Jason Resendez is the President and CEO of the National Alliance for Caregiving, where he leads research, policy, and innovation initiatives to build health, wealth, and equity for America’s 53 million family caregivers. He is a nationally recognized expert on caregiving, healthy aging and the science of inclusion in research. In 2023, Jason was named one of the most consequential leaders in health, science, and medicine by STAT News.

Prior to joining NAC, Jason was the founding executive director of the UsAgainstAlzheimer’s Center for Brain Health Equity where he pioneered the concept of Brain Health Equity through peer-reviewed research, public health partnerships, and public policy. In 2020, Jason was named one of America’s top influencers in aging by PBS’s Next Avenue alongside Michael J. Fox and Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy. He has been quoted by The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, STAT News, Time, Newsweek, and Univision on issues related to caregiving and health equity. Jason is from South Texas and graduated from Georgetown University.

Jill is currently the senior director of Occupational Health, Safety, Wellness and Integration and lead infection control professional at SE Health, a national not-for-profit health care organization and social enterprise. In the 10 years prior, she led the organizations’ wound, ostomy, and continence program. Jill has been a registered nurse for 27 years, 19 of which in home health care, and holds specialty certification in wound, ostomy and continence, and a Master of Clinical Science degree in wound healing. In addition to publishing several wound care articles in peer-reviewed journals, she has participated in provincial and national guideline and standard development. Jill is responsible for the organizational strategy for occupational health, safety, wellness and infection control at SE Health, and provided practice leadership for the organizations COVID-19 pandemic response.

Lin Li is a PhD student in the School of Nursing at McMaster University, a CIHR doctoral trainee, and a registered nurse at McMaster Children’s Hospital. Her doctoral work, funded by a Hospital for Sick Children national grant, focuses on understanding caregiver experiences with the transition to adulthood for youth with medical complexity. She has been recognized as an emerging expert in in transitions to adult care. She has contributed as a key informant on the Registered Nurses’ Association of Ontario (RNAO) Best Practice Guideline on Care Transitions, and her work has informed clinical tools and policy work, such as the Complex Care Kids Ontario (CCKO) Youth Transition to Adult Care Toolkit, the Ontario Health Quality Standard on Transitions From Youth to Adult Health Care Services, and the Canadian Pediatric Society’s position statement on Recommendations to Improve Transition to Adult Care for Youth with Complex Health Care Needs.

Lin is a member of the National Transition Hub, where she is the co-chair of the Environmental Scan Subcommittee and a member of the National Standards Subcommittee. She also on the executive leadership team of the Pediatric Nurses Interest Group (PedNIG) of the RNAO between 2019 and 2023.

In addition to her interests in transitions, Lin is also passionate about family and youth engagement in research, as well as equity, diversity, and inclusion in nursing and higher education. Lin recently led a scoping review on inclusivity in graduate nursing education, and was invited to speak on an equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) panel at the 2023 Canadian Association of Schools of Nursing (CASN) Annual Meeting.

Dr. Miguel Fontes was recognized by the Americas Quarterly Magazine as one of the top five champions of gender equality in the American Hemisphere. He has experience in developing and evaluating the impact of Early Childhood Development (ECD) programs. He led the first national strategic plan for ECD in Brazil in 2001, in collaboration with the Ministry of Social Protection. He is the founder of PROMUNDO, one of the leading organizations in the involvement of men in fatherhood and care around the world. He also has experience in Assessing Social Impact (AIS), data collection, research design and project evaluation and mobilization social, and worked on several children and youth development projects. His field of specialization is the development of sustainability strategies and men engagement. He has a degree in Business/Public Administration from the Catholic University of Brasília, has a master’s degree in international relations and a doctorate in Public Health from Johns Hopkins University.

Dr. Pamela Block is a Professor of Anthropology at Western University. Her research interests include disability culture, cultural perceptions of disability, and the intersections of disability, sexuality, gender, race, ethnicity, and social status.

