Association des Diététistes de soins Primaires
Blending the science of nutrition with the art of food.
Professionnels enfusion de la science de la nutrition et de l’art de l’alimentation.
PRIMARY CARE DIETITIANS' ASSOCIATION
2025 ANNUAL CONFERENCE
Critical Insights in Primary Care NutritionTwo-Day Virtual Event | June 12 - 13, 2025
Alexis Williams, RD, MAN has spent her career helping organizations define and scale consumer health programs, with a focus on nutrition programming. She is experienced in health and wellness program innovation, development, and operation. Alexis is a graduate of the undergrad and Masters nutrition program at the University of Guelph and has been a Registered Dietitian for 20 years.
The first part of her career included many clinical roles as well as a focus on sports nutrition and she completed the IOC Diploma in Sports Nutrition.
In 2011 Alexis took on a role at Canadian food retailer Loblaw to develop an in-store Dietitian program. She built this team over 10 years to be a national program offering in-store and virtual services employing over 90 dietitians across the country.
Alexis is now the co-founder of Business Skills for Health Professionals, a company that helps empower health professionals to become more business savvy, so they can find fulfilling careers beyond clinical. She lives in Burlington, Ontario, Canada.
Heather Keller, RD, PhD, FDC, FCAHS is a Professor and the Schlegel Research Chair in Nutrition & Aging at the University of Waterloo and the Schlegel-UW Research Institute for Aging. She is an internationally recognized expert in geriatric nutrition, assessment, and treatment. Research areas focus on nutrition risk and malnutrition identification and treatment across care sectors; improving nutrition care processes and implementing screening and other best practices; supporting food intake of diverse groups living in the community, including those living with dementia; and improving hospital and residential food and promoting food intake and the mealtime experience in these settings. Professor Keller has led several national research and knowledge translation projects, including the landmark Nutrition Care in Canadian Hospitals, More-2-Eat and Making the Most of Mealtimes in Long Term Care studies. Professor Keller has published more than 300 peer-reviewed articles and translates much of this evidence into practice with tools and resources. As a founding member and past chair/co-chair (2009-2018) of the Canadian Malnutrition Task Force, she is involved in translating research into practice and advocating for improvements in nutrition care for Canadians.
Sue Mah, MHSc, RD, PHEc, FDC is a multiple award-winning dietitian, media trainer and Founder of Nutrition Solutions Inc., a global consulting agency. As one of the first dietitians to work in the Canadian media, she is a recognized nutrition communications pro. Over her career, Sue has been appeared in more than 500 media features, 35 TV shows and 12 TV commercials. Additionally, she was a nutrition editor and writer for two national health magazines. Known for her warm and edu-taining personality, Sue has presented to national and international audiences, including Fortune 500 companies such as Walt Disney, Target and CVS Pharmacy.
Sue is passionate about building up the skills of dietitians. She has media trained and coached hundreds of dietitians, interns, students and corporate executives worldwide. Sue was faculty at Toronto Metropolitan University, teaching nutrition communication strategies. Today, she continues to share her expertise through one-on-one coaching and an online media training course. Contact Sue for media training, public speaking coaching and nutrition communications skills development: Sue@NutritonSolutions.ca Instagram @SueMahRD
Carol Harrison, RD With over 25 years in culinary nutrition communications, and years of experience writing health -forward recipes Carol is passionate about bringing food and nutrition to life in a way that’s both practical and inspiring. As the co-chair of the Food and Culinary Network with Dietitians of Canada she’s been a driving force in empowering dietitians to make nutrition more accessible.
As co-founder of Spark Nutrition Communications, Carol has trained over 1,500 dietitians and interns in recipe development and video creation—helping them bridge the gap between science and the plate. She believes that great nutrition advice starts in the kitchen, and she’s on a mission to elevate the profession by showing RDs how to turn evidence-based guidance into delicious easy meals.
Karen Fung, RD, CDE is a registered dietitian working with the Sunnybrook Academic Family Health Team and Sunnybrook Diabetes Education Center. She is passionate about keeping nutritional education relatable and realistic to her patients, as well as maintaining cultural relevance in her recommendations. In 2023, amidst the Primary Care Crisis, Karen had joined the Primary Care Dietitians Compensation Advocacy Task Force in order to help address the wage disparities in health care. She has continued to advocate for all primary care staff since, and has become a strong voice in the dietitian community as well as at her work for improved wages for recruitment and retention. In her free time, she enjoys exploring coffee and different cultural foods through hosting themed potluck events with friends.
Kelsey Russell-Murray, RD, MSc, BSc has worked as an inpatient hospital dietitian for the past decade, primarily working in the ICU, acute medicine and stroke units. In addition to her hospital role, Kelsey founded Gut Healthy Dietitian Inc. in 2020. Initially launched as a solo private practice focusing on providing 1:1 dietitian services to clients with digestive concerns, Gut Healthy Dietitian has grown to a team of dietitians offering virtual nutrition services nation-wide, including providing dietitian services at Western University. University. Kelsey is obsessed with all things gut health and specializes in supporting clients to improve their gut and digestive health to optimize their health outcomes.
