IPTN’s Board of Directors is a group of passionate and experienced volunteers who share an interest in transforming healthcare.
Diversity and inclusivity are a valued part of the IPTN’s culture. If you know someone who would be a great fit with our organization and interested in serving on our Board of Directors, please introduce us.
Jim Johnson PhD
Chair
Dr. Johnson is a Full Professor in the Department of Cellular and Physiological Sciences, in the Faculty of Medicine at the University of British Columbia. He is a member of the Life Sciences Institute Diabetes Research Group, consisting of 8 laboratories and >70 staff/trainees. His research group at UBC studies the pathophysiology and signalling mechanisms underlying diabetes, obesity, longevity, heart disease, Alzheimer's disease and pancreatic cancer. He is editor-in-Chief of Islets and has served on the Editorial Boards of Diabetes and of Endocrinology. He was inaugural Site Head of Novo-Nordisk Research Centre Oxford, a $200M academic-industry partnership, as well as Vice President and a member of the Global Research Board at Novo-Nordisk A/S.
Ana Andreazza PhD
Dr. Andreazza is a Professor at the University of Toronto in both the Departments of Pharmacology & Toxicology and Psychiatry. The recipient of many awards as well as the author of more than 150 journal articles, her research focuses on understanding mitochondrial function in health and disease, especially in mental illness and cell metabolism. Dr. Andreazza is the Founder and Scientific Director of the Mitochondrial Innovation Initiative (MITO2i), which aims to foster cross-disciplinary collaboration and accelerate effective therapeutic approaches (including therapeutic nutrition) to treat mitochondrial dysfunction. Her collaborative work is leading to significant advances in the biological understanding and clinical treatment of mitochondrial dysfunction and driving pioneering discoveries that benefit both patients and society.
Brendan Byrne MD
Dr Byrne has been a physician and digital pioneer for the past 25 years. Trained at Yale and McGill, he has had a parallel career as an entrepreneur. From his original practice in New Westminster, Brendan created electronic medical record software and built a business that eventually was acquired by TELUS Health and currently serves over 50% of Canadian physicians. From 2015 to 2018, he served as the Chief Innovation Officer for TELUS Health. In addition to the IPTN board, he also sits on the board of the BC
Academic Health Sciences Network.
Charles Helm, MD
A family physician in the Northern BC community of Tumbler Ridge from 1992 to 2021, Dr. Helm received numerous awards for his service to BC healthcare, especially in medical education and rural medicine. He organizes regular conferences, with a particular focus on evolutionary biology, reducing polypharmacy, Indigenous health, and health promotion through healthy lifestyle. After his son and a friend discovered the first BC dinosaur trackway near Tumbler Ridge, he became fascinated with palaeontology, making numerous discoveries and spearheading the designation of the Tumbler Ridge UNESCO Global Geopark. He is keen to raise awareness about therapeutic nutrition for chronic disease prevention and reversal.
Sia Moussavi
Senior healthcare technology advisor and former global GE Healthcare executive, Sia has 25+ years of experience facilitating change and leading cross-functional teams to deliver patient-centric, and tech enabled solutions in collaboration with clinical staff and physicians. He is skilled in organizational alignment and management operating systems while developing talent and succession.
Sunita Vohra, MD
Dr. Vohra is a physician and clinician scientist at the University of Alberta. With training in pediatrics, clinical pharmacology, and clinical epidemiology, her primary research interest is enhancing clinical research methods, including: i) innovative clinical trial design; ii) active surveillance in safety research; and iii) improved outcomes reporting. Most often, she has applied this interest to advance knowledge regarding patient use of complementary therapies. She believes that nutrition plays an essential role in health and in empowering people to make evidence-informed choices.