About Us

Mike Allan, MD CCFP

Director, Program and Practice Support, College of Family Physicians of Canada

Professor, Department of Family Medicine, University of Alberta

Mike has been in practice 20 years, given over 300 invited presentations and published over 100 articles. He is a Professor in the Department of Family Medicine at the University of Alberta and the Director of the Program and Practice Support at the College of Family Physicians.

Mike also participates in a weekly medical podcast on iTunes, roadshows, academic detailing visits, and writes Tools for Practice for the ACFP and the Canadian Family Physician journal.

Mike is happily married and has two teenaged daughters.

Tina Korownyk, MD CCFP

Director, Evidence and CPD Program, Alberta College of Family Physicians

Director, Primary Care Opioid Response Initiative

Professor, Family Medicine, University of Alberta

Tina is an Associate Professor in the Department of Family Medicine at the University of Alberta. She has worked as a Family Physician for the past 10 years, primarily in Edmonton at the Northeast Community Health Centre. Tina is actively involved in the development of Tools for Practice, CPD Roadshows, and academic detailing visits with the Evidence program.

She is also involved in graduate and undergraduate medical education at the University of Alberta. Her research interests include practical questions relating to the improvement of primary care.

Tina is married with four fantastic kids and enjoys most things outdoors.

Mike Kolber, BSC MD CCFP MSC

Professor, Family Medicine, University of Alberta

Assistant Director, Evidence and CPD Program, Alberta College of Family Physicians

Mike is an Associate Professor in the Department of Family Medicine at the University of Alberta. He practices in Peace River, Alberta using his additional skills training in gastroenterology.

He contributes to Tools for Practice, medical podcasts, CPD Roadshows, and academic detailing within the province, and enjoys presenting at local, provincial, national, and international events.

Mike also chairs the Practical Evidence for Informed Practice and Endoscopy Skills Day for Practicing Endoscopists conferences.

He is passionate about sports, coaches lacrosse and hockey, and enjoys the outdoors with his wife and three great kids.

Scott Garrison, MD PHD

Professor, Department of Family Medicine, University of Alberta

Director, Pragmatic Trials Collaborative

Scott spent the first 20 years of his professional career as a full time fee-for-service family physician. He has a passion for evidence-based medicine and left full time clinical practice in 2013 intent on pursuing clinical trials that address important, as yet unaddressed, primary care questions. He is working to build a platform for large primary care trials in both BC and Alberta.

Adrienne Lindblad, BSP BSc ACPR PharmD

Clinical Evidence Expert Lead, College of Family Physicians of Canada

Associate Clinical Professor, Department of Family Medicine, University of Alberta

Adrienne received her pharmacy degree from the University of Saskatchewan, completed the hospital pharmacy residency program in Halifax, and earned her Doctor of Pharmacy from the University of Toronto.  Throughout her career, Adrienne has been heavily involved in teaching and mentoring, and has received numerous awards for her work. She is passionate about evidence-based medicine and translating evidence into practice.  She is involved with a number of initiatives that empower primary care, including Tools for Practice and PEER’s Simplified Guidelines programs.

Adrienne enjoys hiking with her amazing family and taekwondo training.

James McCormack, BSC PHARM PHARMD

Professor, Faculty of Pharmaceutical Science, University of British Columbia

James received his undergraduate pharmacy degree from the University of British Columbia in 1982, completed a hospital pharmacy residency program at Lion’s Gate Hospital in North Vancouver in 1984, and received his doctorate in pharmacy (PharmD) in 1986 from the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston, SC.

Over the past 25 years, James has presented over 400 seminars and 100 publications within the fields of evidence-based medicine, rational drug therapy, and shared-informed decision making. His research focus in knowledge translation and critical appraisal.

Currently, James co-hosts one of the most popular family medicine podcasts in the world: Best Science (BS) Medicine podcast.

Danielle Perry, MsC BScN RN

Clinical Evidence Expert, College of Family Physicians of Canada, Assistant Adjunct Professor, Department of Family Medicine, University of Alberta

Danielle has a background in nursing and epidemiology, with experience in acute, long-term and correctional nursing. Currently, she works full-time developing and providing physician education materials that utilize evidence-based medicine. She enjoys teaching and is actively involved in academic detailing to family physicians across Alberta.

In her “free time”, Danielle travels back to Prince Edward Island to see her family, works at the Edmonton Institution for Women and enjoys reading, biking and spending time with her friends.

