IEI Committee Member Profiles

Kim McGill, RN
IEI Chair

Kim McGill earned her Diploma in Nursing from the Victoria General School of Nursing in Halifax, NS and her Bachelor of Science in Nursing from St. F. X. University in Antigonish, NS.

Kim has worked at the bedside in Intensive Care and Emergency room in a Regional hospital.  She has held a field- level position within Public Health for a number of years. She is currently the Manager of Communicable Disease Prevention and Control for the three district health authorities in western Nova Scotia.Kim lives in the Annapolis Valley with her husband and three sons.

Cathy Coburn, RN, BScN, MSN
IEI Steering Member

Cathy Coburn is a Public Health Nurse in the Communicable Diseases Program at the Grey Bruce Health Unit in Owen Sound, ON. Before joining the CD team, Cathy worked in the Vaccine Preventable Diseases Program and has taught Epidemiology for Ryerson University. Cathy resides in Owen Sound with her husband and two teenage children. She is active in the community, and enjoys sports, reading, and travelling.

Donna Koch, RN
IEI Steering Member

Donna Koch earned her BScN from the University of Alberta and has worked for over 15 years in Public Health/Population Health Programs in Grande Prairie, AB in a northern "rural urban" health region called Peace County Health. She has held positions as public health nurse, public health coordinator, public health manager, and program leader CDC and Immunization. Donna is currently Director, Regional Community Health Services which includes Public Health Nursing, Communicable Disease Control and Immunization, Nurse Practitioners, Early Intervention, Healthy Families, Sexual Health, Sexually Transmitted Infection, Health Promotion, Dental Health, Travel Health Clinics, Aboriginal Health Liaison, Francophone Services Program, Community Genetics, Infection Control and Healthlink Alberta. Donna has been involved with IEI since 2004.

In her spare time, Donna is actively involved in her community and is currently chair of the local FINE DESIGN HOME LOTTERY benefiting local charities. She enjoys golf, shopping and fashion.

Lorraine Piché, RN
IEI Steering Member

Lorraine Piché began her nursing career upon graduation in 1977 in cardiovascular surgery and neurosurgery. She has worked in pediatrics since 1982 and spent nine years in Neonatal ICU.

In 1995, Lorraine switched her specialty to research in infectious diseases. Over a two year period, Lorraine conducted numerous vaccine clinical trials. Since 1997, she has been the IMPACT monitor at the Montreal Children’s Hospital, a Canadian hospital-based active surveillance system that reports adverse events following immunizations as well as vaccine-preventable diseases. Through her activities in vaccination surveillance and attendance at conferences and educational sessions, Lorraine and other members of the IMPACT team have become the hospital’s unofficial vaccination consultants. Lorraine is developing educational and orientation sessions on vaccination for hospital staff and continues to coordinate clinical trials for the prophylaxis of respiratory Syncytial virus. She also assists with surveillance for infection control (IFC) in the hospital. She has been involved with the Immunization Education Initiative as a member of the speaker’s bureau since August 2005.

Coleen Pollari, RN, BScN
IEI Steering Member

Coleen Pollari has been a staff nurse at The Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto, ON since 1991. As well, she also has been with the Communicable Disease Program in Public Health since 1995. Coleen has a keen interest in immunization education. She is co-author of an article on the Immunization Education Initiative (IEI) published in The Canadian Nurse in 2004.

Coleen continues to provide immunization in-services for her colleagues and is an IEI contact at The Hospital for Sick Children.

Beth Swart, RN
IEI Steering Member

Beth Swart is a Professor at Ryerson in the School of Nursing, and serves on the Steering Committee of the Immunization Education Initiative (IEI).

Lindsay Thompson, RN
IEI Steering Member

Lindsay Thompson moved to Calgary in 1978 after completing nursing and midwifery training in Scotland. Since then, all inpatient nursing experience has been shared between neonatal or pediatric ICU. She spent three years doing outpost nursing in the Arctic and another three years in Yellowknife. Initially, Lindsay coordinated a large vaccine clinical trial and then became Head of Infectious Disease Control for the Territories. In 1990, Lindsay completed an epidemiology mini-course at CDC Atlanta. She coordinated a number of vaccine and pharmacokinetic clinical trials at Alberta Children’s Hospital during the 1990s while working part-time in the ICU.

Lindsay has been the IMPACT monitor at Alberta Children’s Hospital since the hospital joined the program in 1993. She became a nurse clinician in the Pediatric Infectious Disease program at ACH in 1997. In 2004, Lindsay became an advisory board member of the Immunization Education Initiative and was voted chairperson in 2006.

Peggy Allan
IEI Advisory Board Member and Nurse Speaker

Peggy Allan has had 25 years experience as Communicable Disease Control Nurse for Western Health in Newfoundland and Labrador. During her career her responsibilities included working with the local health region in the planning, implementation and evaluation of immunization programs. She was also involved with Communicable disease investigation and coordination of follow-up activities. She has attended numerous national immunization conferences and has presented on travel immunization at a national community and hospital infection control association (CHICA). Peggy graduated from Sturt University in 2003 with a Bachelors of Health Science in Nursing. She has also completed a diploma program in Community Health Nursing from Memorial University in 1981, and obtained her RN diploma program in 1978. Her career in nursing has been mostly in public health.

Peggy joined the Immunization Education Initiative as a Nurse speaker in 2007.

