CAO - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- Professional Member in Good Standing With the Ontario Osteopathic Association
- Professor and Clinic Instructor
"My goal is to teach students how to work smarter, not harder." Brandon is on faculty as a Professor and teaches Osteopathic Principles and Practice/Osteopathic Manipulative Medicine. Before pursuing a career in osteopathy, Brandon earned his honours education in massage therapy at the Shiatsu School of Canada. He then went on to become a respected
Brandon is a professional member in good standing with the Ontario Osteopathic Association and Institute of Classical Osteopathy in Dorking, England. He's also involved with the Ontario Osteopathic Association as a board member at large. Outside of his teaching duties at The Canadian Academy of Osteopathy, Brandon maintains his own full-time clinical practice. His teaching interests include but are not limited to Functional Anatomy, Osteopathic Pathology, Osteopathic Lesionology, Osteopathic Theory, Principles of Treatment, Treatment of Disease, and Osteopathic Technique and Treatment.
Job Titles:
- Professor, Director of Animal Osteopathy
Kayte's journey to osteopathy has been long and winding - she started her adult life in dairy farming, and then gained her Doctor of Veterinary Medicine degree in 1999. Her veterinary career allowed her to gain experience with a wide variety of animals - everything from horses, cattle and companion animals to lions and tigers (literally). While allopathic medicine and surgery was interesting, Kayte always felt there was something missing. This led her to become a certified veterinary acupuncturist, and to incorporate traditional Chinese veterinary medicine approached into her regular practice. And yet, there was still something not quite right….
Kayte was first exposed to osteopathy after an injury, and became fascinated with the practical application of structure and function. And since people are animals too, Kayte felt an education in classical osteopathy at the Canadian Academy of Osteopathy was a logical step in finding the "thing" that was missing from her toolbox. After graduation in 2018, she went on to establish a busy clinical practice in Barrie Ontario, and registered the first and only osteopathic Veterinary Practice in Ontario. Now Kayte calls Nova Scotia home and is once again forging new territory in establishing a practice serving humans, and a veterinary osteopathic practice serving the animals of the province.
Kayte is proud to be part of the faculty of the Canadian Academy of Osteopathy, serving as professor of Anatomy and Palpation. She utilizes modern technology (in the form of a 3d anatomical modelling app), her decades of applied anatomy experience and her enthusiasm for aiding in student development to make anatomy a more enjoyable and accessible subject for all students. In addition to her human focussed teaching duties, Kayte developed and delivers the Graduate Diploma in Animal Osteopathy, which teaches osteopathic manual practitioners how to apply principles based osteopathy to multiple species. This one year post graduate program is available through the Canadian Academy of Animal Osteopathy (an education partner of the CAO).
"Teaching and presentation are two important aspects of the learning. If you don't know how to present/ disseminate knowledge, you can't teach and if you don't know how to teach, you can't disseminate knowledge. If something is challenging or difficult to understand, trying to change its meaning and seeing it through a different lens often
Dr. Rehman is a Ph.D. candidate and currently pursuing a certificate in "teaching skills and learning" from the McMaster University. He completed a fellowship in neurology and MSc in neuroscience from the McMaster University in 2014. Dr. Rehman is experienced in didactic and problem-based learning and integrates small group discussions during teaching. Dr. Rehman has a strong background in anatomy, physiology, and pathology and has excellent skills in the area of neuromuscular examination. He taught neuromuscular examination and history taking to medical students during neurology fellowship. Dr. Rehman is also experienced in writing exam questions, MCQs and OSCE scenarios. His research interests include but not limited to musculoskeletal pain, knowledge translation and patient-doctor communication. He is an approachable person and supports his students for professional growth and development.
Professor Gustaf graduated from Skandinaviska Osteopathögskolan in Gothenburg 2012 where he received his BSc ( Hons ) in Osteopathy
He has a background of more than 10 years as a professional soccer player at the highest level in Scandinavia. It was through that career that he came in contact with Osteopathy.
He has brought the same self discipline and dedication that served him in his sports career into his osteopathic study and practice.
