Anne Marie is a global business builder accomplished in growing and transforming healthcare organizations. With more than 25 years of Marketing, Sales and Business development experience in health technology start-ups, global pharmaceuticals, retail healthcare and CPG brand management, she is a champion of innovation, developing and leading healthcare solutions that drive multi-million-dollar revenue gains, “next level” growth and build business value. Driven by a strong desire to make a difference in the healthcare community, Anne Marie currently owns and operates two separate but integrated businesses. As President of Elements Strategy Inc., Anne Marie provides services to the healthcare industry where transformation through patient-centric innovation is critical to success. Additionally, she is a Co-Founder of YouAreUNLTD, a purpose driven publishing brand and network, created to inspire powerful, healthy aging. Educated in business management at Queen’s University, she has continued her education through Queen’s Executive Development programs, the Niagara Centre for Creative Leadership and the Ashridge School of Management in London England. An active volunteer in the healthcare field, Anne Marie has been a “Health Leader-in- Residence” at the World Health Innovation Network, a “Health Innovator- in- Residence” at the Ivey International Centre for Health Innovation and the Past Chairman of the Council on Drug Abuse.

Mr. Barry D. Stein, B.Com., B.C.L., LL.B., graduated from McGill University. An accomplished lawyer, he has been a member of the Bar of Quebec since 1981. Barry sits on the Board of Directors of several corporations, not-for-profit organizations and foundations. He is the president of the Coalition Priorité Cancer au Québec and a founding member of the Canadian Partnership Against Cancer National Colorectal Cancer Screening Network. As the president of Colorectal Cancer Canada, Barry represents the interests of cancer patients and speaks regularly to medical professionals, industry, government, and patient groups both in and outside of Canada. Barry has been a key advocate for population-based colorectal cancer screening initiatives, patient and physician education and multidisciplinary health professional consensus guidelines to improve patient outcomes across Canada. As a survivor of metastatic colorectal cancer diagnosed in 1995, Barry was obliged to seek health care outside of Canada to fight the disease. His judgement, obtained in the Superior Court of Quebec, serves as a leading precedent for the reimbursement of out of country health care.

As Project Manager, Clinical Research Awareness at Q-CROC, Catherine Vayssier coordinates the development of information and awareness tools as well as activities in collaboration with the member hospitals of the Q-CROC network and patient associations. Before joining Q-CROC, she held a position as coordinator of the office of the ethics committee of the CHU de Québec. This experience allowed her to develop an in-depth knowledge of the clinical research sector in Quebec. Catherine also worked for more than seven years in a vaccine research and development team at the CHU de Québec and continued her career within an international group specializing in the development and distribution of active ingredients for the global cosmetics market. Catherine holds a master's degree in microbiology from Université Laval.

Catherine Erickson left the corporate, business/teaching world in 2014. She began a new career in Fitness (CCAC) with further training and working with Stroke Survivors and fall prevention. Her husband had previously been diagnosed with metastatic prostrate cancer. They decided to sell their home, downsize and move. It took a year (2018) for their home to be built in Kingston. They took six of those months to live in Costa Rica coming back for their house possession in Oct 2019. On Dec. 19th, Catherine was diagnosed and now she is sharing her wellness journey as part of Colorectal Cancer Canada (Kingston Support Group).

Chana Cohen is a Patient & Caregiver Support Specialist for Colorectal Cancer Canada. For 17 years prior, she worked with neurological and geriatric populations as a medical social worker within the CIUSS Centre Ouest organization, in Montreal, QC. Chana is a stage 3 colon cancer survivor and celebrated 5 years NED this past February! She is a member of the Golden Key Society (academic achievement), is the mother of two and resides in St. Lazare, QC.

My name is Cheryl-Anne Labrador-Summers. I am a stage 3 colorectal cancer survivor, diagnosed in January 2021, at the age of 47. Just prior to my diagnosis, my life was very fulfilling. I have been with my husband Jeremy for over 25 years. We raised 3 sons, gained a daughter-in-law in 2019 and in the fall of 2020, moved into our dream home on the lake in Georgina, Ontario. We have recently become grandparents to a beautiful grandson. I work as an administrator for a minor baseball organization, a job I absolutely love. I finished up my chemo last October and underwent my follow up CT scan in December which showed No Evidence of Disease (NED).

Christina is a Social Worker, Psychotherapist, and Couple and Family Therapist. She holds a master’s degree in Social Work from McGill University, as well as a post-graduate degree in Couple and Family Therapy from the Jewish General Hospital. For over a decade, Christina has worked with cancer patients and their loved ones at the Jewish General Hospital, helping them cope at all stages of the illness.

