Steering Committee

Linda Wilhelm

President
Midland, Kings County, New Brunswick

Linda Wilhelm is the President of The Canadian Arthritis Patient Alliance, a virtual, grass-roots, patient-driven, independent, national organization with members across Canada. She frequently participates in Health Canada expert advisory panels and conferences concerning access and drug safety issues. She is a former member of The Expert Advisory Committee for Vigilance of Health Products, the CIHR’s Drug Safety and Effectiveness Network’s steering committee and The Canadian Pain Taskforce.

Linda has been an active advocate for treatment access and quality of care for all patients both regionally and nationally for over twenty years, is a past board chair for the New Brunswick Division of the Arthritis Society, as well as a past Board Member of The Atlantic Health Sciences Corporation. Linda has been living with Rheumatoid Arthritis for over thirty five years. She and husband Kerry have been married for over thirty years, have three grown children, six grandchildren, and live in Bloomfield, Kings County, New Brunswick.

back to top

Dawn Richards

Toronto, Ontario

Dawn Richards, PhD, lives with rheumatoid arthritis and osteoarthritis. At Five02 Labs Inc., her work combines her analytical chemistry training and her passion to ensure patients inform research and healthcare. She helps people and organizations design and execute their patient engagement initiatives using leading practices and tailoring their approaches to meet their goals and patient partners’ needs. She has contributed to the literature and practice in patient engagement on compensation, authorship, recognizing patients as people with skills and who lead fulfilling lives, and training on patient engagement in research. Dawn is the volunteer ex-Vice President of the Canadian Arthritis Patient Alliance.

Twitter handle: @TO_dpr

back to top

Janet Gunderson

Vice-President

Glaslyn, Saskatchewan

Janet was diagnosed with vasculitis 20 years ago. Since 2002 Janet has been an active volunteer with The Arthritis Society provincially and eventually became a volunteer with the national office by becoming a consumer reviewer with several grant competitions. She is a member of CIHR’s Drug Safety and Effectiveness Network. Janet is a member of the SPOR Chronic Pain Network as well as The Saskatchewan Centre for Patient Oriented Research Patient and Family Advisory Council. She is also a volunteer with The Cochrane Collaboration.

back to top

Laurie Proulx

Ex-officio member
Ottawa, Ontario
director@arthritispatient.ca

Laurie Proulx has lived with Juvenile Rheumatoid Arthritis for over 25 years and it is her experiences that led her to the Canadian Arthritis Patient Alliance (CAPA) where she advocates for increased arthritis awareness and the adoption of more inclusive, patient-centered policies and practices. She is currently an ex-officio member of CAPA and has been actively involved in the organization for over 10 years. In this role, she represents the patient voice on various health policy issues, leads projects to support people with arthritis navigate pregnancy and parenting, and support their participation in the workplace. She also works extensively as a patient partner in research. Laurie lives in Ottawa with her husband and two children.

Twitter handle – @ProulxLaurie

back to top

Annette McKinnon

Toronto, Ontario

Annette McKinnon has had Rheumatoid Arthritis for over 35 years and has seen huge improvements in the way RA is treated since her diagnosis. You can find her on Twitter @anetto.

She has a history of involvement with the Sjogren’s Society of Canada, and as a past Public Member of the Council of the College of Occupational Therapists. She is currently a Health Mentor for the Centre for Inter-Professional Education of the University of Toronto, a founding member of PAN (Patient Advisors Network) and a patient partner on research projects.

In an age where patient engagement is becoming the norm she advocates for the patient voice to be included in health care decision making at all levels, and for patients and caregivers to be embedded in the governance structures of health and research organizations.

back to top

Therese Lane

Toronto, Ontario

Therese brings her lived experiences to various research and healthcare areas. Living with pain and arthritis since her mid-teens, she volunteers with the Canadian Arthritis Patient Alliance (CAPA). She partners on different research projects, including the PLAN Project and CIHR’s Chronic Pain Network where she is a co-chair on the Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Committee. She is also a member of the CTO’s College of Lived Experience. Her experiences have highlighted the inequities in pain treatment and the stigma faced by those with addiction and mental health issues. Therese hopes to help others by sharing her perspectives.

.

back to top

Jenny Lorca

Surrey, British Columbia

Jenny is a Spoonie, volunteer, patient partner, advocate, speaker, and storyteller who lives with a licorice all sorts of conditions such as rheumatoid arthritis, osteoarthritis, fibromyalgia, myalgic encephalomyelitis, and more. She devotes her lived experience of chronic pain and complex chronic disease to build partnerships with organizations, initiatives, and projects such as Pain BC, Pain Canada, Chronic Pain Network, Power Over Pain Portal, University of British Columbia, and Circa Pain. They are excited and humbled to be among so many friends at CAPA.

Jenny believes personhood should never be threatened by patienthood; as a champion of peer support as social change Jenny is dedicated to walking alongside folx who live with pain and the ones who support them. They are thrilled to collaborate with fellow Spoonies and peers, clinicians, researchers, and policymakers who are committed to improving the lives of people with lived and living experience of pain.

back to top

Lucy Kovalova-Woods

Calgary, Alberta

Lucy Kovalova-Woods, a Patient Partner, has lived and living experience with rheumatoid arthritis and fibromyalgia. Despite chronic pain and adapting to new challenges in a new country, she found her passion for business, strategy, and career development to be a force and a toolset helpful to advocate for disability inclusion.

Through her books, working groups, and involvement with the Canadian Arthritis Patient Alliance and Fibromyalgia Association Canada, Lucy strives to contribute to positive change for people with visible, invisible, and dynamic disabilities.

back to top