Gordon Whitehead was first diagnosed with Rheumatoid Arthritis in 1976. At that time he was a serving diplomat in the Canadian Foreign Service and he found that confronting and treating his disease proved particularly challenging when moving to and from places such as Islamabad, New Delhi, London, Bonn, Warsaw and other locales where treatments were sometimes inaccessible or at a remove from Canadian norms. He served in a wide variety of positions in External Affairs, latterly that of Director of Programmes for Europe, which embraced responsibility for Canadian academic, cultural and scientific exchanges with Western and Eastern Europe. He was also on the official Canadian Delegations to formal meetings on Cultural Exchanges and Human Rights, held under the auspices of the Helsinki Accords.
A native of British Columbia, Gordon moved back to the Province when he became Director of Immigration Policy for the Government of BC in 1992. In 1994, he was appointed as a judge on the Immigration and Refugee Board in Vancouver, a position he retired from in 2002 .
Because of career demands and a peripatetic lifestyle, Gordon is a late entrant to the domain of volunteer work and arthritis advocacy. In 2003, he joined "Patient Partners in Arthritis" --- an organisation that does demonstrations of musculoskeketal examinations to health care providers and he is now Vancouver Site Co-Coordinator for that organisation. He has since become a member of CAPA (Canadian Arthritis Patient Alliance) and he is now attached to the Planning Committee for the upcoming Ottawa Summit on Standards of Arthritis Care. He is greatly enjoying his work with the Consumer Advisory Board of the Arthritis Research Centre of Canada. Gordon believes strongly that we Canadians have both the collective will and the capacity to make the Canadian Health Care system the best and most responsive in the world for persons afflicted with arthritis and other chronic conditions.
Céline Pitre
I look forward to sharing my experience with the Consumer Advisory Board, both as a team member as well as the Vice Chair of the ARC Board of Directors.
As an interior designer diagnosed with Osteoarthritis in 2003 I know, first hand, the challenges that we all face. I also know that I can lend unique insights and creative solutions that will improve the way arthritis sufferers live, work and play.
As a business entrepreneur for over 30 years in the Interior Design industry I can bring both right and left-brain thoughtfulness to this advisory board.
I’m tenacious when it comes to solutions. No is not a popular word in my bi-lingual vocabulary. I will work hard to lobby my peers and bend the ear of design and architecture professionals about the challenges arthritis sufferers, both young and old, face today.
I know what it’s like to live with this debilitating disease and I’m convinced that together we can improve our prognosis and care for the future and our living and working environment right now.
Colleen Maloney
Colleen Maloney was diagnosed with Rheumatoid Arthritis in 1974. Colleen’s experience with arthritis advocacy began in 1986. In the beginning she advocated for herself. Within two years she was networking with other people with arthritis establishing the first support group in Calgary and writing a quarterly newsletter to disseminate information. Ten years later she would begin the process again in Saskatoon.
Through contacts with arthritis colleagues, the rheumatology team, and The Arthritis Society, she was involved in bringing the Arthritis Self Management Program to Alberta and training TAS members to lead it. She was one of the founding members of The Arthritis Advocacy Committee in Alberta and a member of the first community Board of Directors. Her work in the volunteer sector and a move to Saskatchewan lead to employment with The Arthritis Society in 1996 in the role of client advocate, educator, special events facilitator, and fundraiser.
Experience, opportunity and a belief in the national vision of her colleagues brought her to the Canadian Arthritis Patient Alliance, Patient Partners and the Consumer Advisory Board of the Arthritis Research Centre of Canada. Working with the medical research community and allied professionals, people with arthritis are making a difference by influencing the arthritis research agenda, educating health care teams, obtaining the best medicines, and accessing arthritis health care professionals and services. Together we will create a world without arthritis.
Joyce Ma
Joyce Ma was diagnosed with Rheumatoid Arthritis in 1976 and Polymyositis in 1981. She is now in remission from RA and Polymyositis but it's never far from her consciousness to be vigilant and to take care of her health.
Joyce is always interested to learn about any new discoveries that help people with Arthritis whether it's diet, medication or new treatments. She has volunteered in several arthritis research projects and studies, and often attends seminars in her quest to learn as much as she can about arthritis. She also share her experiences and how she dealt with arthritis to new patients who are on the waiting list for treatment.
