REBA Harmonization and Education Event 2025
6 June 2025
8 a.m. - 3:30 p.m.
Granville Island Hotel - 1253 Johnston St, Vancouver, BC V6H 3R8
Please note that this is a closed, invite-only event for Research Ethics Board Administrators (REBAs) in BC.
This annual event is dedicated to REBAs in BC and supports the research ethics community to come together in-person. Held this year at the Granville Island Hotel, the REBA Harmonization and Education Event will focus on bringing REBAs together to educate, inspire, advance harmonization efforts and discuss important topics on research ethics in BC.
Event highlights include:
- Learning sessions on important research ethics topics, like emerging trends, advancing EDI, and Indigenous cultural safety
- Dedicated time for REBAs of different experience levels and backgrounds to mingle, network and learn from each other
- Opportunity to discuss case studies, ask questions and share knowledge
This year, the event is co-organized by Research Ethics BC, UBC, UBCO and Interior Health. Funding was provided by Michael Smith Health Research BC and the BC SUPPORT Unit.
|
Speakers
Asma-na-hi (Caring for Precious Ones) Antoine
Dr. Asma-na-hi (Caring for Precious Ones) Antoine, Toquaht Nation, Nuu-chah-nulth Lands, and Saik’uz First Nation of Carrier Sekani Lands. At the University of British Columbia, she is the Indigenous Research Project Officer, working between the Office of Research Ethics and the VP Research and Innovation offices. She is also a community member on the Behavioural Research Ethics Board (BREB) and the BC Cancer Research Ethics Board. Her work focuses on supporting the Indigenous Research Ethics Application Pilot Project and developing a strategic vision in the VPRI and ORE to facilitate Indigenous research. She is also an Indigenous Advisor for Health Research BC and Chair, Research Ethics BC Advisory Committee.
Larry has researched how people experience various health conditions, including cancer, and how this might impact their health behaviour. Larry is the Patient and Community Engagement Lead with the BC SUPPORT Unit, Michael Smith Health Research BC.
In this role he supports health organizations and researchers to work with other interest-holders including non-researchers, patients, family members, caretakers, clinicians, and health-system decision-makers, to help build their capacity to contribute to the research process. Engaging these interest-holders in research supports learning communities that result in research outcomes that can improve health care practice. This work involves educating and training researchers, patient/family/public partners, health care providers and policy decision makers in patient-oriented research practices that enhance learning health system approaches.
Erika Basile is the Director of Research Ethics and Compliance at Western University, where she leads institutional efforts to uphold the highest standards in research ethics and regulatory compliance. She holds a Master of Professional Education in Educational Leadership from Western and a BSc in Genetics and Cell Biology from the University of British Columbia.
With over 20 years of experience in academic and research environments, including universities, hospitals, and biotech companies, Erika provides strategic leadership and expert guidance in research ethics and compliance, ensuring alignment with institutional, provincial, and federal regulations. She also brings extensive expertise in partnership development, organizational restructuring, and operational optimization. Her work strengthens institutional frameworks, promotes ethical research conduct, and fosters collaboration across research and service units.
Maria is an anthropologist with an eclectic background as a researcher and service provider in public, private, and community organizations. At the center of her professional journey is the desire to improve the quality of life of patients, caregivers, and communities through a multidisciplinary and multisectoral approach that finds innovative solutions inspired by practice-based and patient-centered problems. Maria completed her PhD in Sociology at the University of British Columbia, where she specialized in social gerontology, with focus on qualitative methodologies, care, and social capital. She currently works at the BC SUPPORT Unit as capacity sustainability specialist, where she applies a user-oriented approach to organize and deliver resources to support the work of those involved in patient-oriented research.
Munaza has 25 years of experience in the world of clinical trials. She is passionate about EDI principles, integrating them into all her work, with a special focus on the inclusion of immigrants in clinical trials. She is on Faculty at McMaster University, where she teaches in the Applied Clinical Research Program. She is the EDIA champion at N2 Canada and also chairs the N2 Public Engagement Committee. She is on the executive board of ACRP Canada. She also sits on the Joint Task Force for Clinical Trials Competency at the MRCT Center at Harvard, which has defined the core competency framework for clinical research professionals globally.
