AVA Team

Nicole Letourneau

AVA Scientific Director

AVA was established by Dr. Nicole Letourneau as a Health Research Training Platform in 2022. Dr. Letourneau and the AVA team expanded with new funding for a Knowledge Mobilization Hub in 2023 and Implementation Science Research Program in 2024. 

Nicole Letourneau, PhD, RN, FCAHS, FAAN, FCAN, FRSC, is a Professor in the Faculty of Nursing and Cumming School of Medicine (Pediatrics, Psychiatry, and Community Health Sciences) at the University of Calgary, where she holds the University of Calgary Research Excellence Chair in Parent and Child Health. Formerly, she was the Chair in Parent-Infant Mental Health (2011-23; numerous funders including Palix, Newall, and Alberta Children’s Hospital Foundation) and Canada Research Chair in Healthy Child Development (2007-11).

Alyson Campbell

AVA Early Career Researcher and member of the AVA Leads Committee

Dr. Alyson Campbell is an Assistant Professor in the Faculty of Nursing at the University of Calgary. Alyson holds a PhD in Nursing from the University of Alberta and is an adjunct professor in the Faculty of Nursing at the University of Prince Edward Island. Alyson’s emerging program of research is informed by implementation science, focusing on the design, implementation and evaluation of evidence-based innovations relating to child health and health service delivery. 

As an AVA Early Career Researcher, Alyson is actively involved as an implementation science lead for current and ongoing research projects with AVA.

Jennifer Collins

AVA Early Career Researcher and member of the AVA Leads Committee

Jennifer Collins, PhD, RN (BScN), CCNE, joined AVA in 2025 as an Early Career Researcher and is an assistant professor with Memorial University’s Faculty of Nursing. She has a background in arts-based research, teaching; learning and interventions; neurodegenerative disorders (i.e. multiple sclerosis and dementia) including gendered research for women with multiple sclerosis; gerontological health; nursing education; mixed methods in nursing research; phenomenology and critical phenomenology. 

Kharah Ross

AVA Mid-career Researcher and lead of the AVA Online Program and Committee

Dr. Kharah Ross is a Health Psychologist, with a specialization in maternal-child health and psychoneuroimmunology, or the study of the connections between psychosocial states (e.g. stress, close relationship quality) and immune activity. Dr. Ross was a postdoctoral scholar at the University of California – Los Angeles (2015-2018) and with the Preterm Birth Initiative at the University of California – San Francisco (2016-2018). She then returned to her hometown, Calgary, AB, where she was an Alberta Innovates – Health Solutions and CIHR Postdoctoral Fellow (2018-2019) at the Owerko Centre in the Alberta Children’s Hospital Research Institute, University of Calgary. Dr. Ross joined the Psychology program at Athabasca University in 2019, and is currently an Associate Professor.

As lead of the AVA Online Program, Kharah has led the development of the AVA Online Certificate Program and AVA Online 2.0.

Ashley Stewart-Tufescu

AVA Early Career Researcher and lead of the AVA Triadic Mentorship Program and Community Agency Internship Program and Committee

Dr. Ashley Stewart-Tufescu is an Assistant Professor and Registered Social Worker in the Faculty of Social Work at the University of Manitoba. Prior to joining the Faculty in 2021, she was a post-doctoral fellow in the Departments of Community Health Sciences and Psychiatry at the University of Manitoba’s Bannatyne Campus. Currently, Dr. Stewart-Tufescu’s program of research spans 19 different countries throughout Asia, Latin America, the Middle East, North America, and South East Asia including many under resourced regions.  She is a co-investigator and collaborator on numerous research projects supported by the Public Health Agency of Canada, the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council, and the Canadian Institutes of Health Research.

As lead of the AVA Triadic Mentorship Program and Community Agency Internship Program, Ashley has led the development and implementation of both programs.

Sarah Yercich

AVA Early Career Researcher and host of the AVA Webinar Series

Dr. Sarah Yercich (PhD, Simon Fraser University, 2021) is an Instructor in the Department of Sociology and Criminology and Chair of Women’s and Gender Studies at Capilano University. She is a multi and interdisciplinary researcher, activist, and teaching scholar focused on violence against women, children/youth, and gender diverse communities, as well as knowledge mobilization, the scholarship of teaching and learning, and prison education. Her expertise spans the disciplines of criminology, sociology, socio-legal studies, social justice, and women’s and gender studies.

Sarah is the Co-Director of the FREDA Centre for Research on Violence Against Women and Children at Simon Fraser University.

As host of the AVA Webinar Series, Sarah is involved in the coordination and hosting of AVA’s weekly webinars.

Andrea Deane

AVA Women’s and Girls’ Health Hub lead, AVA International Director and AVA Program Manager

As lead of the AVA Women’s and Girls’ Health Hub, Andrea Deane, MBA, BSc, CHT, has led the development of the AVA Webinar Series, the Innovative Practices and Programs Inventory, as well as AVA’s Knowledge Translation and Mobilization activities. Andrea is also the Program Manager for AVA and the CHILD Studies lab.

Susanne Marshall

AVA HRTP & Research Manager, KTKM Coordinator

As manager of the AVA Health Research Training Platform and AVA’s Research project, Susanne is involved in all aspects of supporting the programs and committees of the HRTP as well as the activities of the AVA research project. Susanne also coordinates AVA’s social media activities.

Israa Abdelsafi

AVA Project Development Coordinator

Israa is a recent graduate of the Policy Studies program at Mount Royal University. She began with AVA as a Policy Intern and now works as Project Development Coordinator, supporting webinars, research, and projects across AVA.

In her role as AVA’s Project Development Coordinator, Israa supports the planning and delivery of webinars and other initiatives that promote information-sharing and collaboration in gender-based violence prevention. Her work involves project coordination, communication, and developing content that helps strengthen AVA’s outreach and impact.

Alexandria Lozowchuk

AVA Online Coordinator

Alexandria Lozowchuk is a first-year Master’s of Science student in Community Health Sciences at the University of Calgary, specializing in Population and Public Health.

As the AVA Online coordinator, she manages course creation, content review, and quizzes to ensure alignment with AVA’s educational goals. Alexandria produces the AVA HERHealth Podcast, from episode development to post-production, to support AVA’s knowledge mobilization and outreach efforts.

Jason Novick

AVA Webinar Coordinator

Jason graduated from the University of Western Ontario with a Bachelor of Arts, having completed an Honors Specialization in Sociology. Thereafter, Jason obtained his Master of Arts degree in Sociology from the University of Western Ontario. Jason is a Research Coordinator with the CHILD Studies team and Coordinator of AVA’s Webinar Series.