PROGRAM: IN-PERSON CONVENTION
7:30AM
Registration Opens with Breakfast
8:50AM - 9:30AM
Orientation, Welcome and Opening Remarks
9:30AM - 9:45AM
Break
9:45AM - 11:45AM
Workshops
Our program continues to evolve. Check back regularly for updates!
Workshops, Thematic Panels, Student Case Event
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 26, 2025
LOCATION: BEANFIELD CENTRE (TORONTO)
A.M. Half-day Workshops
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Target Audience: Leaders & Senior Specialists
Potential Accreditation: Yes
Lead Facilitator:
Colin Furness, MISt PhD MPH, Associate Professor, Teaching Stream, Faculty of Information, Master of Information Program Director, Faculty of Information, Associate of Trinity College, University of Toronto
Description:
What's the difference between a 'team of experts' and an 'expert team'? The first is a multidisciplinary group with differing beliefs, methods, and recommendations, from which choices are made. The other is an interdisciplinary collective that can connect disparate knowledge to frame problems and solutions better than any one discipline. This workshop provides a practical theory of expertise in a 3-mode model, to argue that enacting collective expertise relies on recognizing and including an often-missing third mode: abstractive expertise. Participants will learn how to define, recognize, and foster abstractive expertise to make a multidisciplinary group into an interdisciplinary team.
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Level: Beginner to Advanced Beginner
Potential Accreditation: Yes
Lead Facilitators:
Karina Magalhaes, RN, BScN, BScKIN, MPH, Durham Region Health Department
Katherine Dunford, RN, BScN, HBSc, Public Health Nurse, Family and Community Health, Peterborough Public Health
Description:
The Ontario ACEs and Resilience Framework was developed by leaders specializing in adversity, child development, and resilience and consolidates best evidence on the topic into a framework that can be used to facilitate cross-sector collaboration among public health units, government, schools, service providers, and communities. It aims to empower communities with strategies to apply research, build support, and foster collective action locally and provincially, leading to positive population health outcomes. Participants will learn about the framework and its application through interactive discussions, exploring evidence-based strategies that can be tailored to community needs and local context.
Extended-day Workshops (Part 1)
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Level: Advanced Beginner to Intermediate
Potential Accreditation: Yes
Lead Facilitators:
Anne Augustin, MLT, MSc, CIC, Team Lead, Outbreak Response and Support, Communicable Disease Control, Public Health Ontario
Maureen Cividino, MD CCFP FCFP DOHS CBOM CIC, IPAC Physician, Public Health Ontario
Description:
The wellness market is growing significantly with new products and emerging services increasingly available. Public health units (PHUs) are endeavouring to stay ahead of the curve and respond to an ever-changing field to ensure services offered to the public are safe. Public Health Ontario has been supporting PHUs' inquiries, consultations, and infection prevention and control lapses related to these emerging services. This workshop offers an interactive discussion and will conduct an exercise to identify barriers and facilitators to develop a comprehensive, accessible way forward to support the safe delivery of these services in Ontario.
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Level: Advanced Beginner to Intermediate
Potential Accreditation: Yes
Lead Facilitators:
Alexandra Lamoureux, M.S.W, R.S.W., Manager, Equity and Engagement, Provincial System Support Program, Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH)
Jacob Wolframe, PhD,Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH)
Nandini Saxena, MSW, RSW, MPA, National Collaborating Centre for Determinants of Health
Rebecca Cheff, BA, MPH, Knowledge Translation Specialist, National Collaborating Centre for Determinants of Health
Description:
While the public health sector is committed to advancing health equity and is embedded as a priority in the (forthcoming) refreshed 2024 Core Competencies for Public Health in Canada and the (forthcoming) refreshed 2025 Ontario Public Health Standards, there is limited evidence on how to implement concrete health equity actions. This workshop will provide participants with relevant published and practice-based evidence, frameworks and tools they can use in their own contexts on how to implement health equity in varied public health organizations. To address health inequities, the capacity to implement and lead meaningful health equity action is required.
