Board Members

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Alies Maybee

Alies Maybee
Chair, Executive Committee
Toronto, Ontario

Since 2011, Alies has brought her patient, caregiver, and technology background to her commitment as a patient partner. At her local hospital, Alies was a founding co-chair of the Community Engagement Council. She collaborates at the provincial, regional, and local levels with a focus on digital health and is on several advisory committees at the federal level.

Her second focus is on patient engagement (PE) practices. She has developed and implemented an innovative PE framework and is currently experimenting with a novel way to hear from diverse perspectives on health equity.

In the research area, Alies has been a patient partner on more than ten research projects, has led peer research into being a patient partner in research and delivered workshops on partnering with patients. She has evaluated hundreds of grant applications on a research management committee.

She is one of 12 co-founders of the Patient Advisors Network (PAN).

Sandra Holdsworth

Alifa Khan
Orangeville, Ontario

Alifa Khan, a second-generation settler and dedicated healthcare professional, has contributed over two decades to the field in both patient-facing and administrative roles. As a caregiver in an intergenerational home, she navigates the complexities of raising three children with unique health needs while advocating for systemic improvements.

Her extensive involvement includes positions on the Executive of Holland Bloorview Kids Rehabilitation Hospital’s Research Family Engagement Committee and the Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, Accessibility, and Anti-Racism Task Force. Alifa’s collaborative efforts have earned her accolades such as the Canadian Patient Safety Week Safety Story award and the Ontario Volunteer Service Award, highlighting her commitment to enhancing healthcare delivery and education.

Alifa joined the PAN board in 2026.

Amy Ma

Amy Ma
Montreal, Quebec

Amy Ma is currently a patient / citizen advisor with Choosing Wisely Canada. She is actively involved in Empowering the patient / citizen voice across Canada with organizations such as the Patient Advisory Network, L’Appui Montreal (caregiver advocacy), and Nourish (environmental nutrition).

Amy’s journey in health system advocacy began when she joined the Family Advisory group at her local children’s hospital, as she had one child who had two surgeries before the age of two. Since then, she got involved during the hospital’s accreditation process, lobbied for lower hospital parking rates, and even got people with disabilities involved in a city-wide mass casualty simulation.

Ongoing projects include co-designing a brochure with Indigenous communities that regularly go to Montreal for care and exploring the impact of digital health on equity. Amy has an interest in maternal mental health, accessibility, and health equity.

PAN Board Member Avi Parmer June 9, 2026

Avi Parmar
Maple, Ontario

Avi’s dedication to promoting people-centered, integrated care is clear through his positions as Co-Chair of the Patient & Family Advisory Council for the Western York Region Ontario Health Team and as Board Chair of CHATS – Community & Home Assistance to Seniors.

His professional experience in healthcare finance, coupled with his advocacy for culturally informed, lived-experience approaches, positions him as an innovative force for healthcare transformation. His recent accolade, the Ontario Health’s Above and Beyond Caregiving Recognition for Innovation, underscores his dedication.

Avi joined the PAN board in 2026. 

Sandra Holdsworth

Chris Johnston
Victoria, British Columbia

Originally from Ireland, Chris moved permanently to Canada in 2005 and worked in non-clinical healthcare roles drawing on expertise as an instructional designer and web technologies specialist.  With lifelong experience of complex chronic health issues, combined with knowledge gleaned from navigating health systems across three jurisdictions, Chris has been actively involved as a patient partner in health research and healthcare initiatives since 2018. 

A lifelong passion for learning and a keen interest in effective integration of technologies to enhance quality and accessibility of health services drives Chris to seek out and share learning opportunities related to health research and technologies. Having completed the Institute of Healthcare Improvement Certificate in Quality & Safety in 2019, and the Family Engagement in Research Program in 2026, Chris is currently pursuing the LifTING & Sepsis Canada Research Training Program through McMaster University.

Chris is a member of BC’s Health Technology Assessment Committee, has recently been appointed to Cochrane’s Patient & Public Network Executive, and CIHI’s Pan-Canadian Health Data Stewardship Multi-Interest Advisory Panel (MIAP).  Chris is also currently serving as a patient partner on the HSO Technical Committee developing the Climate Resilience, Emergency & Disaster Management (CREDM) Standard.  As a neurodivergent poet, memoirist and speculative fiction writer, Chris is also active in creative writing communities in both Canada and Ireland.

