Janny Proba, RN, BScN, MEd, EdD(c), CON(C), CHPCN(C), CVAA(c)
President

Janny Proba is the chief nursing officer at Hamilton Health Sciences with professional practice oversight to over 4400 nurses and over 120 advanced practice nurses. Her role ensures professional accountability and safety while examining nurse-sensitive indicators that impact clinical outcomes. Her role ensures nursing practice alignment to organizational priorities and strategies to influence patient care.

Janny graduated with a BScN from McMaster University and completed a Masters in Education through Brock University. She is currently completing her Doctorate in Educational Leadership, focused on the impact of lateral aggression on psychological safety in the nursing profession. She has been involved in corporate improvements for the standardization and implementation of best practices, resource development, and education for a large healthcare organization for many years. Her passion for vascular access arises from professional interests for quality improvement, education, professional practices, and oncology nursing. Janny is keen to advocate for the scholarship and advancement of clinical practices within this exciting specialty

Disclosures:
Any affiliation with industry or paying organization: Emo Serano – consulting and focus group 
Any conflicts of interest that could affect your Board role: No
Are there other relationships or activities that could influence or give the appearance of potentially influencing your role on the Board? If so, please disclose. No
Do you have any patents, whether planned, pending or issued, broadly relevant to the work done by CVAA or your role on the Board? If so, please disclose. No

Watch Janny's 2022 Meet the Board Interview:

Chanda MacDonald, BScN, RN, CCNP, CVAA(c) 
President-Elect

Chanda MacDonald, a graduate of the St. Francis Xavier University nursing program, has been a registered nurse for 23 years with a successful background in critical care.  Currently a Clinical Educator with the Nova Scotia Health, Chanda demonstrates the values of integrity, compassion and commitment to ensure best practice guidelines are promoted and implemented when delivering education.  She has dedicated much of her career to the support of new nursing graduates as they enter the nursing profession.  Chanda has been involved with the Nova Scotia CVAA chapter for 8 years, and currently serves as president of the Nova Scotia CVAA chapter.  She has presented at Global Vascular summit, and previous National CVAA conferences.

Disclosures:
Any affiliation with industry or paying organization: No
Any conflicts of interest that could affect your Board role: No
Are there other relationships or activities that could influence or give the appearance of potentially influencing your role on the Board? In the past I have did consult speaking engagements with 3M on my personal clinical education expertise.  I still remain on contract but no future planned sessions at this time.
Do you have any patents, whether planned, pending or issued, broadly relevant to the work done by CVAA or your role on the Board? If so, please disclose. No

Watch Chanda's 2023 Meet the Board Interview:

Christina Belza, PhD, MN, ACNP, BScN, CVAA(c)
Treasurer

Christina Belza received her Bachelor of Science in Nursing from McMaster University before working in a variety of areas including Blood and Marrow Transplant, Clinical Response Nurse and the Emergency Department before pursing her Masters. She has been a nurse practitioner for the past 15 years in the pediatric intestinal failure program at the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto. In her work capacity she manages inpatient and outpatients on long-term parenteral nutrition and intestinal failure. Academically, she completed her PhD in clinical epidemiology with a focus on evaluating burden of care for caregivers of children with intestinal failure. Her research interests also focus on evaluating long-term outcomes for children with intestinal failure and implementation of novel therapies to improve long-term morbidity and mortality.

Disclosures:
Any affiliation with industry or paying organization: SterileCare Clinical Consultant
Any conflicts of interest that could affect your Board role: No
Are there other relationships or activities that could influence or give the appearance of potentially influencing your role on the Board? If so, please disclose. No
Do you have any patents, whether planned, pending or issued, broadly relevant to the work done by CVAA or your role on the Board? If so, please disclose. No

Watch Christina's 2022 Meet the Board Interview:

Brenda Gray, PharmD, CNSC, VA-BC, BCNSP, BCSCP, FASPEN, CVAA(c) 
Past-Treasurer

As an active member, including past Board of Director at Large, Brenda is committed to the continued growth of CVAA as a premier organization setting the path for infusion and vascular access practices in Canada. Brenda is an infusion pharmacy specialist who provides education to clinicians and patients managing infusion therapies in the outpatient setting. She also serves as an accreditation surveyor, educator and Board inspector in the US and internationally. She has presented and published internationally on vascular access and infusion therapy with a special interest in nutrition support. As a clinician and patient, she values the resources and leadership provided by CVAA. As Treasurer, Brenda will use her experience as a former Board member, a Steering Committee member for the Guideline Development, her other association experience and business skills to advance the association and continue to build on the solid foundation created. Supporting the financial strength of the organization allows Brenda to contribute to the strength of CVAA in the future. It is her honor again to give back time and energy to an organization she believes in. 

Disclosures:
Any affiliation with industry or paying organization: No
Any conflicts of interest that could affect your Board role: On VACC Board of Directors
Are there other relationships or activities that could influence or give the appearance of potentially influencing your role on the Board? If so, please disclose. On VACC Board of Directors
Do you have any patents, whether planned, pending or issued, broadly relevant to the work done by CVAA or your role on the Board? If so, please disclose. No

Watch Brenda's 2022 Meet the Board Interview:

Leanne Tremain, RN, BScN, MA, CVAA(c)
Director-at-Large

Leanne brings over 28 years of nursing experience to the CVAA Board of Directors.  Presently, Leanne is a nurse leader within the Interprofessional Practice Portfolio at Hamilton Health Science where she is responsible for the Vascular Access Team across 3 sites. Leanne holds a Bachelor of Science in Nursing and a Masters in Leadership with a concentration in Nursing Management. As a leader in vascular access, Leanne collaborates with many stakeholders in order to develop high quality and exceptional care for patients. Leanne is a leader and a visionary, she is looking forward to working with the CVAA team to bring knew ideas that will assist in improving vascular access.

