Board of Directors

Board of Directors

Our Board of Directors

Our volunteer board of experts guides the mission and work of the Childhood Healthy Living Foundation. We are grateful for their generous donation of time and expertise.

Tom Warshawski

MD (Chair)

Tom Warshawski practices as a consultant pediatrician in Kelowna, British Columbia and is the former head of pediatrics at the Kelowna General Hospital. Dr. Warshawski is an associate clinical professor of Pediatrics with the University of British Columbia, is a member of the Heart and Stroke Foundation Compass Committee, the Medical Director for Child and Youth Health for the Interior Health Authority,
and he is the current chair of the Childhood Obesity Foundation (COF).  He is a past member of the Healthy Active Living committee of the Canadian Pediatric Society, a past president of the BC Pediatric Society and a past president of the Society of Specialist Physicians and Surgeons of BC.

Dr. Warshawski spearheaded the development of Sip Smart and is one of the leaders in the development of Screen Smart. He was a co-leader in the successful initiative to disseminate both programs across Canada as part of a coalition funded by the Canadian Partnership Against Cancer’s CLASP fund.  Dr. Warshawski is also cochairmen of the pan-Canadian Stop Marketing to Kids Coalition and a PI of the LiGHT project. As chair of the COF, he was a leader in overseeing the implementation of MEND and Shapedown programs across British Columbia.

For his efforts in promoting Healthy Active Living in children and youth, Dr. Warshawski has been the recipient of the Judith Hall Award from the BC Pediatric Society, a Certificate of Merit from the Canadian Pediatric Society and a Special Achievement Award from the American Academy of Pediatrics.

Patti-Jean Naylor

PhD

PJ Naylor is an Emeritus Professor, School of Exercise Science, Physical and Health Education, University of Victoria. Dr. Naylor has been involved in obesity prevention research focused on physical activity and healthy eating in children for the last 10 years.  She was a Co-Principal Investigator on the Action Schools! BC dissemination and implementation studies (funded by Canadian Institutes of Health Research and Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada).  In addition to an interest in children’s physical activity and eating behaviors, Dr. Naylor’s work has focused on knowledge exchange and the scale up, adoption and implementation of setting-based approaches to addressing physical inactivity and healthy eating. She has been a key member of the MEND Evaluation and Provincial Advisory Committees during both the pilot and scale-up phase.

Other physical activity and healthy eating related interventions she has been involved with address schools, recreation facilities and early years childcare and programming.  These initiatives include evaluating: Intergenerational Physical Activity Leadership (IPAL), Action Schools! BC Outdoor Playground Leadership, 5-2-1-0 Playboxes, nature and physical literacy opportunities on playgrounds, Healthy Food and Beverages in Municipal Recreation and Sport Facilities (BCHLA funded), Health Promoting Secondary Schools (Canadian Cancer Society funded), School Fruit and Vegetable Nutrition Program (BC MOH and CIHR), Screen Smart (CACO-CLASP funded), Healthy Opportunities for Preschoolers (2010 Legacies Now), Healthy Beginnings (CACO-CLASP funded), Active Streets, Active People Jr. (HSF funded) and Healthy After School (PHAC- Obesity Prevention Innovation funding).

JP Chanoine

MD, PhD

Dr. Chanoine is a Pediatrician who graduated from Belgium in 1982. He joined the University of British Columbia in 1998 as Clinical Professor and Head of the Endocrinology and Diabetes Unit at BC Children’s Hospital. His previous experience includes a fellowship at the University of Massachusetts
Medical Center in Worcester, USA; Pediatric Endocrinologist at Hôpital des Enfants Reine Fabiola in Brussels; and Medical Director for Novo Nordisk Belgium.

He is increasingly active in Global Health projects in the field of
Pediatric Endocrinology and Diabetes in resource-constrained settings. Dr. Chanoine is presently Secretary General of Global Pediatric Endocrinology and Diabetes (www.globalpedendo.org), an international non-profit organization that aims at promoting Pediatric Endocrine care in low income countries.

Dr. Chanoine’s research is also focusing on the management of childhood overweight. Dr. Chanoine is principal investigator of “Healthy Buddies”, a peer-led curriculum aiming at preventing the development of overweight in
elementary school children and initiated the LiGHT project (Living Green,Healthy and Thrifty).

Jillian Frank

J.D.
Partner, KPMG LLP

Jillian Frank is an experienced employment lawyer and inclusive leader with both legal expertise and operational knowledge of workplace issues. She enables businesses to operate effectively and safely, as a trusted advisor on the legal challenges, risks and opportunities related to the workplace and culture. Jillian advises clients from a variety of sectors, focusing on providing practical solutions to complex employment and labour issues, human rights, health and safety, privacy, mobility, workplace investigations and incident management.

To provide practical, holistic advice to clients, Jillian draws on her previous operational leadership experience as the CHRO of a leading global law firm. Jillian has a unique skillset in human resource transformation and change management, which positions her to provide multi-disciplinary services to clients.

Lucy Zhang

CPA, MBA

Lucy Zhang joined the Childhood Obesity Foundation board as treasurer in 2018.  She brings a wealth of finance experience to her role on the Foundation board.  Lucy moved to Victoria from China to pursue an MBA.  She continued her studies to become a professional accountant and has been actively engaged in the resource and mining sector in the capacity of Chief Financial Officer for over ten years.  Lucy is very proud of her Chinese heritage and enjoys travelling back to her home city of Suzhou. Lucy is also a proud Canadian, having become a citizen in 2008.  She cares greatly about social issues, in particular children’s health issues.  Lucy enjoys spending her time with friends, her partner, and especially her puppy, Tofu.

David Walmsley

David Walmsley is the Founder and Chief Strategist for Social Victory – a social media and content marketing agency based in Vancouver. With a broad roster of current and past clients including non-profits like the Heart & Stroke Foundation and the BC Alliance for Healthy Living, along with companies such as Wesgroup Properties, Roam Mobility and OncoSec Medical, his work often bridges the gap between the public and private sectors.
 
Growing up in a family dedicated to working in Canadian healthcare, he has always had a personal interest in being involved in public health initiatives and non-profits working for the betterment of Canadians. David has worked directly on various public health campaigns, including Heart & Stroke’s FAST and AED awareness campaigns, BC Alliance for Healthy Living’s Communities on the Move initiative, Cancer Positive’s survivor support platform, Childhood Obesity Foundation’s early intervention program, and more.
 
Other board appointments include TEDxVancouver, where David volunteered as Director of Digital Marketing for several seasons and events.

Sam Liu

PhD

Sam Liu is currently an Associate Professor in the School of Exercise Science, Physical and Health Education at the University of Victoria. Dr. Liu is also the Director of the Digital Health Lab at the University of Victoria . His research focuses on obesity and chronic disease prevention using digital technology (e.g., web-based and mobile interventions). He is currently a Michael Smith Health Research Scholar focused on using adaptive mobile health technology to promote healthy living among families. Dr. Liu has been a key member of the Generation Health evaluation and program development team.  In addition to an interest in promoting healthy lifestyles among children and families, Dr. Liu’s research also focuses on finding innovative ways to monitor and predict behaviours and health outcomes using big data in order to better target and personalize digital health interventions. His latest research publications can be found here.