Governance

Douglas Nelson

Chair

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Doug Nelson founded The Discovery Group with a vision to bring together a group of talented and compassionate leaders. Together they are aligned with his belief that the social profit sector represents individuals and communities coming together to change the world for the better. Collectively, they spearhead inspired strategies to help nurture that change. Described by the media as a ‘fundraising phenom’ and a ‘true innovator,’ Doug unravels complex challenges in aligning governance and philanthropic performance. His early development work in education propelled him to become the Chief Development Officer at the University of Alberta, and responsible for the second largest fundraising campaign in Canadian history.

As President and CEO of the BC Cancer Foundation for six years, he led the organization to revenue of $300 million, including a campaign that would launch the Personalized Onco-Genomic (POG) program. His work is award-winning in the areas of governance, culture, advocacy, and innovative granting, and he has raised nearly $1 billion for organizations in Canada and the United States. As President of the California Pacific Medical Centre Foundation, he led the development and execution of a campaign that would support the opening of two hospitals valued at $3 billion, shaping the future of care in San Francisco. Doug is also host of the leading social profit sector podcast, The Discovery Pod. With a photographic memory for baseball statistics, Doug had a childhood dream to be the first baseman for the Toronto Blue Jays. These days, he can be found remarkably often at a Bob Dylan concert.

Andrew Montgomerie, CPA CMA

Secretary-Treasurer, and Finance Audit Committee Chair

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Andrew has a diverse background, with experience in financial management, healthcare services, and a passion for public health. Andrew’s education and credentials include a CPA (CMA) designation, executive studies at the Sauder School of Business, and an undergraduate degree from Dalhousie University. Professionally, he has spent almost 20 years at WorkSafeBC, where he is the Corporate Controller. Andrew is passionate about physical and mental health and safety, both in the workplace and beyond.

Andrew joined the Foundation Board of Directors to help create a healthy and safe province for everyone so that we can ensure that our children, grandchildren, and generations to come can enjoy healthy living in the most beautiful place in the world.

Caryn Dooner

Director and Governance & Nomination Committee Chair

She/her

Caryn has worked as a Registered Nurse in Victoria, BC, in the Intensive Care Unit with patients directly affected by the COVID-19 pandemic and the toxic drug poisoning crisis. She previously worked with the EQUIP group doing research on equity-focused interventions in healthcare, and currently works as a Research Coordinator at UVic for the Parent Child Lab organizing a research study focusing on parent-infant sleep. Caryn previously completed her nursing degree at the University of British Columbia and her Master of Science degree at the University of Western Ontario. Her previous experience in the non-profit sector at the local level with both social programs and health programs led her to pursue contributing to public health at the provincial level with the Foundation. She recently collaborated with a group of students at UBC to write a children’s book addressing vaccine literacy and is currently pursuing her Doctor of Medicine degree through Queen’s University (Lakeridge campus).

Caryn joined the Foundation Board of Directors to find innovative solutions for longstanding problems that affect our communities and those most vulnerable.

Jane Ingman Baker, PhD

Director 

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Dr Jane Ingman Baker is a lawyer with Paul A Hildebrand Law Corp in Vancouver. She has a diverse litigation practice with cases across the country. Her main areas of practice include professional negligence and insurance coverage litigation. In her law practice, Jane actively seeks out and employs alternative dispute resolution techniques and works to resolve conflicts efficiently and effectively, acting as a Fairness Advisor on several major construction projects. She taught Construction Law at UBC for several years. Before joining the legal profession, Jane trained as a Biochemist and concluded two post-doctoral fellowships at the University of British Columbia. She has maintained her interest in basic science and has had the privilege of continuing to teach in the Faculty of Medicine until recently. She is currently a member of the UBC Clinical Research Ethics Board and the Children and Women’s Research Ethics Board, as well as a former member of the CFRI Board. Jane was born and raised in London before emigrating to BC to undertake her doctoral work. She lives in Vancouver, is a master gardener, and is the proud mother of three young adult children.

