Meet Canada’s TB Advocates
To join our directory of TB Advocates please fill out the form at the bottom of the page.
Dr. Victor Babawale, MD, M.B.BS, MSc PH, MBA
Victor Babawale is a TB specialist with the National Tuberculosis and Leprosy Control Programme in Nigeria, and provides technical support in several TB case-finding strategies. He has been very instrumental in the conduct of Nigeria’s first DR-TB survey in 2010 and has since then played a vital role in developing TB guidelines, spearheading the decentralization of DR-TB care across the country,. He also works alongside STOP TB partnership Nigeria to fight against the stigmatization of TB patients. He is also a researcher and currently directs the BPal and all oral modified shorter treatment regimen operational research with support from USAID, KNCV, and WHO/TDR.
Adam Graham
Adam Graham is a program management specialist in community health, and works with financing from The Global Fund and Stop TB through TB Reach in West, East/Southern Africa. Adam is currently working with Plan International Canada, and based in Vancouver.
Heather Elliott, RN
Heather Elliott is a new Manager on the Infectious Disease and Tuberculosis program at Region of Waterloo Public Health. Heather recently transitioned from a Manager for COVID-19 response at the Region. Her Nursing background is in harm reduction, sexual health, Public Health clinical services, primary care, and mental health care.
Abiola Ogunenika, M.B.Ch.B
Abiola Ogunenika is a mom and a global health advocate based in Ottawa. She graduated from Olabisi Onabanjo University, Ago-Iwoye Ogun State, Nigeria with a MBCHB degree in October 2005. Her involvements on TB has been since 2007 while working with the USAID funded Global HIV/AIDS Initiative Nigeria (GHAIN) project as a medical officer. She also worked with the US President Emergency Plan For AIDS Relief supported AIDS Prevention Initiative Nigeria (APIN) program in 2009 as medical officer. Abiola Ogunenika is a recipient of the fellowship training of the US Presidents Emergency Plan For AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) Health Professional Fellowship Program in 2014 and she also completed the International Program in Public Health Leadership (IPPHL) fellowship course of the University of Washington’s Evans School of Public Policy & Governance in September, 2017.
Leigh Raithby
Leigh Raithby is a Policy and Advocacy Officer at Results Canada, where her work focuses on the fight to end TB. As an advocate for health equity, Leigh is dedicated to addressing the vast disparities in health outcomes that exist around the world. She is passionate about applying an interdisciplinary approach to enacting change and hopes to harness the power of collective action to end the TB epidemic in Canada and abroad.
Trevor Stratton
Trevor Stratton is a 55-year old, two-spirit citizen of the Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation near Toronto, Canada with mixed English and Ojibwe heritage. Diagnosed with HIV in 1990, he is now the Coordinator for the International Indigenous Working Group on HIV & AIDS (IIWGHA) for its host organization, the Canadian Aboriginal AIDS Network (CAAN). Trevor is the President of the Board of 2-Spirited People of the 1st Nations in Toronto and also a Board member of the Canadian AIDS Treatment Information Exchange (CATIE). He is also the Interim CEO of the International Indigenous HIV & AIDS Community (IIHAC).
Hilmi Quraishi, MSc
Hilmi Quraishi is an Ashoka Fellow and the co-founder of ZMQ – a ‘Technology for Development’ social enterprise. As a pioneer in mHealth technologies, Hilmi has over 22 years of experience working with communities in LMICs to address critical social and health challenges using digital technologies. ZMQ Global is set up as an international NGO in Montreal, QC to scale tested and proven models in LMICs (Africa and Caribbean) and indigenous communities in North America.
Adam Houston, BSc, MA, JD, LL.M
Adam R Houston is a PhD Candidate (Law) at the University of Ottawa working at the intersection of health and human rights. He has worked all over the world for organizations like Avocats sans frontières Canada (ASFC), the Pacific Islands AIDS Foundation (PIAF) and the Institute for Justice & Democracy in Haiti (IJDH), while his transdisciplinary approach to health & human rights issues has led to publications in venues ranging from Health & Human Rights Journal to PLoS Medicine to Foreign Affairs. His current research focuses on access to off-patent essential medicines, and on the intersections between infectious diseases and human rights.
