Board of Directors

Bella is a second-generation Eritrean woman. Her family has lived in the North-East part of the Centre’s neighbourhood for over 10 years.

She completed a Bachelor of Science in both Kinesiology and Nursing at York University.

She is currently working as a Registered Nurse at Toronto General in the intensive care unit.

Bella grew up serving the Eritrean Tewahdo Church as a youth leader for over 7 years where she helped mentor Eritrean youth.

Her interests lie in social justice, equity, and anti-black racism. As a second-generation immigrant and Black woman, she feels her voice is necessary in advocacy spaces. She is passionate about serving her community and amplifying the voices of the people who feel left behind.

Matthew’s pronouns are he/him. His family immigrated from Hong Kong, he is a second-generation immigrant and have lived in East Toronto for over 16 years.

Matthew holds a BSc (Hon.) in Kinesiology & Health Science from York University where he focused his studies on the social determinants of health. While completing his JD at University of Windsor, he was selected to participate in the school’s first Mental Health Justice Clinic. He collaborated with the Empowerment Council, led a PBSC project on family planning for adults with disabilities and was a worker at the trans ID clinic. Matthew also interned at the HIV Legal Network developing legal resources focused on harm reduction, human rights and family law. Matthew completed his articles at firm with a focus on disability law, estate planning and human rights.

He now currently works at the Canadian Centre For Housing Rights as a lawyer and housing rights educator.

Arman’s parents moved to Canada as Iranian refugees, which has been vital in shaping his equity lens in life. He became invested in how that journey affected their health, and generally examining the social determinants of health. He has held research and program manager roles pertaining to health equity, having worked on affordable housing projects at SE Health and as a policy researcher for the Wellesley Institute.

He acknowledges the value of being part of a governance structure that sets the strategic directions of a community organization that is focused on health equity, and contributes to the shared idea that there exists a broader concept of health. That perspective and experience is something he has gained through his current role as a health policy and strategy consultant at Santis Health, and as the board chair for 3 years at Access Alliance. In addition to his current board role at SRCHC, he continues to strengthen his governance experience by currently sitting on the Cycle Toronto Board.

Arman also has a deep passion for public policy having worked as a policy advisor in different Minister’s offices for the Ontario government, as well as having completed his Masters of Public Policy, Administration, and Law at York University.

Emily Hill (she/her) joined the Board in 2020. She has lived with her girlfriend in South Riverdale for the last twelve years. She is the Senior Staff Lawyer at Aboriginal Legal Services (ALS), but was on a leave from ALS from 2021 and 2022 working with the Mass Casualty Commission, the public inquiry which examined the tragic events in Nova Scotia in April 2020.

She has represented clients at administrative tribunals, inquests, and the Ontario Court of Justice and acted on behalf of ALS as an intervener at the Superior Court of Justice, the Ontario Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court of Canada. She loves reading and is a volunteer with Toronto Public Library Leading to Reading program. Emily joined the Board to support South Riverdale Community Health Centre with its vital work to improve everyone’s physical, mental, social, and spiritual well-being in the community.

Rebecca (she/her) has been living in South Riverdale with her family for over 15 years and is proud to be a member of this community and serving on the South Riverdale CHC Board. She is a Health System Planning, Performance, and Accountability Consultant at the Ontario Hospital Association. Rebecca holds a Masters of Applied Science from the University of Toronto and a Masters of Health Administration from the Dalla Lana School of Public Health.

Rebecca’s childhood experiences made her a witness to the impact of poverty, mental-health, and addictions on a person’s access to healthcare. Rebecca believes firmly that no person should be disadvantaged from thriving due to their social position or other socially determined circumstance and has worked toward making improvements in healthcare and in social services throughout her career.

Rebecca served on the Board of a community arts organization where inclusivity and equity were key values. She also served on the Board at Jessie’s Centre: the June Callwood Centre for Young Women.

While at Jessie’s, Rebecca was Chair of the Governance and Nominating Committee, the AntiDiscrimination and Equity Committee and served one term as Board Chair.

Dr. Philip Berger began his career at the SRCHC in 1978. He later was Medical Director of the Inner City Health Program at St. Michael’s Hospital, and Chief of its Department of Family and Community Medicine from 1997 to 2013. He is an Associate Professor Emeritus in the University of Toronto Department of Family and Community Medicine.

Dr. Berger has helped establish human rights related health organizations arising from his work with torture victims, refugees, people with HIV and drug users.

He is a founding member of the Canadian Centre for Victims of Torture, the Amnesty International Canadian Medical Network, and Maggie’s Safe Sex Project for Prostitutes.

From 2018 to 2022 he was Board Chair of Inner City Health Associates who provide medical services to homeless and precariously housed people across Toronto.

Dr. Berger is an Honorary Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada, a Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences and is a Senior Fellow of Massey College.

In 2010 Dr. Berger was appointed to the Order of Ontario and in 2020 was appointed as an Officer of the Order of Canada. In 2018 he was inducted into the Canadian Medical Hall of Fame.

Nisha (she/her) is a first generation Canadian of South Asian descent and a proud resident of the East End community. Through her experience working in the Canadian and global healthcare space, she has seen firsthand how social factors can contribute to health outcomes and wellbeing. She is excited to contribute her expertise, grit, and enthusiasm to the SRCHC Board.