She studies disability experience at individual, organizational and community levels, with funded research involving socio-environmental barriers, empowerment/capacity-building, and health promotion. Her qualitative research methodologies combine historical and discourse analyses with community-based ethnographic, autoethnographic, and participatory approaches. She is particularly interested in movements for disability liberation (justice and rights) and disability oppression (eugenics, sterilization, mass-incarceration and killing) in Brazil, the United States and Canada.

Rosie Paulyk is the creator of Chronic Oasis, an online community for humans who love and care for chronically ill family members – chosen family included – where chronic caregivers reinforce, remember and redefine who they are.

To ensure that Chronic Oasis remains true to its namesake, Rosie and her team regularly partner with organizations from across Canada to develop and deliver data-driven, humanity-rich resources that honour chronic caregivers’ unique needs in relation to global challenges such as climate change, public health post-2020, and the evolution of artificial intelligence.

When Rosie was 10 years old, her mom was diagnosed with MS. A second diagnosis of clinical depression occurred about a decade later. Rosie has been both an in-person and remote chronic caregiver, and has supported her ever-rad Mama M for over 20 years.

In addition, Rosie is a Jazz singer and creator of the Multiply Music Effect – which takes children ages newborn to 17 from being creatively curious to musically multiplied, so that they master their favorite instrument(s) to the degree they choose while growing a deeply established love of creativity, innovation and music that endures into adulthood.

During Rosie’s unscheduled time [oh yes – she has some and it’s non-negotiable] you’ll often find her writing a tune or reading a sci-fi novel with a cup of Dark French Roast coffee and her 19-year-old zany cat Eric.

Dr. Sharon Anderson is a family caregiver, Adjunct Professor in the Department of Human Ecology, and Research Coordinator in the Department of Family Medicine at the University of Alberta. She is also President of the Alberta Association on Gerontology. She completed a Master of Education in Community Rehabilitation and Disability Studies at the University of Calgary, a Master of Science in Public Health, and PhD in Family Gerontology at the University of Alberta.

Susan Bisaillon is a healthcare executive with over 30 years of experience in academic and large community healthcare organizations as well as the community. She has expertise in leading health system transformation and providing a coordinated approach across systems to improve organizational effectiveness. As a healthcare leader, Susan has overseen operations in various clinical programs, patient flow, infection prevention and control and implementation of strategic priorities associated with a hospital merger.

As a healthcare leader, Susan is recognized for her strategic and operational experience, focus on quality and leading system change. Currently, she is Chief Executive Officer at the Safehaven Project for Community Living in Toronto.

Susan holds a Master of Science in Nursing from the University of Toronto, a Bachelor of Nursing from Memorial University in Newfoundland, and a Registered Nursing diploma from Western Memorial Regional Hospital in Corner Brook, Newfoundland. Susan is a surveyor with Accreditation Canada and Accreditation Canada International.

Zelda Freitas is a Clinical Senior Advisor, Professional Practices with Multidisciplinary Services at the CIUSSS Center-West Montreal [the regional health and social services network] and an Adjunct Professor at the McGill School of Social Work. She has coordinated the area of Expertise in Caregiving for the CIUSSS, linking research and practice focused on social gerontology. Zelda’s expertise involves caregivers and caregiving, psychosocial practice, including palliative care and end of life care, countering adult mistreatment and older adults. She is currently part of the coordination team of the Caregiver Grief Connexion project.

MP Bonita Zarrillo is known to be the voice for equality in her community. She drives systemic change that puts people first. Before coming to Ottawa in 2021, Bonita spent almost a decade as a municipal city councilor in British Columbia advocating for equity seeking groups and supporting the needs of the most vulnerable. She has a history of championing gender issues, challenging corporate greed, and advanced policies that generated the most rental housing in the region. Bonita gets things done.

Bonita Zarrillo is the NDP Critic for Infrastructure and Communities, Disability Inclusion, and the Deputy Health Critic, and she spearheaded the advancement of the Canada Disability Benefit in Ottawa, which is now law.

She is committed to improving the financial stability and working conditions of paid and unpaid care workers in Canada. She continues to highlight that workers in the care economy have not received the respect they deserve because of long-standing gender discrimination.

MP Zarrillo has a degree in Sociology from the University of Manitoba and is a regular speaker at the UN Commission on the Status of Women.