Edward Ellis, MD, MPH, FRCPC
Dr. Edward Ellis retired from the Public Health Agency of Canada in 2011 where he was Manager of the Tuberculosis Prevention and Control Program since 2002. He is currently working part time as a public health-preventive medicine consultant. Previous positions include Health Canada’s Chief of Quarantine, Travel and Migration Health, Associate Medical Officer of Health with Ottawa Public Health and Toronto Public Health, communicable disease epidemiologist at Health Canada, Alberta provincial public health and managing the public health component of a rural development project in Malawi for 5 years. He earned his Masters of Public Health degree at the University of Michigan, has a Royal College fellowship in public health and preventive medicine and is an Adjunct Professor in the School of Epidemiology and Public Health at the University of Ottawa where he teaches communicable disease control and critical appraisal.
Dr. Robyn Christine Waite, PhD
Dr. Robyn Christine Waite is the Policy and Advocacy Manager for Results Canada – a not-for-profit organization on a mission to generate the political will to end extreme poverty. She is also the secretariat of the Stop TB Canada Network, where she is working tirelessly alongside partners to reinvigorate and mobilize a community of Canadians committed to ending TB at home and abroad. Robyn is skilled and well-practiced at bringing people together to take meaningful, high impact action in support of achieving a shared goal. She is particularly proud of the role she played recently in supporting a civil society led global survey initiative, which sought to understand and raise awareness of how COVID-19 is impacting the TB epidemic.
Joel Klinton, MBBS
Joel is the Project Manager of the TBPPM Learning Network. He is a physician from India with experience in primary care, clinical trial management, health service coordination and private health sector engagement. He played a crucial role in several projects at the National Institute for Research in Tuberculosis including facilitating the initiation of STREAM Clinical Trial in India. Joel gained knowledge of the North American healthcare system by volunteering at several leading hospitals in USA and Canada. He has worked in diverse settings where the public and private sector have interlinked and has supported the development of several key resources on engaging private health sector towards universal health coverage.
Petra Heitkamp, MPH
Petra Heitkamp is a Community Manager/Director at the McGill International TB Centre, managing an online community on private health provider engagement in TB care and prevention (TBPPM Learning Network). Petra graduated from Maastricht University with a Masters of Public Health and has taught courses and moderated workshops around the world. Her interests are in applying effective collaborative approaches to strengthen health systems and empower communities to advance public health interventions, specifically in infectious diseases.
Nawang Yanga
I completed my Master's in Health Policy and Equity from York University. My research focuses on the TB situation in Tibetan refugees in India and Indigenous communities in Canada through a social science lens. I am also developing the TB Conquerors project with STOP TB Canada.
Zari Gill
I am a freelance global health and development professional. I am a medical doctor and after graduating from Johns Hopkins University with a Masters in Public Health I served with organizations like World Vision, leading teams in Africa, Asia and Latin America. My area of expertise includes Infectious Diseases and Maternal Neonatal and Adolescent health. I am passionate about role of NGOs in complementing health systems, community mobilization and spearheading new initiatives.
My work on the fight to end TB began in in 1999 as a TB Program Manager, with responsibility of leading Government of Canada and GFATM funded TB control programs in countries including the Philippines, Indonesia, India, Armenia and Niger. I have been engaged with STOP TB Canada over last 15 years. I also had the opportunity to serve on the Childhood TB subgroup of STOP TB Partnership and as a Member of Technical Experts Consultation; WHO for TB Control programs. My experience with HIV & AIDS and MNCH programs was conducive to building-in an integrated approach to community based TB programs in remote areas.
I am invested in nurturing committed and motivated frontrunners for lasting change and have been a mentor with Canadian Society for International Health MentorNet program for last five years. I am committed to helping the young leaders who aim to help the world.
I advocate for ending TB and my specific interests are: 1) a deeper understanding of disruption in TB case detection due to COVID-19, 2) intensive actions to end TB in children 3) Intersectional approaches and systems thinking for more effective TB programs.