NSHRF Staff
Krista Connell, Chief Executive Officer
Eric Rushton, Chief Financial Officer
Deborah Langille, (On Leave)
Jennifer McNutt, Manager, Research Programs
Meredith Campbell, Manager, Research Enterprise Development Initiatives (REDI)
Ryan McCarthy, Manager, Knowledge Programs
Terry Taylor, Manager, Special Projects
Colleen Clattenburg, Corporate Assistant
Marie Deveau Wournell, Office Administrator
Linda Waterhouse, Program Assistant
Vacant, Communications Officer
Shawn Ward, Database and Systems Coordinator
Vanessa Fitzgerald, Data Analyst
Julie Horne, Financial Administrator
Krista Connell
Chief Executive Officer
Krista Connell is the Foundation's Chief Executive Officer (CEO). She is responsible for providing the leadership and professional guidance necessary for the NSHRF to attain its strategic goals. Krista also oversees the tactical operation of the Foundation and ensures its effective and efficient operation.
As the CEO, Krista reports directly to the Board of Directors and works to develop policies and approaches that foster involvement and support on the part of stakeholders. She is also responsible for outreach to the research community in its broadest sense.
In addition to her duties as CEO, Krista regularly serves on several external review committees for other health research-related organizations. She is a member of various boards and working groups such as the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) Presidents Advisory Board; CIHR’s Institute of Health Services and Policy Research’s Institute Advisory Board; CIHR Knowledge Translation Advisory Committee; IWK Health Centre Research Oversight Committee and the Canadian Cochrane Network Centre Advisory Board.
Krista is a founding member of NAPHRO (National Alliance of Provincial Health Research Organizations). She served as Co-Chair of NAPHRO in 2004 – 2006 and 2008 – 2009.
Krista has held various positions in the health sector including providing patient care as a Physiotherapist, developing policies and programs related to health care benefits at the Workers Compensation Board (WCB) of Nova Scotia and serving as a coordinator for provincial task force on primary care in Nova Scotia.
Krista currently holds an Adjunct Appointment in the Faculty of Health Professions at Dalhousie University. She received her Master of Health Services Administration from the University of Alberta and completed a Post-Graduate Fellowship with the Nova Scotia Department of Health.
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Eric RushtonChief Financial Officer
Eric is the Foundation’s Chief Financial Officer. Reporting to the Chief Executive Officer, the CFO is responsible for enhancing the financial management and accountability within the NSHRF; ensuring the timely preparation and management of all budget related activities, and assuming responsibility for ongoing administrative policies and procedures to ensure smooth operations of the NSHRF.
Prior to joining the Foundation Eric owned his own accounting firm Eric Rushton and Associates whose clients ranged from small to medium based businesses, not-for-profit and charity based organizations.
Eric also has experience in health care delivery. Early in his career, he was a licensed denturist and owned his own denture clinic in the South Shore and managed a denture clinic in Dartmouth.
He is a Certified Management Account and a current member of CMA Nova Scotia, Past Secretary-Treasurer of the Nova Scotia chapter of the Business Networking International (BNI) and Past Vice-President of the N.S. Denturist Society.
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Deborah Langille
Director Performance Accountability (On Leave)
Deborah Langille is Director of Performance Accountability at the Nova Scotia Health Research Foundation (Halifax Nova Scotia), a role she has held for the past five years. Deborah is responsible for assessing, documenting and communicating the performance of the NSHRF. This includes overseeing the evaluation and monitoring of all programs and related activities and the development and monitoring of performance indicators. She is also involved in conducting environmental scans and developing strategic plans for the organization. Deborah is also responsible for documenting the impact and value of health research in the province and communicating this to NSHRF constituents and the general public.
She is working with provincial and national organizations and ad hoc initiatives to develop a common health research impact framework, to measure the value of the investment in health research, and to promote the use of research. She is completing her role of Secretariat for the National Alliance of Provincial Health Research Organization (NAPHRO) and is a member of the NAPHRO Impact Analysis Group. Deborah is working with the provincial Child and Youth Strategy, an initiative that involves multiple government departments (including Community Services, Health and Health Promotion and Protection, Education, and Justice).
