Marnee Wilson

Marnee Wilson completed a Baccalaureate degree in Nursing at Laurentian University and worked for several years of clinical practice in the areas of Cardiology/Critical Care. She completed a Master’s in Science at University of Toronto. After working for as an RN, ACLS Instructor and CNS in these areas , she completed a Post-Master’s Certificate in Acute Care and has worked as an NP in the areas of Heart Failure, Electrophysiology and the Cardiac Surgery setting. When title protection legislation was passed, she registered as an Adult NP. She joined the Board of Directors of NPAO shortly after the legislative changes in 2011 authorized NP Practice in Ontario hospitals. Since that time, she has been actively engaged in creating and sharing framework to support and enable NPs to practice fully in hospital settings. She has been a sessional Instructor with the University of Toronto’s Lawrence S. Bloomberg Faculty of Nursing for several years, and has developed and taught Professional Development courses for NPs with the Bloomberg’s Centre for Professional Development. Currently, Marnee is the Practice Lead for NPs and NP in Cardiovascular Surgery at St. Michael’s Hospital and is developing an NP-Hospitalist Certificate Program in collaboration with NPAO and the Bloomberg Centre for Professional Development.

Marnee’s focus as President is to build upon the good work done in the past and continue to build a stronger, more transparent, united and member-focused professional voice for NPs in Ontario.

Shari Comerford

Shari Comerford has been the National Director for Nurse Practitioner Professional Practice with VON Canada since May 2014 and on the board of NPAO since Sept 2015. Shari has worked in most primary health care models since becoming a Primary Health Care NP in 2006. Before becoming a NP, Shari worked as a Nurse Clinician for Cardiology and Diabetes, managed a heart failure clinic, worked in Emergency, Critical Care, and home care.

Shawn Dookie

Shawn was born and raised in the Toronto area, he relocated to Thunder Bay in 2009 and still resides there. He started his nursing career working in various Emergency Departments in Toronto. Shawn found his calling working with Indigenous people on remote and isolated First Nations, and has spent almost the last decade working with this population in both urban and remote settings. Shawn completed his Bachelor of Science in Nursing at Ryerson University, and his Master of Public Health at Lakehead University in Thunder Bay. He has a passion for travel, he enjoys spending time with family and friends, and his cat Stanley.

Leanna Lefebvre

As a strong patient advocate, Leanna brings 15 years of front line nursing experience, including nine years as a PHC NP. She developed and leads the North Muskoka NPLC, a non-profit, interprofessional team that provides full-scope, NP-Led primary care to thousands of rural Ontarians. Leanna brings to the board experience in innovative leadership, business management, collaboration, policy development, and non-profit governance.

Diane Wilson

Diane has been practicing as an NP for 10 years in the acute care setting. She has a special interest in infants with brain injury and congenital brain malformations in her practice setting of Neonatal Neurocritical Care. Se participates in international research and education focused on improving neurological outcomes for children with brain injury.

Donna Ruffo

Donna completed her undergraduate nursing degree at the University of Toronto in 1992. Her passion for ongoing learning and desire to acquire more knowledge about caring for complex elderly patients took her back to the University of Toronto where she completed a Master’s degree and subsequently the post-masters Nurse Practitioner diploma both in the clinical area of Geriatrics. In addition to working as a Nurse Practitioner at North York General Hospital since 2004, Donna holds an adjunct appointment with the Bloomberg Faculty of Nursing whereby she is involved in mentorship activities in the undergraduate program and precepts nurse practitioner students. Aside from clinical work she is actively involved in committee work both internally and externally where she helps to contribute to both senior friendly strategies and nursing leadership. When she isn’t busy with work Donna enjoys travelling, photography and CrossFit.

Claudia Mariano

Claudia Mariano MSc, NP-PHC, CDE, is a Primary Health Care Nurse Practitioner currently working at the West Durham Family Health Team. She is a past NPAO Board member and President, and currently has the role of Director, NPAO LHIN Advisory Committee. She is an Adjunct Lecturer at the University of Toronto and a Certified Diabetes Educator. She is editor and co-author of the book “No One Left Behind – How Nurse Practitioners Are Changing Canada’s Health Care System”.