Nisha is committed to advancing community health, health equity, and passionate about using data to inform health care strategy. She transitioned from a career in finance to one in healthcare to pursue this mission. Nisha holds a Master of Science in Public Health from the Bloomberg School of Public Health and Bachelors of Math from the University of Waterloo. Nisha has extensive experience in healthcare having led projects in research, management, analytics and implementation in Canada and Africa.

Currently, she works at Google Canada advising Canada’s largest companies. She managed the COVID-19 vaccine implementation team at the Ontario Ministry of Health. She has also worked on several maternal and child health projects, including leading a multi-country effort to improve access to pediatric HIV testing and treatment with the Clinton Health Access Initiative. She has also held several volunteer positions, supporting vaccine programs, community HIV testing, and youth shelters.

Riannon (she/her) has lived most of her life in Riverdale and is a proud and passionate member of the community. She is a corporate communications and change management professional who has worked at national and multinational PR and advisory firms, as well as for several not-for-profit organizations, including a Toronto hospital.

Giving back to her community was an important part of Riannon’s upbringing and she is dedicated to serving the greater good through her work and volunteer efforts. She also serves on the Board of Times Change Women’s Employment Services.

While far from a scientist or researcher, Riannon is extremely interested in data-driven decision making and was inspired by the SRCHC’s steadfast commitment to evidence-based practice and deepening community engagement.

She is also a huge animal person and can find a way to talk about dogs – more specifically her dogs – in almost any conversation.

Edward Speicher grew up in South Riverdale before work and career commitments took him to other parts of the country. After receiving a degree in mechanical engineering from the Royal Military College in Kingston, he served as an Officer in the Canadian Army for more than a decade including an overseas deployment to Afghanistan in 2011.

While living in Ottawa, he became closely involved with the Sandy Hill Community Health Centre and served on their Board for the maximum term length of 6 years ending in 2019. Always having been a staunch believer in social justice causes, he became a firm advocate for harm reduction services and was proud to see the introduction of a Supervised Injection Service in April 2018 while serving as Board Chair.

A strong commitment to evidence-based policymaking, social equity, and environmental justice continues to inform much of the work that he now does as a data scientist.

Having moved back to Toronto in 2019, he settled once again in South Riverdale with his wife and two young daughters and thoroughly enjoys the opportunity to give back to the community he loves.

Anne Simard recently moved to the neighbourhood after 20+ years on the Danforth and is excited to be a part of the SRCHC community. She joined the Board in 2024 after serving as a member of the Supervised Consumption Services Community Liaison Community.

Trained as a journalist, her passion for health stories while at CBC Radio shifted her focus to graduate studies in health promotion and epidemiology. Her career over the last nearly 30 years of work was spent in community and public health, and now cardiovascular care and research. For 10+ years, she worked with CHCs across Ontario on program design, evaluation and governance, and conducted accreditations of 20+ CHCs. Anne is driven by a passion for equity, for innovation and for working in community and with clients and people with lived experience.

In her current role as staff scientist and director of research at University Health Network, she focusses on bringing equitable access to care to remote Indigenous communities in partnership with First Nations, on supporting multidisciplinary research teams that engage community and people with lived experience of heart failure and on improving quality of life and patient experience. She’s also Mom to two adult sons, loves coffee, hiking, biking and the Leslie Spit.

Jonathan is an experienced health leader that is passionate about high quality care, effective clinical services delivery, and health systems transformation. Jonathan has worked at Unity Health Toronto since 2005 when he joined St. Michael’s Hospital as a Registered Nurse in the Mental Health Program. He has held a variety of leadership positions in key program areas, such as Senior Clinical Program Director of the Medicine Program and Senior Clinical Program Director of the Kidney & Metabolism Program. Currently, Jonathan works as Vice President, Clinical Programs at Unity Health Toronto, where he provides executive oversight for a variety of clinical services at St. Michael’s Hospital and St. Joseph’s Health Centre.

Outside of Unity Health Jonathan served as Regional Director, Toronto Central at the Ontario Renal Network/Ontario Health and as Board Director at Sherbourne Health. Jonathan holds a Master of Nursing, Health Systems Leadership & Administration from the University of Toronto and is a graduate of the Advanced Health Leaders Program at the Rotman School of Management.

Jonathan also holds the designation of Certified Health Executive (CHE) through the Canadian College of Health Leaders. Jonathan lives in east Toronto with his wife and three children.

Sylvia Pivko brings a broad understanding and appreciation of the challenges of the health system and for all who interact with it and looks forward to contributing her perspective on the SRCHC Board.

She retired in 2017 having served as Executive Director of several nonprofit organizations in the areas of mental health, young offenders, child abuse and domestic violence. She brings significant experience with system change through partnership, collaboration and integrated planning across Health, Education, Mental Health, Child Welfare and Legal systems.

Sylvia developed positive relationships with seven First Nations and Indigenous communities across southern Ontario. She brings extensive governance experience having served on local, provincial and national Boards of Directors across several sectors.

She understands and supports the intersectionality of the human experience, viewing all problems, societal issues from a systemic perspective. She sees the impact of violence as a significant public health issue and recognizes that violence occurs across the lifespan in all areas of society.

Sylvia is a positive leader who thrives in problem solving situations, loves to learn and is open to new ideas and perspectives. Sylvia was born in Venezuela, immigrated to Canada with her family as a young child and calls Toronto home.