Acting Board Chair: Lesley Beagrie, PhD. Professor Emeritus, Nursing, York University
Lesley was an Associate Professor at York University, and past Director of the Schools of Nursing at Trent and York Universities. She was the Associate Dean for Community and Professional Programs at the Faculty of Health, providing leadership in education and research, in addition to program development, implementation, and evaluation in nursing and global health. In addition to being Chair of the York University Senate from 2016-18, she co-chaired the pan-university mental health steering committee, providing oversight of an integrated mental health strategy for the university, addressing staff, faculty and student well-being. She has been a member of key provincial, national and international associations including leadership positions in nursing, global health and interprofessional practice. Having recently retired from York University, she now contributes her expertise in governance and health policy to board work with local health organizations.
Director: Joan Conrad, BA, MSW
Joan is a retired Social Work professional, having worked in the community for over thirty years, in child welfare. Beginning in Lindsay as a frontline worker and completing her career as a Senior Manager and consultant with the provincial government on policy, regulations, and system integration.
Joan has been a long time and active member of the Peterborough community, raising her two daughters here while participating in various volunteer and board engagement roles. Most recently, she decided to turn her professional skills to the health sector as a volunteer with a patient focus.
She has been a Board Member for Peterborough Regional Health Centre (PRHC) and the Research Ethics Board. Joan has always prioritized great patient care and brought that perspective to many projects.
Joan brought her experience with osteoarthritis as a “Lived Experience” member of the Health Quality Ontario (HQO) Osteoarthritis Quality Standards Committee, advocating for province-wide process and system improvements. She is also a Patient Advisor for Cancer Care Ontario- Ontario Health.
She has also been an advisor for UHN on their development of the Pride in Patient Engagement Research (PiPER) community of practice research approach. For the past seven years, she has also had the opportunity to participate in the accreditation of health care organizations across Canada as a Patient Surveyor.
Joan’s passion for great health care is demonstrated in her commitment to continuous learning, community-based health care delivery and maintaining a focus on bringing the patient voice to every discussion.
Director: Lesa Fox, BScN, MNS. Professor of Practical Nursing, Fleming College
Lesa Fox is an Aanishnabe kwe from Northern Ontario.
Her passion for health and drive to help those in need made nursing a perfect fit. With a background in emergency and outpost nursing, Lesa completed her Masters in Nursing Science in 2018. Lesa currently works for Fleming College as a Clinical Coordinator and Professor of Practical Nursing with an Indigenous Perspective. Lesa is also a Trent/Fleming Alumni- graduated in 2006.
Director: Margaret Keatings
Margaret has had an extensive Clinical and Leadership career in nursing, assuming senior positions at The Hospital for Sick Children, Hamilton Health Sciences, Workplace Safety and Insurance Board and the University Health Network. She has had academic appointments at the University of Toronto, McMaster University and Ryerson University. In 2012 Margaret retired from the position of Chief, Inter-professional Practice and Chief Nurse Executive at SickKids. Until 2019 she continued to be a Senior Advisor at SickKids International. She has engaged in international outreach in the Middle East (Qater and the UAE), Ghana, Zambia, the Dominican Republic and China.
Margaret has led many innovative strategies included those related to Nursing Care-Delivery Models, Patient and Family-Centred Care, Inter-professional Practice, Palliative Care, Quality, Patient Safety, and Healthy Work Environments. She served for eight years as a member of the Office of the Chief Coroner’s Patient Safety Review Committee and co-chaired the RNAO panel which created the Best Practice Guideline “Prevention and Management of Violence in the Workplace”. At SickKids, she secured funding from Citizenship and Immigration Canada to establish the “New Immigrant Support Network”. One outcome of this initiative was the development of education programs and tools to address diversity, equity and improve cultural competence and safety. These were shared with health care organizations provincially and nationally.
Margaret participates, as a family member on a number of funded peer-reviewed research projects at the Toronto Rehabilitation Institute at The University Health Network,(UHN). These projects focus on older adults and the frail elderly. She is currently the family representative on EnCoar (Enhancing the Care of the Older Adult) a research team at the KITE Research Institute at UHN. Current research includes the evaluation of the role of Nurse Practitioners in long-term-care settings. Also, at UHN she is a member of the team, promoting the engagement of patients and families in research, “Pride in Patient Engagement in Research”, (PIPER), and at McMaster University, a member of the “Partner Working Group”, advisory to the research team engaged in the program, “Strengthening a Palliative Approach to Long-Term Care”, SPA-LTC.
In June 2017 she was appointed as a Board Member at PRHC and invited to chair the Quality Committee of the Board. She retired from this position in June of 2021. She is currently also a member of the Board of Hospice Peterborough.
Margaret has engaged in extensive research and has many publications.
She was the co-author of five editions of the textbook “Ethical and Legal Issues in Canadian Nursing”. The 5th edition was published in December 2023.