Gustaf teaches for the CAO in Sweden. He is a guest lecturer for our Canadian campuses. When Gustaf is not teaching at the CAO he treats patients and runs the Crona Clinics in Sweden where he also lives.
Heather began her love for health and wellness in her early teens. Going on to the University of Guelph's Human Kinetics program provided an excellent perspective for what areas of health she wanted to focus on. After university she knew she wanted to work directly with people in helping them to achieve health and wellness. This led her to become a massage therapist which she practiced happily for 5 years. Eventually she became frustrated with clients coming back every month with the same ailments and concerns. Looking for new pathways to help people, she was introduced to Osteopathy through one of her clients. The client experienced years of chronic yo-yo treatments for her chronic back pain eventually she went to a Manual Osteopathic Practitioner and it never returned again. This was the spark that lit the Osteopathic fire. After attending a visit day at the Canadian Academy of Osteopathy, hearing the philosophy, passion in students and seeing Mr Johnston in action that was it. She had finally found her career. She continued to practice massage while in school and raising her 3 children until she graduated in 2019. Heather works as an Osteopathic Manual Practitioner at her private clinical practice in Cochrane, Alberta.
Having realized at a young age that she wanted a career combining human anatomy with the ability to help people, Katie Knapp completed her Honours Bachelors of Science in Kinesiology at McMaster University, following which she spent a year providing exercise therapy for individuals with profound mental and physical disabilities. From there, she spent eight years working as a Certified Kinesiologist in a physiotherapy clinic during which time she also completed her Honours Bachelor degree in the discipline of Philosophy.
Katie's love of working with her patients lead her to search for a better understanding and autonomy with which to be able to assist them in their healing process. Upon learning about osteopathy she quickly fell in love with its philosophy and thought process in approach to the human body.
Since graduating in 2019, Katie has established her osteopathic practice in Woodstock, Ontario
Kristen Jarvis M.OMSc was a Registered Massage Therapist for 18 years prior to graduating the Canadian Academy of Osteopathy in 2017 and has owned and operated her own Health and Wellness clinic in Welland Ontario since 2004. Kristen's passion for understanding the human body and search for a better system of helping patients to find
Lee Jarvis was introduced to the practice of Osteopathic Manual Therapy in his teenage years and has been in love with the theory and practice ever since. Commencing in 2006, Lee attended the McMaster/Mowhawk Nursing program with the intention of gaining skills and understandings of the acute medical patient that would eventually come to benefit his Osteopathic education. Lee obtained his Registered Practical Nursing certificate in 2008 and was shortly after accepted as a student of the CAO. Lee worked as a Registered Practical Nurse specializing in stroke rehabilitation during his first, second, and thirds years of education at the CAO. Lee Jarvis graduated the Canadian Academy of Osteopathy in 2013.
Lee currently teaches anatomy at the Canadian Academy of Osteopathy where he continues to keep his knowledge sharp, up to date, and challenged by current medical discoveries. Lee's in-class anatomy drawings utilize a visual approach to complement the hands-on approach the CAO takes with educating its students. When Lee is not teaching or drawing he also runs a successful practice in Hamilton.
Having lived in Hamilton her entire life, Leslie has two children, a son and daughter that are both adults. She also has one granddaughter who is 15 years old (how time flies!). Leslie spends five months of the year during her time off at her trailer enjoying swimming, boating, biking and hiking. She is an animal lover and has a dog and a cat.
Leslie makes sure the clinic runs smoothly every day. She is proud to work for the CAO's Student Clinic that has collectively given the public over 80,000 free treatments.
Ranjan Bobby is one of Toronto's preeminent personal trainers, known for his winning personality and results-oriented fitness philosophy. Originally from Trinidad, Ranjan has distinguished himself here during his academic and professional career as someone who makes a difference to people's lives- whether coaching a team to victory in highly competitive women's volleyball, performing critical fitness assessments of AAA hockey players or transforming a middle-aged businessman from out-of-shape to fit and healthy.
