Board of Directors

Jocelyn Smith, President

Jocelyn Smith’s specialized background in the support of patients facing infertility issues was solidified by her 13 years of experience at Toronto General Hospital, including seven years as its IVF co-ordinator. She went on to co-author the fertility guide, Making Babies, in 1990, and to speak nationally and internationally on the topic of infertility at numerous medical and nursing conferences.

Today, Ms Smith is LifeQuest Centre for Reproductive Medicine’s Senior Administrator. In addition, she is volunteer President of IAAC, the Infertility Awareness Association of Canada and she is a surveyor for The Canadian Council on Health Services Accreditation (CCHSA).

Fern Levine, Vice-President

Fern was born in Montreal. She moved to Ottawa to pursue graduate studies in reproductive biology at Carleton University where she obtained her Master of Science degree. She spent a year working in the area of Pet-Facilitated Therapy where she really enjoyed working with people and saw the benefits that animals can provide. She began working at Health Canada in 1985

Because of her interest in reproductive biology as well as her passion for helping others, Fern joined the Infertility Awareness Association of Canada's National Board in 1991. She has served in various capacities over the years, most recently as Vice-President, working closely with the National Office. She has found volunteering with IAAC to be a most rewarding experience, both personally and professionally.

Fern is currently working at Health Canada as an associate director in the Therapeutic Products Directorate of the Health Products and Food Branch. She is married and has three children.

Pamela Burton

Pam Burton has always enjoyed children and was drawn to maternity nursing and neonatal nursing in her career. Like many, she was surprised she could not have children easily and after nine years of trying to conceive, Pam and her husband adopted their daughter. Two years later, after 11 years of infertility and two miscarriages, their second daughter was born by cesarean section. And surprise!
Their son was born two years later. Move to the present and Pam finds herself a single parent, mother and grandmother.

Pam’s career is still in the area of teaching maternity nursing and women's health, facilitating an infertility support group and she has recently completed a Master of Nursing degree on The Infertility Experience of Women in New Brunswick. She loves spending time with family and friends and enjoys gardening, colour and design.

Sue Dumais

With over 18 years experience Sue is a true pioneer in the field of fitness, yoga and mind body therapy. Her career has evolved along with her own life experiences. Through fertility, pregnancy and motherhood Sue has learned about self-care, love, acceptance, trust and community. Recognizing the need for more support for fertility clients all across Canada, Sue has developed a Fitness Fertility Specialist Certification and Yoga for Fertility Instructor Training course. The first of their kind in the world. She is the author of A Strong Core for Life and the Yoga for Fertility Handbook. Sue has written articles for many national magazines and contributes regularly to Creating Families Magazine. Sue is also the IAAC Support Group Chapter Leader for Vancouver, BC. Her training as a Doula and experience with fertility and pre & post natal fitness inspired her to write a Pre & Post Natal Fitness Instructor Certification course as well as several online courses to provide continuing education opportunities for fitness professionals all over the world. Although the instructor training is something Sue believes is a vital part of her business, her passion is working with her clients. Her Mind Body Studio in Vancouver is the first in Canada to focus on fertility and pre & post natal health and fitness. The studio offers unique programs including Yoga for Fertility, Transforming your Fertility - Mind Body Program, Yoga Therapy, Energetic Healing and Specialized Personal Training. Sue is passionate about her work and her life. Her passion is obvious in her teaching and her accomplishments. Sue has a gentle yet powerful way of helping others see their true potential. She has helped many clients transform their life and reach for everything they ever dreamed of.

Dr. Ellen Greenblatt

Dr Greenblatt is Clinical Director of the Reproductive Biology Unit and IVF Unit in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, as well as Programme Director of the Reproductive Endocrinology and Infertility fellowship in the Department of Gynecology, University of Toronto. Dr.Greenblatt is an assistant professor in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, University of Toronto. She is the National Director of the Canadian Fertility Andrology Society.

Dr. Greenblatt completed her medical school (McGill University) and Ob/Gyn Residency (University of Western Ontario) in Canada. Dr. Greenblatt was then funded by the Medical Research Council of Canada for further training in Reproductive Endocrinology and Infertility at the University of California, San Francisco. Upon returning to Canada in 1990, Dr. Greenblatt accepted a position with the Faculty of Medicine, Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, of the University of Toronto. Dr. Greenblatt is a fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons of Canada (Ob/Gyn) as well as a Fellow of the American Board of Obstetrics and Gynecology (ABOG). Dr. Greenblatt holds the ABOG subspecialty certification in Reproductive Endocrinology and Infertility.

