Allison Freeman is a dedicated healthcare leader with over 13 years of progressive leadership experience and more than 20 years working in Canadian healthcare. With a clinical background as a pediatric Occupational Therapist, Allison brings a deep commitment to improving the healthcare experience for both patients and the professionals who support them. She has advanced this passion through a Master of Health Sciences in Health Administration from the University of Toronto and postgraduate studies in Organizational Leadership at the University of Oxford. In her role as Director of the Provincial Long Term Ventilation (LTV) Strategy, Allison applies innovative thinking, strategic leadership, and a strong focus on process improvement to advance a cohesive continuum of care for ventilator assisted individuals across Ontario. She is pleased to serve as Co Chair of the inaugural National Conference on Long Term Ventilation.

Clinical Lead Ontario Long Term Ventilation Strategy

Dr. Roger S. Goldstein is a Professor of Medicine and Physical Therapy at the University of Toronto and Head of Respiratory Medicine at University Health Network (West Park Healthcare Centre). He has a longstanding interest in long term ventilation and one of his earliest publications addressed elective ventilation using iron lungs and rocking beds. As the clinical lead for the Ontario LTV Strategy and part of the West Park Centre of Excellence in LTV, Dr. Goldstein is keen to promote education in this space at a national level. He has mentored trainees in medicine, physical therapy and respiratory therapy both in Canada and Internationally. Dr. Goldstein is also a recognized leader in pulmonary rehabilitation and the founding NSA Chair in Respiratory Rehabilitation Research. His team has significantly advanced quality of life for patients with chronic respiratory diseases. Dr. Goldstein has authored more than 350 peer-reviewed publications.

Associate Professor,
Program in Critical Care,
Department of Anesthesia and Perioperative Medicine,
Western University.

Dr. Butler is a Critical Care physician at Western University. For more than 2 decades he has worked within the Long-Term Weaning Unit at University Hospital in London Ontario in addition to attending in the Medical Surgical ICU and Cardiac Surgical ICU. For the past 5 years he has led the Home Respiratory and Ventilatory Care Clinic. This outpatient clinic looks after ventilated patients in the community in the Southwestern Ontario region. He also serves as the Southwest Ontario physician champion for the Ontario Long-Term Ventilation Strategy.

Juanita Davis is a Long-Term Home Ventilator Specialist, Provincial Integrated Respiratory Services, Alberta Health Services, 2023 to present.

Worked as Pediatric Tracheostomy Simulation Coordinator, Alberta Children’s Hospital, Alberta Health Services, 2015 to 2023; Clinical Lead Respiratory Therapy, Integrated Home Care, Quality Education and Practice, Alberta Health Services, 2013 to 2015, was a Faculty Instructor, Southern Alberta Institute of Technology, 1996 to 2013, and Graduated from Respiratory Therapy in 1990 - the number one song was Sinead O’Connor’s “Nothing Compares 2U” and the Simpsons aired for the first time in September that year.

Clinical Lead Ontario Long Term Ventilation Strategy

Dr. Roger S. Goldstein is a Professor of Medicine and Physical Therapy at the University of Toronto and Head of Respiratory Medicine at University Health Network (West Park Healthcare Centre). He has a longstanding interest in long term ventilation and one of his earliest publications addressed elective ventilation using iron lungs and rocking beds. As the clinical lead for the Ontario LTV Strategy and part of the West Park Centre of Excellence in LTV, Dr. Goldstein is keen to promote education in this space at a national level. He has mentored trainees in medicine, physical therapy and respiratory therapy both in Canada and Internationally. Dr. Goldstein is also a recognized leader in pulmonary rehabilitation and the founding NSA Chair in Respiratory Rehabilitation Research. His team has significantly advanced quality of life for patients with chronic respiratory diseases. Dr. Goldstein has authored more than 350 peer-reviewed publications.

