NEW BRUNSWICK TRAUMA PROGRAM – Research Sub-Committee
Dr. James French, BSc BM Dip IMC RCS ED FCEM
Assistant Professor in Emergency Medicine, Dalhousie University
Community Emergency Simulation Lead
Chair, Trauma New Brunswick Research Sub-committee
James is an Assistant Professor of Emergency Medicine at Dalhousie University. He moved to Canada from Cambridge where he was a Consultant in Emergency Medicine and Pre-hospital Emergency Medicine. James has a keen interest in delivering and understanding healthcare, systems performance and disease prevention in the Pre-hospital Environment. James (as a member of Magpas, a UK Emergency Medical Charity) received the Queens Award for Voluntary service in 2004 and the Queen Diamond Jubilee Medal in 2011 for his work in this field.
Dr. Paul Atkinson, BSc(Hons) MB BCh BAO MA(Cantab) MRCP FCEM CFEU
Dr. Atkinson is Associate Professor at the Department of Emergency Medicine, DalhousieUniversity, as well as Director of Research, Department of Emergency Medicine, Saint John, NB, and Chair, Canadian Association of Emergency Physicians (CAEP) Research Committee. Paul moved to Canada with his wife Julie, and three children Jordyn, Lucy and Jack, in December 2009, from Cambridge, UK where he was a Consultant and College Tutor. He graduated from The Queen’s University of Belfast with First Class Honours in Physiology and with honours in his primary medical degree. He completed general internal medicine rotation in Belfast, before training in Emergency Medicine in Cambridge. He also completed a year of high specialist training at RoyalNorthShoreHospital in Sydney, Australia. He was Chair of the UK College of EM Ultrasound Certification board from 2008–11. He continues to direct the international ECCU ultrasound course and is a regular presenter at international ultrasound conferences. Dr Atkinson’s interests include medical education, ultrasound training and patient experience improvement and he has several publications in various peer reviewed journals. His research interests include emergency ultrasound, competency standards, injury, health policy, patient monitoring, and educational methods.
Brian Attfield, SBStJ, ACP
Brian is the Coordinator of Clinical Quality for Ambulance New Brunswick. Brian oversees all clinical quality programs with Ambulance NB, including 100% cardiac arrest review, investigations, occurrences, clinical competency, and focused Patient Care Review, and assists the Education Department with remediation planning following Clinical Competency Review. Brian started his career as a paramedic in the Ottawa area before moving to New Brunswick and completing his diploma in Advanced Care Paramedicine. Brian then fell in love with the Maritimes, and lives and works in the Moncton area. Brian has held volunteer leadership positions with Saint John Ambulance, working for years as the Provincial Training Officer in Ottawa, and co-authoring the national Medical First Responder manual. In the Maritimes, Brian had the opportunity to cross-train as a Critical Care Transport Coordinator (Trauma Desk), Emergency Medical Dispatcher (911), and as a Collaborative Emergency Centre (ER) Paramedic. This gave Brian the opportunity to expand his career as the Manager of Critical Care Transport (Trauma Desk) where he helped develop the NB TeleStroke programs with Ambulance NB. Brian then had the chance to work for Princess Cruises as a ship-board Medical Officer before returning back to NB to continue his leadership career in Clinical Quality.
Dr. Michael Crozier, General Surgeon – Horizon Health Network
Dr. Crozier is a General Surgeon at the Moncton City Hospital. He completed his General Surgery training at Memorial University, and his medical school training at the University of Ottawa. Dr. Crozier has a particular interest in the care of trauma patients as well as in trauma centered research. He is currently completing his Master's Degree in Medical Education through the University of Dundee, Scotland. His publication in the Journal of Surgical Education entitled "Use of Human Patient Simulation and Validation of the Team Situation Awareness Global Assessment Technique (TSAGAT): A Multidisciplinary Team Assessment Tool in Trauma Education" examines the utility of patient simulation in training and evaluation of trauma resuscitation skills, as well as in promoting communication and teamwork in multidisciplinary teams. Dr. Crozier is actively involved in trauma training as well, and enjoys participating as an ATLS (Advanced Trauma Life Support) and RTTDC (Rural Trauma Team Development Course) Instructor and Course Director throughout New Brunswick.
