Project Management Team
The provincial education and resource development on ActNow BC - Healthy Choices in Pregnancy is led by:

Nancy Poole
Research Associate BC Centre of Excellence for Women’s Health and Research Consultant, Women and Substance Use, BC Women’s Hospital

and

Cristine Urquhart
Provincial Training Consultant, ActNow BC – Healthy Choices in Pregnancy, BC Centre of Excellence for Women’s Health


Nancy Poole
To this province-wide educational work on prevention of FASD, Nancy brings a wealth of experience on FASD-related research, training and policy initiatives with governments and organizations on local, provincial and national levels.

On behalf of the BC Centre of Excellence for Women’s Health, Nancy works on research teams undertaking policy relevant research related to women's substance use; collaborates on addictions policy, service design and research with governments and organizations across Canada; and facilitates virtual learning communities designed to study and promote change in policy and practice related to women and substance use issues.  She is a doctoral student with the University of South Australia studying virtual knowledge translation on women's health and substance use and has a CIHR fellowship with the IMPART program, a training program in Gender, Women and Addictions. 


Cristine Urquhart
Cristine Urquhart, MSW, RSW, is the Provincial Training Consultant for the ActNow BC - Healthy Choices in Pregnancy initiative at the BC Centre of Excellence for Women’s Health in Vancouver. In her role Cristine designs and delivers training to service providers on better practices for supporting women who use substances in pregnancy and childbearing years.

During the past 10 years Cristine has worked in community and acute care capacities with individuals with substance use and other complex health and social concerns, including as an outpatient addiction therapist at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health in Toronto and a consultant on the Chemical Dependency Resource Team at Surrey Memorial Hospital in Surrey, BC. Cristine is a member of the international Motivational Interviewing Network of Trainers (MINT).


Advisory Committee
ActNow BC – Healthy Choices in Pregnancy, Provincial Education and Resource Development has a Provincial Advisory Committee, representative of Health Authorities and key provincial and federal organizations concerned with research, policy and service provision with women related to prevention of FASD.

Advisory Committee Members

Donna Atkinson
Research Associate, BC Initiatives & The National Collaborating Centre for Aboriginal Health, UNBC

Simon Barton
Manager, Tobacco Control Programs, Ministry of Health

Chi Cejalvo
Executive Director, BC Association of Pregnancy Outreach Programs

Jeannie Dickie
Coordinator, Healthiest Babies Possible, Evergreen Community Health Centre

Tina Fraser
PVSI Manager, National Collaborating Centre for Aboriginal Health

Anne Fuller
Provincial FASD Prevention Consultant, Early Childhood Development Branch, Ministry of Children and Family Development 

Patty Hallam
Public Health Nursing Program Consultant, Interior Health Authority

Christine Liu
Program Consultant, Children and Youth, Public Health Agency of Canada

Lynda Johnston
Clinical Nurse Specialist, Community Perinatal Services, Fraser Health Authority

Lenora Marcellus
Leader, Perinatal Program Development, Vancouver Island Health Authority

Erin O’Sullivan
Maternal-Women's Health Manager, BC Ministry of Health

Dan Reist
Director, Communication and Resource Unit, Centre for Addiction Research of BC

Amy Salmon
Research Program Coordinator for Gender, Women and Addictions, BC Centre of Excellence for Women’s Health

Barbara Selwood
Perinatal Nurse Consultant, BCRCP

Christina Tonella
Leader, Tobacco Reduction Strategy, Vancouver Coastal Health

Leslie Webb
Consultant, Facilitator: Northern Health FASD Prevention Plan


Ex-Officio Members
BC Women’s Hospital, the BC Centre of Excellence for Women’s Health and the British Columbia Reproductive Care Program are working in collaboration with the Ministry of Health to support the provincial target of a 50% increase in the number of women counseled on alcohol use during pregnancy. Representatives of these institutions sit as ex-officio members of the Provincial ActNow BC - Healthy Choices in Pregnancy, Provincial Education and Resource Development Advisory Committee.

Joan Geber
Director, Women's, Maternal and Children's Health, Ministry of Health

Lorraine Greaves
Executive Director, BC Centre of Excellence for Women’s Health

Kathy MacDonald
Director, Preventive Public Health Programs, Northern Health Authority

Elizabeth Whynot
President, BC Women’s Hospital & Health Centre, Provincial Health Services Authority