Disclosures:
Any affiliation with industry or paying organization: No
Any conflicts of interest that could affect your Board role: No
Are there other relationships or activities that could influence or give the appearance of potentially influencing your role on the Board? If so, please disclose. No
Do you have any patents, whether planned, pending or issued, broadly relevant to the work done by CVAA or your role on the Board? If so, please disclose. No

Watch Leanne's 2022 Meet the Board Interview:

Alana Aquino, BScN, MN, RN, CVAA(c)
Director-at-Large

Alana Aquino is a Registered Nurse with a BScN from McMaster University and a Master of Nursing with a focus in Education from Athabasca University. She is currently the Educator of the Paediatric Intensive Care Unit at McMaster Children’s Hospital. Prior to her role as an Educator, she was a member of the Vascular Access Team at Hamilton Health Sciences where she was involved in day to day patient care including vascular access assessment, insertions and collaboration. Alana also worked on curriculum/policy development, and the creation of a Centre of Excellence  at Hamilton Health Sciences which provides education and support to other centres for PICC insertions and vascular access problem solving.  
This is Alana’s first time as a board member and she is excited to learn, grow and continue to advocate for excellence in vascular access and utilizing the right device, for the right patient at the right time. 

Disclosures:
Any affiliation with industry or paying organization: No
Any conflicts of interest that could affect your Board role: No
Are there other relationships or activities that could influence or give the appearance of potentially influencing your role on the Board? If so, please disclose. No
Do you have any patents, whether planned, pending or issued, broadly relevant to the work done by CVAA or your role on the Board? If so, please disclose. No

Emily Higgins, BScN, RN, MMI, CVAA(c)
Director-at-Large

Emily Higgins BScN RN MMI CVAA (c) is a registered nurse and Clinical Sales Specialist for Arrow, the vascular division of Teleflex, covering Canada. She gained clinical experience in critical care and vascular access at Mount Sinai and Princess Margaret Hospital in Toronto, notably in the Emergency Department, PACU, and Acute Oncology. Emily is committed to improving patient outcomes through interdisciplinary collaboration and best practice. She is currently working on the CVAA 2024 Guideline Revision. She holds a Bachelors of Science from the University of Guelph and completed her nursing degree and a Master of Management of Innovation at the University of Toronto. In her free time she enjoys yoga, skiing, and biking.

Disclosures:
Any affiliation with industry or paying organization: Employed full time with Teleflex
Any conflicts of interest that could affect your Board role: Employed full time with Teleflex
Are there other relationships or activities that could influence or give the appearance of potentially influencing your role on the Board? If so, please disclose. No
Do you have any patents, whether planned, pending or issued, broadly relevant to the work done by CVAA or your role on the Board? If so, please disclose. No

Elizabeth Martin, RN, BScN, VA-BC, CVAA(c) 
Director-at-Large

Elizabeth (Beth) Martin is an Infection Control Practitioner (ICP) from IPAC team of PHC (Providence Health Care) in Vancouver, BC with over 15 years of vast nursing experiences in acute and ambulatory medicine, vascular access, home infusion therapy, long-term care and home parenteral nutrition.
She is CVAA certified and Vascular Access Board Certified.
Beth is a leader, educator, clinician and lifelong learner that observes and endeavors implementation of evidenced-based practice to reduce risk of healthcare associated infections (e.g.  sharing awareness and improvement of practice to reduce rates of Staph aureus bacteremia from Peripheral IV catheters.) She’s a supporter of knowledge translation project to use I-DECIDED toolkit (Tool 5 CVAA module #1) which will further help staff provide better care and maintenance of vascular access devices in general. Beth is strong advocate in capturing OFIs (Opportunities for Improvement) with PHC Chart Club (which involves multidisciplinary team) who are currently reviewing mortality cases at St Paul’s hospital. She is a member of SQPSC (Surgical Quality and Patient Safety Committee) where data, surveillance and initiatives are shared and discussed. At her leisure time, enjoys hanging out with ToastMentor’s Toastmasters Int’l, looks forward to quality time with husband and 3 children and/or walk/run along Fraser River while listening to audiobooks/podcasts.
Beth is genuinely privileged and honoured to serve as one of CVAA's board members 24/25.

Disclosures:
Any affiliation with industry or paying organization: No
Any conflicts of interest that could affect your Board role: No
Are there other relationships or activities that could influence or give the appearance of potentially influencing your role on the Board? If so, please disclose. No
Do you have any patents, whether planned, pending or issued, broadly relevant to the work done by CVAA or your role on the Board? If so, please disclose. No

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Marnie O'Brien
Student Ambassador (non-voting)

Marnie O’Brien is a third-year nursing student in the Bachelor of Science in Nursing program at McGill University, in Montreal.  She is part of the Nursing Undergraduate Society and the Vascular Student Access Club.  Marnie is from Halifax, Nova Scotia, and has experience working as a lifeguard, caregiver, and patient attendant in the operating rooms before starting her studies in the nursing profession.  All while studying, she continues to involve herself in many community initiatives, especially in advocating for special needs youth.  Subsequently, she works as a caregiver for handicapped children and applies her nursing approach in all her extracurriculars and jobs.   Marnie is very passionate about the nursing profession and is excited to be the 2023-2025 CVAA Student Ambassador.  She is an avid learner and looks to provide feedback, a student perspective, and facilitate knowledge to all students in Canada regarding vascular access in health care disciplines.