Prior to joining NSHRF, Deborah was the Acting Director of the Health Services and the Manager, Health Care Quality with the Workers' Compensation Board of Nova Scotia. In these roles, she developed, implemented, and evaluated strategies to ensure quality health care was provided to injured workers and she helped to develop the Health Services Department’s strategic plan. Earlier in her career, she worked in research administration, education, and the private sector.
Deborah has a Bachelor of Science (Biology), a Bachelor of Education in Science and a Masters in Adult Education, from Dalhousie University. She completed the Executive Leadership Development Course (Public Service Commission) in 2009 and in 2004 completed the Strategic Management and What the Non-Financial Manager Needs to Know About Financial and Managerial Accounting Executive/Professional Development Courses from York University/Saint Mary’s University.
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Jennifer McNutt
Manager, Reseatch Programs
As the Manager, Health Research & Matching Grants Programs, Jennifer oversees the annual health research competition including Health Research Grants, Student Research Awards and Matching Grant Awards. She is also responsible for the peer review process of these competitions.
Before joining the Foundation, Jennifer worked for River Valley Health in Fredericton, New Brunswick. As a Physiotherapist she contributed to making both the external and internal communities within River Valley Health healthier places to live, learn, work and play - sharing her time among the Physiotherapy Department at the Dr. Everett Chalmers Regional Hospital, the Community Health Program, as a team member in the Community Health Centers in Minto and Doaktown, and with River Valley Health's Healthy Workplace Initiative, as its Special Projects Coordinator.
She also has worked with various community groups and associations such as the Atlantic Cardiac Rehab Network, Arthritis Society of Canada, Parkinson Society of Canada, Osteoporosis Canada and Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada.
Jennifer has a Master of Applied Science in Biomedical Engineering from Dalhousie University and a Bachelor of Science (Physiotherapy) from Dalhousie University.
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Meredith Campbell
Manager, REDI Programs
Meredith oversees the Foundation’s Capacity Program,including the Competitive Capacity Grants, Research Capacity Awards and for offering support to the health research community through workshops and other initiatives. Meredith is also responsible for the development of new programs and initiatives that will increase research capacity in Nova Scotia.
Meredith has a Master of Arts in International Development Studies from Saint Mary's University and has gained significant international experience managing projects while working in Vietnam and West Africa. She has worked for key health-related organizations, including the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Nova Scotia, Heart Health Nova Scotia, and the Lung Association of Nova Scotia. At Heart and Stroke, she planned, directed, implemented and evaluated Leaders Among Us, a province-wide program providing health leadership training and development to family resource centres and clients, a project that was recognized by both the Ontario Heart Health Research Centre and Health Canada as a best-practice model.
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Ryan McCarthy
Manager, Knowledge Programs
Ryan oversees the Foundation’s Knowledge Transfer/Exchange Program which includes developing programs and initiatives that increase knowledge transfer and exchange activities throughout the health system in Nova Scotia. He also works with a broad group of stakeholders including the research community, government, health practitioners and community organizations to support the transfer, exchange and application of knowledge and in the generation of new research ideas.
Ryan comes to NSHRF after managing national health policy, research and evaluation projects with national organizations such as the Canadian Public Health Association and the Canadian Hospice Palliative Care Association. These initiatives focused primarily on supporting evidence-informed program and policy design and implementation.
Ryan has a Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Commerce from Saint Mary's University. He is currently completing his Masters in Public Administration at Dalhousie University.
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Terry Taylor
Manager, Special Projects
Terry joins the NSHRF as Manager, Special Projects, and will be responsible for project management and support of the special projects undertaken by the NSHRF through its Knowledge and REDI programs. These initiatives will be inter professional, inter institutional, inter jurisdictional, &/or inter provincial in nature.
