Julie Fraser

RN, BScN, MN

Julie Fraser graduated from Douglas College with a RN diploma, and completed her Bachelors of Science in Nursing and Master in Nursing at the University of Victoria. During her 19 year career, Julie has found her passion in opportunities to promote and support nursing professional practice and community nursing practice.

For the past 5 years, Julie has worked as a Clinical Nurse Specialist for the Home Care program at Fraser Health. Her experience includes practice consultation; clinical decision support tool development, implementation and evaluation; curriculum development and education delivery; interprofessional chronic disease program development; and community health system redesign.

As a founding board member and past President of the Association of Registered Nurses BC, Julie has had the opportunity to connect with many nurses from all generations who value the development of innovative strategies to create nursing networks. As a past board member of the Canadian Nurses Association, Julie had the opportunity to be involved with federal lobby efforts as well as nursing strategic policy decisions.

Karima Velji

RN, PhD, CHE

Dr. Karima Velji is a health-care executive with progressive leadership experience spanning the full continuum of care. Her expertise encompasses the development and implementation of innovative models of care, interprofessional practice, and quality and safety systems that foster patient-centered outcomes.

She is the integrated vice-president for mental health at London Health Sciences Centre and St. Joseph's Health Care. Most recently, Velji was the chief operating officer and chief nursing executive at Baycrest, a global leader in innovations on aging and brain health, and was vice-president of patient care and chief nursing executive at the Toronto Rehabilitation Institute, now a program in the University Health Network.

Velji is a sought-after consultant for system-level projects. She has led the development of patient experience projects for the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care and Local Health Integration Networks in Ontario. She has also led external reviews of several organizations including the Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, Bruyère Continuing Care and Schlegel Villages.

In addition, her responsibilities extend to provincial and national leadership roles. Along with her position as president and chair of CNA's board of directors, she is board vice-chair with Accreditation Canada.

Cross-appointed to the University of Toronto and McMaster University, Velji has several outstanding achievement awards to her credit, including the Sigma Theta Tau Award of Excellence (nursing administration), the University of Toronto Distinguished Alumni Award, the Ontario Hospital Association's Margret Comack National Award of Excellence in Nursing Leadership and the Award of Excellence in Teaching (student nominated) from the U of T's Lawrence S. Bloomberg faculty of nursing. As well, she is profiled in the boundless banner campaign as an outstanding alumnus of the U of T.

At the system/global level Velji is also a consultant to global sites, including in East Africa, the Middle East and Asia, for the development of quality care and academic plans.