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Level: Beginner to Advanced Beginner
Potential Accreditation: Yes
Lead Facilitators:
Dr. Nicole Blackman, DNP, MN, RN,Chief Operating Officer, Indigenous Primary Health Care Council
Triti Khorasheh, MPH, Emerald Health Consulting
Description:
The Indigenous Primary Health Care Council, in partnership with public health partners, developed a toolkit entitled "First Nation, Inuit, and Métis Community Engagement Guide: For Public Health Agencies". Using a two-eyed seeing approach, this resource provides practical tools to support public health professionals in planning and delivering services by, with, and for First Nations, Inuit, and Métis communities and organizations. This interactive workshop is designed for public health professionals to learn and apply key engagement concepts and tools by working through community case studies in small and large group activities.
11:45AM - 1:00PM
1:00PM - 4:00PM
Lunch and Informal Networking
1:00PM - 2:10PM
Workshops
Student Case Event
Extended-day Workshops (Part 2)
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Level: Advanced Beginner to Intermediate
Potential Accreditation: Yes
Lead Facilitators:
Anne Augustin, MLT, MSc, CIC, Team Lead, Outbreak Response and Support, Communicable Disease Control, Public Health Ontario
Maureen Cividino, MD CCFP FCFP DOHS CBOM CIC, IPAC Physician, Public Health Ontario
Description:
The wellness market is growing significantly with new products and emerging services increasingly available. Public health units (PHUs) are endeavouring to stay ahead of the curve and respond to an ever-changing field to ensure services offered to the public are safe. Public Health Ontario has been supporting PHUs' inquiries, consultations, and infection prevention and control lapses related to these emerging services. This workshop offers an interactive discussion and will conduct an exercise to identify barriers and facilitators to develop a comprehensive, accessible way forward to support the safe delivery of these services in Ontario.
-
Level: Advanced Beginner to Intermediate
Potential Accreditation: Yes
Lead Facilitators:
Alexandra Lamoureux, M.S.W, R.S.W., Manager, Equity and Engagement, Provincial System Support Program, Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH)
Jacob Wolframe, PhD,Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH)
Nandini Saxena, MSW, RSW, MPA,National Collaborating Centre for Determinants of Health
Rebecca Cheff, BA, MPH, Knowledge Translation Specialist, National Collaborating Centre for Determinants of Health
Description:
While the public health sector is committed to advancing health equity and is embedded as a priority in the (forthcoming) refreshed 2024 Core Competencies for Public Health in Canada and the (forthcoming) refreshed 2025 Ontario Public Health Standards, there is limited evidence on how to implement concrete health equity actions. This workshop will provide participants with relevant published and practice-based evidence, frameworks and tools they can use in their own contexts on how to implement health equity in varied public health organizations. To address health inequities, the capacity to implement and lead meaningful health equity action is required.
-
Level: Beginner to Advanced Beginner
Potential Accreditation: Yes
Lead Facilitators:
Dr. Nicole Blackman, DNP, MN, RN, Chief Operating Officer, Indigenous Primary Health Care Council
Triti Khorasheh, MPH, Emerald Health Consulting
Description:
The Indigenous Primary Health Care Council, in partnership with public health partners, developed a toolkit entitled "First Nation, Inuit, and Métis Community Engagement Guide: For Public Health Agencies". Using a two-eyed seeing approach, this resource provides practical tools to support public health professionals in planning and delivering services by, with, and for First Nations, Inuit, and Métis communities and organizations. This interactive workshop is designed for public health professionals to learn and apply key engagement concepts and tools by working through community case studies in small and large group activities.
