CanHaem’s leadership includes an Executive Committee comprised of the Chair, Vice-Chair, Secretary and Treasurer, and also up to eleven board members who coordinate the work of the Association. In addition, oversight is provided by our Governance Committee. Much of our work in implementing our strategic plan is delegated to our subcommittees: Education, Nursing, and Peer Review.
Please see below for more information about the Board of Directors and our subcommittees.
Executive Members
Medical Lead of the Pediatric Comprehensive Hemoglobinopathy Program of Northern Alberta.
Our program goal is to promote health and wellbeing for pediatric patients with hemoglobinopathies.
We are dedicated to health (including health maintenance and preventative medicine), education (for patients, families, healthcare professionals, administration and the public) advocacy, and research.
Aisha Bruce
MD, FRCPC
Chair, Board of Directors
Associate Professor at the University of Alberta, Pediatric hematologist and medical lead of the Comprehensive Chelation Clinic at the Stollery Children’s Hospital.
Catherine Corriveau-Bourque
MD, FRCPC
Vice-Chair, Board of Directors
Dr. Madeleine Verhovsek is an Associate Professor in the Division of Hematology and Thromboembolism at McMaster University, and the Director of the Adult Program at the McMaster Hemoglobinopathy Clinic. She completed Internal Medicine training and Hematology Residency at McMaster University, followed by specialized training at Boston Medical Centre and Boston Children’s Hospital. In addition to her clinical responsibilities, she is a Consultant Laboratory Hematologist with the Red Cell Disorders Laboratory, Hamilton Regional Laboratory Medicine Program.
Dr. Verhovsek has a passion for teaching, research, clinical care and patient advocacy. She is delighted to be on the Board of Directors and Executive of the Canadian Haemoglobinopathy Association. Dr. Verhovsek is the co-lead author of the Consensus Statement on the Care of Patients with Sickle Cell Disease in Canada, and an expert panel member for both the European RARE-Best Practices Sickle Cell Disease Guidelines and the American Society of Hematology Sickle Cell Disease Guidelines.
Madeleine Verhovsek
BSc, MD, FRCPC
Secretary, Board of Directors
Dr. Simpson received her medical degree from McGill University in 2005 and completed her General Pediatrics training and Hematology/Oncology fellowship at the Hospital for Sick Children and the University of Toronto in 2012. During her fellowship training, she also completed a Master’s in Public Health at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health as a Global Health Scholar. In 2012, Dr. Simpson joined the Division of Hematology/Oncology at CHEO and was appointed as Assistant Professor in the Department of Pediatrics within the University of Ottawa Faculty of Medicine. Her major clinical and research interests have centered upon health systems improvement for children and adolescents with sickle cell disease and other chronic hematologic disorders. She has also been a board member for the Black Physicians Association of Ontario since 2017 and currently serves on the executive board of directors as treasurer for the Canadian Haemoglobinopathy Association.
Through her clinical practice and academic work, Dr. Simpson is passionate about promoting cultural sensitivity, social justice and advocacy for the communities that she serves. In her role as Assistant Dean for the Office of Equity, Diversity and Inclusion, Dr. Simpson aims to strengthen faculty-wide approaches for supporting our diverse community of trainees, staff and faculty and to prioritize principles of equity, diversity, inclusion and belonging.
Ewurabena Simpson
MD, MPH, FRCPC
Treasurer, Board of Directors
Board Members
Stéphanie Forté, MD
Donald S. Houston, MD, PhD, FRCPC
Vicky Price, MBChB, MSc, FRCPC
Molly Warner, MD
Suzan Williams, MD, MSc
Chantale Deyoung, BScN, RN
CHUM
University of Manitoba
IWK
McGill
University of Toronto
IWK
Committee Chairs
Education Committee:
Governance and Nominating Committee:
Nursing Committee:
Peer Review Committee:
Registry Committee:
Catherine Corriveau-Bourque, MD, FRCPC
Surabhi Rawal, MDCM, MSc(HPE), FRCPC
Yves Pastore, MD, FMH
Erin Burrell
Lana Tracey
Richard Ward, MSc, MRCP(UK,) FRCPath(UK)
Sarah Tehseen, MBBS, FRCPC
Ziad Solh, MD, FRCPC
University of Alberta
Montreal Children’s Hospital
CHU Sainte-Justine
McMaster Children’s Hospital
University of Toronto
University of Saskatchewan
Western University
CanHaem Website
CanHaem Webmaster: Catherine Corriveau-Bourque, MD University of Alberta
For content updates, please contact info@canhaem.org