Dalit Hume

Dalit Hume Dalit was born in Israel and moved to Canada with her family at the age of two. She worked in the marketing field but yearned to focus on social causes which lead to her pursuing fund raising as a career. She has worked at the Canadian Occupational Therapy Foundation, at a Toronto youth shelter and the Alzheimer Society of Ontario before moving on to her current role as Manager, Major and Planned Gifts at St. John's Rehab Hospital Foundation. Dalit has her Certified Fund Raising Executive (CFRE) designation and is a member of the Association of Fund Raising Professionals.

Dalit experienced premature ovarian failure at age thirty-three just as she was trying for her first baby. Dalit was helped greatly by the IAAC Toronto infertility support group during her devastating journey. After much difficult soul-searching, she ultimately chose to cease treatment and live child-free. She has volunteered with disadvantaged youth and co-facilitated the same infertility support group led by Jan Silverman that helped her. Dalit is also a proud IAAC charitable donor and has remembered IAAC in her will.

Sherry Levitan

Sherry Levitan, B.Sc., LL.B., graduated from Osgoode Hall Law School in 1984 and was called to the Bar of Ontario in 1986. She practiced at Goodman and Carr between 1986 and 1991, and worked as General Counsel for a private corporation in the health care field until she opened her own law practice in 1995.

Ms Levitan’s current practice is in Toronto, Canada and is focused on third party reproductive technology. She regularly acts on behalf of intended parents who are trying to achieve a pregnancy with the assistance of ovum donors, embryo donors or surrogates, and has also represented donors and surrogates. She is one of four lawyers in the country who practices in this field.

Dr. Jordan Solmon

Dr. Solmon received his MD at the University of Western Ontario. His post-doctoral training was completed at the University of Toronto, initially in the General Surgery Programme, and ultimately, in the Department of Family and Community Medicine. After receiving his CCFP, he continued his studies, completing a Fellowship in Low Risk Obstetrics in the Department of Family and Community Medicine. He currently holds the rank of Lecturer in the Department of Family and Community Medicine at the University of Toronto, and is an Examiner for the College of Family Physicians of Canada. He has been on staff at Humber River Regional Hospital since 2001, and has an active Family Medicine and Obstetrics practice in one of Toronto’s most challenging inner-city neighbourhoods. Dr. Solmon has a somewhat unique vantage point with respect to the fertility and family planning challenges faced by clinicians and patients. After undergoing many years of fertility treatments, he and his wife, Lisa, have experienced the full spectrum of emotions, ranging from tragic surprises to the joyful births of two very special boys.

Lisa Solmon

Lisa Solmon, B.A. (Hons.), LL.B., graduated from Osgoode Hall Law School in 1997 and was called to the Bar of Ontario in 1999. She articled at the Supreme Court of Canada. She then practiced briefly in the Litigation Department at Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt before joining the Constitutional Law Branch of the Ministry of the Attorney General of Ontario in 2001. She left her legal practice in 2003 to begin intensive fertility treatments. Although her many years of perseverance included disappointments and considerable heartbreak, she is currently a stay-at-home mom to two beautiful boys.

Janet Takefman

Janet Takefman, PH.D is currently assistant professor in the department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at McGill University and Director of Psychological Services at the McGill Reproductive Centre, where she helps patients deal with the emotional challenges of infertility, and decisions regarding Assisted Reproductive Technologies and third party reproduction. Her work provides her experience as a practitioner, researcher and educator. Her research endeavors investigating the relationship between stress and fertility are well-known and ongoing as she collaborates with colleagues from many different countries. She has co-authored more than 40 monographs, book chapters and research articles and currently writes the regular column “Mind Matters” for Creating Families. Clinically, she has been in private practice for more than 20 years and was co-director of the McGill Menopause Clinic and an associate of the Behaviour and Sex Therapy Service of the Jewish General Hospital, both in Montreal. From 2001-05 when her family moved to BC she was the senior Health Psychologist at the Victoria Fertility Centre. She has taught at McGill and Concordia Universities. She volunteers her expertise to several professional organizations including being secretary/treasurer of the Mental Health Professional Group of the American Society for Reproductive Medicine (ASRM), treasurer of the International Infertility Counselling Organization, member of the technical working committee for the development of FertiQoL (a Quality of Life instrument for infertility patients), and member of the Continuing Professional Development Committee of the Canadian Fertility and Andrology Society (CFAS).

Dr. Takefman is a regular speaker for professional, advocacy and women’s groups and has appeared both on radio and television.

Dr. Albert Yuzpe

Dr. Yuzpe received his MD, MSc. and completed his fellowship in Obstetrics and Gynecology at the University of Western Ontario, London, Canada. He was a Fellow of the Medical Research Council of Canada for two years, with his research focusing on the development and refinement of fertility promoting drugs including clomiphene citrate and human menopausal gonadotropins.

