Program

 All parallel sessions will take place in the Research and Innovation Centre (RIC). Please note the room number.

All parallel sessions will take place in the Research and Innovation Centre (RIC). Please note the room number.

Please see the Conference Schedule below:

2026 Conference Program  

Please see the Parallel session program below:

2026 Parallel Session Program

Prof. Ann Gallagher

Ann Gallagher is Professor and Head of Department of Health Sciences at Brunel University of London. She is Editor-in-Chief of the international journal Nursing Ethics, a Fellow of the Royal College of Nursing and the Hastings Centre. Ann is also a Visiting Professor at the University of Genoa, Italy. Her research activity relates to ethics in health and social care.

 Prof. Elizabeth Peter

Elizabeth Peter PhD, RN, FAAN, is a Professor at the Bloomberg Faculty of Nursing and a member of the Joint Centre for Bioethics at the University of Toronto, Canada. She is an associate editor of Nursing Ethics, the previous Chair of the Bioethics Expert Panel for the American Academy of Nursing, and the Chair of Public Health Ontario’s Ethics Review Board. Her interdisciplinary academic background in nursing, philosophy, and bioethics has framed her scholarship over the past 30 years. Theoretically, she locates her work in feminist health care ethics which aligns her scholarly pursuits both substantively and methodologically. 

Dr. Trina Racine

Dr Trina Racine possess a PhD in Microbiology and Immunology from Dalhousie University (Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada) and is currently the Director of Vaccine Development at the Vaccine and Infectious Disease Organization (VIDO) a research centre part of the University of Saskatchewan.

Upon completion of her PhD, Dr. Racine joined the Special Pathogens Program at the National Microbiology Laboratory (NML), part of the Public Health Agency of Canada. While at the NML Dr. Racine worked on the development of vaccines and therapeutics for various emerging and re-emerging infectious diseases, including Ebola, Zika and MERS. Dr. Racine coordinated clinical trials and provided diagnostic support to the Ebola outbreak in West Africa in 2014-2016. Prior to joining VIDO, Dr. Racine was a Scientific and Regulatory Affairs Consultant for GeneOne Life Science, Inc., a South Korean based biopharmaceutical company.

As Director of Vaccine Development at VIDO, Dr. Racine is responsible for guiding the development, manufacturing, and clinical/field testing of VIDO’s internal products using a Stage Gate process. Dr. Racine is also responsible for VIDO’s Vaccine Development Centre (VDC), a pilot scale, Containment Level 3 capable, GMP biomanufacturing facility capable of producing veterinary vaccines to North American licensure and human vaccines to Phase II clinical trials.

Prof. Ross Upshur

Ross Upshur BA (Hons.), MA, MD, MSc, MCFP, FRCPC, FCAHS is the Dalla Lana Chair in Clinical Public Health, Head of the Division of Clinical Public Health at the Dalla Lana School of Public Health, and Associate Director of the Collaborative Centre for Climate Health and Sustainable Care. At the University of Toronto, he is a Professor in the Dalla Lana School of Public Health and the Department of Family and Community Medicine, affiliate member of the Institute for the History and Philosophy of Science and Technology, and a Member of the Joint Centre for Bioethics. During COVID-19 he served as the co-Chair of the WHO COVID-19 Ethics and Governance Working group. He is a special advisor to the MSF Ethics Review Board. He is an elected Fellow of the Hastings Center and the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences.

Prof. Carla Aparecida Arena Ventura

Carla Aparecida Arena Ventura is a Full Professor at the Ribeirão Preto College of Nursing, University of São Paulo, where she teaches and leads research on Human Rights and the Right to Health, Global Health, Bioethics, and Nursing Legislation. She holds degrees in International Relations (UnB) and Law (UNESP), an MBA (USP), and a leadership specialization from the Polytechnic University of Catalunya, Spain. She earned a Master’s in Law (UNESP) and PhDs in Administration (USP) and Law (UNESP), complemented by Fulbright scholarships at the Catholic University of America and the University of Notre Dame. Since 2023, she is the Coordinator of the Institute of Advanced Studies in the campus of Ribeirão Preto. Since 2017, she is the Director of the PAHO/WHO Collaborating Centre for Nursing Research Development. She also serves on editorial boards in nursing ethics and primary health care. In 2020, she was recognized among the 250 women driving science in Brazil by Project Open Box Science, Serrapilheira Institute.

 Pamela Grace

Pamela Grace is an Associate Professor Emerita in Nursing and Ethics at the William F. Connell School of Nursing, Boston. She holds visiting professorships at Bern University of Applied Sciences, the American University of Armenia, and the University of Rhode Island. An experienced ICU nurse and former Nurse Practitioner with a PhD in philosophy/medical ethics, she has written and presented extensively on issues of advocacy, professional responsibility and social justice. Her award-winning book - Nursing Ethics and Professional Responsibility in Advanced Practice is in its 4th edition and, along with her former PhD student Aimee Milliken, she recently published the Clinical Ethics Handbook for Nurses (2022) that is international in scope and aimed at helping point-of care nurses with their ethical decision-making. Most recently she served as an expert panel member for the 2025 revision on the American Nurses Association (ANA) Code of Ethics for Nurses.

Dr. Georgina Morley

Georgina Morley, PhD, MSc, RN, HEC-C is Nurse Ethicist and Director of the Nursing Ethics Program at Cleveland Clinic, Ohio, USA. As Director of the Nursing Ethics Program, Dr. Morley leads nursing ethics education and moral distress support programming across the Cleveland Clinic healthcare system. Georgina is an internationally recognized expert on moral distress and nursing ethics, an empirical researcher, and an ethics consultant (> 600 ethics consults). In addition to serving on the clinical ethics consultation service, Georgina also provides embedded ethics support to the Heart Failure Section and is part of the Advanced Heart Failure Therapeutics Committee.

Dr. Cheryl Pollard

Dr. Cheryl Pollard is a professor in the Faculty of Nursing and a recognized thought leader in healthcare education, innovation, and leadership. Her work centers on promoting mental health and well-being, especially for individuals living with mental illness and their caregivers. Dr. Pollard’s research explores the power of compassionate relationships within learning environments and their impact on education. She was inducted as a Fellow of the National League for Nursing’s Academy of Nursing Education in recognition of her enduring contributions to nursing education. Born and raised on the prairies by a Métis father and non-Indigenous mother, she embraces a deep responsibility to connect and contribute. She is guided by the enduring belief that: “Everyone has something to contribute, and everyone contributes.”