Connie Pickett is a 2x cancer survivor, mom of 3, artist, Certified Life Coach and Wellness Counsellor. Diagnosed with Stage 3 colon cancer in 2018, she has been through the full gamut of treatments (surgeries. radiation, chemo) as well as continuing to experience the side effects of them all. She understands the physical & emotional toll cancer can take on someone, and has chosen to support others through their journey as a peer support mentor with CCC and as a counsellor.  She's a firm believer and an example of how we need to be our own advocates for our health.

Danny Cohen, BA (Applied Human Sciences & Leisure Sciences) is a YMCA & CanFitPro certified personal trainer and Corrective Conditioning, Specialist. He takes a holistic approach to health and wellness focusing on body, mind and spirit. Danny has been serving the fitness industry for 25 years, working with all segments of the population; from toddlers to seniors. His main focus is to build a strong body and mind with an array of fun, functional, accessible and effective fitness activities. He believes that steady progression and proper technique are fundamental to achieving results and preventing injury.

Brandon Sheffield is a pathologist with the William Osler Health System, in Brampton Ontario. He is currently serving as the medical director of advanced Diagnostics and the physician Lead of Research. Dr. Sheffield's main focus has been on the delivery of biomarker results to support personalized cancer treatment, with a particular emphasis on making these technologies available to community cancer patients.

Dr. Caroline Hamm is the Schulich Chair of Windsor Oncology and Associate Professor, Schulich School of Medicine, Department of Oncology.     She has been the clinical lead of clinical trials in Windsor for many years and has been the principal investigator on more than 70 clinical trials in breast cancer, melanoma and hematological malignancies.  She is also the Clinical Research Lead of the Windsor Cancer Research Group, active in promoting translation research in Windsor Essex County.  She has always been dedicated to improving patient care in her region, and to ensuring that patients have access to clinical trials in order to offer them the best possible therapy.  She has been leading a national initiative sponsored by the Canadian Cancer Clinical Trials Network, called The Clinical Trials Navigator to improve cancer patient access to clinical trials. 

Dr Brezden-Masley is the founder of the COMET (Community Oncologists of Metropolitan Toronto) Clinical Trials Consortium, a web-based virtual network promoting cancer clinical trials throughout the Toronto region. She treats both breast and gastrointestinal (colorectal and gastric cancers) malignancies, which are her major areas of research interest. Her main area of clinical research is cardiotoxicity from cancer therapy and is currently the President of the Canadian Cardio-Oncology Network. She is also on the Board of Directors of ReThink Breast Cancer, a national advocacy and support network for young women with breast cancer and My Gut Feeling, a stomach cancer support network for patients, survivors, and caregivers.

Dr. Cuthbert is a Nurse Practitioner in Oncology. Her clinical practice largely focused on follow-up care of colorectal cancer patients and symptom management with a keen interest in survivorship issues. Dr. Cuthbert is an assistant professor in the Faculty of Nursing at the University of Calgary and the Cumming School of Medicine, Department of Community Health Sciences and an adjunct assistant professor in the Cumming School of Medicine, Department of Oncology. She holds a Tier II Canada Research Chair in patient and family centered cancer survivorship. Dr. Cuthbert is focused on evaluating biopsychosocial health needs and health outcomes of cancer survivors.  Her program of research includes patient-oriented research approaches, integrated knowledge translation strategies, qualitative research, and the use of administrative health data sets. Dr. Cuthbert’s goal is to ultimately improve health and wellbeing in cancer survivors and their families by developing innovative approaches to survivorship care. 

Gerald Batist is former Chair of the McGill University Department of Oncology and Director of the McGill Centre for Translational Research in Cancer. A major award from the Canadian Foundation for Innovation led to the expansion of the Centre and its integration into the Segal Cancer Centre at the Jewish General Hospital, which he also directs. Dr. Gerald Batist was born in Montreal, and though he was at University in New York City, he returned for medical school at McGill University. This was followed by post-doctoral training in New York, Boston and finally at the National Cancer Institute in Washington. There he trained in medical oncology and in molecular pharmacology. Dr. Batist is a clinician-scientist, trained in medical oncology and molecular pharmacology. His work, both in his lab and clinical research focuses on therapeutic resistance. This includes large consortia that run large-scale biopsy-based clinical trials to identify novel mechanisms of resistance to specific drugs. In 2014 he co-led a successful application that resulted in the establishment of the Canadian National Centre of Excellence in Personalized Medicine, Exactis Innovations. The core feature is a program to build a massive bio bank and database linked to a prospective longitudinal registry of cancer patients followed throughout the trajectory of their illness, a project called 'Personalize My Treatment'. In 2016, Dr Batist was appointed Member of the Order of Canada and Knight of the National Order of Quebec.

