2022 Speakers

Keynote speaker

Dr. Colleen Davison

Dr. Colleen Davison is a PhD trained Social Epidemiologist and Global Population Health Researcher who has a tenured appointment in the Department of Public Health Sciences and cross-appointment in the Department of Global Development Studies. She is the Associate Dean for Equity and Social Accountability in the Faculty of Health Sciences at Queen’s University. Dr. Davison’s ongoing, overall aim is to use research, knowledge translation and capacity development to enhance health equity globally. In her teaching, research, and academic service she engages with issues of social justice and health, child and adolescent health and rights, global health and equity-centered research approaches. She is a founding member of the ARCH Research Collaboration for Global Health Equity at Queen’s University and is currently the Vice-Chair of Board of the Canadian Association for Global Health.

Panelist

Coralie Vilgrain

As a first generation Canadian who grew up in Haiti, I have been passionate about fighting inequality for as long as I can remember. That passion led me to, first; pursue a bachelor’s degree in International Studies with a focus on Cooperation and Development at the University of Montreal. Motivated by the principles of south-south cooperation and pan Africanism, as a student, I became Vice President of the African Association, delegate then head delegate for the International Model African Union, and was involved in South-North workshops. It was also during that time that I had my first brush with public service, as I became an intern at the Right Honorable Justin Trudeau’s Constituency Office. After my Bachelors, I began my career at Immigration Refugees and Citizenship Canada, part time at first, as I was completing a Master’s of Science in Administration, with a focus on International Business, Knowledge management and development at the same time. As a young woman of color in a research role in the Canadian Public Service at a time where organizations are trying to become more conscious of institutional bias, I feel it is important to contribute to these conversations in a meaningful way, and drive change through my work. 

Panelist

Brianne O’Sullivan

Brie O’Sullivan is a Health Information Science PhD candidate at Western University studying the use of robotics and AI to strengthen low-resource public health systems. She is also the 2022 Canadian Youth Delegate to the World Health Assembly and Pan American Sanitary Conference, the governing bodies of the World Health Organization and Pan American Health Organization, respectively. In this role, she works closely with Canada’s Office of International Affairs and the Public Health Agency of Canada to ensure youth voices are reflected in Canada’s engagement in international health policy and governance. Brie is a lifelong learner who is passionate about health equity, sustainable technological innovation in public health, and meaningful youth inclusion in high-level policy and decision making.

Panelist

Dr. Yipeng Ge

Yipeng Ge is a Chinese-Canadian, first-generation immigrant, and a humble and grateful guest of this land. He grew up in Waterloo, Ontario and completed his undergraduate studies at McMaster University in Health Sciences (Honours) with a specialization in Global Health. Yipeng is a resident physician in Public Health and Preventive Medicine in Ottawa, where he also received his MD degree. Currently, he is in his third year of residency training and working towards a Master of Public Health degree (Health and Social Behaviour) at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.

Yipeng is a member of the Board of Directors for the Canadian Public Health Association and Canadian Doctors for Medicare. Yipeng is passionate about tackling health and social inequities through addressing the social and broader determinants of health, including anti-racism work and practice in medical education. He is a member of the CIHR (Canadian Institutes of Health Research) Anti-Racism Advisory Committee, tasked with helping to shape and develop CIHR’s anti-racism action plan.

Yipeng has worked for various global health organizations including the World Health Organization (Headquarters) in Geneva, Switzerland and the Population Health Research Institute in Hamilton, Ontario. He took on the role of leading the Canadian Global Health Students and Young Professionals Summit in 2018. He was the first student/young professional co-chair for the 25th annual Canadian Conference on Global Health in 2019. In 2020, he was Canada’s official youth delegate to the 73rd World Health Assembly and the 58th Pan American Health Organization Directing Council.

Panelist

Stephanie Bumba

Stephanie Bumba is a nurse clinician from Montreal. She recently completed her Master’s degree in Health Services Administration at the School of Public Health of the University of Montreal. 

She is the creator of a web series called “These Afro-Scientists from Yesterday to Today”, which highlights Black scientists who have contributed to the advancement of health sciences but remain invisibles in the educational literature. The capsules are available on her YouTube channel “Nurse Stephie Tv”.

In 2021, Ms Bumba has been recognized as the first nurse clinician to write a series of blog posts for the Montreal Science Centre. She has also lectured at several educational institutions, including the University of Ottawa, McGill University and the University of Montreal.

Her work has been featured in several national newspapers including CBC, Global News, Montreal Gazette and The Toronto Star. 

She has been one of the nominees for the prestigious Florence 2022 Award from the Ordre des infirmières et infirmiers du Québec.

Panel Moderator

Margaret Mutumba

Margaret Mutumba is passionate public health scholar with over 10 years of experience in maternal, child and sexual & reproductive health in Sub-Saharan Africa. Some of her work includes initiatives focused on reduction of maternal mortality, youth impacted/orphaned by the HIV epidemic, sexual & reproductive health advocacy and more recently, addressing barriers to family forming due to infertility. Margaret is also the founder of MedAtlas; a digital health startup whose goal is simplifying access to specialist healthcare in Africa. MedAtlas has won innovation awards and aims to leverage technology advances to deliver fast, affordable, quality specialist care to the continent.