In his role as an exercise specialist/personal fitness trainer Ranjan has worked with some of the city's well-known political and business personalities, as well as young, up-and-coming athletes and he has helped them achieve extraordinary results in fitness and overall health management. His special focus on injury prevention, flexibility assessment and improvement, posture enhancement, strength and endurance and weight loss has won him enthusiastic fans among his extensive client base.
Ranjan is a graduate of George Brown College's highly acclaimed Fitness and Lifestyles Management Program and is a certified Personal Trainer. His belief in lifelong learning and continual personal improvement means that Ranjan is constantly upgrading his knowledge base and skills, and his open philosophy and natural inquisitiveness means that he devotes considerable personal time widening and deepening the scope of his health and fitness expertise.
"My greatest pleasure is working with people and helping them to achieve their goals of physical and mental quality of lifestyle. My passion throughout my life has been melding the art and science of coaching-whether it is an individual or a sports team. Personalized interaction in the form of one-on-one training gets results you can't get any other way," says Ranjan.
Job Titles:
- Principal
- Our Principal
- Principal & Founder, Director of Program Development
"I've always been passionate about instilling a new way of thinking in my classroom. Offering each student a unique learning experience tailored to their individual needs is a critical factor in establishing a successful education program. Our course material isn't technique-driven or memorized from a textbook. It's designed to be hands-on, interactive, and really give students a legitimate understanding of human anatomy and physiology."
The faculty of the Canadian Academy of Osteopathy is spearheaded by Robert Johnston, an enthusiastic and highly motivated clinical teacher and international lecturer, who has proudly devoted his life to the promotion and education of classical osteopathy in North America and Europe.
Robert was trained as a manual therapist in Canada and carried out his clinical internship in the United States. As a graduate of the John Wernham College of Classical Osteopathy in Maidstone, England, Robert had the great privilege of training directly under the late John Wenham- one of the most respected original practitioners of osteopathic treatment- for two years during his post-graduate studies. Since then, it has been his mission to offer a progressive curriculum built on the proven theories and methodologies of osteopathy's founding fathers and continues to develop mechanical models for the student to approach osteopathic treatments.
With over ten years of experience as a clinical instructor and more than twenty-five years of practice in manual therapy, his well-recognized leadership qualities stem from an early teaching background as a former coach for Belgium's national hockey league. He possesses a rare talent for inspiring his students to reach the highest-academic levels of academic performance and is committed to offering a supportive and dynamic learning environment that fosters a deeper sense of community in the classroom
Our principal, Robert Johnston, lectures across the globe on classical, principles-based osteopathy, and has published several books on the subject. Mr. Johnston, along with other fellow CAO faculty members take part in a yearly trip to the Japanese Institute of Classico Osteopathy, to share their knowledge of the subject and learn from other international osteopathic practitioners. This knowledge is shared with our students, with members of JICO traveling to the CAO to present their knowledge as well.
Sarah has always enjoyed working with her hands and problem-solving, and so manual therapy was a natural career progression. Her interest in Osteopathy began as she was introduced to the concept while researching medical schools. Osteopathy kept popping up in her searches and its philosophy of empowering the body to self-heal and self-regulate was intriguing. After some time spent working in developmental services and traveling, Sarah began her studies at the CAO in 2015.
Sarah holds a Baccalaureate Honours degree in Science, specializing in Biomedical Toxicology. Her education also includes in-person Disability Studies at the University of Iceland, as well as online Biology and Physiology courses from the University of Athabasca.
Sarah graduated in 2019 and was delighted to become part of the CAO faculty as a Clinical Supervisor. She enjoys interfacing with students and patients alike and thinks it's the best part of her day, aside from the treatment of course.
When she isn't in her clinic or at the CAO, you can find Sarah reading, writing, playing music, or hanging upside down with her local circus troupe.
Job Titles:
- Clinical Supervisor
- Teaching Assistant
Wayne is enthusiastic about nutrition, health, and fitness and has been playing competitive sports since he was young. He began training in martial arts at the age of 16 and hasn't looked back! He has won nine Grand Champion titles, as well as one national title, in tournaments spanning Canada and USA. Wayne practiced for