AHA Centre Team
CO-DIRECTORS
STAFF
ELDER and KNOWLEDGE KEEPER
COMMUNITY RESEARCH ASSOCIATES
GOVERNING COUNCIL
NATIONAL ABORIGINAL RESEARCH ADVISORY COMMITTEE
RESEARCH TEAM
STAFF
ELDER and KNOWLEDGE KEEPER
COMMUNITY RESEARCH ASSOCIATES
GOVERNING COUNCIL
NATIONAL ABORIGINAL RESEARCH ADVISORY COMMITTEE
RESEARCH TEAM
Co-Directors
Charlotte Loppie
Principal Investigator Dr. Charlotte Loppie is a Professor in the School of Public Health and Social Policy at the University of Victoria, and the Director of the university’s Centre for Indigenous Research and Community-Led Engagement (CIRCLE). The Centre provides a supportive environment for students, researchers and communities to engage respectfully in research activities aimed at addressing the health disparities experienced by First Nations, Inuit and Métis peoples in Canada. In 2016, Dr. Loppie was awarded the CIHR Gold Leaf Prize for Transformation: Patient Engagement. Dr. Loppie’s guiding principle is to be of service to the Indigenous communities who will benefit from her research. She has made it her life’s work to bring Indigenous peoples into research projects that touch their lives. Her goal is to empower communities, build research capacity and tackle the health disparities faced by Indigenous peoples. She partners with First Nation communities, regional and national Indigenous organizations, health charities and government bodies on a range of projects. Her research interests include Indigenous health inequities, Indigenous HIV/AIDS, barriers to accessing the social determinants of health, racism and cultural safety, cancer among Indigenous peoples, research capacity-building and the sexual and reproductive health of Indigenous women, among others. |
Renée Masching
Nominated Principal Knowledge User Renée Masching is a First Nation woman originally from Southern Ontario who has dedicated her professional energies to working with Indigenous Peoples in health related programs. Renée was the Executive Director of Healing Our Nations (the Atlantic First Nations AIDS Network) from 1997-2005 and then began employment with the Canadian Aboriginal AIDS Network (CAAN) as a community-based research facilitator supporting a community response to HIV/AIDS. Presently, Renée is the Director of Research and Policy with CAAN and Principal Knowledge User or Knowledge User on several active research projects. Some of her professional contributions include: support to community-based HIV/AIDS organizations and working closely with Indigenous people living with HIV/AIDS; serving as a Board member with national organizations; the development of government policy in the Atlantic Provinces and Federally; numerous committees and reports. Her research interests are focused on community-based research frameworks, Indigenous knowledge and community health. Renée is the author/co-author of several peer reviewed publications and has delivered numerous poster and oral presentations at local, regional, national and International conferences. Renée lives with her husband, sons and menagerie of pets by the ocean in Mi’kmaq Territory (Nova Scotia). |
Staff
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Community-Based Research Manager
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Community-Based Research Manager (KT)
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Research and Logistics
Manager |
Elder and Knowledge Keeper
Elder Maggie Paul
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Maggie is an Indigenous Passamaquoddy Elder, teacher and song carrier who has travelled around the world to share Maliseet and Passamaquoddy culture. Also a sweat lodge keeper, Maggie Paul is known for her singing, and both performs and records traditional songs. Born in Maine, she has raised six children and lived most of her adult life on the Maliseet St. Mary's First Nation in Fredericton, New Brunswick.
Maggie has been a cherished AHA Centre Elder since 2012. |
Knowledge Keeper Richard Kotowich
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Rick is Métis, born in The Pas, Manitoba and now resides in Regina Saskatchewan where he is semi-retired and lives with his wife Pat. Rick brings a wide array of experience and knowledge to the role of Knowledge Keeper. In the 1990s, he served on ANHAN’s first Advisory Committee. From 2004 – 2010, he sat on the National Aboriginal Council on HIV/AIDS (NACHA) He has worked with CAAN for many years, most notably as a committee member for the AHA Centre’s National Aboriginal Research Advisory Committee (NARAC). He has front line experience through his position with The Regina Qu’Appelle Health Region where he worked for five years and has also conducted reviews for CIHR grant competitions. Rick has an interest in bridging Indigenous and Settler cultures, worldviews and community life and practices improvisation as a methodology for personal growth and social development.
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Community Research Associates
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Governing Council
National Aboriginal Research Advisory Committee (NARAC)
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NARAC members support community-based research conducted in First Nations (status and non-status), Inuit and Métis communities related primarily to HIV and AIDS, Hepatitis C (Hep C), and Sexually Transmitted and Blood-Borne Infections (STBBIs), with an additional emphasis on Mental Health, Aging and related co-morbidities in order to ensure that our research is ethically and methodologically sound, culturally appropriate, respectful, and relevant.
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