Kelly Vaillancourt
Kelly has been a Registered Respiratory Therapist since 1997. She held a variety of positions including bedside and instructor before transitioning to leadership in 2023 at Hamilton Health Sciences.
Kelly lead a team to create a medical directive for RRTS in the NICU at McMaster that improved patient outcomes and expanded the scope of practice for RRTS. Kelly left healthcare in 2008 and transitioned back in 2011. From there, Kelly lead 2 different ED teams where performance improvement was recognized by the MOHLTC. Kelly has led teams of outpatient clinics, critical care units and in patient wards.
In 2022 Kelly became a certified coach and is a member of the International Coaching Federation. She started her own business called Momentum Leadership Coaching while still working part time as a Site Administrative Manager for HHS.
In her spare time she volunteers, roller skates and loves to spend time with family and friends.
Frank Fiorenza RRT, BHSc, FCSRT
Frank Fiorenza was a Staff RT in the Intensive Care Units of The Ottawa Hospital and University of Ottawa Heart Institute for over 19 years. Alongside his clinical work, Frank is an inventor and holds 19 international patents and patents pending for various devices related to respiratory therapy. His devices have won 3 international medical design awards and are being used clinically in 7 countries. Frank currently holds a diploma in Respiratory Therapy from Algonquin College, Bachelor of Health Science from Thompson University and has been awarded the designation of FCSRT with the Canadian Society of Respiratory Therapists. Frank has been published in the Journal of Aerosol Medicine and Pulmonary Drug Delivery, Respiratory Therapy Magazine and the Canadian Journal of Respiratory, Critical Care, and Sleep Medicine.
Anthony Lacolucci HonBSc RRT C-NPT
Anthony is a University of Toronto and Michener Institute graduate and has been a Respiratory Therapist for almost 25 years. Although starting his career in Adult critical care, he has now worked with the Neonatal and Paediatric population for over 20 years. He works as a Transport Respiratory Therapist on the Acute Care Transport Service (ACTS Team) at SickKids Hospital. In this full scope clinical role, he leads a team responsible for transporting over half of Ontario’s acutely ill paediatric patients by ground and air ambulance. He holds subspecialty certification in Neonatal /Paediatric Transport and is a frequent speaker on respiratory care topics for this age group.
Georgiana Roman-Sarita BPHE, RRT, CHT
I graduated from the Michener Institute of Education from the Respiratory Therapy Program in 2005. I have been a Registered Respiratory Therapist at Toronto General Hospital since that time. I also work on call in the Hyperbaric Chamber holding a CHT license. I recently transitioned to a Clinical RT Research role July 2022. I assist with the protocol execution, screening, and data collection for the numerous studies in the ICU. I am currently conducting a study using esophageal balloon manometry on BiPAP in order to validate Pocc. I am working on developing a protocol and studying IMT in the ICU. Finally, I am the ventilation and diaphragm ultrasound lead on the Practical Platform. My areas of interest are mechanical ventilation and weaning optimization using respiratory mechanics.
Kerri Caldwell RRT, BHSc
Having worked as an acute care RT in the GTA for several years, moving on to a career in respiratory and anesthesia sales was a natural choice. My clinical expertise gives me a keen understanding of the products and the RTs workload, needs and challenges which allows me to serve my customers so they feel supported and appreciated.
Cindy Tram
Cindy Tram is a second-year Respiratory Therapy student at Conestoga College. With a tenured decade-long career in health and fitness, she boasts 8 years of successful ownership of a boutique gym. Her passion for healthcare began at George Brown College and Sunnybrook Hospital, where she studied in the Prosthetics and Orthotics Technician program. This past summer, she delved into groundbreaking clinical research as a student at the University Health Network’s Toronto Lung Program and Goligher Research Labs. Her focus encompassed mechanical ventilation, critical care, and lung transplantation, exemplifying her commitment to pushing boundaries in the realm of healthcare innovation.
Samantha Da Costa RRT, CCAA
Samantha graduated from Fanshawe College in 2016, and immediately began her career working both at London Health Science Centre and Bluewater Health in Sarnia. Shortly after her career began she returned to Fanshawe College to work in the Respiratory Therapy program’s first and second year lab. In 2019 Sam made the decision to go back to school and become an Anesthesia Assistant, and began working at St. Joseph’s Healthcare London as an AA. Currently she works as a Charge Therapist at University Hospital in London. As an Anesthesia Assistant at St. Josephs Healthcare and is a Professor in both the Respiratory Therapy and Anesthesia Assistant programs at Fanshawe. She is a board member of the RTSO. She has been on one medical mission to Rwanda and will be returning this September.
