Board of Directors

The Board of Directors provides strategic direction and guidance to the Association on matters concerning the delivery of public health programs and services by Ontario's health units. In particular, these issues relate to policies on public health funding, governance and the provincially-mandated programs that promote and protect the health of the population.

The alPHa Board comprises seven directors from the Board of Health Section (representing board of health members), seven from the Council of Ontario Medical Officers of Health (a section of alPHa), and one from each of the seven Affiliate Organizations of alPHa representing public health dentists, health inspection supervisors, nurses, nutritionists, health promoters, epidemiologists, and business administrators. The final and only non-voting seat is held by the representative of the board of directors of the Ontario Public Health Association, bringing the total number to 22 directors on the alPHa board.

EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE
President: Dr. Charles Gardner	Dr. Charles Gardner is the Medical Officer of Health for the Simcoe Muskoka District Health Unit. He serves as the Chief Executive Officer of the Board of Health and is responsible for the overall programs and operations of the health unit. Dr. Gardner joined the Simcoe Muskoka Health Unit in 2005, after having served as the Medical Officer of Health for the Leeds, Grenville and Lanark District Health Unit for seven years. Prior to that he worked in general practice for four years in communities in Newfoundland and New Brunswick and worked for a year as well in Zimbabwe. He received his medical degree from Queen’s University in Kingston. He gained a fellowship with the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons in the specialty of Community Medicine in 1998. Dr. Gardner is the past-chair of the Council of Ontario Medical Officers of Health.
Vice President: Valerie Sterling	Rep. Toronto Board of Health. As an early childhood educator, teacher, consultant, project manager, community development specialist, Toronto Board of Health member, Chair – North Region Local Health Committee and member of the  Association of Local Public Health Agencies (alPHa) Board of Directors and Board of Health Section Executive, Valerie has been a strong advocate for more than twenty years of early child development, prevention and early intervention, fostering strong partnerships and building community capacity to provide support systems to promote improvements in the health of the residents of Toronto and young children and families everywhere.  She has initiated, developed and implemented early childhood programs, early intervention projects, teacher education programs, established over 150 partnerships and coordinated readiness to learn research initiatives.  Valerie has been recognized for her work by the Toronto District School Board, the City of Toronto, the Association of Early Childhood Educators of Ontario and the Federal Government.  Valerie has always worked to support a society that honours the residents of Toronto by working together with communities and all levels of government to improve health outcomes for all.
Past-President: Vance Blackmore	Rep. South-West Region. Mr. Blackmore is a past Chair of the Middlesex-London Health Unit’s Board of Health and has been an active member of that Board since 1994. First elected as a councilor on Mosa Township council in 1992, he served as Reeve from 1994 to 2002. In 2002, Mr. Blackmore was elected Deputy Mayor for Southwest Middlesex, a position he holds to this day. He also served as Warden of Middlesex County from 2002 to 2003. A self-employed businessman, he has been providing  hairdressing and barbering services to nursing home residents for the past 33 years.
Treasurer:  Maria Harding	Rep. North West Region. Maria Harding is the Reeve of the Township of Shuniah and has sat on the Thunder Bay and District Board of Health since 1988 and has been an alPHa Board member since 2001. Maria is the recipient of the 2008 alPHa Distinguished Service Award.
Chair, Council of Ontario Medical Officers of Health: Dr. Lynn Noseworthy	Rep. Central-East Region Dr. Lynn Noseworthy is medical officer of health for the Haliburton Kawartha Pine Ridge Health unit. She has served as COMOH Chair and alPHa President.
Chair, Board of Health Section: Brian Hughes	Rep. North East Region Brian Hughes is in his second term as Chair of the Timiskaming Board of Health, and Councillor for Temiskaming Shores. Prior to municipal service, he served the Temiskaming Board of Education and enjoyed a 30-year career with Northern Telephone. Elected in 2008, this is Brian Hughes' first term on the alPHa Board of Directiors.
Affiliate Representative: Tracy Allan-Koester  Ontario Society of Nutrition Professionals in Public Health (OSNPPH)	Tracy Allan-Koester is the Director of Community Health for Perth District Health Unit.
MEMBERS-AT-LARGE
Council of Ontario Medical Officers of Health
Vice Chair: Dr. Allan Northan	Rep. Northern Region. Allan Northan has been the Medical Officer of Health for the Algoma Health Unit since 1992.  He has been on the alPHa/ALOHA board on several occasions since 1992 and is the MOH representative for the northern region for this board term.
Dr. Paul Roumeliotis	Rep. East Region, COMOH Vice Chair. Dr. Paul Roumeliotis is the Acting Medical Officer of Health for the Eastern Ontario Health Unit
Dr. Malcolm Lock	Rep. Central West Region. Dr. Malcolm Lock is the Medical Officer of Health for the Brant County Health Unit, also acting as MOH for the Haldimand-Norfolk Health Unit
Dr. Howard Shapiro	Rep. Toronto Public Health
Dr. Allen Heimann	Rep. South West Region
Board of Health Section
Mary Johnson	Rep. Eastern Region. Mary Johnson is the Chair of the Eastern Ontario Board of Health
Helen Mulligan	Rep. Central West Region.   Helen Mulligan has been a member of the Brant County Health Unit Board since 2000, first as a Councillor for the County of Brant, then in 2006 as a Citizen Representative.  She is a Past Chair of BCHU Board.  She is a retired Registered Nurse and has served on committees such as the Brantford General Hospital Foundation, Brant County Ambulance, John Noble Home for the Aged, South Dumfries Non-profit Housing, and Grand River Grant Review Team for the Ontario Trillium Foundation. Currently, Helen represents alPHa’s Board of Health Section on the Ontario Council on Community Health Accreditation (OCCHA).