Neeru Gupta, PhD, Senior Epidemiologist – New Brunswick Department of Health
Neeru Gupta is Senior Epidemiologist with the New Brunswick Department of Health’s Analytics service. She works on analytics and research design, methods and metrics to support decisions for healthy populations, sustainable investments and better care experiences.Her other professional experience includes being Demographer-Statistician with the World Health Organization (Switzerland), Data Analyst with Statistics Canada, Lecturer-Researcher at Université de Montréal, and providing consultancy services for various local and international agencies in population and health issues. She holds a Ph.D. in Demography from Université de Montréal. She has published numerous journal articles and edited books and reports on population health and health systems research, and sits on the editorial board for the journal Human Resources for Health.
Bryn Robinson, BA (Hons), PhD
Bryn is the Clinical Research Manager for the Maritime SPOR SUPPORT Unit (MSSU); a multidisciplinary group dedicated to supporting patient-oriented health services research and decision-making in the Maritime Provinces, and is based out of the Health Research Unit at the Saint John Regional Hospital. Previously, she worked in strategic planning and policy research with WorkSafeNB, and served as vice-president of the Canadian Mental Health Association’s Saint John branch. A native of Saint John, Bryn studied experimental and applied psychology at the University of New Brunswick, with a particular focus on emerging adults’ mental health.
Brigitte Sonier Ferguson is Director of the Office of Research Services and Academic Affairs at Vitalité Health Network. A native of Neguac, NB, Brigitte graduated from the Université de Moncton with a BSc Biochemistry (Hon) in 2001 and MSc Biochemistry in 2005. Her doctoral studies at the University of Ottawa focused on the role of intestinal immune regulation in autoimmunity, particularly Type 1 Diabetes. In 2010, Brigitte returned to NB and joined Vitalité as a Research Coordinator with the Office of Research Services. She assumed direction of the service in March of 2015.
John Steeves completed his MD at Dalhousie University. He practiced Family Medicine in New Glasgow NS for several years before returning to Halifax for Residency training in Orthopedic Surgery. He went on to University of Toronto for Orthopedic Fellowship training at St Michaels Hospital. He practiced Orthopedics in Moncton for 20 years before completing a Masters in Adult Education at Saint Mary’s University in 2005. That same year he was hired as Director of Medical Education for Atlantic Health Sciences Corp and joined the Orthopedic Department of the Saint John Regional Hospital. In 2009 he became the founding regional campus Dean of Dalhousie Medicine New Brunswick with academic positions of Associate Professor Dalhousie Dept Surgery, Division Orthopedics with cross appointment as Associate Professor Dalhousie Division of Medical Education. Shortly after retiring from that administrative role, he assumed the position of interim Associate Dean Undergraduate Medical Education Dalhousie Faculty of Medicine in 2015. That same year he became Board chair and CEO External for RECAP Inc., a not for profit corporation that works with individuals or groups in enhancing the health and well-being of an at risk population in Saint John with Hepatitis C by using education, research and interprofessional collaborative care. He became a member of the trauma research committee in 2015. He lives in Rothesay NB.
Barry Strack is the Regional Director of Research Services at Horizon Health Network. In this role he leads a talented team of research and administrative professionals dedicated to supporting Horizon’s research community. Before joining Horizon, Barry lived in Toronto, Ontario, where he held several management positions in the pharmaceutical industry with companies running clinical trials throughout North America, Europe and China. In addition, he’s held the position of Deputy Editor-in-Chief of the Quality Assurance Journal, a John Wiley publication dedicated to continuous quality improvement in the pharmaceutical and biosciences industries. Barry was educated at the University of Toronto and holds a Bachelor’s degree in Biology and a Master’s degree in Forestry Science.