Alanna Chambers is a Registered Dietitian, Certified Diabetes Educator, and Certified Pump Trainer from Kelowna, BC. She has experience working in the insulin pump industry, has worked with her local diabetes program, and now focuses her time on technology training and education. Having lived with type 1 diabetes since childhood, she understands the realities of daily management and aims to draw from these experiences to make a lasting impact.
Elisabeth Gordon, BScPharm, RPh, is a Community Pharmacist and a Type 1 Diabetes (T1D) advocate. Diagnosed with T1D in September 1993, Elisabeth currently uses OmniPod and Dexcom for her diabetes management and plans to start looping soon. Besides her professional role, she's a dedicated wife, stepmother, mother, and grandmother. Elisabeth enjoys outdoor activities like hiking and cross-country skiing, as well as gardening, reading, baking, and kayaking.
Gerri Klein, RN, BScN, MSN, CDE, Certified Omnipod pump trainer, has been a nurse since 1975. Gerri has had experience in many healthcare settings, but now focuses her time teaching diabetes management to persons living with diabetes at BC Diabetes. Having cared for a child with type 1 diabetes, she appreciates how difficult it is to perform the self-care necessary to control diabetes, and the toll it takes on persons living with the condition, as well as their families. Besides her professional role, Gerri is a wife, mother and grandmother, and does animal rescue, now providing homes for five cats and two dogs.
Shalet is a Registered Clinical Counsellor based in British Columbia. Shalet holds a Master’s degree in Psychology from the University of Mumbai and a Master of Education from the University of British Columbia, bringing comprehensive training to her counselling practice. Having walked the journey since the age of 12, Shalet closely understands Type 1 Diabetes. In her counselling practice, she focuses on diabetes-related burnout, psychological trauma, and anxiety, helping clients develop coping strategies and resilience. Shalet also advocates for caregiver well-being and addresses communication challenges in couples, parents, teens, and families.
Lauren Moore is a Registered Clinical Counsellor from Kimberley, BC. In her private practice, she has experience working with both children and adults living with type 1 diabetes (T1D), as well as caregivers supporting their loved ones with it. Having lived with T1D since childhood, Lauren fully appreciates the challenges of daily management and helps clients explore their experience with T1D in an honouring and compassionate way.
Katie Bartel is an active runner, cyclist, career woman, book lover, mom, and world traveller. She is also a person with type 1 diabetes, living through the ups and downs of this disease since she was nine years old. In her mid-30s, she left a successful career as a newspaper journalist to become a registered dietitian in an effort to fill the gaps in healthcare for the T1D population. She currently divides her working time between Fraser Health and her private practice. To learn more, visit Katie's website at www.katiebartel.ca
Katie D’Agosto is a Registered Nurse and Certified Diabetes Educator from Kelowna, BC. She has been working with the Central Okanagan Diabetes Education Program since 2015 and has previously worked in the insulin pump industry. Katie has a passion for supporting all folks living with diabetes and hopes to be part of bringing positivity and understanding to the clinical space. Besides being a full time nurse, Katie is also a singer and busy mom to her bonus daughter Mia and son Gabe the babe!
Stephanie Hendy has worked for over 13 years in various fields including physical fitness, chronic health management, personal training, kinesiology, and clinical exercise physiology. She currently works as a rehab consultant for an insurance company and runs her own virtual fitness training business. Stephanie specializes in chronic illness and disability management, emphasizing the individual's well-being. She's a successful advocate having helped remove age restrictions from government-funded insulin pumps. Stephanie Hendy currently works as a disability case manager and client lead for a third-party insurance company, and runs her own virtual fitness training business.
Dr. Tricia Tang is Associate Professor in the Division of Endocrinology at the University of British Columbia, a Michael Smith Health BC/Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF) Health Professional Investigator, and one of the few registered psychologists in Canada with expertise in type 1 diabetes (T1D). She received her A.B. from Duke University, her Ph.D. from the University of Vermont, and completed a postdoctoral fellowship at Mount Sinai School of Medicine. She has over 23 years of experience conducting diabetes translational research in high-risk and medically underserved populations. Her program of research develops, implements, and evaluates culturally-responsive, low-cost, and sustainable models to improve long-term diabetes-related health outcomes. Since 2018, her work has expanded to utilizing digital health strategies to deliver mental health support to adults with T1D living in communities in BC with limited access to care. She has been awarded grants from the JDRF, CIHR, Brain Canada, Michael Smith Foundation for Health Research, VGH-UBC Hospital Foundation, Vancouver Foundation, Diabetes Canada, Lawson Foundation, Sun-Life Financial, National Institutes of Health, and International Diabetes Federation.