Sarah has held positions with research ethics offices at several major institutions in BC over her almost 20 year career in research ethics and administrative leadership. In addition to her position as Manager, Research Ethics & Compliance at Island Health, and prior positions at SFU, Fraser Health and UBC, she serves as a member of the Advisory Council for Research Ethics BC (REBC), supporting the provincial, harmonized research ethics review of multi-jurisdictional studies involving human participants with Michael Smith Health Research BC and RAPP. Sarah brings her experience to the work of supporting a wide variety of research communities for participant-centred research ethics.
Shiva Ghorbanpour is Turkish-Iranian and came to Canada as a refugee at age 11 due to political and religious persecution. She holds a BA in Indigenous Studies and Political Science and is currently completing an MA in Social Dimensions of Health at the University of Victoria. In her free time, she enjoys being in nature, sewing, and spending time with family.
Her earlier work focused on health, justice, and equity. More recently, she has been learning about stories in research as a methodology, guided by Jo-ann Archibald’s Indigenous Storywork. Her work is rooted in relational accountability, healing, and community-based knowledge. She currently works as the Ethics Coordinator with the FNHA Research and Knowledge Exchange team.
Susan Marlin is the President and CEO of Clinical Trials Ontario (CTO), an organization established by the Province of Ontario in 2012 to make Ontario a preferred location for global clinical trials while maintaining the highest ethical standards. Prior to joining CTO served as the Associate Vice-Principal at Queen’s University. Susan worked with the National Cancer Institute of Canada Clinical Trials Group for many years, initially coordinating cancer clinical trials and later leading the development and implementation of the Ethics and Regulatory Office.
Susan has actively engaged in research ethics for many years. She served as President of the Canadian Association of Research Ethics Boards, as a member of the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) Research Integrity Committee, the Ontario Cancer Research Ethics Board and the Tri-Agency Panel on the Responsible Conduct of Research. Susan is on the Board of Directors and Executive Committee of Life Sciences Ontario and the Management Team for the Ontario SPOR (Strategy for Patient-Oriented Research) Support Unit. She is an Adjunct Lecturer at Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario and is the nominated principal investigator on a Canadian Institutes of Health Research funded project to streamline research ethics review for child health research across Canada.
Taban Behin was born in Nigeria and raised in the Fiji Islands. She was stateless (never having set foot in her homeland, losing citizenship due to persecution suffered by her community) for a number of years before being welcomed as an uninvited guest in Nakoda Territory, and also on Snuneymuxw Territory.
Taban is a mother of a 12 and a 14 year old and is also a PhD candidate in Social Dimensions of Health at the University of Victoria. She also holds an MSc in Community Health Sciences, as well as a BA in Development Studies, with a focus on Indigenous Peoples of Canada from the University of Calgary. Taban’s passion for dealing with health inequities through effective research and knowledge exchange has been forged through her travel and work in 26 countries.
Victoria Philibert (she/her) is an ethicist and researcher from the unceded territories of the Songhees and Esquimalt (Xʷsepsəm) First Nations in what is called Victoria, B.C. She has an MA in philosophy from the University of Toronto and a BA in philosophy and Pacific & Asian studies from the University of Victoria. She works for Island Health as a research ethics board coordinator where she is dedicated to bridging technology with an ethics care culture. She also collaborate with artists, computer scientists, and dream researchers on Elsewhere, an AI-powered dream journal app, and the Sleep & Dream Database (SDDb), a growing open access repository of dream reports and survey data.
Members of the REBA Harmonization and Education Event Planning Committee:
- Alison Orth, Research Programs, Health Research BC
- Dorothy Herbert, Research Ethics Board, Interior Health
- Gillian Corless, Reconciliation and Development, Health Research BC
- Jessica Chu, Research Ethics BC, Health Research BC
- Kristine Ho, Communications, Health Research BC
- Lisa Shearer, Office of Research Services, University of British Columbia Okanagan
- Maria Valente, Office of Research Ethics, University of British Columbia
- Pia Ganz, Office of Research Ethics, University of British Columbia
- Rachel Chan, Research Ethics BC, Health Research BC
