Sandra Dunbar is passionate about Infection Prevention and Control and has worked as a Strategic Account Manager with Metrex Infection Prevention throughout Western Canada for more than 6 years. Sandra is a member of all IPAC Chapters throughout Western Canada.
Sandra is excited for the opportunity to represent IPAC BC in the President role. She is inspired by the engagement of the IPAC Executive and her values are to enhance the chapter’s innovation and partnership (inclusiveness). She will provide a forum for all; IPAC and other allied professionals in health care to network and share ideas from the full continuum of healthcare (acute, long-term, community, and home care).
Sandra is fun loving and enjoys sharing good food and a glass of wine with friends. She loves to renovate her fixer upper home and garden with her husband Peter. She loves long walks on the beach in the early morning as the sun is rising.

I am an Infection Preventionist located in Kelowna and employed by Interior Health. I would like to recognize with gratitude the traditional, ancestral, and unceded territories of the Syilx Nation, where I live, learn, collaborate, and work with pride.
I have been nursing for over 16 years with the privilege of working in many diverse nursing fields. I have always found myself drawn towards one constant theme, Infection Prevention and Control. The transition into IPAC in 2020, was a natural one for me. My intrinsic motivation to learn, coupled with my passion for educating others on Infection Prevention practices makes me a worthy contender in the fight against the microbes.
An interesting fact about me is my desire to learn how to provide for my family of four in a more sustainable way. What started with growing my own fruits and vegetables has led me to become a: canner, beekeeper (pollination), owner of chickens (free fertilizer and eggs), and maker of our own cosmetic products. Such as deodorant, hair products, tooth paste, etc.

Tara is an Epidemiologist and experienced healthcare leader who has a passion for protecting people from harm while in healthcare settings. This motivation afforded her the role of Network Director with PICNet in June 2018. Tara first began her career in Ontario, working as a vaccine-preventable disease Epidemiologist with Public Health. Her career brought her to British Columbia where she worked with the Immunization team at the BCCDC for a year and then as the Infection Prevention and Control (IPAC) Epidemiologist in Fraser Health for 5 years. Tara received the Managing Consultant role and was responsible for the surveillance team and other IPAC professionals with a variety of expertise and areas of responsibility. As manager, Tara had an opportunity to foster her leadership abilities by participating in high-level decision-making for the program and garnered sociopolitical awareness.

Tara’s time with PICNet has focused on a variety of projects and initiatives, notably co-leading the provincial Sars-CoV-2 pandemic response for healthcare settings with the Ministry of Health. Collaboration and connection with the health authorities in British Columbia was of greatest importance during this historical time and much was accomplished by PICNet and the IPAC community to ensure people were protected in healthcare. During the pandemic, the value and importance of PICNet was recognized and with Tara’s recruitment efforts, the PICNet team more than doubled. As the province navigates towards a post-pandemic era, Tara continues to lead her team to develop robust surveillance programs, evidence-informed guidelines, and education resources for British Columbia. Engagement is of utmost importance for Tara as a provincial leader and she is delighted by the opportunity to strengthening relationships and build new partnerships to achieve success in her role with PICNet.

Tara holds a Masters of Science in Community Health and Epidemiology and she completed the infection prevention & control professional development course from Queen’s University. Tara has been an active member of IPAC Canada for more than a decade holding terms as treasurer and president for the IPAC BC Chapter executive in the past. Tara was also Director of Standards and Guidelines on the Board of IPAC Canada from 2016 to 2019. Currently, Tara is the honorary Past President of IPAC BC and appreciates the chance to lend her experience and support to the chapter.

Ramnik works at Fraser Health as a Infection Prevention and Control Practitioner. He has been the Treasurer of IPAC BC since 2023

My name is Diandra. I started working in infection prevention and control at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic with Vancouver Coastal Health, working for just over 3 years now. I reside on the traditional unceded homelands of the xʷməθkwəy̓əm (Musqueam), Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish), and Səl̓ílwətaʔ/Selilwitulh (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations. I come from a microbiology and nursing background with passions in antimicrobial stewardship, infectious diseases, and behaviourial studies. In my spare time, you can find me watering my 100+ houseplants or hiking up a mountain!

Carmen is a trained registered nurse and joined the Island Health Infection Control team in 2016. Carmen is an active participant in multiple IPAC Canada Interest Groups and was recognized as a principle author in, Toys in Healthcare Settings, IPAC Canada Practice Recommendations.
Carmen is fortunate to call Parksville home which resides on the unceeded traditional lands of the Snaw-naw-as first nation. In her spare time, you can find Carmen on the links or looking for sea glass on the beach.