Dr. Cathy Craven
University of Toronto
Toronto, ON
Cathy Craven is the Toronto Rehabilitation Institute/ University of Toronto Chair in Spinal Cord Injury (SCI) Rehabilitation, Professor in the Temerty Faculty of Medicine at the University of Toronto, Medical Director of the Spinal Cord Rehabilitation Program and Senior Scientist at KITE Research Institute within University Health Network. Dr. Craven is a Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences and the American Spinal Injury Association.
She has clinical and research expertise in health services and medical rehabilitation after Spinal Cord Injury. Dr. Craven is Chair of the Canadian SCI – Rehabilitation Association (www.cscira.org), Quality Lead for the Ontario SCI Implementation and Evaluation Quality Care Consortium (www.sciconsortium.ca) and panel chair for the PVA Bone Health and Osteoporosis Management Guideline.
She has published over 200 articles on related topics and obtained 24M CAD in research funding as a primary investigator (ORCID 0000-0001-8234-6803). www.cravenlab.ca; #@drcathycraven
Dr. Sid Felman
University of Toronto
Toronto, ON
Dr. Sid Feldman is an Associate Professor and Head of the Division of Care of the Elderly in the Department of Family and Community Medicine (DFCM), Temerty Faculty of Medicine (TFoM), University of Toronto.
At Baycrest Health Sciences, he serves as the Chief of Family and Community Medicine and Executive Medical Director of Residential Programs. Provincially, he is the Past-Chair of the steering committee for the Provincial Geriatric Leadership Ontario (PGLO) and for over fifteen years, he has served on the Ontario Chief Coroner’s Geriatric Review Committee. Nationally, he heads the Members Interest Group in Care of the Elderly at the College of Family Physicians of Canada (over 4,000 family physician members) and Choosing Wisely Canada’s Long-term Care program (co-chair).
He is a committed comprehensive family physician affiliated with the North York Family Health Team and with the Department of Family and Community Medicine at North York General Hospital. Dr. Feldman has interest in the primary community care of older adults and care of those living in long-term care. Significant areas of interest include osteoporosis and fracture prevention, appropriate prescribing for older adults, and care of those living with dementia including caregiver support and the management of behavioural and psychological symptoms of dementia.
Key publications include authorship on Clinical Practice Guidelines on osteoporosis and fracture prevention in 2010 (community) and 2015 (long-term care) as well as new guidelines to be published in October 2023.
Mr. Larry Funnell
Vancouver, BC
Motivated by an unexpected diagnosis of osteoporosis Larry is a determined advocate for improvements in the understanding and management of osteoporosis in Canada. After retiring in 2006 from a 35 year career in the federal government Larry immediately launched a second career as a volunteer, drawing on his lived experience to increasingly lead and participate in efforts to raise awareness, fundraise, advocate for and otherwise support osteoporosis programs. He sat on the Executive Committee of the Canadian Osteoporosis Patient Network (COPN) of Osteoporosis Canada (OC) for 17 years, a span of time that included five years as the COPN Chair and another five years on OC’s Board of Directors.
His desire to see patient engagement embedded as a core principle in clinical research prompted him to become a Research Ambassador for the Institute of Musculoskeletal Health and Arthritis of the Canadian Institute of Health Research. This in turn bolstered and catalyzed his engagement as a patient partner on numerous research initiatives including as a co-lead of the Implementation Science Team project “FLS – Breaking the Cycle of Recurrent Fractures” and as the co-lead of the Catalyst Grant for Policy Research “Preventing the next fracture: Spreading Fracture Liaison Service across British Columbia”.
As an advocate for men’s health, Larry frequently speaks on issues related to men and osteoporosis. In 2011 he led the creation of Bones ‘n’ Beer, a unique initiative to raise awareness of men’s bone health that has been replicated more than 20 times across Canada.
Larry has been on the steering committee for the update of the Clinical Practice Guideline for Osteoporosis since the committee was formed in 2017.