Jane joined the Foundation Board of Directors because she has a keen interest in the impact that public health initiatives can have on the quality of everyday life. She believes in the power of directed philanthropy to assist in basic research advances.

Noorjean Hassam, MHA, CHE

Director

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Noorjean Hassam (she), a settler on unceded Coast Salish territory, is the Associate Vice President, Student Health Services at the University of BC, overseeing primary healthcare, counselling, health equity, health promotion & education, and the Office of Wellbeing Strategy. Prior to UBC, Noorjean led the BC Centre for Disease Control as Chief Operating Officer. In this role, Noorjean was a key leader of the COVID 19 emergency response, was an advocate for addressing the social determinants of health, had financial and business oversight over the full range of public health services, and was recognized for her commitment to shifting the culture and practices of the organization to address social justice issues, and advance truth, reconciliation, decolonization and anti-racism.

Noorjean joined the Foundation Board of Directors because she is committed to advancing public health, which is based on social justice and equity, in BC and Canada and this is an important Foundation supporting these areas. This is important to her because it allows her to meaningfully contribute her time, knowledge, and experience to achieve success in public health, and as a Board. She feels privileged to be able to provide this level of leadership and to work alongside renowned public health and business leaders.

Carmond Ng, CPA, MBA, MPAcc

Director

He/him

Carmond joined the Foundation Board of Directors in 2016 as the Treasurer. While he has transitioned the Treasurer responsibilities after serving 2 terms (6 years), Carmond continues to support public health initiatives drawing from his experiences across his diverse background in both financial management and healthcare services. His credentials includes a Charter Professional Accounting designation (CPA), two business masters degrees (Business Administration from York University and Professional Accounting from University of Saskatchewan), two post-baccalaureate diplomas (Health Industry Management from York University and Accounting from University of British Columbia) and an undergraduate degree (Behavioural Neuroscience from McMaster University). 
 
Currently, Carmond is part of the Internal Audit team at Brookfield Asset Management. However, the majority of his professional career has been spent in public practice with PwC providing assurance and consulting services for across various industries. Prior to his switch into accounting, he was a Clinical Research Assistant and Laboratory Technician for the British Columbia Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS. His work within precision medicine diagnostics for HIV and HCV patients has been co-authored in several peer-reviewed journals.

Edoye Porbeni

Director

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Edoye Porbeni is a founder, innovator, healthcare executive, and trusted advisor. She has led initiatives and made impacts to improve the lives of young people, women, and seniors, as well as individuals living with both chronic and infectious diseases around the world. She was recognized for her efforts as a nominee for the YWCA Woman of Distinction Award (2018) and the Surrey Board of Trade Women in Business award (2021). Edoye holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Communications and International Relations from Georgia State University, as well as a Masters of Public Health and a Diploma in Applied Project Management, both from Simon Fraser University—where she now funds an entrance award.

David M. Patrick, MD FRCPC MHSc

Advisor

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Dr Patrick is an infectious diseases specialist and epidemiologist with a career interest in responding to emerging infectious diseases. He currently serves as Director of Research at BCCDC. His published research spans the areas of HIV epidemiology, impacts of immunization on population health, vector-borne and zoonotic disease, and COVID-19. His ongoing focus is the broad effort to contain antimicrobial resistance in Canada and around the world and understand the connection between antibiotic use and asthma in populations.

Dr Patrick joined the Foundation as an Advisor to the Board of Directors out of an understanding that the Foundation can have a high impact on public health only if it puts focused effort into funding research that guides and informs public health practice in BC and elsewhere. This is important to him because we already have many actors in delivering and supporting public health programs, but must address the unique gap in funding for public health researchers who can inform the direction of practice with up-to-date, locally relevant evidence.

Dr Jat Sandhu

Advisor

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Bio coming soon.

Dr Jason Wong

Advisor

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Bio coming soon.