The mandate of the NSHEN Advisory Council is to oversee and direct the activities of the Network. This includes reviewing requests for ethics support and, as needed, setting priorities for NSHEN.
Lynn Boudreau
Zone 1 Western
Lynn Boudreau is a physiotherapist who is currently in the role of professional practice leader in Nova Scotia Health’s Western Zone. During her time in direct patient care, Lynn worked in a variety of clinical areas, but spent the majority of this time in geriatric rehabilitation. She subsequently took the role of professional practice coordinator for physiotherapy in Central Zone. At that time, she was an active member of the Central Zone Ethics education committee. Once she transitioned to her present role in Western Zone, Lynn continued exploring her interest in ethics through her membership in the Western Zone Ethics committee.
Cheryl Smith
Advisory Council Chair
Dr. Cheryl Smith is a Primary Health Care Nurse Practitioner working for Nova Scotia Health. Primary focus involves seniors’ health in community and long term care settings. Actively involved in committee work with the Cumberland Health Care Foundation, College of Registered Nurses of Nova Scotia (CRNNS), Nurse Practitioner Association of Nova Scotia (NPANS), and the American Academy of Nurse Practitioner Certification Board (AANPCB). In addition, as an educator, Cheryl has taught multiple topics to diverse health providers and is currently affiliated with Dalhousie and Athabasca Universities.
Ashley Cameron
Zone 3 Eastern
Ashley Cameron is a Registered Nurse, currently practicing as a Health Services manager at St. Martha’s Regional Hospital within the Women and Children’s Health Program. In her previous role as a Quality and Patient Safely Leader she participated in the regional ethics committee which focused on clinical ethics consults. With the development of the Eastern Zonal team Ashley transitioned to that committee, which focus on Organizational Ethics reviews, policy development and education. Ashley will be representing the Eastern Zone.
Gail MacDougall
Zone 4 Central
Gail MacDougall M.S.W., is a recently retired social worker who currently serves as the Coordinator of Organizational and Policy Review Committee, Central Zone NSHA. She is also a member of the Ethics Leads Group, NSHA. During her career, Gail has worked as a clinician and educator in both the Department of Family Medicine and the School of Social Work, Dalhousie University. In addition, she has worked in the areas of child welfare, mental health, organizational consultation and served on many non profit community boards. She has provided leadership to the social work profession at the provincial, national and international levels.
Christy Simpson, PhD
Dalhousie University
Christy Simpson is the Ethics Collaboration Coordinator with NSHEN, which provides ethics support for the Nova Scotia Health Authority, the IWK Health Centre, and Associate Professor in the Department of Bioethics at Dalhousie University. Her primary responsibilities include ethics education and capacity-building, policy development and review, and support for clinical and organizational ethics consultations.
Christy completed her doctorate in philosophy, specializing in bioethics, at the Department of Philosophy at Dalhousie University in 2001. During her doctoral studies, Christy also undertook two clinical practicums at local health care facilities, which stimulated her interest in the role of hope in health care. Her research in this area continued during a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Alberta (2000-2002) and is still strong today. Other research interests include pediatric and organizational ethics, as well as rural health ethics. Christy and her co-author, Fiona McDonald, have recently (2017) published a book, “Rethinking Rural Health Ethics.”
Katie Hollis
Director of Pharmacy
IWK Health Centre
Tessa Morse
Senior Policy Analyst
Department of Health and Wellness
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