Joey Ton, BSCPHARM PHARMD

Clinical Evidence Expert, College of Family Physicians of Canada

Academic Adjunct Colleague, Faculty of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Alberta

Joey is a pharmacist who graduated with his Bachelors of Pharmacy in 2013 and Doctor of Pharmacy in 2015 both at the University of Alberta. Currently, his role focuses on developing and providing physician education materials that utilizes evidence based medicine. Additionally, he is involved with academic detailing providing education to family physicians around Alberta.

Betsy Thomas, BSC PHARM

Project Manager, Education and KT

Primary Health Care Opioid Response Initiative

Alberta College of Family Physicians/ PEER

Assistant Adjunct Professor, Department of Family Medicine, University of Alberta

Betsy completed her pharmacy degree from the University of Alberta in 1995.  She recently worked as a pharmacist for many years at an independent community pharmacy and a Primary Care Network in Edmonton prior to joining the PEER team.  She has also previously worked in other settings including the University of Alberta Faculty of Pharmacy and the Institute of Health Economics.

Currently her role with the PEER team is focused on the Primary Health Care Opioid Response Initiative grant as a project manager.  She is involved in creating guidelines for opioid use disorder and chronic pain for primary care as well as developing tools for knowledge translation of those guidelines.

Betsy is married with 3 children and loves reading and being a soccer mom.

Jessica Kirkwood, MD CCFP (AM)

Assistant Professor, Family Medicine, University of Alberta

Jessica is the newest member of PEER, having joined the team in September 2019 as an Assistant Professor with the University of Alberta.

She has been a family physician at the Boyle McCauley Health Centre since 2012, providing primary care to patients dealing with homelessness, mental illness and substance use disorders. She is very passionate about helping educate primary care providers and learners to care for marginalized patients in a way that is empathic as well as evidence-based. She attended medical school and residency at the University of Alberta and Dr. Korownyk was her faculty advisor in residency.

Samantha Moe, BScPhm ACPR PharmD

Clinical Evidence Expert, The College of Family Physicians of Canada

Adjunct Lecturer, Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Toronto

Adjunct Lecturer, Department of Family and Community Medicine, University of Toronto

Samantha Moe completed her undergraduate pharmacy degree in 2001 and Doctor of Pharmacy in 2006 at the University of Toronto. She completed a hospital residency at the London Health Sciences Centre.

After working for ten years in a family medicine teaching unit in a local community teaching hospital, she is now working with the College of Family Physician to develop education tools and guidelines, in collaboration with PEER. Sam is mother to three kids, and can often be found on a yoga mat, or nose buried in a great novel.

Nicolas Dugré, PharmD MSC

Assistant clinical professor, Faculty of pharmacy, University of Montréal

Pharmacist, CIUSSS du Nord-de-l'Ile-de-Montréal

Nicolas received his Doctor of pharmacy in 2011 and his Master degree in advanced pharmacotherapy in 2012 from the University of Montréal.  He has since been sharing his time between teaching at the university, co-hosting a French medical podcast and working as a clinical pharmacist at the Sacré-Coeur Family medecine group in Montréal.

Nicolas contributes to Tools for practice, guideline development and other knowledge translation projects.

Jamie Falk, BScPharm PharmD

Associate Professor, College of Pharmacy

Pharmacist, Department of Family Medicine

Rady Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Manitoba

Jamie received his pharmacy degree from the University of Manitoba and his Doctor of Pharmacy from the University of British Columbia.

His clinical and teaching activities revolve around evidence application in the management of chronic diseases, with a research focus on drug utilization, prescribing patterns and knowledge translation. He currently practices as an Extended Practice Pharmacist in family medicine at the Kildonan Medical Centre in Winnipeg. He is the co-chair of the Medications, Evidence, and Decision Support (MEDS) Conference in Winnipeg. 

Anthony Train, MBChB CCFP

Assistant Professor, Family Medicine, Queen's University

Ant joined the team in May 2020. He is a family physician and Assistant Professor with the Department of Family Medicine at Queen’s University in Kingston, ON.

He trained in Cape Town, South Africa before relocating to northern Alberta to practise rural family medicine in 2011. After seven years of varied comprehensive family practice in Alberta he relocated to Queen’s to begin his academic career. He holds an MSc in Healthcare Quality from Queen’s. His research and teaching interests lie in primary care patient safety issues.