Colleen Jordan	Rep. Central East Region.   Colleen is a Councillor of the Region of Durham. She was elected Regional Councillor for Ajax Wards 3 & 4 in 2003 and re-elected in 2006 with the largest percentage of votes for any Council member. This will be a four year term.  She also sits on local Council. From 1997 and 2000, Jordan served as local Ward 3 Councillor in Ajax.  Colleen was a trustee with Durham's public school board between 1991 and 1997. Until her election, she was the successful Executive Director of the Community Development Council ofJordan family Durham (formerly Social Development Council of Ajax-Pickering), an important non profit social service agency which lends support to immigrant settlement, child nutrition, affordable housing and other agencies throughout Durham Region.
Affiliates
Susan Kniahnicki Public Health Nursing Management ANDSOOHA	Susan Kniahnicki is a Program Director with Algoma Public Health where she has lead program responsibilities for Chronic Disease and Injury Prevention, Early Detection of Cancer, and Vaccine Preventable Diseases. Other management responsibilities include the Volunteer Program and the Genetics Program. After receiving her Bachelor of Science in Nursing degree from the University of Ottawa, Susan began working as a public health nurse at Algoma Public Health in 1979. During much of the 1980s she specialized in the Sexual Health Program, becoming a nursing supervisor in 1990. Her current professional interests include research and evaluation and the Sault Ste. Marie Safe Communities Partnership. Since 2004 Susan has been a facilitator for the Public Health Agency of Canada's Skills Enhancement Program.
Anne Marie Holt  Association of Public Health Epidemiologists in Ontario (APHEO)	Anne Marie Holt has been working as an epidemiologist in public health for 7 years. She received her bachelors of science at the University of Waterloo in Health Studies and continued her Masters degree in Community Health & Epidemiology at the University of Toronto. She began her career in public health at Toronto Public Health. She is currently the Senior Epidemiologist and Manager of Epidemiology & Evaluation Services at the Haliburton Kawartha Pineridge District Health Unit.  She has been in a number of Executive positions of the Association of Public Health Epidemiologist in Ontario including previous representative to the alPHa Board of Directors as well as Vice-President.
Ken Gorman Association of Supervisors of Public Health Inspectors of Ontario (ASPHIO)	Ken Gorman began his public health career as a public health inspector in 1978 with Peel Region. In 1980, he joined the City of Scarborough Health Department, where he was the manager of Environmental Health and Communicable Disease from 1993 to 1999. Presently, Ken is Director of Environmental Health for the Durham Region Health Department. Besides sitting on the alPHa board as the representative for the Association of Supervisors Public Health Inspectors in Ontario (ASPHIO), he is active in many regional and provincial committees on emergency management and response, nuclear preparedness and air quality.
Theresa Schumilas Health Promotion Ontario (HPO)	Theresa Schumilas is the Director, Health Determinants, Planning & Evaluation at Region of Waterloo Public Health. Theresa's formal training includes a B.A.Sc. - Human Nutrition, from the University of Guelph,   followed by a M.Sc. - Health Behaviour,  from the University of Waterloo.   She has worked  in the Ontario public health system for 21 years,  and has managed diverse portfolios, including: Nutrition Promotion,  Substance Abuse Prevention,  Physical Activity Promotion,  Tobacco Prevention,  Family and Child Health,  and Youth Health.   At present she directs the Health Determinants, Planning and Evaluation division at Region of Waterloo Public Health.   Her current work focuses on epidemiology  and evaluation,  knowledge transfer,  land use planning and health,  social determinants of health,  citizen engagement and community food systems.
Dr. Joyce Sinton Ontario Association of Public Health Dentistry (OAPHD)	Trained as a dentist in the United Kingdom, Dr. Sinton worked in both private and public health practice for several years before emigrating to Canada. Following post-graduate training in dental public health at the University of Toronto, she was employed in Hamilton and Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph before moving to her current position at the Brant County Health Unit. Dr. Sinton sits on the alPHa board as the representative of the Ontario Association of Public Health Dentistry (OAPHD).
Dale Jackson Association of Ontario Public Health Business Administrators (AOPHBA)	Dale Jackson has been with the Hastings and Prince Edward Counties Health Unit since March 1988 where he holds the position of Director of Administration. In addition to being a District Representative on the AOPHBA Executive since October of 1995, Dale has served as Vice-President and is currently serving a two year term as President of AOPHBA. He is also one of the AOPHBA representatives on the Public Health Financial Planning and Accountability Workgroup, having sat on the workgroup since its inception in 1999. He was a recipient of the alPHa Distinguished Service Award in 2007.
alPHa - OPHA CROSS-APPOINTMENT  A reciprocal, non-voting cross-appointment between the Ontario Public Health Association and alPHa  boards of directors was implemented as a means to increase collaboration and information exchange between the two closely related associations.  Liz Haugh is OPHA's representative at alPHa's Board of Directors. Liz is the current Vice-President of OPHA as well as Chair of the OPHA Advocacy Committee, and the director of Health Promotion at the Windsor-Essex County Health Unit.   Dr. Joyce Sinton is alPHa's representative to OPHA.