Michael_C._Klein, Principal Investigator, M.D., C.C.F.P., F.C.F.P., F.A.A.P. (Neonatal/Perinatal), F.C.P.S., is a researcher, educator and physician based at the Child and Family Research Institute at Children’s & Women’s Hospital and the UBC Departments of Family Practice and Pediatrics where he is Emeritus Professor and Senior Scientist Emeritus. He is best known for his work on the failure of episiotomy as a strategy to prevent perineal trauma, which has contributed to a dramatic reduction in episiotomy use and resultant drop in rectal trauma. He is PI on a national 4-year CIHR study of the beliefs and attitudes of physicians, midwives, obstetrical nurses, doulas and women as well as a two year Vancouver Foundation and Michael Smith Foundation grant that explores the role of maternity care in rural community sustainability and decision-making in low volume maternity care settings. Dr. Klein has received numerous awards, including Honorary Rural Physician and the Morris Wood Award for Lifetime Contributions to Primary Care Research from the North American Primary Care Research Group, Family Physician Researcher of the Year from the College of Family Physicians of Canada and The Founders Award from Dona International (the international organization of doulas).

Catherine Ulrich, RN, MSc
Co-Principal Investigator
Cathy Ulrich became president and chief executive officer of Northern Health on June 15 2007 . Ms. Ulrich brings a wide range of experience and strong academic qualifications to the CEO’s position. She has spent the majority of her career in rural and northern locations where she gained a solid understanding of the nature of rural and northern communities, their health needs and concerns, and the unique approaches required to meet these needs. As Northern Health's vice-president of clinical services and chief nursing officer from 2002 until her appointment as CEO in 2007, Ms. Ulrich successfully garnered and engaged resources for rural and northern health initiatives. She's been actively engaged in health services research, teaching and graduate student support.

Christiana Miewald, MA, PhD
Co-Principal Investigator
Christiana Miewald is a research associate and adjunct professor with the Centre for Sustainable Community Development at Simon Fraser University. She holds a Ph.D. in Medical Anthropology from the University of Kentucky. Her dissertation focused on economic restructuring and health in Appalachian Kentucky. She has also done work among the Omaha and Winnebago Tribes on dietary change and diabetes. She is currently involved with a collaborative research group concerned with community food security in BC. In addition, Christiana serves as project coordinator on a project funded by Environment Canada to increase the amount of local food consumed on SFU's Burnaby campus as a way to reduce greenhouse gas emissions caused by food transportation. She is also currently a member of the Vancouver Food Policy Council.

Ronald Lindstrom, MSc, PhD
Co-Investigator

Lela Zimmer, RN, PhD
Co-Investigator
Lela has been an assistant professor in the University of Northern British Columbia (UNBC) Nursing Program since the fall of 2000. Previously she worked in clinical practice as a perinatal nurse, primarily in labour and delivery in both small rural and large urban hospitals. She received a Nursing Diploma from the British Columbia Institute of Technology (BCIT) followed by a Specialty Certificate in Obstetrical Nursing, also from BCIT. Lela received a Post-Diploma BSN degree from UNBC and a PhD in Nursing from the University of Alberta. She currently teaches at the undergraduate and graduate levels in the areas of perinatal nursing, nursing epistemology, nursing research, nursing leadership, and program planning and community development. Her areas of research include: perinatal nursing and midwifery, inter-professional practice, relational ethics, and rural nursing practice.

Jude Kornelsen, MA, PhD
Co-Investigator

John Andruschak, MHA
Co-Investigator

Stephan Grzybowski, FCFP, MCISc, MD
Co-Investigator

David Butcher, BSc, MD
Co-Investigator
Dr. David Butcher is the Vice President: Medicine for the Northern Health Authority, the geographically largest health authority in Canada. Dr. Butcher provides leadership in building processes to implement best practices and assure quality in medical services. He works closely with leaders in nursing, pharmacy, and other disciplines to ensure decision-making in acute care services uses the best ideas of all clinical departments. He also leads Northern Health’s relationship with UBC and UNBC in the development of the Northern Medical Program. He has clinical experience both as a practicing Family Physician / Anesthetist and as a Medical Director.
Over the past two decades, Dr. Butcher has practiced in rural and remote locations in the NWT, Ontario, and BC. He is a past President of the NWT Medical Association and has served on the Board of Directors of the Canadian Medical Association. Dr. Butcher has also been a member of CMA’s Council on Health Policy and Economics. He has been the medical advisor to the Registrar of Motor Vehicles for the NWT and chaired the Medical Advisory Committee of the Canadian Council of Motor Transport Administrators. He has previously provided consulting services to industry and government through his private consulting company.
Dr. Butcher received both his Bachelor degree in Microbiology and His Medical Degree from the University of British Columbia.

William Trousdale, MAP
Co-Investigator
William Trousdale is an award winning decision analyst and certified professional planner. Much of William's work is focused on applying strategic planning and decision science to complex problems that involve multiple stakeholders, multiple objectives, conflicting values, uncertainty and risk. In addition to rural maternity, he has worked on challenging issues related to economic development, biodiversity preservation, site selection, parks management, watershed planning, land use planning, aboriginal rights and compensation, sustainable tourism and comprehensive community planning. He is an economic and strategic planning advisor to the United Nations (Habitat), an Associate at Simon Fraser’s Center for Sustainable Community Development, an Adjunct Professor at the University of British Columbia’s School of Community and Regional Planning and President of the consulting firm EcoPlan International.

Glen Hearns, MSc, PhD
Co-Investigator 
Glen Hearns is a senior policy and decision analyst at EcoPlan International with over a decade of experience in conflict resolution, resource management and strategic planning. He has worked in over 20 countries throughout the globe on a variety of assignments, several for periods more than a year. Glen is currently involved in managing, training and implementing strategic planning for local economic development related to several projects in Africa, Latin America and Asia as part of EcoPlan’s on-going Local Economic Development project, developed jointly with UN-Habitat. His current work includes assisting cities in Veracruz, Mexico develop a regional strategic economic development strategy. He has also been involved in developing national and regional strategies for water and energy resources, genetic resources, and conflict resolution using decision analysis. He is currently a PhD candidate at the Institute of Resources, Environment and Sustainability of UBC, and holds a Master of Science in Policy Planning from IHE Delft, and a Bachelor of Science in Geophysics from the University of Waterloo.

Karen MacKinnon, RN, PhD
Co-Investigator

Sahba Eftekhary Shirkoohy, MD, MPH, MHA, PhD student, in addition to having a Medical Doctorate as an International Medical Graduate, Dr. Sahba Eftekhary holds a Master of Public Health (MPH), as well as a Master of Health Administration (MHA) from the University of British Columbia. Sahba has been working as a research associate with Dr. Michael C. Klein providing extensive grant development support for applications to provincial and national organizations. She is currently working with a team on a provincial, as well as a nationally funded study on maternity care services. She has previously worked with Ministry of Health and International Health Agencies in Iran, including the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and WHO on a variety of national projects. During this mandate, she provided strategic direction and coordination to several nationally and internationally sponsored health services research projects. In addition to working as a General Practitioner, her previous management roles have seen her play a key role in health care services planning and evaluation.
She recently started her PhD program at the University of Toronto in order to develop further knowledge on her interest areas and to progress her career. Her research interests lie in health human resources, performance measurement, quality of health care, women’s’ health, and evaluation studies.