Dr. Spratlin is an Associate Professor in the Department of Oncology at the University of Alberta, and a medical oncologist at the Cross Cancer Institute (CCI) with Alberta Health Services. She obtained her Bachelor of Medical Sciences, MD with honours in research, and Medical Oncology training at the University of Alberta and CCI, respectively. She completed her fellowship in phase I clinical trials/investigational new drugs (IND), gastrointestinal (GI) oncology, and translational research at the University of Colorado at Denver in 2008. Since then, she has been an active member and Principal Investigator in the GI and IND groups at CCI and is the current CCI GI Tumour Group Lead. She has peer-reviewed grant funding from the Alberta Cancer Foundation, Alberta Innovates Health Solutions, as well as grants from multiple pharmaceutical companies for her GI and phase I investigator initiated trials. Dr. Spratlin is the fellowship director at the CCI and a leader in physician wellness.

Dr. Mary Jane Esplen is Professor and Vice- Chair, Department of Psychiatry, Temerty Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto, former Clinician- Scientist at University Health Network and founded de Souza Institute –a National Centre of education for oncology health professionals. She has held Career Scientist awards from CIHR and NCIC for psychosocial oncology research, completing studies of psychotherapeutic treatments to support adjustment to being diagnosed with cancer or receiving genetic risk information in breast, colorectal or pancreatic cancer.  Other areas of research include studies addressing body image among cancer survivors or the management of grief and loss.  Dr. Esplen gives numerous workshops and keynotes and has received several awards, including the lifetime achievement award from Canadian Association Psychosocial Oncology and the Bernard Fox Memorial Award from International Psycho-oncology Society.  

Marylise Boutros is a Staff Colorectal Surgeon at the Sir Mortimer B. Davis Jewish General Hospital (JGH) and Associate Professor of Surgery at McGill University, in Montreal, Canada. Having completed General Surgery residency at McGill University and Colorectal Surgery residency at Cleveland Clinic Florida, her clinical interests are advanced minimally invasive approaches to benign and malignant colorectal and anorectal diseases. She treats colon and rectal cancer, inflammatory bowel disease, diverticular disease, fecal incontinence and all anorectal disorders. Dr. Boutros is the Program Director of the Colorectal Surgery Residency at McGill. She also leads the JGH-McGill Colon & Rectal Surgery Outcomes Research Program that is focused on innovation and outcomes research. Dr. Boutros plays an active role in General Surgery resident education at McGill University.

Robin was ultimately diagnosed with late stage rectal cancer in 2010, after two years of seriously bungled medical attention. She was dismissed repeatedly by three family doctors and a general surgeon. Despite daily rectal bleeding, an immediate family history of CRC, and a positive cancer screening test, Robin waited 661 days for diagnostic endoscopy. While in treatment, she learned that FOLFOX chemotherapy was not authorized in Nova Scotia for rectal cancer. Robin and her community successfully lobbied the government to extend the formulary to include it, although too late for Robin to receive it. Since, over 1200 Nova Scotians have had access to this best chance at cure. Unfortunately, in 2017, Robin’s cancer recurred. Sadly, she was once again the victim of serious medical error, when a radiologist missed a 2-cm tumour on a CT scan. When the malignancy was discovered six months later on another scan, the tumour had gown to 10-cms, and had progressed to an inoperable position. She is now on chemotherapy for life, after 5 major surgeries, 28-days of radiation, and over 40 chemotherapy treatments. Throughout the years, Robin has been a strong patient advocate. She has been profiled on multiple blogs and podcasts by various organizations, and has given multiple talks to various community groups (e.g., churches, dentists, book clubs, medical schools, etc.). In 2015, Robin was awarded the Canadian Cancer Society’s highest honour, The National Medal of Courage. In addition, in 2016 Robin was decorated by the Governor General of Canada with the Sovereign’s Medal for Volunteers. Robin’s love for advocacy runs deep; it is now her mission in life for the time that she has left.

Dr. Scott Berry is a medical oncologist, Professor and Head of the Queen's University Department of Oncology.  He is the Medical Director at the Cancer Centre of Southeastern Ontario at the Kingston Health Sciences Centre. Dr. Berry is an active participant in clinical research in gastrointestinal cancer and is Principal Investigator for Canadian Cancer Trials Group rectal cancer trial CO.31. He is the Co-Chair of the Gastrointestinal Disease Site Group of the Cancer Ontario Program in Evidence Based Care.  Dr. Berry loves teaching, has won several teaching awards and is a past Chair of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada Specialty Committee for Medical Oncology. Dr Berry is the one of the co-founders of OncologyEducation.com. His current focus is developing educational strategies to improve equity in global cancer care. His other academic interest is the bioethical issues surrounding the care of people with cancer, in particular the ethical issues surrounding funding new and expensive cancer medications. Dr. Berry has a Masters degree in Bioethics from the University of Toronto. He is the former ethics advisor to the pan-Canadian Oncology Drug Review and has served on the ASCO Ethics Committee

Iris received her BSc with Distinction in Anatomy and Cell Biology from McGill University in 2011. She has worked for Colorectal Cancer Canada since 2012, where she began as a volunteer leading tours through the inflatable Giant Colon. Today, she works as Patient Education & Research Manager, helping patients access the right information at the right time throughout their cancer care path.   

