Meet The Founding Members
Dzifa Dordunoo PHD RN
Dzifa Dordunoo PhD, RN, a native of Dzodze, Ghana, is associate professor at the University of Victoria, school of nursing. As a clinician, Dzifa has over 20 years of varied clinical practice experience working in general medicine and coronary care units as well as outpatient clinics (Heart failure and Sickle Cell).
Dr. Dordunoo has spent the past decade as a nurse educator. Having began her teaching career in 2011 as a clinical instructor at John Hopkins School of Nursing, she later taught at the University of Maryland, School of Nursing before joining the UVic School of Nursing in 2017. Dzifa teaches a variety of courses at the undergraduate and graduate level, particularly courses in cardiac surgical nursing, quantitative and qualitative analysis and research methodology.
Dr. Dordunoo is the Director of the University of Victoria (UVic) Centre for Evidence-Informed Nursing and Healthcare (CEiNHC), A JBI Centre of Excellence. She also serves on the BSN curriculum committee and the PhD curriculum committee
Kyra Philbert, RN
Kyra Philbert (she/her) is a queer biracial (Black/White) ciswoman settler living on unceded Coast Salish territories, specially those of the Sḵwx̱wú7mesh, Stó:lō, Səl̓ílwətaʔ/Selilwitulh and xʷməθkʷəy̓əm Nations. She is a registered nurse with clinical experience in emergency rooms of various sizes and home health. In 2022, Kyra completed a second undergraduate degree in Gender, Race, Sexuality and Social Justice. Currently she is focused on her thesis project for her Masters of Science in Nursing. She plans on getting a PhD with interests in concepts of (outdoor) recreation, health and Blackness in settler Canada.
She sits on board of ZeeZee Theatre (2021), a local theatre company devoted to telling diverse stories and one of the co-founders of the Coalition of African, Caribbean and Black Nurses in BC.
Natania Abebe, RN
Natania Abebe (she/her) is graduate student at the University of British Columbia and is currently pursuing a double master's degree in nursing and public health. As a registered nurse, Natania's background is in mental health and public health. Natania's interests include gender equality, immigrant mental health, anti-racist health care approaches and media and health. She is one of the co-founders of the Coalition of African, Caribbean and Black Nurses in BC
In her spare time, Natania makes films that discuss health issues. For example, her short film, Just a Nurse premiered at Lucasfilm Studios in 2018.
Twitter : @Natania_Abebe.
Adigo Angela Achoba-Omajali, MN RN BScN
Adigo Angela Achoba-Omajali, RN, BScN, MN. hails from the Ibaji tribe in Kogi state of central Nigeria; this situates Angela as a Nigerian-Canadian. She earned both her BScN and MN degrees from the Thompson Rivers University which is located on the traditional lands of the Tk'emlúps te Secwépemc within Secwépemc'ulucw, where she lives with her husband and two children.
Angela has been working as a Registered Nurse for over 10 years largely in Mental Health and Substance Use with Interior Health Authority (IHA). She recently worked in a seconded position as Steward-at-Large with the British Columbia Nurses Union (BCNU) from July 2020 to May 2022, covering about 30 sites within Thompson North Okaganan region. Angela is presently working as clinical practice educator with Interior Health Authority (IHA) under tertiary mental health.
Angela is one of the Co-founders of the Coalition of African, Caribbean and Black Nurses in BC (CACBN). She is also involved in a number of antiracism initiatives such as: the Canadian Association of Schools of Nursing (CASN) anti-racism working group and Canadian Nurses Association (CNA) anti-racism Advisory Council.
In her spare time, Angela likes to travel, network and spend time with family. Angela is committed to fostering a culture of care, respect, integrity and trust; and deploys these values in pursuit of social equity, peace and inclusive human development in the community.
Ismalia De Sousa PhD(c), MSc, BSN, RN
Ismália De Sousa is a Doctoral Candidate in the School of Nursing at the University of British Columbia (UBC), under the supervision of Dr. Sally Thorne, Dr. Sandra Lauck and Dr. Thalia Field. She is one of the inaugural awardees of the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada/Canadian Institutes of Health Research/Brain Canada Personnel Awards for Black Scholars.
Ismália earned her Bachelor’s Degree (with honours) in Nursing from Escola Superior de Enfermagem de Lisboa (Portugal) and a Master’s Degree in Advanced Practice Neuroscience Care from King’s College London (United Kingdom). Ismália’s extensive experience as a Registered Nurse and Clinical Nurse Specialist in stroke in the Comprehensive Stroke Center at Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust (London, UK), contributed to the development of her strong clinical and advanced nursing practice foundations, knowledge of stroke systems and processes of care and the complexities of the care for people diagnosed with stroke. As a Clinical Nurse Specialist in Nurse, Ismália’s role included the advanced assessment and management of care of people presenting with a suspected or confirmed stroke, advice about secondary stroke prevention and health promotion strategies for patients, families and caregivers. Ismália was also involved in improving clinical outcomes and patient experience through quality and safety improvement and stroke service development initiatives in collaboration with other healthcare providers. She developed and implemented stroke-specific educational programs for nurses and allied healthcare professionals. Her understanding of the stroke survivorship experience was augmented by her role as a key stroke clinician accessible to patients throughout the stroke care continuum and her role overseeing a monthly stroke support group and stroke program for people with lived and living experience of stroke, their family members and caregivers.