Josée Sovinsky (she/they) is a Registered Psychotherapist and co-owner of Blossom Counselling Centre, a multidisciplinary practice based in Ottawa, ON. Alongside her psychotherapy career, Josée had a previous near-decade-long career as a Registered Dietitian in primary care and private practice. They now enjoy supporting individuals with eating disorders, ADHD, and those in LGBTQ+ communities to explore their relationship with food, their bodies, and their brains. Josée also loves mentoring fellow healthcare providers as they work on building a more inclusive and compassionate practice. Her practice is grounded in principles of trauma-informed care, social justice, fat positivity, and person-centered care.
Outside of their work, Josée loves to perform and is involved in community musical theatre. She loves reading queer fiction, re-watching episodes of Star Trek, tending to her plants, and being “Maman” to her wonderful tiny human.
Drew Hemler, RD (he/him) is dual registered dietitian who’s been integrating technology, including AI key technologies, across private practice, telehealth, academia, and clinical care settings since 2016. In recent years, Drew has collaborated with numerous US and Canadian organisations to enhance and streamline communications, client management, marketing, program development, and nutrition education. At Buffalo State University (NY), Drew leverages AI technologies for course development, student real-world preparation in client and community care, and organisational collaboration with a focus on ethics and practice sustainability.
Drew has been recognized for his leadership, innovation, and commitment to excellence in practice, receiving awards like Outstanding Dietitian of the Year (2024), Nutrition Educator of the Year (2023), and Outstanding Dietetics Service-Learning Course (2021). Drew is a proud Fellow of and active leader within the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. He celebrates the diverse & dedicated roles of dietetic practitioners across all areas of food and nutrition practice in Canada and the US
Christina Iaboni, RD worked as an inpatient dietitian in mental health and addictions for over 11 years. She knows the powerful impact that proper nutrition can have on physical and mental health. She currently focuses her work on family nutrition and aims to inspire people to create easy and delicious meals that they can feel good about serving to their families.
Serena Thompson, patient advocate, lives with sickle cell disease and after experiencing years of humiliation, misunderstanding, isolation in schools, hospitals and at her places of employment, Serena became engaged in the sickle cell community as an advocate by joining committees and organizations championing for patient-centered care.
Serena’s main focus is advocacy and spreading awareness through information sessions such as conferences, symposiums, seminars and panel discussions, by collaborating with
educational institutions, hospitals, community organizations and media such as radio and television.
Alongside Serena’s patient advocacy in the community, she recently served as the Interim President of Sickle Cell Association of Ontario, a member of the Minister’s Patient and Family Advisory Council, Healthy Debate committee, Medical Doctors Admissions, and was past co- chair of Ontario Health’s Sickle Cell Disease Quality Standard Advisory Committee to name a few. Serena is now serving on Healthcare Excellence Canada, UHN ED Sickle Cell Working Group and as a patient Partner with the Institute of Genetics.
Andy De Santis, RD, MPH is a registered dietitian in private practice, social media enthusiast and multi-time published author from Toronto, Canada. He graduated from the University of Toronto School Of Public Health with a master's focused on public health nutrition in 2014 before starting this career in the research and education department of Diabetes Canada. Knowing he ultimately wanted his career to combine creating information for wide audiences with private consultation work, Andy began his pursuit of private practice going down a path relying heavily on his love for writing and a budding interest in social media. He hasn't looked back since and with multiple published books, podcast and TV appearances his appetite for learning and sharing all things nutrition can never be truly satiated. Andy operates a private practice in Toronto, Canada where he sees a wide range of patients but has spent the last several years honing his skills in the world of fatty liver disease - a condition which affects 1/3 of the population and for which nutrition has a massive role to play.
Jennifer Brown, MSc., RD, CBE is a registered dietitian, certified bariatric educator, consultant, and advocate for reshaping how weight, nutrition, and health are understood in healthcare and society. With over 17 years of experience in bariatric nutrition and weight bias/stigma, she applies a weight-inclusive, patient-centered approach to support health beyond weight.
She currently chairs the Quality Improvement Committee at the Ottawa Hospital Bariatric Centre of Excellence and co-chairs the Obesity Guideline Committee at the University of Ottawa Heart Institute. Jennifer is a member of the Scientific Advisory Committee of Obesity Canada, is a steering committee member on the James Lind Alliance (JLA) Obesity Care in Canada Priority Setting Partnership, and runs an online professional development program, called Health Not Weight.
She has contributed to several scientific, research and policy initiatives, including serving as a steering committee member for the 2020 Canadian Adult Obesity Clinical Practice Guidelines, lead author of the Medical Nutrition Therapy chapter, an advisory member for the International Obesity CPG Adaptation Committee, and a Canadian representative on the Global Obesity Policy Engagement Network. She is an invited speaker at global conferences, has authored numerous publications and is passionate about transforming healthcare's approach to weight, health, and nutrition.