Jason est un survivant du cancer du côlon à présentation précoce de stade 3b qui a reçu son diagnostic et a subi des traitements à Ottawa, en Ontario, durant la pandémie de COVID 19. Il vit avec sa femme: Leslie et leur fille de 2 ans: Kira, dans l’Ontario rural où il travaille comme premier intervenant. Jay est récemment devenu un défenseur actif des hommes masculins atteints de cancer et de leurs proches aidants. Il œuvre au sein de l’organisation « Man up to Cancer »: une communauté en ligne offrant un soutien émotionnel et des ressources.

Manna is a stage 4 colon cancer survivor from a small town on Vancouver Island, BC. She was diagnosed at 42 years old in October 2019, on the cusp of the pandemic. Despite experiencing years of recurrent symptoms of colon cancer, having a positive FIT and a family history, her diagnosis was severely delayed due to aged-based screening protocols and gender bias, which ultimately resulted in advanced-stage disease. After having surgery in 2019 and adjuvant chemo in 2020, Manna’s most recent semi-annual scan in March 2022 showed she is currently cancer free. She hopes her story of delayed diagnosis can help others self-advocate should they find themselves in a similar position in the future.

Natalie Leon is a nurse clinician who has been an active and working member of the Jewish General Hospital community for nearly 20 years. Natalie is a graduate from Concordia University with a Bachelor in Psychology. Her passion to help others and make a positive difference in the world lead to an enrollment at McGill University where she completed a Bachelor of Science in Nursing. Her interest in being part of the solution has extended to work with Centre de Jeunesse (Youth Protection - DPJ) as a community nurse, McGill as a teacher assistant for 1st year  nursing students as well as presentations and collaborations with the CANO and Hope and Cope organizations amongst others.   Natalie’s professional debut into the world of Oncology started with her role as a Nurse Clinician in the JGH Cancer Nutrition Rehabilitation Program (CNR) with the aim that the team work with the patient and their care givers to improve the nutrition, physical function and overall quality of life of an individual, which lead her to transition into her current role as nurse navigator (L'infimier-pivot) for the Colo rectal Cancer division. In this role, she continues to work closely with her medical partners to help patients understand their personalized care plan, while providing symptom management and psycho social support throughout the cancer care trajectory.    During the pandemic she worked with nursing colleagues to design, fine tune, and implement the Oncology Covid clinic to monitor and support the oncology population of the Jewish General Hospital.

Pierre is stage III colon cancer survivor who was diagnosed during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. He is currently in the middle of a career change after more than 15 years in public relations. Pierre is also an avid rower, teaches at Scullhouse, and enjoys cycling and running throughout the city.

Ryan Player is a Chartered Professional Accountant and continues to work in the accounting industry post cancer. Ryan was diagnosed in December 2019 and is focused on spending time with his wife and two kids while getting back to doing all of the things that they loved doing prior to his diagnosis.

Pharmacist Suzanne Zwicker graduated from Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia in 1988 with a Bachelor of Science in Pharmacy.
Since then, she has practiced pharmacy in various community settings; from rural pharmacy in small communities to Specialty Pharmacy serving patients across the province. She worked for several years in a community pharmacy located within the QE2 Health Science Center in Halifax. Hospital out-patient clinics served by this pharmacy included the cancer center.
A varied career as a Community Pharmacist has provided the privilege and opportunity to work with cancer patients and their families. In all settings Patient education has always been a large area of focus.
Understanding the needs of patients and their caregivers lead Suzanne to supplement her ongoing pharmacy education with post-graduate education. She achieved a graduate certificate in Diabetes education in 2012 from the Michener Institute for Applied Health Sciences, and a Certificate in Adult Education in 2017 from Dalhousie University. Suzanne is currently a practicing pharmacist at Innomar Pharmacy in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia. She holds the position of Senior Manager/Clinical Pharmacist on the National Pharmacy Team for Innomar, where she is involved in building patient teaching resources for Pharmacists nationally.

Wendy is a Certified Laughter Yoga Teacher, Laughter Ambassador and Laughercize Party and Workshop Leader. She is the founder and leader of Laughter FIT, which has been joyfully meeting every Saturday afternoon for seven years. Wendy is the creator and facilitator of Laughter 101: No joke(s)!, a four-week course designed to use laughter as a health and wellness tool, and facilitator of Laughter FIT’s two-day Laughter Yoga Leader Certification training. She has witnessed the profound healing benefits of laughter on herself while coping with a chronic illness, and countless other Laughletes. She is eager to share the simple yet profound power of laughter with anyone who is willing to give it a try.