Dr. Lora Giangregorio
University of Waterloo
Waterloo, ON
Dr. Lora Giangregorio, PhD is a Professor in the Department of Kinesiology at the University of Waterloo, and a Schlegel Research Chair in Mobility and Aging. She leads the Bone Health and Exercise Science Lab, or BonES lab. The BonES lab team leads research on physical activity for older adults and people with osteoporosis.
She is a member of the Scientific Advisory Council for Osteoporosis Canada, with whom she collaborates on initiatives to improve patient and health care provider education. Dr. Giangregorio was on the leadership team that developed the 2020 Canadian 24-hour Movement Guidelines. She also led the Exercise Working Group for the forthcoming Clinical Practice Guidelines for Management of Osteoporosis and Fracture Prevention in Canada.
Dr. Nicholas Harvey
University of Southampton
Southampton, United Kingdom
Dr. Nicholas Harvey, MA MB BChir PhD FRCP FAOP FASBMR, trained in medicine at the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge. He is Professor of Rheumatology and Clinical Epidemiology at the University of Southampton and Director of the University’s MRC Lifecourse Epidemiology Centre, where he leads a programmatic structure investigating the lifecourse epidemiology, determinants and underlying mechanisms of common chronic noncommunicable musculoskeletal disorders of ageing, principally osteoporosis, sarcopenia and osteoarthritis, to inform novel preventive and therapeutic interventions.
He is Chair of the International Osteoporosis Foundation Committee of Scientific Advisors; a Board Member of the European Society for Clinical and Economic Aspects of Osteoporosis, Osteoarthritis and Musculoskeletal Diseases; a former Trustee of the UK Royal Osteoporosis Society (ROS) and was inaugural Vice-Chair of the ROS Osteoporosis and Bone Research Academy. He is a Fellow of the Association of Physicians of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and of the American Society for Bone and Mineral Research (ASBMR). He has won many national/international prizes, most recently the International Osteoporosis Foundation Olof Johnell Science Award.
Dr. Harvey has published over 400 articles, has accrued>£50m grant funding and is a member of many national/ international committees, including as Musculoskeletal Lead for the UK Biobank Imaging Study, as a member of the UK National Osteoporosis Guideline Group Advisory Committee, as a past member of the
Dr. Famida Jiwa
Osteoporosis Canada
Toronto, ON
Dr. Jiwa is the President and CEO of Osteoporosis Canada, and has been with the organization since 2006. Prior to joining Osteoporosis Canada, Dr. Jiwa was the former Provincial Osteoporosis Co-ordinator, employed by the Ontario Ministry of Health and Long Term Care and charged with rolling out all aspects of the $5 million annual Ontario Osteoporosis Strategy.
Prior to this and after leaving her private practice in Orlando, Florida, Dr. Jiwa was a Program Consultant for the Acute Services Division of the Ministry of Health, where she played a significant role in project planning, implementation and evaluation of a number of provincial health initiatives, including chronic kidney disease, asthma and age-related macular degeneration.
In 2020 Dr. Jiwa was elected to the Board of Directors of the International Osteoporosis Foundation, representing North America, for a term of 4 years. She also serves as the chair of the Patient Societies Subcommittee of the Committee of National Societies (CNS) of the International Osteoporosis Foundation (IOF). In 2020, Dr. Jiwa was awarded the CNS Medal from the International Osteoporosis Foundation. In 2016, she was awarded the President’s Award from the International Osteoporosis Foundation.
She is also the recipient of the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal. Dr. Jiwa has also attained the designation of Certified Health Executive from the Canadian College of Health Service Executives, and in 2017 she completed the Strategic Perspectives in Nonprofit Management program at Harvard Business School. She holds a Masters Degree in Health Administration from the Department of Health Policy, Management and Evaluation from the University of Toronto, a Doctorate of Chiropractic from the Canadian Memorial Chiropractic College in Toronto, as well as an Honours Bachelor of Science, Genetics and Psychology from the University of Toronto.
