Heart Knowledge Reflections Among Scientists
presented by
The Canadian Health Workforce Network
Health Workforce CAHSPR Theme Group

Kienan Williams
Kienan spent three decades moving around northern and southern Ontario, and the last decade living, working, and playing in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Kienan's education has focused on Public Health and how to use system-thinking to influence the health outcomes of large groups of people, especially First Nation individuals.

Kienan Williams writes from an Indigenous, decolonial, critical constructivist perspective. “Indigenous” because Kienan is Anishnawbe, Cree, First Nation, registered to both the Indian Act and Sandy Lake First Nation. “Decolonial” because Kienan uses quantitative methods to analyze colonial legislation from epidemiological studies of Indigenous population health in Canada. Kienan's also uses a “critical constructivist” approach to assess foundational misunderstandings regarding Indigenous Peoples, sometimes referred to as being one of the most studied populations on Earth

Kally Cheung
Kally Cheung is the Provincial Lead for Public Health Nutrition at Alberta Health Services. Her role focuses on enhancing nutrition and health equity through strengthening dietitian practice, and supporting initiatives that address household food insecurity, Indigenous health, and newcomers to Canada in health systems and in the community. Kally is passionate about participatory approach to research and evaluation and engaging patients in co-design of interventions.

Paula J Robson, PhD
Dr Paula Robson is Scientific Director and Senior Program Lead for Research, Partnerships and Innovaton for Cancer Care Alberta. She is also an Adjunct Professor in the School of Public Health and the Department of Agricultural, Food and Nutritional Science at the University of Alberta. Her mandate is to promote and support research and innovation aligned with the needs of Alberta’s cancer care system and the people it serves. She fulfills this role by working with diverse research and support teams within her portfolio, and by creating partnerships with academic colleagues at the University of Alberta, University of Calgary and with other stakeholders who want to help optimize cancer care. Paula earned her PhD in Human Nutrition from the University of Ulster, United Kingdom in 1995 and moved to work with the Alberta Cancer Board (ACB), Calgary, Alberta in 2004. Between 2006 and 2017, she was Principal Investigator/Scientific Director of Alberta’s Tomorrow Project; a large prospective cohort study designed to support research in cancer and chronic disease epidemiology. Paula has co-authored over 100 peer-reviewed manuscripts, and continues to co-supervise externally funded post-doctoral fellows in partnership with academic colleagues. She believes very strongly in the power of relationships and is learning not to be afraid when stepping into new areas of study that she knows little about.

Dr. Jeanette Jackson
Jeanette is a wife and mother of two very strong willed and hearted daughters. As a Lead in Health System Analytics at Health Quality Alberta, Jeanette’s work is grounded in a simple belief: people and communities are the experts in their own experiences — and health systems must listen. Jeanette understands that measurement, when approached through Western worldviews alone, can unintentionally silence stories that need to be heard. Her approach includes building relationships with and supporting Indigenous communities as they design their own Nation-specific indicators, lead their own research, and determine how their own data is used. These relationships, built over many years, have shaped her understanding of what it means to approach measurement “in a good way” — grounded in respect, reciprocity, humility, and trust. She credits these relationships with reshaping not just her approach to Health Quality Alberta’s projects and programs, but her understanding of what it means to be a responsible partner, a learner, and a settler working to combat existing health inequities. Today, Jeanette continues to support Indigenous-led initiatives that aim to create safer, more responsive, and more culturally grounded health systems for everyone — where all voices are heard, and where Indigenous Peoples’ own ways of relating, being and knowing guide the path forward.