Chris joined the PAN board in 2026.

Sandra Holdsworth

Cristyana Aloysious
Montreal, Quebec

Cristyana is a bilingual health systems strategist with over ten years of experience in healthcare strategy, quality, safety, and innovation. She excels at combining executive systems thinking with lived expertise to enhance equitable, people-centered healthcare in Canada and beyond. As a National Surveyor for Health Standards Organization and Accreditation Canada, she aids in standards development. Cristyana co-chairs Our Health Data, focusing on health data stewardship and digital trust.

Her leadership includes contributions to Canada’s first AI Patient Charter and serving as an International Patient Advisor with the European Patients’ Forum. She holds advanced degrees in Health Administration, Health Sciences, and Psychology, along with training in project management and Indigenous cultural safety, and is recognized for turning complex challenges into actionable strategies through systems stewardship and lived experience leadership.

 
Cristyana joined the PAN board in 2026.
Donna Rubenstein

Donalda MacIsaac
Halifax, Nova Scotia

Donalda has been a dedicated, full-time healthcare and social change advocate for her entire adult life, and has served in a variety of roles in local, provincial and national organizations. She is a Patient Advisor with Nova Scotia Health, and sits on the board of Canadian Association for Retired Persons (CARP) and other boards. She hosts a weekly radio show and is the co-founder of the QE2 Diversity in Health Care Bursary.

Donalda joined the PAN Board in 2024.

Sandra Holdsworth

Robert Wells
Executive Committee
Ottawa, Ontario

Rob Wells is a Newfoundlander living in Ottawa. He began his Patient Partner journey in 2021, shortly after two major surgical operations and the acceptance of living with a chronic disease. He is a member of the Patient and Public Advisory Council of NL Support, and the AI4PH Community Advisory Board and also holds an individual membership with Digital Health Canada.

Rob is actively involved with a number of knowledge synthesis projects with a focus on digital interventions to support cardiac patients in their recovery. Most recently, he has become an active volunteer with the University of Ottawa Heart Institute. Rob retired from Memorial University of Newfoundland in 2018, after 32 years in IT and Educational Technology leadership positions.

Rob is committed to contributing healthcare improvement in Canada and is particularly interested in the areas of Digital Health, Learning Health Systems, Health Data, and Patient Education.

Rob joined the PAN Board in 2025

PAN Board Member Sandra Holdsworth June 2026

Sandra Holdsworth
Executive Committee
Gravenhurst, Ontario

Sandra Holdsworth is retired from a 30-year career in banking. She received a liver transplant 28 years ago after being undiagnosed with Primary Sclerosing Cholangitis and Crohn’s disease. In 2012, she required a permanent ileostomy. She is currently on the waitlist at UHN for a liver & kidney transplant.

Drawing on her lived experience as a transplant recipient, dialysis patient, and organ donation advocate, Sandra mentors others awaiting or recovering from transplant. She champions patient involvement in healthcare, co-design, system transformation, and research.

For over a decade, Sandra has worked with the Canadian Donation and Transplant Research Program as a patient partner and co-lead on the Quality-of-Life Theme, helping shape research, support recruitment, and lead knowledge translation. Last year she took on the additional role as a co lead on the Patient family donor platform.

She joined the Muskoka and Area Ontario Health Team (OHT) in 2019, serving on the Steering Committee, Alliance Council, and several working groups. She co-founded and co-led the Muskoka and Area OHT Patient, Family, and Caregiver Advisory Committee before stepping down in December 2023 to focus on provincial engagement as a Patient Partner on the Ontario Minister of Health’s PFAC. She also contributed to the OHT System Transformation Advisory Committee and Performance Measures Working Group.

Sandra serves on the board of the Patient Advisors Network (PAN) and is deeply involved in primary care and transplant-related research, including projects focused on AI.

Locally she volunteers for Gravenhurst Against Property on their marketing and communications working group preparing their monthly newsletter. Sandra  co-founded Spark Muskoka, a group dedicated to honouring the community – their work, their history, their experience and their awesomeness.