Dr. Andy Kin On Wong
University of Toronto
Toronto, ON
Dr. Andy Kin On Wong is an imaging and data scientist at UHN (TGHRI) and UofT, investigating the interactions among muscles, bones and joints in the context of osteoporosis, sarcopenia and osteoarthritis.
His research team uses Python, R, and SAS to discover new imaging biomarkers to predict painful musculoskeletal changes in older adults by applying traditional epidemiology and machine learning.
His work is funded by CIHR and the Arthritis Society. Dr. Wong is also a member of the SAC at OC and leads the CMC Young Investigator Day.
Dr. Sandra Kim
Women’s College Hospital
University of Toronto
Toronto, ON
Dr. Sandra Kim is the past chair of the Scientific Advisory Council for Osteoporosis Canada, and is co-chair of the Pharmacotherapy working group for the OC Clinical Practice Guidelines Update.
She is the director of the Centre for Osteoporosis & Bone Health at Women’s College Hospital and Assistant Professor of Medicine at the University of Toronto in the Division of Endocrinology & Metabolism. She is involved with the Ontario Osteoporosis Strategy in leading osteoporosis care outreach to under-serviced communities through telemedicine and is a member of the Canadian panel for the International Society for Clinical Densitometry.
Dr. Kim is actively involved in teaching at the undergraduate and postgraduate levels and is the recipient of several education awards. Her research interests include evaluating outcomes of osteoporosis care delivered by telemedicine, quality of bone density reports and transgender bone health.
Dr. Suzanne Morin
McGill University
Montreal, QC
Dr. Suzanne Morin graduated from the Faculty of Medicine at Université Laval de Québec, did her Internal Medicine specialty training and obtained a Master’s in epidemiology and biostatistics from McGill University, where she is now Associate Professor in the Department of Medicine, Director of the Division of General Internal Medicine at the McGill University Health Centre, and scientist at the Centre for Outcomes Research and Evaluation of the Research Institute of the McGill University Health Centre.
Dr Morin’s research program includes evaluation of outcomes of osteoporosis and fractures and of initiatives to improve fracture risk, pain management and functional recovery post- fracture with an interest in using wearables and mobile applications. She is a leader in clinical practice guidelines development for the management and prevention of osteoporosis and fractures.
She is a scholar from the Fonds de Recherche du Québec en Santé, and has received funding from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research and other peer-reviewed agencies. She is a member of Advisory Board of the Institute of Musculoskeletal Health and Arthritis (CIHR), is past-Chair of the Scientific Advisory Council of Osteoporosis Canada and a member of the Council of Scientific Advisors of the International Osteoporosis Foundation.
Dr. Dawn Richards
Five02 Labs Inc.
Toronto,ON
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 ultimately health and healthcare.
She helps people and organizations design and execute on their ‘patient engagement’ initiatives using leading practices and tailoring their approaches to meet their goals and their patient partners’ needs. Some of her current clients include Clinical Trials Ontario, the Canadian Institutes of Health Research’s Institute of Musculoskeletal Health and Arthritis, and the University Health Network.
She has contributed to the literature and practice in patient engagement around compensation of patient partners, authorship with patient partners, recognizing patients as people with various skills and who lead fulfilling lives, and education around patient engagement in research. As a volunteer, Dawn is Vice President of the Canadian Arthritis Patient Alliance and a member of The BMJ’s Patient Advisory Panel.
Dr. Rowena Ridout
Toronto Western Hospital
University Health Network
Toronto,ON
Dr. Ridout is an endocrinologist at the Toronto Western Hospital, University Health Network and a staff physician at the UHN/MSH Osteoporosis Program. She completed her undergraduate and postgraduate medical training at the University of Toronto.
She has been involved in clinical research in osteoporosis including the attainment and maintenance of peak bone mass, the treatment of steroid-induced osteoporosis in boys with Duchene Muscular Dystrophy and interventions in the fracture clinic. She is an Assistant Professor of Medicine at the University of Toronto, and her primary academic activity is teaching and education.