• Dr. Danièle Behn Smith is Métis from the Red River Valley and Eh Cho Dene from Fort Nelson First Nation. She has the honour and privilege of working as British Columbia’s Deputy Provincial Health Officer, Indigenous Health. She works alongside Dr. Bonnie Henry and other team members at the Office of the Provincial Health Officer to uphold the inherent rights of Indigenous peoples, unlearn and undo systemic white supremacy and racism and advance true reconciliation.

    Behn Smith brings expertise as a family physician with training in emergency medicine (MD, CCFP-EM); functional medicine (Certified Functional Medicine Practitioner); and population and public health (MPH). She has practiced medicine in rural and remote Indigenous communities across Canada.

    As both a physician and health leader, her work recognizes self-determination as the foundation of health and wellness among First Nations, Inuit, and Métis peoples, and the importance of Indigenous approaches and healing systems.

  • Professor Niranjan “Tex” Kissoon, MB BS, FRCP(C),FCCM, FACPE is the University of British Columbia BC Children’s Hospital (UBC BCCH) Endowed Chair in Acute and Critical Care Global Health. He is also the Past President of the World Federation of Pediatric Critical and Intensive Care Societies (www.wfpiccs.org) and Professor, Pediatrics and Surgery (Emergency Medicine) Department of Pediatrics at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, BC. He is the President of the Global Sepsis Alliance (https://www.global-sepsis-alliance.org/) and co-chair of the Pediatric Surviving Sepsis Campaign as well as Vice-President of the Canadian Sepsis Foundation; Advisory Board Member of Sepsis Alliance USA and the African Sepsis Alliance. He is the Chair of World Sepsis Day, the International Pediatric Sepsis Initiative. Dr. Kissoon is the recipient of the 2020 Drs. Vidyasagar and Nagamani Dharmapuri Award for his sustained exemplary and pioneering achievements in the care of critically ill and injured infants and children globally, The BNS Walia PGIMER Golden Jubilee Oration 2015 Award for major contribution to Pediatrics In India, Postgraduate Institute Medical Education and Research, Chandigarh, India. 2015, the Society of Critical Care Master in Critical Care (their highest award), the American Academy of Pediatrics Distinguished Career Award and the University of British Columbia Outstanding Academic Performance (OAP) for 2018 calendar year, Faculty of Medicine. He also received the University of West Indies Medical Alumni Association Canadian Chapter Giving Back. Advancing Medical Excellence Distinguished Service Award In Recognition of Exceptional Service in National and International Paediatric Critical Care, 6 May 2018.