Masai Forum on HIV/AIDS: Panelist Biographies

Dr. Anne-Marie Zajdlik

Dr. Anne-Marie Zajdlik is the Guelph doctor spearheading the city-wide Masai Project to raise $1 million for an AIDS clinic in Lesotho – currently at $700,000 hoping to reach a million by Christmas as the U of G is hoping to reach $100,000 by the end of the semester.

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Jamie White

Originally from western Canada, Jamie is a pediatric nurse and social outreach worker who obtained degrees in International Development and Nursing from Queens' University (Canada). As both a student and professional he has been involved in a variety of international development initiatives - from building homes and wells in Mexico and Guatemala, to more recently completing a one-year posting as a registered nurse at Tšepong Clinic in Lesotho.

Jamie recently completed a short term nursing contract at Toronto's Sick Kids Hospital and is en route to South Korea where he will be teaching English to health care professionals.  He and three friends recently launched 'the GRO Foundation', a grassroots co-operative providing educational scholarships to at risk students in Leribe Lesotho.

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Dr. Brian Cornelson

Dr. Cornelson is an HIV primary-care physician, director of the HIV family practice clinics at St. Michael’s Hospital in Toronto, and Assistant Professor of Family and Community Medicine with the University of Toronto.  He has worked in northwestern Ontario, Manitoba, Nepal and China prior to moving to Toronto in 1992.  He worked at Tsepong Clinic in Lesotho in 2005 and was the Conference Medical Director at the International AIDS Conference in Toronto.

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Sister Christa Mary Jones

Sister Christa Mary Jones worked as a Nurse Practitioner at Tšepong Clinic from January 2005 to June 2005. Born in Toronto and educated in Guelph and Stratford, she entered Mariannhill Missionary Sisters in Toronto, moving from there to South Africa in 1971. While in South Africa, Sister Christa Mary trained and worked as a nurse practitioner, based at St. Mary’s Hospital in KwaZulu Natal from 1971-2004. She has extensive experience in the development of community-based health care programmes, including maternal and child health care, and prevention of HIV/AIDS.

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Dr. Jennifer Young

Dr. Jennifer Young is a family and Emergency Room physician in Collingwood, Ontario where she is on staff at the General & Marine Hospital. She has also worked as an Assistant Clinical Professor of Family Medicine at McMaster University. Dr.Young has worked in India and West Africa, and spent two years at the Bawku Hospital in Ghana, where she was a member of the District AIDS Control Committee, organizing hospital HIV/AIDS policies and AIDS workshops. Accompanied by her husband and three children, Dr. Young worked at Tšepong Clinic from June 2005 to June 2006.

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Alicia Homer

Alicia Homer is the Interim Executive Director of OHAfrica in Toronto. Ms. Homer joined OHAfrica as the Toronto Project Manager in 2005, working to support the Canadian health care professionals at Tšepong Clinic. She has over 15 years experience in international development work and program management, specializing in the areas of literacy, primary health care and gender issues. Before joining OHAfrica, Alicia worked as a consultant for various educational and international development organizations in Toronto and Washington, D.C., and was the Associate Director for World Literacy of Canada. She has lived and worked in India and Africa. Her last visit to Tšepong Clinic was in May 2007.

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