is currently the Chief Nursing Officer and Director of Chronic Disease and Injury Prevention with Toronto Public Health and a long-time member of OPHA – over twenty years. Carole readily took on leadership roles within OPHA, serving as Board Secretary, President Elect
and then President for two years through 2008 and 2009.
As this period included OPHA’s 60th Anniversary, Carol used this milestone to profile OPHA’s contributions to public health in Ontario. Under Carol’s leadership, OPHA’s governance was strengthened as well as advocacy efforts to promote health, equity and social justice. OPHA
expanded its connections to a broad base of partners and external stakeholders to increase its impact. The close collaboration with alPHa , for example, led to a more effective advocacy. New communications vehicles were used to keep members informed and bring more attention to
public health issues. The Public Health Today magazine, for example, was launched, a first in Ontario. New projects were also undertaken such as Towards Evidence-Informed Practice to build capacity in the public health sector.
Carole has also promoted OPHA’s mission through her extensive involvement with both national and provincial nursing professional associations and advisory boards, including RNAO’s Board of Directors Community Health Nurses of Canada, the Provincial Chief Nursing Officer Nursing Network and ANDSOOHA – Public Nursing Management in Ontario. Carole is also the organizational lead for the RNAO’s Best Practice Spotlight Organization initiative and nursing quality practice and is now their President-Elect.
Carole has always been a strong champion of OPHA’s mission and the value of OPHA membership; she has encouraging many others to get involved and take on leadership roles. She speaks eloquently about how association with OPHA can help public health professionals
have more influence in shaping public policy, tackle health disparities, enhance their skills, knowledge and competencies and stay connected and in the know.
As someone who takes great pride in her profession, she is highly committed to developing the next generation of talent and readily shared her insights through OPHA’s Mentoring Webinar Series. Her role as an adjunct faculty member at McMaster University, Queen’s University and the University of Toronto also speaks to this commitment.
Dr. Garry Aslanyan – 2014
Dr. Garry Aslanyan first became involved with OPHA over 20 years ago, after a colleague gave him a membership as a gift for Christmas. He had always been interested in public health advocacy, and felt that OPHA provided an excellent forum to question existing policies affecting the public and achieve positive change. Over time, Gary became increasingly involved with OPHA, first as volunteer on a workgroup, then
becoming a workgroup Chair, Board Member, Vice President, and eventually serving as President from 2004 to 2007.
Garry continually encourages public health professionals to join OPHA and gain exposure to a broad group of practitioners and a spectrum of thoughts and practices in the public health field.
Despite Gary now being in Geneva working with the World Health Organization as Manager of Partnerships and Governance at the World Health Organization’s Special Programs on Research and Training on Tropical Diseases, he still involved with OPHA members and association activities. As such, Dr. Aslanyan is a strong advocate for the mission of OPHA and the advancement of public health.
Gary has made tremendous contributions to public health at the provincial, national and international levels with his work the Public Health Agency of Canada and the Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development and various volunteer roles. These contributions range from shaping CPHA’s conferences, advancing oral heath public policies, advising on global trends in disease prevention and protection and
founding the Canadian Global Health Research Initiative.
Elizabeth Haugh – 2013
Elizabeth Haugh is the Director of Health Promotion and Chief Nursing Officer, Windsor-Essex County Health Unit.
Charlene Beynon – 2011
Charlene Beynon is the PHRED Director, Middlesex-London Health Unit.
Ralph Stanley – 2009
Ralph Stanley has been an active and engaged member of OPHA for 30 years. He served on the Board of Directors on two consecutive boards in the late 1980s during the presidencies of Dr. Peter Cole and Dr.Trevor Hancock. Ralph has contributed immeasurably to our Environmental Health Workgroup, serving as Workgroup Chair in the 1990s. He has worked tirelessly to advance many of OPHA’s policy concerns by serving as an author or a reviewer of numerous OPHA resolutions and position papers on environmental health. Ralph has represented the OPHA at many consultations with the Ministry of Health and Care and the Ministry of the Environment, and Health Canada. In the early 1990s OPHA proudly supported Ralph’s appointment by the Minister of Health to the Ministry of the Environment’s Advisory Committee on Environmental Standards. Ralph has distinguished himself as a wise counselor, well-respected by his peers. OPHA is proud of his accomplishments as we work together, Building for the Future.
Nancy Day – 2008
Nancy Day graduated from the University of Toronto in 1982 with a Masters of Health Science in Community Health and Epidemiology and
started her career with the City of Toronto Public Health Department on contract as a health information analyst. At that time, only the Ontario Ministry of Health and two health units had positions for public health epidemiologists. Two years later, Nancy moved to the City of York Health Unit as Director of Health Studies creating the third Health Unit with an Epidemiologist. She started a “support group” of people interested in community health status information. As more Health Units created epidemiology positions, the group started focusing on issues facing public health Epidemiologists. In 1990, the Association of Public Health Epidemiologists of Ontario (APHEO) was born and Nancy was a founding member. Nancy joined OPHA’s Board of Directors in the late 1980s as a representative of its Standing Committee on Disease Control and Epidemiology.
• She was elected President of OPHA in 1992 and is fondly remembered for completing changes in governance that had been initiated some time earlier.
• In 2002, Nancy returned to the OPHA Board as the representative for OPHA’s new Constituent Society, APHEO for four years.
• She then served for two years as Vice-President and Secretary of the OPHA Board.
• Nancy recently participated on the Task Force that guided OPHA’s Governance transformation. She currently co-chairs the OPHA Task Force on Core Competencies for public health workers.
Cindy Scythes – 2007
Cindy Scythes was first elected to the OPHA Board of Directors in 1996, Cindy went on to serve in various capacities – secretary-treasurer, Vice-President and Member-at-Large — during fragile stages in OPHA’s organizational evolution. As chair of the ad hoc Governance Committee Cindy worked tirelessly to review and rewrite the bylaws to support a new governance structure.