Our Team
Margaret Lin
she/her
Co-Lead, National Initiatives
Margaret is a PhD student in nursing at the University of British Columbia researching on the social prescribing collaboration experience for older adults, healthcare staff, and community organizations in BC. As a registered nurse and the regional project leader at Fraser Health, Margaret leads the integration of social prescribing into the regional health system to support healthy aging. She enjoys collaborating with healthcare providers, community organizations, students, and researchers in British Columbia to foster healthy aging in the community.
Nina Doad
she/her
Co-Lead, Local Initiatives
Nina is a recent graduate from the University of Waterloo’s Health Sciences program. She has a passion for health promotion and community health, which led to her involvement in social prescribing. Nina hopes to continue her education journey and explore pathways at the intersection of public health and medicine.
Jeffrey Wong
he/him
Co-Lead, Local Initiatives
Jeffrey is an undergraduate sociology student at Trinity Western University and a research assistant at the UBC Innovation in Dementia and Aging Lab. As Local Initiatives Co-Lead, he coordinates with chapter leads across Canada while leading the TWU Chapter, working to engage students in social prescribing through education, advocacy, and local initiatives.
Élyse McCall-Thomas
she/her
Co-Lead, Administrative
Élyse is a PhD student with the University of Ottawa’s Faculty of Education and also has over 16 years of experience in research and evaluation. Her work spans many areas including research funding, education, public health, mental health and addictions, and homelessness. Through her work, Élyse emphasizes considerations of capacity building, equity and inclusion, as well as the use of evaluation to support learning and evidence-based decision making. Her interest in social prescribing is a product of her work on a research project focused on piloting a social prescribing intervention with two Housing First Programs.
Mackenzie Heidel
she/her
Co-Lead, Communications
Mackenzie is a medical student at the University of Saskatchewan. She completed her BSc in Biomedical Physiology at Simon Fraser University. Before she knew what social prescribing was, Mackenzie was the administrator for a non-profit organization that connects pediatric patients with reading and math tutoring, leading to improvements in their long-term health. She is excited to support the integration of social prescribing as an essential part of patient centred health care.
Benji Finestone
he/him
Co-Lead, Events
Benji is a recent graduate of the BScN program at the Bloomberg Faculty of Nursing at the University of Toronto. Prior to this degree, he received his BSc in kinesiology from McGill University. For a long time, Benji has been interested in the “mind-body” connection. When he learned about social prescribing in his community nursing class, he became very excited to find a practical tool which addresses social determinants of health in primary care settings. Since then, he has looked for opportunities to get involved in Canada’s social prescribing movement and is very proud to be the Events Lead for the Canadian Social Prescribing Student Collective.
HanShu Pu
she/her
Co-Lead, Members
HanShu is a fourth-year undergraduate student at Queen’s University. She is pursuing a Certificate in Disability and Physical Activity along with her Bachelor of Health Sciences degree. She is looking to pursue a healthcare career where she is motivated to advance social health as part of a holistic view of health. HanShu became fascinated by social prescribing with its individualistic model that leverages non-medical interventions to meet specific needs, having seen the power of human connection when working in rehabilitation and long-term care.