BC EMERGENCY HEALTH SERVICES - Key Persons
Barry is the former president of the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) British Columbia. As president, he represented more than 70,000 workers, including those working in municipalities, school districts, universities, colleges, social services, ambulance paramedics and others.
Previous to his position as president of CUPE BC, Mr. O'Neill was the full-time president of CUPE Local 606, representing 1,400 school support workers in School District #68 and School District #69, Nanaimo, Duncan and Lake Cowichan. Mr. O'Neill has held positions such as executive officer of the B.C. Federation of Labour, general vice-president for CUPE National, pension trustee for CUPE Employees' Pension Plan and an alternate trustee for the Municipal Pension Board of Trustees. He also served as a director for Working Enterprises, Columbia Foundation and Camp Jubilee.
Job Titles:
- Professor of Psychiatry at the University
Dr. Jang is a professor of psychiatry at the University of British Columbia where he teaches in the medical school and conducts research on the causes of mental illness and urban health. He has authored or co-authored over 180 peer-reviewed papers, several chapters and five books.
In 2008, he was elected to Vancouver City Council and served for a decade before retiring from political life. During his time on council he initiated programs to assist the homeless and mentally ill, including establishing lower-barrier shelters, the Healthy City Strategy, modular housing and local responses to the opioid and overdose crisis.
He is a member of the Provincial Health Services Authority Board of Directors, where he serves as the chair of the Quality and Safety Committee.
Dr. Jang holds a doctorate from the University of Western Ontario, and a masters degree from Simon Fraser University.
Dr. Mike Christian joined BCEHS in December 2021. He has over thirty years of experience as a health care leader in areas including critical care, infectious diseases, military, aviation and prehospital medicine. He started his career as a paramedic and understands the essential contributions paramedics, nurses and physicians make to the field of prehospital and transport medicine.
Mike has a strong background in academic medicine, and he has been recognized for his teaching and leadership roles at the department and international society levels and through his appointment to the Critical Care Medicine Examination Board of the Royal College of Physicians of Canada. He was also recently one of the first three physicians in Canada to receive the Diplomate (DRCPSC) in Prehospital and Transport Medicine from the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada.
Mike completed an MSc in Public Health at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine and is currently completing an MBA.
Elizabeth was elected to the B.C. Legislature in December 1989 in the riding of Oak Bay-Gordon Head. Re-elected in 1991, she was appointed Minister of Health, and in 1993, Deputy Premier and Minister of Finance. She currently teaches public policy, advises organizations on how to work effectively with government, and is a regular media commentator on provincial politics.
Job Titles:
- Chairman of the Board
- Senior Vice - President With the Aquilini Group
Jim Chu is senior vice-president with the Aquilini Group. He joined Aquilini after he retired from the Vancouver Police Department in May 2015 where he served 36 years, including eight years as chief constable.
He holds a bachelor of business administration from Simon Fraser University and a master of business administration from the University of British Columbia. He was elected president of the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police and served from 2012 to 2014. He has received an honorary doctorate from the Justice Institute of BC, an Outstanding Alumni award from Simon Fraser University, a Queen's Diamond Jubilee medal and was invested into the Order of Merit of Police Services by the Governor General.
He has previously served on the boards of the Streetohome Foundation, the Justice Institute of BC, the Richmond Public Library, and TransLink.
Lauren is a sought-after Indigenous leader and executive coach. She currently sits on the Minister's Advisory Council on Indigenous Women (MACIW) Members for British Columbia. She has worked and served on several boards: Home Care Nurse Advisor, First Nations Chiefs Health Committee; First Nations Patient Advocate, BC Women's Hospital & BC Children's Hospital; and the First Nations Health Directors Association Board.
Lauren has developed her leadership and coaching skill set through 18 years of managing health care and fostering leadership in others. Lauren's Indigenous worldview and experience are fundamental in her consulting practice. She excels in building partnerships and believes in restoring balance in self, organizations and communities.
She holds a bachelor of science in Nursing (BSN) from the University of British Columbia, a masters in leadership-health and a graduate certificate in executive coaching from Royal Roads University. Lauren has been involved with the Mentor Language Apprenticeship Program since 2018, increasing her fluency in Haida.
Leanne Heppell joined PHSA in July 2021 from her position with Providence Health Care as Chief Operating Officer, Acute Care & Chief of Professional Practice & Nursing, which she held since 2015. Prior to this role, Leanne was the Vice President, Patient Safety and Innovation; and Chief of Professional Practice and Nursing.
Leanne brings to her role over 20 years of senior leadership experience, including with Vancouver Coastal Health, Fraser Health and the BC Ambulance Service. She is a registered nurse with a Bachelor of Science in Nursing from the University of Victoria. Leanne graduated from UBC as a clinical nurse specialist in the Masters in nursing program, and completed a Masters in Leadership from Royal Roads University in 2003. She is also an academic supervisor of leadership studies at Royal Roads University.
Leanne is a values leader with a focus on putting patients and families first. Leanne completed a Doctorate of Business Administration in 2016.
Prior to moving into the position of Chief Operating Officer, Neil Lilley was the Senior Provincial Executive Director for Patient Care Communications and Planning responsible for the three Emergency Dispatch Centres, Patient Transfer Services, Paramedic Specialist group and Disaster Risk Reduction and Resilience Team.
Before joining BCEHS, Neil worked for St. John New Zealand, where as the Assistant Director of Operations, he led the national operations of the three Emergency Control Centres across the country. He was also a member of the St. John's national Strategic Operations Committee and the National Patient Transfer Services transformation program. Prior to New Zealand, Neil also held various leadership roles in the Welsh Ambulance Service in the UK over a period of 14 years where he started his career in Emergency Ambulance Services in call taker and dispatcher roles.