Rowan's Law Advisory Committee Members
As part of its work, the committee will focus on how parents, coaches, officials and the medical community can work together to increase safe participation in sport.
Dr. Dan Cass
Dr. Dan Cass has been appointed the Chair of the Rowan’s Law Advisory Committee. Dr. Cass is the Vice President of Medical at St. Joseph’s Health Centre and an Associate Professor in the Division of Emergency Medicine, Department of Medicine at the University of Toronto. He has served as Chief of Emergency Medicine at St. Michael’s Hospital in Toronto and extensively with the Office of the Chief Coroner, where he was appointed Deputy Chief Coroner – Investigations for the Province of Ontario. Dr. Cass provided leadership for two special death investigations and chaired the Patient Safety Review Committee.
Kent Bassett-Spiers
Kent Bassett-Spiers has been the Chief Executive Officer of the Ontario Neurotrauma Foundation since 1999. In 2014, he was appointed as the Executive Director of the Canadian Spinal Research Organization. Bassett-Spiers has extensive experience in developing strategic linkages and partnerships, organizational restructuring and working with the Ministry of Health on policy and systems reforms. His time with the Ontario Neurotrauma Foundation has allowed him to be involved in many partnership activities with the Rick Hansen Foundation and the Rick Hansen Institute, including the SCI Solution Network, Canadian Neurotrauma Research Partnership and recently with the Best Practices Implementation Project.
Warren Hoshizaki
Warren Hoshizaki is the Director of Education for the District School Board of Niagara, the largest school board in the Niagara region. Hoshizaki is keenly aware of the impact concussions can have, not only on professional athletes, but also on students who are injured pursuing their love of sports. Under Hoshizaki’s direction, the DSBN has been at the forefront of developing a school board policy and administrative procedures on concussions in an effort to educate teachers, coaches, students and parents about concussions and mechanisms to manage them. He also served on the Ontario government’s Healthy Schools Initiative – A Working Table Committee on Concussions.
Paul Hunter
Paul Hunter is the Manager of Community Coach Development at Rugby Canada. Hunter has a Master of Science in Performance Coaching from the University of Stirling and a Higher National Diploma in Sports Coaching and Development from Edinburgh’s Telford College. Hunter attended the National Rugby Conference in Toronto where coaches, administrators and leaders in the Canadian Rugby community gained insight on specific rugby streams and connected with other rugby fanatics. In May 2016, Paul attended the Minister’s Roundtable on Concussions.
Susan Kitchen
Susan Kitchen is the Executive Director of the Coaches Association of Ontario. Kitchen is also currently serving on the Minister’s Advisory Panel for Game ON – The Ontario Government’s Sport Plan. She recently joined the Board of Directors of the Sport Dispute Resolution Centre of Canada, appointed by the Federal Minister of Sport. Prior to joining CAO, she served as Vice-Chair of the Board of Directors for the Coaching Association of Canada. Kitchen has been active in the sport of rowing for 30 years. She is an NCCP trained Coach and a certified RCA Umpire.
Jennifer Knox
Jennifer Knox is the Vice President of the Ontario Federation of School Athletic Associations (OFSAA) and Secondary School Vice-Principal with the Kawartha Pine Ridge District School Board. Knox works with hundreds of volunteer teacher-coaches to promote education through sport. OFSAA’s main priority is to work with volunteers to deliver 46 provincial championships and five festivals for student-athletes. They also offer programs and services that enhance school sport in the province, including scholarships, awards, student leadership and coach development programs, tournament sanctioning, and funding to support school athletic programs. OFSAA takes a proactive role in dealing with issues that affect students, coaches, schools and communities.
Eric Lindros
Eric Lindros is a former NHL hockey player and Canadian National Hockey team member. He was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2016. Lindros is an active advocate of concussion research, care and awareness. During his career, he suffered a series of concussions — at least eight by the time he retired. In 2007, Lindros donated $5 million to the London Health Sciences Foundation, one of the largest one-time donations the foundation has ever received. The gift was inspired by Dr. Peter Fowler, co-founder of the Fowler Kennedy Sport Medicine Clinic where Lindros was treated during his NHL career. In 2016, he was the Honorary Chair of the annual See the Line Symposium – a 10-year initiative that aims to bring together world-class health care and research partners in a unique collaboration.
