Dr. Liz Whynot retired in November 2008 after 8 years as the leader of BC Women's Hospital and Health Centre. After graduating from Queen's University Medical School in 1972, she worked as a general practitioner and as a public health doctor in Vancouver before joining Women's in 1998. Liz was a co-founder of Vancovuer's Sexual Assault Service and of the Sheway Program. She received the Kaiser Foundation National Award for Leadership in 2009.
Donna Dykeman (Secretary)
Donna Dykeman has worked for positive and inclusive change with many Vancouver East, community, and feminist organizations. She joined WISH in 2004 and started a three-year Board term in June, 2005. Her speciality is Communications Management and she is currently works as a consultant.
Shelagh Flaherty
Shelagh Flaherty is Director of Central and Reference Service for the Vancouver Public Library. She has been on the Board of WISH for several years. Previous to that she was a volunteer on the fundraising committee as well as a volunteer at the Centre.
Leslie Varley
Leslie Varley is the Director of Provincial Health Services Authority’s Aboriginal Program. With a goal of improving Aboriginal health outcomes and increasing Aboriginal people’s access to health services, Leslie leads the eleven PHSA agencies into improved collaborative relationships with First Nations and Aboriginal groups in BC. As Chair of the Centre for Aboriginal Health within PHSA Centres for Public and Population Health, Leslie encourages the nine centres to support new and promising practices using old and proven indigenous holistic health paradigms. Under Leslie’s leadership the PHSA Indigenous Cultural Competency training program was developed for health care professionals, and is now being implemented within PHSA and the five BC regional health authorities. Leslie is a member of the Killer Whale clan of the Nisga’a Nation and resides as guest on the territory of the Musqueam First Nation in Vancouver..
Linda Day
Linda has several years experience in senior management with community based organizations and government agencies, most recently as Regional Director, Aboriginal Health at Vancouver Coastal Health. She was the founding Executive Director of the Aboriginal Women’s Health and Healing Research Group at UBC, and the founding Executive Director of Healing Our Spirit Aboriginal HIV/AIDS Society. She has worked with the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, Institute of Aboriginal Peoples’ Health and has been a research consultant and coordinator on community based projects. Linda was the Program Director for CIHR-IAPH funded Network Environment for Aboriginal Health Research BC and Western Arctic (NEAHR BC WA) and the interim Southern Node Co-coordinator for NEAHR BC. Linda is a member of the Oneida Nation, Wolf Clan, and holds a BA in Native Studies from Trent University, and an MA in Gerontology from SFU.
Jan Christilaw
Dr. Jan Christilaw is President of BC Women’s Hospital & Health Centre. She is also the Senior Medical Director of Provincial Women’s Health Programmes at BC Women’s Hospital, and is a co-leader of the Provincial Women’s Health Network. Jan’s contributions to women’s health services in Canada have been extraordinary. In 2007 she won the Federation of Medical Women of Canada’s national leadership award. Jan has been interested in international women’s health for many years. She has worked internationally on a number of projects, including partnerships with Makerere University in Uganda for services in maternal and child health.
Jean Gerber
Jean Gerber has worked as a community planner for Jewish organizations in Vancouver. She has been an area coordinator for the former Vancouver/Richmond Health Board. She has served on a number of community boards, currently sitting on her synagogue board as vice president. She has done free-lance work such as volunteer training and needs assessments, and authored many reports on demographics, seniors needs, and attitudinal surveys. She writes a monthly op-ed column. For nearly seven years she has been a volunteer at the WISH Centre before joining the WISH Board.
Aga Jendo
Aga Jendo is the Manager, Financial Planning and Support with Michael Smith Foundation for Health Research. She is a Certified Management Accountant and holds Business, Finance & Investment diploma from Langara College and Bachelors of Arts degree, Economics major, from Simon Fraser University. Over the years, she worked for private, non-profit and public organizations.
She first joined WISH as a member of the Finance Committee. Other volunteer experience includes Victim Services Unit with Vancouver Police Department, CMA Canada, and Physical Medicine Research Foundation.