In addition to current membership with the NS Barristers Society, Terry brings with him extensive legal, senior management, and teaching experience. His most recent position was as Director/Chief Hearing Officer, with the Workers Compensation Board of Nova Scotia, administering the Province’s internal appeal system. Terry is keenly interested in issue resolution, project management, change management, stakeholder collaboration, and process improvement, particularly as these apply to health related fields.
He has lectured on the subject of issue resolution, process improvement, and customer service in both Canada and the US.
His volunteer experience has included IWK “Cuddler”; Head for the Hills ski challenge; Hospice; Brigadoon; and Canada Games 2011.
He recently agreed to re-engage and teach at SMU for the 2010 fall session.
Colleen Clattenburg
Corporate Assistant
As the Nova Scotia Health Research Foundation's Corporate Assistant, Colleen is the Assistant to the Chief Executive Officer and provides administrative support to the Board of Directors and the Research Advisory Committee. She was instrumental in the development of application information for the very first call for funding.
Prior to joining the Foundation, Colleen held administrative support positions in other organizations including: the Institute of Public Affairs at Dalhousie University; the Research Development and Continuing Education on Department and the Nursing Research Department at the QEII Health Sciences Centre.
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Marie Deveau Wournell
Office Administrator
Marie is the Foundation's Office Administrator. Reporting to the Director, Performance Accountability, she is responsible for the smooth day-to-day running of the organization. She provides administrative support to the Program Managers, CFO, and Director. For many, Marie is the first introduction to the Nova Scotia Health Research Foundation.
A native of Nova Scotia, Marie has worked for a number of well-established companies in the province including Nortel Networks, Baxter Dairy and Maritime Life Assurance Company. With Nortel Networks she served as a Customer Service Representative/Order Account Manager, a position she held for 19 years.
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Linda Waterhouse
Program Assistant
As the Program Assistant, Linda is responsible for providing ongoing support for workshops as well as Capacity and Knowledge Transfer program initiatives involving the Nova Scotia health research community. In this role, Linda liaises with national, provincial and local health organizations to seek out opportunities to partner on workshop delivery and other projects.
In addition, Linda has extensive experience in event planning. She is a current member of the Operations Committee for the annual IWK Telethon where she is in charge of coordinating telethon volunteers. She also worked for years as an Event Planner for Zedevents where she was responsible for the complete logistical planning of various conferences and events
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Vacant
Communications Assistant
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Shawn WardDatabase & Systems Coordinator
As the Database & Systems Coordinator, Shawn reports to the Director, Performance Accountability. He is responsible for maintaining the Foundations Database and all web-based applications including the Canada Common CV. He will be a leader in the implementation of the Canada Common CV initiative, development of a Provincial Researcher Directory and an Electronic Grants Management System for the Foundation.
Previous to working at NSHRF, Shawn worked as a Technical Analyst for the Nova Scotia Barristers Society and a Business Analyst for Medavie Blue Cross. Shawn has a Graduate Diploma in Applied Information Technology from ITI.
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Vanessa Fitzgerald
Data Analyst
Reporting to the Director, Performance Accountability, Vanessa’s responsibilities ranges from the running of existing, standardized queries and reports to the development of new queries and reports - which involves finding new sources of data and information, electronically mining/extracting the information, and creating new/ad hoc multi-dimensional reports. Vanessa also works with the Database and Systems Coordinator (SC) to help maintain data quality and sharing of information.
Vanessa has completed internships at Dalhousie University and Pictou County Health Authority. She holds a Bachelor of Informatics, major in Health Informatics, from Dalhousie University
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Julie Horne
Financial Administrator
Julie is the Foundation’s Financial Administrator. Reporting to the Chief Financial Officer, she is responsible for the day to day financial and administrative functions of the Foundation.
Prior to joining NSHRF, Julie worked at Knightsbridge Robertson Surrette as Senior Accountant and at the IWK Health Centre as Senior Accounting Clerk. She is also a certified customs specialist for her family run business in New Brunswick, A.E. Horne & Son Ltd.
Julie has a Bachelor of Commerce degree with a Major in Accounting from Saint Mary’s University and looks to continue her education with an Accounting Designation.
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