Jill Chambers
IEI Advisory Board Member

Graduated with BN from University of Manitoba School of Nursing and worked in many areas of nursing including community health, VON, teaching and as a staff nurse. After years of assessing and promoting physical, emotional and social health I have moved on to assessing and promoting financial health. Once a nurse always a nurse, I maintain my ties to community health nursing and immunization through my involvement with IEI. A significant accomplishment was co-chairing the national task group charged with revising the National Vaccine Storage and Handling Guidelines.

Lori Henneigh
IEI Advisory Board Member

Lori Henneigh earned her Bachelor of Nursing degree from the University if Calgary. She began her nursing career as an RN on a pediatric unit of a Calgary hospital. For more than 15 years now Lori has been working in Public Health in Alberta. Before moving into a management position Lori held a Public Heath Nursing position and for a short time a position as a Communicable Disease Control Nurse. Lori now works as a Public Health Nursing Manager for the David Thompson Health Region in central Alberta. As a manager she is involved in the program planning and delivery of immunization services, travel health, pandemic preparedness, communicable disease control and maternal child health.

Lori is married to her husband Loren and they have two beautiful girls. Lori resides with her family in Red Deer, Alberta.

Cathy Hopfner, RN
IEI Advisory Board Member

Cathy Hopfner graduated from the Winnipeg General Hospital School of Nursing as a Diploma nurse and received her Nursing Degree from the University of Manitoba. After graduation, she worked at the Ste. Rose General Hospital for 15 years. She worked as a Public Health Nurse before becoming a Nurse Manager.

Cathy is currently working as a Clinical Services Manager in Public Health for the Parkland Regional Health Authority in Manitoba. She is responsible for the Communicable Disease and Immunization Programs for the Region.

Cathy has been active in the community and has served on many boards at local and provincial levels. She is an active member of the College of Registered Nurses of Manitoba and has served on the board of the CRNM.

Cathy is married and has three grown children and two granddaughters. She enjoys golfing, skiing and curling.

Jon Lorch, RN, NP
IEI Advisory Board Member

Jon Lorch graduated from Fanshawe College in 1994 with a diploma in nursing and began working at the Children’s Hospital of Western Ontario (CHWO) caring for infant inpatients. Jon spent two years in the Pediatric ICU at CHWO and at the Children’s Hospital of Eastern North Carolina in Greenville, NC. During two additional years in the Neonatal ICU in Greenville, Jon developed a neonatal resuscitation review program and was a breastfeeding educator. Returning to CHWO in 1998, he worked in the Pediatric Emergency Department at London Health Sciences Center until August of 2005. During this time Jon taught the Emergency Nurses Pediatric Course, was a preceptor for UWO, McMaster University and Fanshawe College and returned to school to complete his BScN and Primary Health Care Nurse Practitioner program through McMaster University. In May 2005, Jon was invited to participate in the Canadian Nurse Practitioner Initiative’s educational task group developing the national nurse practitioner educational framework. Jon is currently in a partnership practice in Southwestern Ontario with a physician partner developing a Family Health Team for Eastern Elgin county.

Edith Martel, RN
IEI Advisory Board Member

Edith Martel has worked in First Nation's communities for the past 30 years in both outpost nursing and fly-in communities doing primary care and community health. She has spent the past 20 years providing community health in southern First Nation's communities. Edith served on the Board of Directors for the Southwest Middlesex Health Centre, most recently as their Chairperson.

Edith’s nursing education includes nurse management, clinical training for northern nurses, counseling certification with the Glasser Institute in Choice Theory, adult education plus various university courses.

Edith has been involved in Scouting for 18 years utilizing an extensive background Train the Trainer and adult education and leadership skills. In May 2005, Edith was the recipient of the Excellence in Nursing Award from Health Canada and the Commander's Coin from the Canadian Arms Forces for work during the Fall 2006 evacuation from Kashechewan, ON.

Angela Shepherd
IEI Advisory Board Member

I am a graduate of Queen's University, Kingston Ontario with a Bachelor of Nursing Science degree. I am a registered nurse with the Ontario College of Nurses. I have worked at KFL & A Public Health in a variety of programs for 17 years this year. I have a variety of teaching experience through PH (parenting programs, education sessions on all kinds of health promotion and prevention topics i.e. stress reduction, alcohol and substance use prevention, nutrition, car seat safety training, sexuality for parents, communicable disease, and immunization including travel health etc.), Queen's University (immunization/influenza) and at St. Lawrence College (healthy sexuality). For the past 6 years, I have worked mainly in immunization at KFL & A Public Health. I am involved in a number of school and community initiatives including hepatitis B, meningococcal C, IRIS (immunization record information system) and influenza. I coordinate and participate in all the influenza immunization clinics for the Universal Influenza Immunization Program for our area. As well, I do routine immunization clinics and travel clinic consultation and vaccination. I am also the media spokesperson for the immunization program. I have attended several immunization conferences to maintain current on immunization issues. I am a preceptor for Queen's University Nursing students biannually.

I became a member of the IEI Nurse Speakers Bureau in 2005.

On a personal note, I enjoy outdoor activities i.e. kayaking, camping, hiking, gardening, swimming, horse back riding, cross country skiing, snowmobiling etc. I love animals of all kinds. We have a hobby farm on the water with horses, chickens, a dog and 4 cats. I would have more but my partner says NO.