Louise Logan
Louise Logan was formerly the President and CEO of Parachute Canada, a national charity dedicated to preventing injuries, which are the leading cause of death for Canadians ages 1-44. For 15 years, Logan has been involved in injury prevention and workplace health and safety at the provincial, national, and international level. Prior to joining Parachute, Logan was President and CEO of the Public Services Health and Safety Association and a Director General of Policy and Regulation at WorkSafeBC.
Rosie MacLennan
Rosie MacLennan is an Olympic trampoline gymnast. In 2016, MacLennan made history when she became the first trampolinist to win back-to-back Olympic gold medals at the Rio 2016 and London 2012 Summer Olympics. She also became the first Canadian summer athlete to successfully defend an Olympic title and the first Canadian woman to win two gold medals in an individual event at a Summer Olympics. Since 1999, MacLennan has competed internationally at various levels. She understands the dangers of head injuries, having suffered two concussions during her competitive athletic career.
Chris Markham
Chris Markham is the Executive Director and CEO of the Ontario Physical and Health Education Association (Ophea). Ophea manages the Ontario Safety Guidelines, which represent the minimum standard for risk management practice for school boards. The guidelines focus the attention of teachers, intramural supervisors and coaches on safe practices across all physical activities, in order to minimize the element of risk. Over the past 20 years, Markham has worked with staff and volunteers to build the knowledge, ability and confidence of educators, principals, school board administrators and public health and community leaders, to deliver quality health and physical education programs across the province.
Dr. Rosana Salvaterra
Dr. Rosana Salvaterra has served as the Medical Officer of Health for Peterborough Public Health since 2008. Prior to coming to Peterborough, she worked in both Toronto and Stratford in similar positions. Dr. Salvaterra currently holds an academic appointment with Queen’s University, and has worked both internationally, and in First Nations communities in Canada. Dr. Salvaterra has also been a health columnist for the Toronto Star in the past, and co-hosted a daily TV health show. As a Family Physician, she specialized in the care of immigrant, refugee and HIV-infected populations. She continues to practice clinical medicine in Public Health’s Sexual Health Clinic.
Gordon Stringer
Gordon Stringer is the father of Rowan Stringer, a 17-year-old girl who died in May 2013 after suffering three concussions in less than a week while playing high school rugby. After Rowan’s death, Stringer and his family decided to do what they could to tell Rowan’s story and educate children, athletes and all involved in child and youth sport. Their goal is to help prevent future injury and death from concussion. On November 25, 2015, Lisa MacLeod, MPP for Nepean-Carleton, introduced Rowan's Law in the Ontario Legislature. Gordon and his family launched a petition in support of the Rowan’s Law legislation at an Ottawa rugby field along with athletes, coaches, medical professionals and politicians.
Dr. Charles Tator
Dr. Charles Tator is a Professor in the Department of Surgery at The University of Toronto. His main clinical interests are in trauma of the nervous system, especially concussions and spinal cord injury. His research is dedicated to the study of injury prevention and recovery from concussions and spinal cord injury. Dr. Tator became a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada in 1969. He joined the Neurosurgical Staff at Sunnybrook Medical Centre in 1969 and served as their Neurosurgeon-in-Chief from 1974-1984. He moved to the Toronto Western Hospital where he became Neurosurgeon-in-Chief from 1985-1988. He was appointed Chairman of the Division of Neurosurgery at the University of Toronto for a 10 year term beginning 1989.
Elisabeth White
Elisabeth White is a Nurse Practitioner for the Division of Neurosurgery at the Hospital for Sick Children. Since 1995, she has worked at the Hospital for Sick Children in various departments, including infectious diseases, general pediatrics, respiratory medicine, emergency medicine and as a clinical response nurse. White began educating the public about traumatic brain injury in 2014. Since then, she has spoken to both parents and trainers in different hockey associations in Ontario about the importance of recognizing signs and monitoring concussions. White graduated from the University of Toronto with a Bachelor of Science in Nursing in 1995 and completed her Master of Science in Nursing from D’Youville College in 2002 and a Post Master Family Nurse Practitioner program in 2010.
Duane Jacobs
The Committee would like to recognize and extend their thanks to Mr. Duane Jacobs for acting as a Special Advisor to the Rowan's Law Advisory Committee on First Nations issues. Duane is a lawyer and a former lacrosse player. He has coached lacrosse for many years, including coaching the Six Nations Senior A Chiefs Team to the National Mann Cup Championship. Duane was recently inducted into the Ontario Lacrosse Hall of Fame.
