Jo-Anne Black

RN, CPN(C) – ON

Born and bred in Labrador, Jo-Anne is a graduate of St. Clare’s Mercy Hospital School of Nursing, (St. John’s, NL). She began her nursing career in the OR in Happy Valley-Goose Bay, Labrador. Subsequent moves have brought OR experiences in Iqaluit, Nu and rural Ontario where she has been an OR staff nurse at Winchester District Memorial Hospital for the last 20+ years. CPNC certified since 2005, Jo-Anne completed an RNAO Fellowship program in 2015. Her experience was published in the ORNAC Journal in 2018. She has also worked as an instructor with the Perioperative Program at Algonquin College as a lab and online instructor. Jo-Anne has served twice as an ORNAC Standard reviewer and feels strongly about providing high quality, compassionate nursing care, in line with the ORNAC Guidelines. She strives to share this through mentoring and educating students, new nurses and new hires.

Erin Bryant

MSN, BSN, RN – BC

Erin Bryant is a Director for Clinical Education with extensive experience in perioperative nursing and healthcare leadership. She has contributed to ORNAC Guidelines since 2020, first as a peer reviewer and now as a Guidelines Committee member, where she supported the inclusion of gender-affirming care in national perioperative practice guidelines. Erin is also a published author and conference presenter, and in 2022 received the Nursing Awards of Excellence Rising Star Award from the Nurses and Nurse Practitioners of BC.

Stephanie Depledge

RN, BScN, MN, MPEd, PhD(c), CPN(C) – ON

Stephanie has 18 years of Perioperative experience in various roles. She holds a Master of Nursing with a teaching focus from Athabasca University and a Master of Professional Education specializing in teaching students with exceptionalities from Western University. In addition, she is a Ph.D. candidate in Nursing at Western University. She is passionate about sharing her knowledge with others, strengthening the future of nursing and supporting adult learners as they navigate the Perioperative field while promoting excellence in patient care.

Lindsay Hickie

BSN, RN – BC

Lindsay is a Surgical Clinical Reviewer Nurse with the National Surgical Quality Improvement Program (NSQIP) at Penticton Regional Hospital. She also continues to work casual in the operating room. With 28 years of experience as a Registered Nurse, she has been able to explore different areas of practice before finding her passion in perioperative nursing in 2013.

Since then, Lindsay has worked as a perioperative staff nurse, a clinical practice educator, and spent four years teaching the in-house Perioperative Nursing Education Program throughout the Okanagan.

Lindsay also gives back to the profession through her volunteer work with the Operating Room Nurses Association of Canada (ORNAC). She started as a peer reviewer in 2022 and is now serving her second term on the Guidelines Committee. She’s passionate about supporting best practices and ensuring safe, high-quality care through evidence-based standards and guidelines.

Valerie Johnson

RN, BScN, MN, CPN(C), AC – BC

Valerie Johnson is an experienced perioperative nurse and educator with a strong commitment to advancing evidence-informed surgical nursing practice across Canada. Since 2010, she has worked in a variety of perioperative settings across British Columbia. Her frontline experience spans multiple specialties, with a focus on patient safety, interdisciplinary collaboration, and surgical nursing leadership.

Val currently serves as faculty at the British Columbia Institute of Technology (BCIT), where she has taught across the perioperative nursing program since 2019. In addition to simulation and clinical instruction, she plays a central role in curriculum development, integrating the ORNAC Guidelines into both theory and practice-based learning. Val recently led the creation of microcredentials and specialty badges focused on sterile technique and advanced surgical care. She is deeply engaged in the education of the next generation of perioperative nurses and remains grounded in current clinical practices.

She holds a Master of Nursing with a Nurse Educator focus and a Bachelor of Science in Nursing, both from the University of Victoria. Val is CNA-certified in perioperative nursing and holds an Advanced Certificate in Perioperative Nursing from BCIT. Her academic and clinical achievements are complemented by a track record of leadership, including current service as Provincial Treasurer and former Interim President of the Perioperative Nurses Association of British Columbia (PNABC).

Val brings to the ORNAC Guidelines Committee a comprehensive understanding of guideline implementation in both educational and clinical contexts, as well as expertise in evidence appraisal, simulation-based learning, and surgical safety. With her combination of hands-on experience, academic rigor, and professional governance, she is well positioned to contribute meaningfully to the development of the 18th Edition ORNAC Guidelines.

Jennifer K. Dunn

RN, MN, PhD(C) – SK

Jennifer Dunn is a doctoral candidate in Nursing at the University of Saskatchewan and a perioperative nurse at Alberta Children’s Hospital, bringing over 25 years of experience in pediatric and high-acuity surgical care. A long-time RN, she is deeply committed to equity-informed practice, trauma-informed pedagogy, and simulation-based education and is a 2025 ARNET Scholar, reflecting her dedication to advancing perioperative standards, safe practice environments, and inclusive leadership.

Her academic work explores how professional nursing identities are shaped by power, space, and institutional design, particularly within perioperative environments. Her scholarship has been published in Nursing Inquiry, Nursing Philosophy, and the ORNAC Journal, where she continues to advance national conversations on voice, autonomy, and ethical leadership in the OR.

Jennifer’s research explores the stories perioperative nurses tell, and those left untold, about practicing in spaces that prioritize speed over presence. Drawing on nurses’ words and reflections, she illuminates what often remains unseen: the emotional labor of caregiving, silent resilience, and the quiet acts that sustain practice. Rather than “fixing” nurses, her work makes visible the embodied and relational knowledge embedded in perioperative care, affirming its value and opening possibilities for more humane, sustaining ways of working.