1:00PM - 3:00PM
P.M. Half-day Workshops
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Level: Beginner to Advanced Beginner
Potential Accreditation: Yes
Lead Facilitators:
Linda Vrbova, MSc PhD, Head, Public Health Risk Assessment, Risk Assessment Division (RAD), Centre for Surveillance, Integrated Insights and Risk Assessment (SIIRA), Data, Surveillance and Foresight Branch (DSFB), Public Health Agency of Canada
Dana Tschritter, BSc MSc, Epidemiologist and Risk Assessor, Risk Assessment Division, Public Health Agency of Canada
Description:
Rapid risk assessment (RRA) brings together various expertise to focus on answering a specific risk question to aid in early decision making. Risk framing is a critical first step, ensuring that the assessment will focus on the appropriate issues and guide decisions. This workshop will start with short lectures and then focus on group work applying the concepts using scenarios. By the end of the workshop, participants will be able to: describe the components of an RRA for infectious disease events, understand the standard method to conduct risk framing, and apply it to an infectious disease event.
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Level: Beginner to Advanced Beginner
Potential Accreditation: Yes
Lead Facilitators:
Kristina Smith, RN, BScN, CCHN (C), Nursing Project Officer, Ottawa Public Health, Community Health and Wellness branch
Catherine Millar, MSc., Senior Health Analyst and Data Consultant, Epidemiology team, Ottawa Public Health (OPH)
Description:
The MHASUH Community Dashboard, launched in November 2023, centralizes data on mental health, addictions, and substance use health, supporting community-driven actions to improve public health. Created with 45+ partners, including individuals with lived expertise, it equips public health professionals to identify service gaps, address systemic barriers, and prioritize equity. This dashboard exemplifies the impact of collaboration, data sharing, and equity-focused solutions in public health. Workshop participants will gain practical insights into developing community-driven data tools, using localized data for planning, reducing inequities, and addressing services gaps as well as learning how to enhance decision-making with data visualization.
1:00PM - 2:10PM
Thematic Panel 1
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Speakers:
James R. Dunn, PhD, Associate Dean, Research, Faculty of Social Sciences, McMaster University, Professor, Department of Health, Aging & Society, Senator William McMaster Chair in Urban Health Equity; Director, Canadian Housing Evidence Collaborative (CHEC)
Stephen Gaetz, C.M., Professor and York Research Chair in Homelessness and Research Impact; President of the Canadian Observatory on Homelessness (Homeless Hub); Research Director, Making the Shift Youth Homelessness Social Innovation Lab, Faculty of Education, York University
Gillian Connelly, M.Sc, CMO, Program Manager, Supportive Healthy Environments, Ottawa Public Health
Moderator:
Alexander Summers, MD, Medical Officer of Health, Middlesex-London Health Unit
2:20PM - 3:30PM
Thematic Panel 2
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Speakers:
Linda Rabeneck, CM MD, MPH FRCP, Former Vice President, Prevention and Cancer Control at Cancer Care Ontario (Ontario Health); Senior Scientist at the Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences (IC/ES); Professor of Medicine, University of Toronto
Madelyn Law, PhD, MA, BSM, Director of the Interprofessional Education for Quality Program (I-EQUIP), Associate Professor, Brock University; Director of Quality, Patient Safety and Risk, Niagara Health
Third Speaker TBA
Moderator:
Dr. Tamara Wallington, MD FRCPC,Vice President and Chief, Healthy People, Environments and Quality Programs, Public Health Ontario
4:00PM - 5:00PM
Informal Networking
Participant agendas will be distributed in advance of the live day. Participants are encouraged to refer to these agendas to gain insights into the anticipated flow of the workshop and details regarding specific segments of the program.
The Beanfield Centre is located at 105 Princes Blvd. Toronto, ON, M6K 3C3. Workshop room locations will be provided closer to the date.
Dietary restrictions must be submitted before March 18th.
Badge sharing is not permitted.
Attendees are encouraged to bring their laptops or tablets to take notes and follow along. Only a limited number of handouts will be available.
We express our gratitude to the Program Planning Committee for offering programming advice that takes into account the wider educational and training requirements of public health professionals.
Disclaimer: These presentations were created by their authors. TOPHC is not the owner of the content. Any application or use of the information in the presentation is the responsibility of the user. TOPHC assumes no liability resulting from any such application or use.