Dr. Isabel Chen, MPH, MD UBC ’15, Chair FLEX Committee, Co-Founder & Vice-President

Isabel Chen brings a strong passion for health equity and human rights to the program. While completing her BA and MPH degrees from Yale, she focused on the social determinants of health among underserved populations. She has spent years studying the systemic barriers to thriving communities and organizing social advocacy programs for health care access. Isabel is a licensed physician, completing her Family Medicine residency at the Kaiser Permanente Los Angeles Medical Center. There, she is focusing on tackling food insecurity among patients and is active in researching burnout among medical trainees. She has served on numerous leadership boards for the Canadian Commission of UNESCO, the American Public Health Association & the Federation of Medical Women of Canada. Isabel is currently course director at the Health Systems Science Department, at Kaiser Permanente Bernard J. Tyson School of Medicine and an urgent care physician in Los Angeles.

Dr. Kay Fung, RN, MD UBC ’16, Co-Chair FLEX Committee, Director at Large

Having grown up in the Greater Vancouver region, Kay graduated from the University of British Columbia in 2010 with a bachelor’s degree in Nursing before moving to Alberta to work as a registered nurse. She returned home for medical school and graduated with her MD degree in May 2016. She is currently a family physician at UBC working with marginalized and underserved populations. She is currently a member of the Reading Bear Society Board of Directors and the Co-Chair of the FLEX Committee.

Dr. Joanne Roussy, RN, PhD UBC ’99, FLEX Activity Supervisor, Co-Founder & President

Dr. Joanne Roussy is the Founder and President of The Reading Bear Society. She holds a PhD in Nursing from The University of British Columbia (1999), as well as an MSc and BSc from l’Université de Montréal. She is a lecturer at UBC Medical School, a family volunteer at Canuck Place, a mentor and co-founder of Mom2Mom. For the past 31 years, she has worked in the field of women’s and children’s health in clinical, academic, and public health settings with a focus on social justice and equity.

Brett Collinge, Director of Communications, RBS FLEX IT Support

Brett was born in Vancouver but spent much of his earlier life in Seattle before eventually returning to Vancouver to complete his BSc in Biochemistry at UBC. He is currently a graduate student at BC Cancer where he researches lymphoma. Brett has been involved with the Reading Bear Society since 2017 in a variety of roles. As a life-long avid reader, he enjoys sharing his passion for reading with others through his work with the Reading Bear Society. In his free time, he enjoys skiing, surfing, or anything outdoors.

Colleen Dickie, VBE Representative

Colleen Dickie has worked for the Vancouver School Board for 17 years. Starting as a Community Schools Coordinator, Colleen developed a passion for integrating community into programs. Now, in her role as the Supervisor for Early Learning, Colleen continues to partner with many community agencies to enrich the early learning programs in Vancouver. Colleen works to introduce and promote early literacy, social responsibility, and physical literacy to children and families.

Jennifer Ji MD/PhD 2023, Artist in residence.

Jennifer completed her PhD studying the protein and metabolic landscapes of clear cell ovarian cancer. Since a young age, she has been passionate about visual art. Jennifer is grateful for the opportunity to use her art to help foster a love of reading in young children. Since her involvement with the reading bear in 2015, Jennifer has helped illustrate “my bear book”, and “A visit to Dr. Bear.” Through the creation of these books, she is honored to support the reading bear society in achieving its vision of bringing children a sense of belonging and connection.

Jamie Beaulieu, Cultural Liaison

Jamie is a final year master’s student in neuroscience at McGill University in Montreal, Quebec. His research focuses on better understanding the mechanism of action of medulloblastoma, the most common cancerous brain tumour in children. He will be starting his PhD at Université de Montréal in the fall, where he will be using genetic engineering techniques to manipulate stem cell fate. His goal is to translate his work into novel therapeutics that can be used by medical practitioners. Jamie has been involved with various programs promoting childhood literacy. He has volunteered at school boards and public libraries, helping elementary school children with learning difficulties stay on track with their peers. He has been part of the Reading Bear Society since summer 2020 and is currently working on producing French material to broaden the reach of the RBS’s promotion of literacy.

Dr. Andrew Deonarine, MD, MHSc, PhD (Cantab), FRI, Chair FLEX Research

Andrew joined the RBS advisory board committee in 2013 and has been advising SDPO and FLEX medical students in the development of the analysis platform for the adolescent reflective writing component of the Reading Bear program. He will be completing his residency in clinical informatics at Harvard University with the funding from Friedman Award for Scholars in Health. Clinical informatics involves physicians developing software systems such as electronic medical records, databases, artificial intelligence, and decision support systems to help improve the practice of medicine. Andrew hopes to gain experience in this new subspecialty and bring that experience back to Canada to improve health care on a national level, and meet the health challenges of the futures.