Dr. Yuzpe joined the Faculty of Medicine, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology upon completion of his training and passed through the academic ranks to Full Professor. He retired from the University in June 1995 and now holds the distinguished academic appointment of Emeritus Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology. He is Past President of the Canadian Fertility and Andrology Society and the American Association of Gynecologic Laparoscopists and has served as an advisor to the US Agency for International Development, The World Health Organization as well Canadian Provincial and Federal Governments. He is past Chair of the Committee on Reproductive Medicine and Infertility of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada and of the Society of Obstetricians and Gynecologists of Canada. Currently Dr. Yuzpe is Chairman of the foundation for Promotion of Sexual and Reproductive Health, and of the IVF Directors of Canada as well as a member of the Government Relations Committee of the Canadian Fertility and Andrology Society.

Dr. Yuzpe has been the recipient of numerous awards including the Canadian Fertility and Andrology Society Award of Excellence in Reproductive Medicine, The Society of Obstetricians and Gynecologists Presidents Award “For his distinguished career in academic reproductive endocrinology and infertility and
his dedication to women’s health in Canada and abroad”, and the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons Speaker’s Award at the Annual Meeting of the Society of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, June 2000.

Beverly Hanck, IAAC Executive Director

Beverly L. Hanck was educated at Dawson College in Montreal, and at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver. Prior to her current role as Executive Director of the Infertility Awareness Association of Canada (IAAC), Beverly held several positions in the communications field. Beverly is a business diva with 40 years of experience; it did not take her too long to get IAAC up and running.

As Executive Director of the IAAC, Beverly provides leadership and direction for the organization, serving as spokesperson, strategist and innovator. She is responsible for strategic planning and implementation, fundraising, and program management, as well as the publishing of Creating Families (formerly The Canadian Journal of Infertility Awareness). Beverly is influential in building relationships with allied health professionals and community-based organizations involved in reproductive health issues.

Honorary Board Members

Dr. S. L. Tan

Dr. Tan is the James Edmund Dodds Professor and Chairman of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at McGill University. He is also Obstetrician and Gynecologist-in-Chief of the McGill University Health Centre. Dr. Tan is an internationally recognized infertility expert and a pioneer in the simplification of in-vitro fertilization. He founded the McGill Reproductive Center and led the team that produced the world’s first air transport in-vitro fertilization and intra-cytoplasmic sperm injection pregnancies. Dr. Tan was the John Collins lecturer at the 2001 CFAS meeting. He has also been awarded the Howard Eddey Gold Medal by the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons and the MRCOG Gold Medal by the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists in the United Kingdom. In 2003, he earned an MBA degree with distinction from the New York University/London School of Economics/ HEC Grande Ecole Paris TRIUM Executive MBA Program.

His devotion to research has been supported by a happy marriage for over 20 years to Grace Tai Han U. They have two sons; Leonard who is studying at McGill University and Justin who is in his second year at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Grace holds an MSc (Econ) from the London School of Economics and a DPhil from Oxford University. She currently teaches at McGill University and runs the only MD MBA program in Canada, permitting medical students to earn MD and MBA degrees simultaneously. Still interested in chess and sports, S L also enjoys fine dining, good wine and travel.

Dr. Norman Barwin

Dr. Norman Barwin (CM, LLD(Hons), MB., BCh., BAO, MD, FRCOG, FACOG, FSOGC) has been involved in women's health throughout his career. With Marie Morrisey, he took part in the creation of the Infertility Self-help and Support Group (ISSG) which later evolved into IAAC. Dr. Barwin chaired the Board of IAAC from 1993 -1996 before he served as President 1997-2004. He was a founding co-Chair of the Canadian Andrology Society, and during his term as President of the Canadian Fertility Society the two associations joined to become the Canadian Fertility and Andrology Society (CFAS). A past President of the Planned Parenthood Federation of Canada, he is currently President of Canadians for Choice in addition to serving on the Advisory Board of the Institute of Canadian Studies at University of Ottawa. He was Associate Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology at University of Ottawa where he continues to teach and where he was voted best Clinical Professor for four consecutive years.

Dr. Barwin has written over 100 chapters and articles in his speciality and has co-authored five text-books. He is the recipient of many awards including the Order of Canada, the Ambassador of Science Award from Partners In Research, the Queen’s Golden Jubilee Medal and the National Volunteer Award. He received an Honourary Doctor of Laws from Carleton University for outstanding contribution to Medicine and Public Health. A post-graduate scholarship in Reproductive Health established in his name is presented every year and open to students at all Canadian universities. He serves on many advisory boards and volunteer committees. He and his wife Myrna are proud of their ten grandchildren. A keen jogger, skier and cyclist, Dr. Barwin also enjoys cooking and music.

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