Conference Speakers

STACEY GOMEZ

Session: Stacey Gomez w/ Migrant Justice NS on Migrant Health Access

Session time: January 31st, 2025 - 10:30 AM - 12:00 PM

January 31st, 2024 - 3:30 PM - 5:00 PM

With degrees in Master of Arts in Development Studies from York University and Bachelor of Social Sciences in International Development and Globalization from University of Ottawa, Stacey Gomez is the Executive Director of Migrant Justice NS. Their work focuses on providing information and support to migrant workers (also known as Temporary Foreign Workers) throughout Nova Scotia.

DAWN GOOGOO

Session: L'nu Nursing: Bridging Community, Provincial and National Partnerships to Inspire Change in Policy, Education and Care

Session Time: January 30th, 2025 - 10:30 AM - 12:00 PM

January 30th, 2025 - 3:30 PM - 5:00 PM

Dawn Googoo is a Mi’kmaq Registered Nurse with a Master of Nursing. She is from We’koqma’q L’nue’kati (formally known as Waycobah First Nation). During their education and career as a medic and nurse, she has encountered many obstacles and opportunities that have helped her to see the need to increase knowledge about the Indigenous people and culture in this country. This knowledge could improve access and health for Indigenous people along with increasing Indigenous presence in nursing education and the profession. Dawn enjoys sharing stories to create an understanding of the barriers and ways that we can move forward together. The Canadian history still impacts the resistance people hold to learn about the Indigenous people. Without knowing, one is without caring in the way that is needed. Dawn is a dedicated advocate for the health of Indigenous people, including support for the success of Indigenous people in the health professions, particularly nursing. Dawn’s role within the NS Research Chair in Indigenous Health Nursing involves gathering evidence that supports Indigenous People to access culturally safe nursing education and health services.

DR. MARGOT LATIMER

Session: L'nu Nursing: Bridging Community, Provincial and National Partnerships to Inspire Change in Policy, Education and Care

Session Time: January 30th, 2025 - 10:30 AM - 12:00 PM

January 30th, 2025 - 3:30 PM - 5:00 PM

Dr. Margot Latimer is a settler Canadian with Scottish ancestry. She lives and works on the unceded and ancestral territory of the Mi’kmaw. She is a Professor in the Faculty of Health and is cross-appointed in the Department of Medicine at Dalhousie University. Margot is the CIHR Research Chair in Indigenous Health Nursing in Nova Scotia. She holds a scientific appointment at IWK Health. Since 2008 she has been working closely with First Nation communities to mobilize Indigenous knowledge to improve health care experiences and access to culturally safe education. Margot co-leads several CIHR-funded projects with community researchers, including the “Aboriginal Children’s Hurt and Healing” Initiative, the Chronic Pain Network, and the Wabanaki-Labrador Network Environment for Indigenous Health Research.

DR. MARTHA PAYNTER

Session: Dr. Martha Paynter: Reproductive Health and the Criminal Legal System

SESSION TIME: January 31st, 2025 - 1:00 PM - 2:00 PM

Dr. Martha Paynter is Director of Nursing Research with the Contraception and Abortion Research Team (CART)-UBC and Assistant Professor in the Faculty of Nursing at the University of New Brunswick, where her clinical teaching and research focus on the intersection of reproductive health and the criminal justice system. She is the Affiliate Scientist for the ROSE Clinic (Reproductive Options and Services), and the founder, director of research, and past chair of Wellness Within: An Organization for Health and Justice, the only organization in Canada dedicated to advancing reproductive justice for people experiencing criminalization. She is the author of Abortion to Abolition: Reproductive Health and Justice in Canada, which was published in Spring 2022 by Fernwood Publishing.

DR. ANNETTE ROSE

Session: KEYNOTE SPEAKER - Dr. Annette Elliot Rose, Nurse Leadership & Policy Reform

Session TIME: February 1st, 2025 - 1:00 PM - 2:00 PM

Dr. Annette Elliott Rose, Nova Scotia Health Chief Nurse Executive & Vice President, Clinical Performance & Professional Practice. Annette is working with teams to provide strategic leadership across health and social systems to support operational excellence, the implementation of innovative solutions to learning and practice and responsive change. This will support the Nova Scotia Health workforce now and into the future. As Chief Nurse Executive, Annette will be working with nurses and leaders to understand and implement strategies to support and advance nursing locally, provincially, and nationally. Annette’s almost 24-year nursing and health care career includes practice experience in maternal-newborn care and acute and primary care settings in Nova Scotia and northern Canada, as a lecturer and clinical instructor in the Dalhousie University School of Nursing and School of Health Sciences and in progressive leadership roles in Nova Scotia and the Atlantic.

Annette was Vice President, Clinical Care & Chief Nurse Executive at IWK Health prior to being seconded to the Department of Health and Wellness, leading the development and implementation of the provincial health workforce strategy. Prior to this, she held leadership roles with Indigenous Services Canada. First Nations and Inuit Health Branch, Atlantic Region and was with a provincial program providing practice support and education in community and regional hospitals in Nova Scotia. Annette is a Fellow in the Canadian Academy of Nursing, holds a Master of Nursing and PhD in Nursing from Dalhousie University and is an adjunct faculty member in the Dalhousie University School of Nursing. Annette believes collaboration and connection are key for practice, organizational and system change and she is committed to designing and supporting systems of health and social care focused on the talent and expertise of teams to meet individual, family and community health needs grounded in quality care, equity, and social justice.