Joyce has been a dedicated and active volunteer for The Arthritis Society, involving herself in several fundraising activities. She has been running The Bluebird Shop since 1994 and as a member of The Vancouver Community Group, she has been managing The Mary Pack Cards program since 2004. She's also involved with craft and bake sales that are held every year.
As a new member of CAB, Joyce is looking forward to learning and assisting with Roundtable on Arthritis Research.
Nadia Prestley
Nadia was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis in 2003. Even before her diagnosis, she well understood the impact arthritis has on one’s life as her mother has suffered from Lupus for over 40 years.
Nadia has worked in post secondary education as a teacher, graduate services representative, and dean of students for BC Community Colleges. These experiences have given her a unique understanding of the importance of educating people in order to remove barriers to success.
She believes life experiences make for great teaching tools. Having lived with this disease herself and having watched her mother do the same, Nadia hopes to contribute to making someone else's life easier by becoming a member of the Consumer Advisory Board and ultimately living in “a world without arthritis”.
Pam Montie
Rheumatoid Arthritis has been Pam’s constant companion since 1985. In the early stages of her disease, Pam became a leader of the Arthritis Self Management Programs (ASMP), sponsored through The Arthritis Society. This program personally helped her, giving her a sense of empowerment, passion, and a feeling of accomplishment in helping others. A few years later, she became an ASMP trainer to take this program across Canada and was sent to Winnipeg, Kitchener, and Hamilton to train others to put on the ASMP in their own communities. She has also contributed to arthritis support and advocacy groups in her local community of Chilliwack.
Several of the organizations of which she is a member: CAPA (Canadian Arthritis Patient Alliance), ACE (Arthritis Consumer Experts), and a member-on-leave of Patient Partners in Arthritis.
She is involved with the arthritis research community. Here, she believes that the educated consumer should be involved in every aspect of research to contribute the perspective of a person living with this disease. This has led to her involvement with: the Consumer Advisory Board of the Arthritis Research Centre of Canada where she is currently the co-chair; the NET (New Emerging Teams with the Canadian Arthritis Network) research projects Tooling Up for Early Osteoarthritis: Measuring What Matters; and OMERACT (international research in ‘Outcome Measures’) where she is a member of the Patient Research Partners. These are all leading edge in involving consumers at the arthritis research table. She is very proud to be involved in these endeavors, sharing her passion, experiences, and knowledge and contributing to the improvement of lives of people with arthritis.
Otto Kamensek
Otto Kamensek has been a volunteer at ARC (Arthritis Research Centre) and other arthritis related groups since 2003. In this period of time he has been a member of the Knowledge Exchange Task Force as a Research Ambassador for the Institute of Musculoskeletal Health and Arthritis, where he worked with other consumers of musculoskeletal disease, health professionals and researchers. Otto has also completed a 2 years role as Co-Chair for the Consumer Advisory Board (CAB) of the Arthritis Research Centre of Canada.
His current volunteer work includes being a member in the CAB and its role in disseminating information to consumers, health professionals and the general public. With this objective the CAB created a conference called ROAR (Roundtable on Arthritis Research) which meets that need. Regional co-coordinator for the national Patient Partners in Arthritis program is another current role that he is involved with. The above volunteer work compliments his communication skills from his past work history in the electronic manufacturing industry as a purchaser, buying and sourcing items from North America, Asia and Europe.
Otto was diagnosed with Juvenile Rheumatoid Arthritis some thirty plus years ago at the age of nine. Over those years he has had many different treatment plans and a combination of total replacements and revision surgeries nine different times for his hips and knees.
Lianne Gulka
Lianne Gulka joined the Consumer Advisory Board (CAB) 2007 having lived with rheumatoid arthritis and lupus since her teen years. Lianne views joining CAB as an opportunity to represent and advocate for lupus, a low profile disease amongst the arthritis group.
Lianne has been involved with the local and provincial lupus community for the last decade, as a board member of the BC Lupus Society and a representative at the Consumer Table which facilitates ideas, interchange and discussion amongst various arthritis groups.
The research process is key to understanding disease, and the ability to have input, meet researchers, generate feedback and ideas at the CAB level is very important.
To interact with such high profile researchers, keep abreast of current research and future direction, and have the opportunity to interact and perhaps influence the research direction and application of all arthritis groups, particularly lupus, is very exciting.