Heather Martin

BScN, RN, CPN(C) – Mentor, BC

Heather has been a perioperative nurse in Vancouver BC for the last 20 years, working frontline, in education and now in leadership. Heather is passionate about upholding the highest standards of perioperative nursing practice across Canada and has been a proud member of the ORNAC Guidelines committee since 2017.

Erin Robertson

MN, BScN (Hons), RN, CPN(C) – ON

Erin has worked in Perioperative Services, specifically, the operating room, for over 25 years. Erin is an Advanced Practice Nurse and has held positions as a frontline staff nurse in surgical inpatient units and in the OR, an organizational-wide patient flow coordinator, a perioperative subject matter expert for an Informatics team, and as an educator and a Clinical Nurse Specialist (CNS). Erin is a life-long learner and has completed diplomas in business and nursing, earned an undergraduate (BScN) and a graduate degree (MN) in nursing. Erin has been CNA certified since 2005 and has taken numerous specialty courses to enhance her professional development. Erin has served as ORNAC’s Education Director (2018- 2019 and 2020-2021) and has been a member of the ORNAC Guidelines Committee since 2013 and is the Guidelines Coordinator/Lead for the 18^th/2027 edition. Erin is passionate about ensuring that Perioperative Nurses remain patient and family focused and use evidence to inform practice. Erin strongly believes that all patients need to have Perioperative Nurses as an integral part of their perioperative experience.

Kathy Sinclair

BScN, RN, CPN(C) – BC

Kathy is a graduate of McMaster University and spent the first 11 years of her career in Emergency nursing at Hamilton General before moving to Vancouver General to continue her ER nursing career. During this time, Kathy became involved with BC Transplant Society as an Organ Donor Coordinator and still works with the Organ recovery team on a casual basis. In 2000 Kathy became certified as a Legal Nurse Consultant and has been working with lawyers across Canada on medical malpractice cases. Looking for a new challenge, Kathy took the BCIT Perioperative Course in 2007 and has been working in the OR ever since. Kathy is the Clinical Nurse Educator in Richmond Hospital and has been CPN(C) certified since 2020 and has been a ORNAC Guidelines member for the 2023, 2025 and 2027 editions.

Andy Chua

RN, BN, NSWOC, WOCC(C) – AB

Andy is an Internationally Educated Nurse from Singapore. He is a Registered Nurse who currently works as a Perioperative Nurse and as a Nurse Specialized in Wound, Ostomy and Continence (NSWOC) at the Foothills Medical Centre. He graduated from the University of Sydney, Australia, in 2012 with a Bachelor of Nursing and completed the NSWOC Program in 2019. In 2022, he further developed his nursing career as an operating room nurse. Andy has a professional interest in integrating the knowledge and practice of Perioperative Nursing and NSWOC. He is passionate about the prevention and management of surgical site infections and looks forward to collaborating with ORNAC to strengthen the practice of perioperative nursing.

Kimberly Lemaire

CD BScN RN (non-practicing) – Editor

Kimberly completed her BScN at Ottawa University in 2005 through the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) Regular Officer Training Program. In 2009, she specialized in Critical Care through the Registered Nurses Professional Development Centre in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Working in both civilian and military health care centres, she has provided nursing care from Halifax to Victoria, on a U.S. warship (USS Kearsarge), in Colombia and Nicaragua, and in a field hospital in Haiti following the earthquake in 2010. In 2013, she became a public affairs specialist in the CAF. Kimberly moved away from bedside nursing in 2015 but has maintained a non-practicing license ever since. Kimberly retired from the CAF in 2022 after 21 years of service. She holds a certificate in Editing from SFU, a certificate in Office Administration from St. Lawrence College, and two certificates in Creative Writing (from Coursera.org and Fleming College). She is currently completing a Masters in Fine Arts in Fiction through King's University College.

Kevin Woo

PhD, RN, NSWOC WOCC(C) FNSWOC – Researcher

Dr. Kevin Woo is a Full Professor at Queen’s University, Faculty of Health Sciences in Kingston, Canada. He also holds an academic appointment at Western University (Canada) and Curtin University (Australia). He is known as an established Canadian researcher and educator in the fields of wound management and chronic disease management. Dr. Woo’s research focuses on developing innovative solutions and technologies to promote chronic disease management and wound care. Dr. Woo has authored numerous peer-reviewed articles, book chapters, and best practice guidelines that have shaped the delivery of care in Canada and internationally.Dr. Woo is a founding member and past president of the Canadian Pressure Injury Advisory Panel.  He is Nurses Specialized in Wound, Ostomy, and Continence Canada Research Program Lead. Additionally, Dr. Woo is an affiliate scientist at the Institute for Education Research (TIER) at University Health Network, furthering interdisciplinary collaboration to improve health outcomes. Dr. Woo is a certified NSWOC and Fellow of the NSWOC Canada.

Sylvie Beauregard

RN, BScN - QC - Translator

Since 1989, Sylvie has accumulated more than 37 years of experience as a nurse at the CHUM (Centre hospitalier de l’Université de Montréal). She served as a team leader for 14 years and, in 2009, she took on the role of perioperative nurse educator until 2020. Over the years, she has developed expertise in the implementation of procedures. She was recognized for her involvement with the CIISOQ for several years. Sylvie has developed a passion for risk management, infection prevention, perioperative nursing education, as well as perioperative standards and guidelines. She has been a member of the Standards Committee since 2011. Since 2009, she has been responsible for a perioperative nursing discussion group in Quebec. She has also acted as a consultant for Accreditation Canada, as well as for the OIIQ and the OIIAQ regarding the nursing role in Quebec. She has presented at various symposiums and conferences. Since 2020, Sylvie has owned her own perioperative nursing consulting business.