PAN Members Community Guidelines

We want everyone to feel welcome on our PAN community site, so we’ve created these guidelines to foster the community we would like to see. By joining and participating in our Community, you agree that you have read and will follow these guidelines.

Within the PAN Community site and in our dealings with each other through other PAN initiatives:

  1. Be respectful. We all have a shared goal of making healthcare better for Canadians. The PAN Community may include people you work with or may meet in future. As members of PAN, we demonstrate respect in our communication, sharing and crediting of resources/knowledge and  in our interactions with each other and stakeholders from outside the PAN.

 

  1. Focus on a positive and collaborative approach.  Let’s work together to build strong relationships so we can achieve great things. Diversity of thought and sharing of perspectives is healthy – we won’t all agree on everything, but we want to keep an open mind to consider new ideas and change.

 

  1. Do not discriminate or engage in harmful activity. We value different ideas and opinions but there is no place for any activity that could hurt someone, whether it’s physical, emotional, mental or digital. Racism, hateful language, or discrimination of any kind is not acceptable. Don’t post anything you wouldn’t want everyone in the world to know about or that you wouldn’t want anyone to know that it came from you.

 

  1. Use your true identity. We made this community site private so that we can feel free to be ourselves. Each member is vetted by our team to ensure people are here for the right reasons. Communicating with each other is based on trust.

To ensure the PAN community remains a safe place for all members, we ask you that you contact hello@patientadvisors.ca if you encounter a situation where guidelines may have been breached. PAN reserves the right to suspend or terminate membership in the Community for anyone who violates these guidelines.

 

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Directives de la communauté des membres du PAN

Nous voulons que tout le monde se sente bienvenu sur notre site Web communautaire de PAN. Nous avons donc créé ces directives pour aider au développement de la communauté que nous aimerions voir. En rejoignant et en participant à notre communauté, vous acceptez de lire et de suivre ces directives.

Sur le site de Web de la communauté de PAN et dans nos relations mutuelles dans le cadre d'autres initiatives de PAN :

  1. Soyez respectueux. Nous partageons tous l'objectif d'améliorer les soins de santé pour les Canadiens. La communautéde PAN peut inclure des personnes avec lesquelles vous travaillez ou que vous pourriez rencontrer à l'avenir. En tant que membres de PAN, nous faisons preuve de respect dans notre communication, le partage et l'attribution de ressources/connaissances et dans nos interactions les uns avec les autres et avec les parties prenantes extérieures de
  2. Se concentrersur une approche positive et collaborative.  Travaillons ensemble pour construire des relations solides afin de réaliser de grandes choses. La diversité de pensée et le partage des perspectives sont sains - nous ne serons pas tous d'accord sur tout, mais nous voulons garder l'esprit ouvert pour envisager de nouvelles idées et des changements.
  3. Ne faites pas de discrimination et neparticipez pas à des activités nuisibles. Nous apprécions les idées et les opinions différentes, mais il n'y a pas de place pour les commentaires susceptibles de blesser quelqu'un, que ce soit physiquement, émotionnellement, mentalement ou numériquement. Le racisme, les propos haineux ou la discrimination sous quelque forme que ce soit ne sont pas acceptables. Ne publiez rien que vous ne voudriez pas que tout le monde sache ou dont vous ne voudriez pas que l'on sache qu'il vient de vous.
  4. Utilisez votre véritable identité. Nous avons rendu ce site Web communautaire privé afin que nous puissions nous sentir libres d'être nous-mêmes. Chaque membre est accepté manuellementpar notre équipe pour s'assurer qu'il est là pour les bonnes raisons. La communication entre nous est basée sur la confiance.

Pour s'assurer que la communauté de PAN reste un endroit sûr pour tous les membres, nous vous demandons de contacter hello@patientadvisors.ca  si vous rencontrez une situation où les directives ont été violées. PAN se réserve le droit de suspendre ou de résilier l'adhésion à la communauté de toute personne qui enfreint ces directives.

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Patient/Caregiver Partners (P/CPs) are people with lived/living experience of the health system as patients and/or caregivers committed to improving the health system. We use the term P/CP, however other groups use terms such as:
- patient advisor
- patient family advisor
- patient experience advisor
- patient partner
- patient public partner
- Person with lived/living experience (PWLLE or PWLE)

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