Nurse Practitioner
Clinician Scientist
Assistant Professor, Lawrence Bloomberg Faculty of Nursing, University of Toronto

Dr. Laura Istanboulian is an Assistant Professor of Nursing at the Lawrence Bloomberg Faculty of Nursing at the University of Toronto, Canada. Her clinical expertise is in adult Critical Care, where she practiced as a Registered Nurse, and now as a Nurse Practitioner and Clinician Scientist in the Provincial Center for Excellence in Prolonged Ventilation Weaning at Michael Garron Hospital in Ontario, Canada. Her program of research focusses on co-creating and evaluating safe and equitable access to care across the continuum of adult critical illness for patients and their family caregivers.

Associate Professor, Faculty of Medicine, McGill University

Dr. Marta Kaminska is a respirologist at the McGill University Health Centre and Associate Professor in the Department of Medicine of McGill University. She completed pulmonary training and a Masters in epidemiology at McGill University and a sleep fellowship at University of Montreal. She is a Medical Director of the Quebec National Program for Home Ventilatory Assistance based at the McGill University Health Centre since 2008. She is co-Chair of the Home Mechanical Ventilation Assembly of the CTS from 2023-2026. Her research interests are in sleep-disordered breathing in neurodegenerative disease, and home ventilation in neuromuscular disorders and COPD.

Dr. Douglas McKim is a national leader in the care of individuals with neuromuscular respiratory complications and long-term ventilatory support needs. He served for three decades as Director of Canadian Alternatives in Non-Invasive Ventilation (CANVent) Respiratory Rehabilitation Services and previously led the Ottawa Hospital Sleep Centre.

His work has shaped national and international clinical guidelines and advanced standards of care for patients living with chronic respiratory failure. Dr. McKim has been honoured by the Canadian Thoracic Society, the American College of Chest Physicians and has received Muscular Dystrophy Canada’s George Karpati Researcher of the Year award. Widely respected for his collaborative leadership, he remains deeply committed to improving care across the ventilation lifespan.

Ontario Ventilator Equipment Pool
Kingston Health Sciences Centre

Regina Pizzuti is Director of Ontario’s Ventilator Equipment Pool (VEP), where she provides strategic leadership for one of Canada’s largest coordinated ventilator programs. She oversees multidisciplinary teams delivering province-wide equipment services and virtual supports, ensuring equitable, timely access to life-sustaining ventilation.

With more than four decades as a respiratory therapist, Regina’s work sits at the intersection of clinical care, policy, and system innovation. She has led modernization initiatives that strengthen service delivery, expand digital models of care, and foster collaboration among healthcare providers, government partners, and community organizations. Her leadership reflects a commitment to building sustainable, community-based patient-centred care.

Dr. Katz received her medical degree from McGill University in 1997. Following completion of Pediatrics residency and Pediatric Respirology Fellowship at the Hospital for Sick Children/University of Toronto (2002), as well as training in Pediatric Sleep Medicine, she completed a Clinician-Investigator Program and Masters of Science at the University of Toronto (2006). Dr. Katz has worked as a Pediatric Respirologist and Clinician Investigator at CHEO since September 2003. She is appointed as a Senior Scientist at the CHEO Research Institute since 2017 and has served as the Division Head of Pediatric Respirology at CHEO since 2018. Dr. Katz also holds an appointment as Full Professor of Medicine at the University of Ottawa and is cross appointed at their School of Epidemiology, Public Health and Preventative Medicine.

