We are thrilled to announce new faces as directors as we build out the Senior Leadership Team at the Centre for Gender & Sexual Health Equity!

As of January 1, 2020, Dr. Jill Chettiar, MD, MPH, will be transitioning to an Associate Director role and will take up the role fully in Summer 2020 on her move back to BC. Dr. Chettiar is trained in Family Medicine with a special interest in sexual health over the lifespan and gender-affirming care. Prior to her MD training, she brings over a decade of community leadership experience and has worked with CGSHE in many capacities since 2009. She is currently PI of the BC Trans Health Project hosted at CGSHE, in partnership with PACE, QMUNITY, WAVAW, Catherine White Holman Wellness Centre and in collaboration with Trans Care BC.

Dr. Shira Goldenberg, PhD, is taking on the role of Director of Research Education (as of her full return from parental leave on April 1, 2020). Dr. Goldenberg is an Assistant Professor in Global Health at SFU and is the founder and lead instructor of an SFU/CGSHE global health experiential learning course in Migration Health in Tijuana, Mexico in partnership with UCSD. She is PI of the IRIS Project focused on sexual and reproductive health among im/migrant and refugee women and joint PI of the AESHA Project currently evaluating the impact of laws and policies on sex workers’ health, safety and human rights.

Dr. Mei-ling Wiedmeyer, MD, is taking on the role of Director of Clinical Practice (as of December 1, 2019). Dr. Wiedmeyer is a Clinical Assistant Professor at UBC and a primary care physician focused on im/migrant health and family planning, working at Umbrella Multicultural Health Cooperative, and Elizabeth Bagshaw, Everywoman’s and Willow clinics. She currently advises on development of community health centres as part of primary care reform efforts in BC, and previously co-chaired a provincial working group developing a proposal for improving care coordination, capacity building, and health status monitoring for refugees in BC. She is a lead member of the IRIS Project team at CGSHE and has done previous research on contraception and cervical cancer screening among im/migrant women.

Stay tuned for more to come in early 2020 on leadership in Indigenous Health and Policy!

We also want to say a sincere thank you to Dr. Jean Shoveller, PhD, who is moving back to Nova Scotia to take up a new and exciting leadership challenge and be closer to family. Dr. Shoveller has played an instrumental role over the last 14 months to support the CGSHE in transition and growth. She is a long-term colleague and collaborator of many at CGSHE for the past decade and has been faculty at UBC for close to 26 years. Dr. Shoveller has broken down many barriers for women in faculty including being appointed earlier this year as the first ever woman Chair of Governing Council at CIHR. We are so incredibly grateful for her wisdom, leadership and dedication to CGSHE and advancing gender and sexual health equity.