Leadership Team

Policy Lead

Margaret Baker is the Executive Director of the Primary Health Services Branch of the Saskatchewan Ministry of Health.  She is the policy lead for the Saskatchewan SPOR Primary Health and Integrated Care Innovations network.  She is a leader in the integration of patient-centred care into primary health care and chronic disease management. Her experience in the implementation of technology (i.e. electronic medical records, telemedicine) to support patient care, as well as her experience with the delivery of primary health care in northern and rural areas, speaks directly to the research agenda that will follow from SPOR network development. 

Community and Patient Advocate

I am a Metis woman and a direct descendant of First Nations people. I am passionate about people and their health and wellbeing; as well as protection of the environment. I enjoy the company of my partner Kevin, and am also a mother of four adult children and I have a number of grand-children – biological and adopted. I work as a caretaker and a janitor at a retirement home and enjoy the knowledge and stories shared by the grandmothers and grandfathers. I enjoy gardening, music, dancing and billiards. I have been working with the Department of Academic Family Medicine at the University of Saskatchewan for the past 20 years helping to build health programs with communities. I look forward to many more life changing opportunities.

Research Lead

Dr. Nazeem Muhajarine is a social epidemiologist. He is a professor and chair in the Department of Community Health and Epidemiology and Research Faculty with SPHERU, both at the University of Saskatchewan. He has worked with community and government leaders in conducting research on child health, and the role of social and economic status in health care services. His work in these research areas won him several awards including the 2006 Canadian Institutes of Health Research’s Knowledge Translation Award, the 2009 Saskatchewan Health Research Foundation’s Achievement Award and the 2014 U of Massachusetts School of Public Health and Health Science’s Alumni Achievement Award. Dr. Muhajarine is the Research Lead for the Saskatchewan SPOR Primary Health and Integrated Care Innovations network and a member of the SPOR PIHCI National Leadership Council.

Clinical Lead

Dr. Cordell Neudorf is the Chief Medical Health Officer for the Saskatoon Health Region and is a Clinical Associate Professor in the Department of Community Health and Epidemiology at the University of Saskatchewan, College of Medicine. He is a fellow of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada with certification in the specialty of Community Medicine. He is the past president of the National Specialty Society for Community Medicine, Chair of the Canadian Public Health Association, and Chair of the Canadian Population Health Initiative Council. Dr. Neudorf is the Clinical Lead for the Saskatchewan SPOR Primary Health and Integrated Care Innovations network and a member of the SPOR PIHCI National Leadership Council.

Dr. Vivian Ramsden is a registered nurse with a PhD in Interdisciplinary Studies. She is a Professor and the Director of the Research Division in the Department of Academic Family Medicine at the University of Saskatchewan. Her background spans both critical care in acute care settings and primary health care in urban, rural, First Nations and international communities. Dr. Ramsden is a passionate advocate for participatory research; thus, her research interests are in: participatory health research and evaluation; primary health care; mixed methods; and, prevention & management of chronic diseases. She is an Honorary Member of the College of Family Physicians of Canada.

Community and Patient Advocate

Along with her patient advisor role on the SPOR PICHI Leadership Council Candace is also a patient advisor on the Saskatchewan Centre for Patient Oriented Research (SCPOR) Oversight Committee and is Co-chair of SCPOR’s Patient Family Advisory Council.

Candace is a retired registered nurse who throughout her professional career had the opportunity to influence positive change in health care including education and curriculum, practice and administration, research, policy and legislation. She is a former president of the Saskatchewan Registered Nurses Association and board member of Canadian Nurses Association and was an international consultant to assist Indonesia to work toward establishing professional regulation for nursing. In retirement she remains committed to making a positive impact on the lives of others and lends her talents and energies to a range of community groups and organizations that support quality of life, health, health care, health research and health system reform.