Jen Potter, MD CCFP

Assistant Professor, University of Manitoba

Jen has been in practice as a family physician since 2005, and at Kildonan Medical Centre in Winnipeg since 2012 where she participates in undergraduate and postgraduate medical education.

She also has a research interest in vaccine hesitancy. Jen has three daughters and enjoys knitting, playing guitar, and going to the lake.

Allison Paige, MD CCFP

Assistant Professor, Department of Family Medicine, University of Manitoba

Site Medical Lead, Kildonan Medical Centre

Associate Director of Quality Improvement, Department of Family Medicine

Max Rady College of Medicine, Rady Faculty of Health Sciences

Alli works as a Family Physician and clinical preceptor at Kildonan Medical Centre in Winnipeg, Manitoba. She also is the Associate Director for Quality Improvement in the Department of Family Medicine at the University of Manitoba where she oversees the resident Quality Improvement curriculum and participates in quality improvement related projects.

Alli is married with two children. She loves going to the lake and Disney World with her family as well as doing karate.

Ricky Turgeon, BSc(Pharm), ACPR, PharmD

Assistant Professor (tenure-track) - Greg Moore Professorship in Clinical & Community Cardiovascular Pharmacy, Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of British Columbia

Ricky received his BSc(Pharm) from Dalhousie University in 2012, completed a hospital pharmacy residency with the Lower Mainland Pharmacy Services in Vancouver in 2013, received his Doctor of Pharmacy (PharmD) from UBC in 2015, and completed a 2-year post-doctoral fellowship at the University of Alberta Faculty of Medicine & Dentistry (Division of Cardiology) in 2018.

Ricky’s clinical practice is as a Clinical Pharmacy Specialist in cardiology, and his research interest is in integrating high-quality observational studies and meta-analyses of randomized trials to develop decision support tools to facilitate shared decision making in the pharmacological management of cardiovascular disease. His research is centered on implementation science, with a focus on antithrombotic agents, lipid-lowering therapies, pharmacotherapy for heart failure, and on the cardiovascular safety of medications.

Justin Weresch, MSc, MD CCFP

Assistant Professor, Department of Family Medicine, McMaster University

Clinician, McMaster Family Practice in Hamilton, Ontario

Justin Weresch is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Family Medicine at McMaster University and works clinically out of McMaster Family Practice in Hamilton, Ontario.

His clinical interests include Mental Health and Wellness, Musculoskeletal, and Sports Medicine. He has a strong interest in Post Graduate Medical Education (Resident Education) and is involved in the McMaster’s Family Medicine Residency Program as a primary clinical preceptor, the Mental Health and Behavioral Sciences (MHBS) Curriculum Co-ordinator, MHBS Tutor, and as a longitudinal Inquiry tutor

Tony Nickonchuk, BScPharm

Alberta Health Services (AHS) Provincial Drug Utilization and Stewardship

Tony obtained his pharmacy degree from the University of Alberta in 2006 and spent 8 years working as a community pharmacist.

Tony transitioned to becoming a pharmacist at the Peace River Hospital and now currently is involved with creating recommendations for the AHS drug formulary that is based on the highest level of evidence. Tony also performs data analysis of provincial drug utilization and develops drug stewardship programs.

You will see Tony at the Practical Evidence for Informed Practice (PEIP) conference as he has been a longstanding planning committee member. Tony is a regular contributor to Tools for Practice and is a member of the Alberta Health Expert Committee for Drug Evaluation and Therapeutics.

In Tony’s free time he enjoys swimming, biking, running, and snowshoeing. He also loves camping with his wife and three kids.

Karenn Chan, MD CCFP CAC COE

Associate Professor, Dept of Family Medicine, University of Alberta

Jennifer Young, MD

David Pontin , MD

An assistant professor with the U of A and site director of the U of A Yellowknife Residency Training Site.  I have lived and worked in Yellowknife since 2006 as both as an emergency room physician and family doctor.  I am also the NWT territorial clinical lead for medical education.  I am passionate about providing high quality health care to Northern Canada and bringing high quality evidence-based care to our northern patients.

Selected career highlights:

• Staff physician NTHSSA 2006-present
• Yellowknife Region Medical director 2018-2020
• Stanton Emergency Department Director 2015-2018
• Chair Institute of Circumpolar Health research 2017 to 2019

Emélie Braschi, MD, PhD

Emélie is a Family Physician working as a hospitalist in a stroke rehabilitation unit. She enjoys helping physicians making sense of clinical evidence.