Dr. Adele Diamond, PhD, FRSC

Dr. Diamond is the Canada Research Chair Tier 1 Professor of Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience in the Department of Psychiatry at UBC. Her work integrates developmental, cognitive, neuroscience, and molecular genetic approaches to examine fundamental questions about the development of the cognitive control abilities that rely on the prefrontal cortex. Dr. Diamond received her BA from Swarthmore College Phi Beta Kappa in Sociology-Anthropology and Psychology, her PhD from Harvard in Developmental Psychology, and was a postdoctoral fellow at Yale with Patricia Goldman-Rakic in Neuroanatomy.

Dr. Caroline Erdos, PhD

Caroline Erdos is a consultant for the Sir Wilfrid Laurier School Board and a speech-language pathology advisor for Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology Canada. Prior to this, she was ALDI Coordinator (Advancing Learning in Differentiation & Inclusion) for the 10 English school boards in Quebec, Canada, where she supported resource teachers through various professional development initiatives. Caroline has over 20 years’ experience as a pediatric speech-language pathologist in a tertiary care centre and has worked as a language and literacy consultant and a legal expert in speech-language pathology. Her areas of expertise include bilingualism and multilingualism, reading impairment, oral language impairment, foetal alcohol spectrum disorder, and craniofacial disorders. She has guest lectured at Université de Montréal, McGill University, and the McGill University Health Centre. She has also given workshops at numerous conferences across North America and has written and collaborated on several publications.

Dr. Janet Greenman, MD, FRCPC, FAAP

Dr. Janet Greenman is a general pediatrician. She completed medical school at the University of Calgary and a pediatric residency at UBC. She has had a variety of practice experiences, including the University of Virginia’s general pediatric clinics and a private pediatric consulting practice in the suburbs of Toronto. Before moving back to Vancouver, she worked in Illinois in a community clinic for medically underserved patients. During that time the pediatricians started the Reach Out and Read program at the clinic. She is currently the associate director of the UBC pediatric residency program, and practices in the Pediatric Residents’ Continuity Clinic, the RICHER pediatric program in the Vancouver Downtown Eastside and in a private practice. Early childhood development and health, and the impact of social determinants, including literacy, on health are among her areas of interest.

Dr. Lynn Miller, PhD, Lic. Psych. (CO)

Dr. Lynn D. Miller is a Licensed Psychologist (Colorado) and an Associate Professor Emeritus in the Education and Counseling Psychology and Special Education department at UBC. She started her career as a classroom teacher, and then worked as a school counselor K-12. At UBC for 17 years before retirement from academia, she conducted research on models of anxiety prevention programs in schools, including FRIENDS, Taming Worry Dragons, Skills for Social and Academic Success, Cool Little Kids, as well as an enhanced program for Aboriginal children. As the Myrne Nevison Prevention Research Professor, she also investigated anxiety at the entry to school in grades kindergarten and one. She completed her terms as President of the Anxiety Disorders Assoc. of Canada, 2010-2013, and as the President of the International Association of Marriage and Family Counselors (2004-2006). She provides training to teachers, parents, and mental health clinicians across North America.

Dr. Trevor Newton, MD UBC ’87, CCFM, EM

Dr. Trevor Newton is an emergency room physician and past director for ten years of the emergency department at Langley Memorial Hospital and currently works at UBC Urgent Care Centre. He is a graduate from the University of British Columbia Faculty of Medicine (1987) and CCFP (EM) certified. On a daily basis in the emergency room, Trevor witnesses the detrimental impact of poverty and low literacy on child and family health. He is a strong supporter of medical student education via ongoing ER and RB mentorship.

Dr. Marie-Paule Redelmeier-Schutze, PhD

Dr. Redelmeier was born and raised in France. She moved to Vancouver 20 years ago and worked as Research Scientist at UBC in the department of Pathology and at BC Cancer Agency in Advanced Therapeutics. She is currently Instructor in the UBC Medical School program. Mother of 2 children, she has volunteered at Minerva in the “Learning to lead” program for young female students and is currently mentoring moms at Mom2Mom. She is a strong believer of the positive influence of mentorship community programs and is delighted to join RBS as advisor for the FLEX team. Dr. Redelmeier received her PhD in Immunology from Pasteur Institute in Paris and was a postdoctoral fellow at Scripps Research Institute in molecular/cellular biology in La Jolla.

Dr. Linda Siegel, PhD, Professor Emeritus

Dr. Linda Siegel is the Dorothy C. Lam Chair in Special Education and a Professor in the Department of Educational and Counselling Psychology and Special Education at the University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada. She has conducted research on early identification and intervention to prevent reading problems, dyslexia, reading and language development, mathematical concept learning, mathematical learning disabilities, and children learning English as a second language. She has been the President of the Division of Learning Disabilities of the Council on Exceptional Children. In 2010, she was awarded the Gold Medal for Excellence in Psychological Research from the Canadian Psychological Association. In 2012 she was awarded the Eminent Researcher Award from the Learning Difficulties Association of Australia.

