2026 National Partner Launch Speaker Listing

Welcome from the Foundation

Karen Faulkner

Karen has more than 30 years of experience spanning the corporate and charitable sectors, leading teams through organizational change and transformational campaigns. Karen has dedicated more than a decade to advancing kids’ health as the Foundation’s Chief Operating Officer and now as the President & CEO.

Pediatric Diabetes Education Center

Chidi Nwofor

Chidi Nwofor is the Patient Care Manager for the Ambulatory Program at the Stollery Children’s Hospital.  His passion for pediatric care was sparked early in life, shaped by personal experiences as a child receiving treatment for respiratory illnesses in acute care settings.  Chidi’s professional journey has spanned various facets of healthcare, beginning in adult medicine as a Registered Nurse. He advanced through roles as a Clinical Nurse Educator and Unit Manager. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Chidi played a pivotal role in managing the Edmonton Zone COVID-19 inpatient unit and later led the endoscopy suite at the Royal Alexandra Hospital.  Joining the Stollery has been a lifelong dream for Chidi. He is deeply grateful to be part of a program that is not only dedicated to excellence in child health but also driven by a passionate and collaborative team.

WCHRI – Pediatric Migraine

Thilinie Rajapakse

Dr. Thilinie Rajapakse is a pediatric neurologist at the Stollery Children’s Hospital and associate professor in the Department of Pediatrics in the Faculty of Medicine & Dentistry at the University of Alberta. She is the director of the Stollery Pediatric Headache program. With her clinical research team, she leads Canada’s largest pediatric migraine clinical trial research program with support from the Women and Children’s Health Research Institute.

Dory Sample

Dory Sample is the Clinical Research Director at the Women and Children’s Health Research Institute, where she develops and manages a clinical research program focused on high-quality, efficient, integrated, and meaningful research in an academic setting. She oversees a team that together manages over 150 clinical studies at a time!

Dory is also a part-time PhD student researching celiac disease under SCHF-funded researcher Justine Turner in the Department of Pediatrics.

GI Clinic

Hein Huynh

Dr. Hien Huynh is a pediatric gastroenterologist and Professor of Pediatrics at the University of Alberta with clinical and research interests in luminal gastrointestinal diseases, particularly inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) and the use of intestinal ultrasound (IUS) in children. He leads the Edmonton Pediatric IBD Clinic and the intestinal ultrasound program at the Stollery Children’s Hospital, and serves as Chair of the Canadian Bowel Ultrasound Group, advancing standardized training and national implementation of bowel ultrasound in IBD care.

Pumbaa and Child Life Team

Angela Mark

Angela Mark is a Certified Child Life Specialist at the Stollery Children’s Hospital, where she has worked for almost 20 years.  Throughout her career, Angela has specialized in supporting liver and multiviseral transplant patients, as well as CHIRP and GI patients.  In 2024, when the hospital announced the addition of a facility dog to the Child Life Team, Angela eagerly stepped forward to serve as both the home and primary work handler.  This unique opportunity came at the perfect time in her career, allowing her to combine her expertise in child life with the therapeutic benefits of animal- assisted interventions.   Helping children and families cope with the difficulties of illness and treatment is what fuels Angela’s passion for child life work.

Melanie Dziwenka 

Melanie Dziwenka is a passionate and empathic advocate for children, youth and families. In her current role as a Child Life Specialist at the Stollery Children’s Hospital, she provides psychosocial support on 5G4, a pediatric medicine unit and is the secondary handler of Pumbaa. Before working on 5G4, she was in a programming role and had the chance to run the newly renovated Beach shortly after the re-opening in 2024. She has had the opportunity to support many of our province’s most vulnerable children and has had the honor of experiencing the beauty of resilience first-hand both at the Stollery since starting last year and in previous jobs she held.

Please click below to return to the event home page.