Dr. Katz’s clinical care primarily focuses on sleep disordered breathing, home mechanical ventilation and complex respiratory care. Her research interests are informed by her clinical practice and predominantly centre on the use of assistive respiratory technologies for children with chronic diseases, particularly neuromuscular disease, and obesity. Her research also evaluates predictors and novel diagnostic modalities for pediatric sleep disordered breathing, pediatric home mechanical ventilation and long-term outcomes of chronic lung disease. Dr. Katz also serves in administrative leadership capacities on several national and international committees. She is the current Chair of the Sleep Network of the American College of Chest Physicians and Co-Chair of the Canadian Thoracic Society’s Home Mechanical Ventilation Assembly. Clinical Interests: Sleep disordered breathing, Respiratory aspects of neuromuscular disease, Home mechanical ventilation, Complex respiratory care, and Bronchopulmonary dysplasia

Pediatric Respirologist, British Columbia Children’s Hospital
Clinical Assistant Professor, University of British Columbia

Lena Xiao is a Pediatric Respirologist and Sleep Physician at British Columbia Children’s Hospital. She is the Medical Director of the Pediatric Sleep Medicine Program and Program Director for the Pediatric Sleep Medicine Fellowship at the University of British Columbia. She completed fellowships in Pediatric Respiratory Medicine, Sleep, and Long-term Ventilation at the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto, Canada. She also earned a Master of Science in Clinical Epidemiology and Health Care Research from the University of Toronto. Her research focuses on expanding access to pediatric sleep and ventilation services, developing and evaluating personalized treatment strategies for sleep-disordered breathing, and advancing patient- and family-centered care.

Dr. Tiina Andersen is an internationally recognized expert in respiratory physiotherapy and home mechanical ventilation research, based at the Haukeland University Hospital and Western Norway University of Applied Sciences in Bergen, Norway. Her work focuses on airway clearance, mechanically assisted cough technologies, and optimizing respiratory care strategies for individuals with chronic respiratory failure who rely on long term ventilatory support. 

Dr. Andersen’s research has significantly contributed to understanding complex physiologic responses in ventilator assisted individuals and advancing evidence informed care practices that enhance secretion management, functional outcomes, and patient safety in both home and clinical settings. Her international collaborations bridge clinical practice, rehabilitation science, and health system design, strengthening global approaches to long term ventilation and integrated care across the continuum. 

Prof. Louise Rose is an internationally recognized critical care researcher whose work follows patients across the ventilation continuum — from ICU to home. She leads a program of research focused on improving outcomes and experience for individuals with acute and chronic respiratory failure, including those receiving long-term mechanical ventilation in hospital and community settings.

A former faculty member at the University of Toronto, Prof. Rose has led major international clinical trials and secured more than £22 million in competitive research funding. In 2023, she was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) for her leadership in digital innovations supporting patients and families during COVID-19. Her work continues to shape evidence-based ventilation care globally.

Since 2000, Peter Wijkstra has been working as a pulmonologist in the field of Home Mechanical Ventilation. In these 25 years he has built up a unique academic centre with close collaboration with the 3 other Dutch HMV centres. Currently his team of 30 professionals is responsible for more than 1100 patients in the northern part of our country. Based on this close contact they developed a national skills programme for care givers, they wrote guidelines for both adults and children while research is focussed on COPD and Neuromuscular diseases.

Dr. Lisa Wolfe is a pulmonologist, sleep medicine specialist, and critical care physician whose work spans the continuum from intensive care to home ventilation. Based at Northwestern University in Chicago, she has dedicated her career to advancing care for individuals with neuromuscular disease and chronic respiratory failure.

Her clinical and academic leadership focuses on optimizing long-term ventilation, strengthening multidisciplinary collaboration, and improving transitions across care settings. Recognized internationally for her expertise in home mechanical ventilation, Dr. Wolfe brings a systems-level perspective to bridging ICU, rehabilitation, and community care.

Prof. Louise Rose is an internationally recognized critical care researcher whose work follows patients across the ventilation continuum — from ICU to home. She leads a program of research focused on improving outcomes and experience for individuals with acute and chronic respiratory failure, including those receiving long-term mechanical ventilation in hospital and community settings.

A former faculty member at the University of Toronto, Prof. Rose has led major international clinical trials and secured more than £22 million in competitive research funding. In 2023, she was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) for her leadership in digital innovations supporting patients and families during COVID-19. Her work continues to shape evidence-based ventilation care globally.