Dr. Christine Voss, PhD

Dr. Voss is a pediatric health researcher based at the new UBC Faculty of Medicine Centre for Chronic Disease Prevention and Management in Kelowna, BC. She is also the Flex Director for the Southern Medical Program, a bicycle-enthusiast, a volunteer therapy dog handler, and new(ish) mom to one. Dr. Voss earned her doctorate from the University of Essex, UK where she examined the association between cardiovascular health and modifiable health behaviours in a large cohort of schoolchildren. She first joined UBC Faculty of Medicine as a postdoctoral fellow in 2011. She was a researcher based at the Children’s Heart Centre at BC Children’s Hospital between 2015-2019, before relocating to Kelowna in 2019. She has a keen research interest in how children’s health behaviours (such as physical activity) are related to their physical health and mental well-being.

Dr. Paul Abraham, MD UBC ’19, Director at Large

Growing with the Reading Bear Society has been one of the highlights of Paul’s medical school experience. He has always had a passion for education and feels fortunate to be able to share in this experience with the organization. As a first and second year FLEX student, Paul worked on a number of projects aimed at quality improvement and curriculum development. In addition, he has recently taken on duties as the Chair of Students who oversees the various volunteer groups within the organization. It gives him great pride to impact this segment of society as it has provided him a glimpse into its inner workings. Paul looks forward to continuing his above roles and providing additional insight experience as a member of the FLEX committee. He is currently doing his family medicine residency in Ottawa.

Victoria Baronas, BSc (Hons), MD/PhD UBC ’20, Director at Large

Victoria graduated from UBC in 2013 with a BSc (Honours) in Pharmacology, and soon after began the MD/PhD program at UBC. Throughout her years as an undergrad, Victoria has worked with marginalized youth as a volunteer at the BC Children’s Hospital, as well as having spent a summer in Uganda volunteering at an HIV/AIDS organization. In addition, her belief in the importance of education has driven her to teach science experiments to elementary students and pharmacology classes to university exchange students. These experiences drew Victoria to work with the Reading Bear, which seamlessly weaves the power of education with social empowerment of underprivileged kindergarten students in Vancouver. She is excited to continue to grow her role in this organization as the Director of Students and Board Member. Victoria is currently a surgical resident in Vancouver, BC.

Arman Singh, MD UBC ’22

It has been a pleasure working with the Reading Bear Society (RBS) over the last three FLEX cycles. My research partner Arjun Arora and I entered the RBS as first year students. Through our projects with the RBS, we've learned how to use various search engines, such as CINAHL, Cochrane Reviews, and OVID Medline to synthesize information from a variety of sources. In keeping with the multi-disciplinary theme of the RBS, we've been lucky to receive feedback from teachers, pediatricians, nurses, psychologists, parents, and other experts, allowing us to design resources that will actually be utilized by the general public. We've always been well supported by our FLEX advisor Joanne, as well as the many other RBS members, including past graduates and working physicians who we have been in close contact with through our projects. We also had the opportunity to do school visits to StrongStart, kindergarten and Grade 1 children. Iam very thankful for our time with the RBS and pleased to stay on to assist new incoming FLEX students.

Bhavan Panghali, MD UBC ’21

Having completed her BSc in Microbiology at UBC Okanagan, Bhavan was eager to continue her studies in Kelowna as part of the Southern Medical Program MD Class of 2021. She started working with RBS in her first year as a volunteer for Teddy Bear Clinics in Vancouver and Kelowna. Since then, she has served as the RBS Okanagan Chapter Co-Chair while continuing to further develop the Teddy Bear Clinic module. Her experiences with RBS in addition to her background in childcare and youth advocacy have inspired Bhavan to apply to a pediatric residency in her upcoming graduation year. Bhavan’s FLEX project was creating a pamphlet on handwashing, and she did all three FLEX rotations with the RBS.

Dr. Amy Plessis, MD UBC ’20, Founder Kelowna Chapter

Amy is currently studying medicine at the University of British Columbia, Kelowna site. Prior to medical school she was working towards her Bachelor in Microbiology at UBCO. She has always had a passion for working with children; for the past six summers she has worked at a daycare. She was excited to learn that she could continue working with children alongside the Reading Bear Society and helped bring the Reading Bear Society to Kelowna in 2017. She loves how the Reading Bear Society has allowed her to combine her passion for children with her passion for overall health. She is excited to see the Reading Bear Society expand in Kelowna and reach more children over the next few years! Amy is currently doing her Pediatrics residency in Victoria, BC.

Dr. Christine Wang, MD UBC ’16, Founding Student

Dr. Wang has a background in Molecular Biology and Biochemistry and worked in pharmaceutical industry for several years before attending medical school at University of British Columbia. She first joined Reading Bear Society as a SDPO student in January 2013. She was Chair of Volunteer Recruitment 2014 – 2016 and Chair of Students 2015–2016. Dr. Wang graduated from medical school in 2016 and completed Family Medicine residency in Edmonton (University of Alberta) in 2018. Upon finishing residency, she returned to British Columbia in late 2018/early 2019 and is a family physician in the Greater Vancouver area.