Matt Ko
Matthew Ko has been a respiratory therapist for 24 years and has spent the last 22 years focused on critical care and adult mechanical ventilation. He has worked at 3 university affiliated downtown Toronto teaching hospitals, in the capacity as clinical staff, clinical educator and practice lead. Currently, Matt is employed by St Michael’s Hospital, Unity Health, where his role is the clinical specialist for respiratory therapy and critical care. He is heavily involved in research in Dr Laurent Brochard’s Lab with a focus and mandate to bring validated research practices to the bedside.
Emily Oleynik B.Sc.(Hons), RRT
Emily Oleynik is a Registered Respiratory Therapist at St. Michael’s Hospital in Toronto, and a Master’s candidate in the MHSc Bioethics program at the University of Toronto. She graduated Conestoga College in 2012 and has held positions as an RRT at Hamilton General Hospital and in Patient Experience at the University Health Network. She has worked at the Toronto Distress Centres supporting individuals in crisis and provided volunteer end-of-life support at Kensington Hospice. She is a co-facilitator with the Temerty Faculty of Medicine, teaching medical students about community and social determinants of health.
Kelly Arndt
Kelly has been a Respiratory Therapist since 1999, graduating from the Michener Institute in Toronto. She has worked in acute care, and as the Clinical Coordinator at Guelph General Hospital until 2020, when she joined the CRTO. Kelly has held the Quality Practice Coordinator role until 2022, when she became the Manager of Quality Practice. She will finish her Masters in Executive Leadership at the Lang School of Business and Economics, University of Guelph this December.
Michelle Stephens, RRT, BKin MHS
A graduate of the Fanshawe College Respiratory Therapy Program, Michelle has worked at London Health Sciences, Victoria Hospital site since 2004 as a bedside therapist, clinical educator and now charge therapist. Her passion for teaching extends beyond the clinical setting to the classroom where she taught didactic and lab courses at Fanshawe College for 15 years. A lifelong learner herself, she completed the Master of Health Studies program through Athabasca University in 2015. Outside of work, Michelle enjoys golfing (most days), travelling and helping her dog Fozzie to live his best life.
Dr. Derek Wu
Derek Wu is an internal medicine resident (Internal Medicine, London Health Sciences Center) interested in critical care and point-of care ultrasound (POCUS). As a Testamur of the Examination of Special Competence in Critical Care Echocardiography, he routinely employs POCUS in the management of the acutely ill population. Derek is the Clinical Machine Learning Lead at the med-tech start up Deep Breathe whose mission is to develop artificial intelligence models for automated interpretation of lung ultrasound. He is the recipient of the Canadian Society for Clinical Investigation and the Canadian Institutes of Health Research Resident Research Award for his work at Deep Breathe.
Dr. Alan Kaplan
Alan Kaplan is a family physician practicing in Aurora Ontario with a special interest in Respiratory issues, vaccination, cancer screening and chronic pain. He is the chairperson of the Family Physician Airways Group of Canada, an Honorary Professor of Respiratory Medicine Research of the Observational and Pragmatic Research Institute, a Vice-President of the Respiratory Effectiveness group and the C0-Chair of the Health Quality Ontario COPD community standards. He is a board member of Thrombosis Canada. He is the medical director of the Central LHIN Pulmonary Rehabilitation clinics.
He has had the pleasure of lecturing locally, provincially, nationally and globally. He is the author of 209 newsletter articles, 157 peer reviewed articles and 121 conference abstracts. His work experience includes Family Medicine, Emergency medicine, Hospitalist work, Palliative care and Stroke medicine. He is an international editor for the Journal of Pulmonary Therapy. He is married with four children and four dogs.
Ron Valotaire
Ron Valotaire graduated from the Industrial Science program at Sandford Fleming College in Peterborough and then went on to graduate from Fanshawe’s Respiratory Therapy program in 1989. Ron has been an RT for 30 years spending 28 years as core NICU Therapist at St Joseph’s hospital London and Childrens Hospital -London Health Sciences Centre. His experience includes 12 years on the Neonatal Pediatric Critical Care Team and 1 year as NICU Core- student and staff educator. Ron has worked as a Medical Advisor for BLES Biochemicals for 15 years providing domestic and international clinical education.