In November 2025, BRIC NS established the Patient Advisory Council (PAC) to create a welcoming space for patient partners to help shape primary care research
The PAC brings together 10+ patient partners from across Nova Scotia. Members share their thoughts, experiences, and feedback to help ensure that primary care research is planned with patients’ needs at the centre. The goal is to make research more relevant, meaningful, and impactful—ultimately improving health outcomes.
PAC meetings are held virtually every 1-2 months, with email updates in between. Prior to each PAC meeting we circulate materials so that members can opt in or out based on their interest in the specific topics of discussion. During meetings, the PAC focuses on offering advice and feedback on research ideas and directions. For patient partners who are interested in deeper involvement, there may also be opportunities to participate more actively in specific research projects.
There is no expectation that members have research experience—your lived experience is what matters most.
The PAC currently consists of 11 patient partners. Members come from all areas of the province, with diverse backgrounds and lived experiences.
Jenna Kedy
Central Zone
Bio
| Jenna Kedy is a 21-year-old healthcare advocate, public speaker, and proud member of the BRIC PAC, born, raised, and still rooted in Halifax, NS. She brings not only professional experience to her roles, but deeply personal lived experience. Jenna lives with juvenile idiopathic arthritis; a rare form, fibromyalgia, anxiety, depression, and neurodivergence, and in 2024 she survived septic shock, alongside complications including kidney failure and heart failure. Navigating complex healthcare systems from a young age shaped her into someone who doesn’t just want to participate in change as she wants to help lead it. Jenna is especially passionate about the social determinants of health and building accessible, equitable primary care systems that truly work for everyone, especially young people and chronically ill patients. She believes lived experience is expertise, not an afterthought. Beyond BRIC, she contributes to local, national, and international initiatives, including serving on the Youth Advisory Board for the Mental Health & Climate Change Alliance, and collaborating with organizations such as Health Standards Organization, Healthcare Excellence Canada, the Canadian Medical Association, and University Health Network. Across these spaces, she advocates for meaningful patient engagement, youth voice, and healthcare environments rooted in dignity and trust. Currently completing her undergraduate degree in Family Studies, Jenna blends academic learning with real-world systems advocacy. She is a workshop facilitator, storyteller, and community volunteer, including work with YWCA Halifax, while also working part-time in the nonprofit sector. She believes research can be rigorous and human at the same time and she shows up prepared, thoughtful, and unafraid to ask questions that push conversations deeper. Outside of boardrooms and healthcare conversations, Jenna is fully herself: a coffee lover, crafting enthusiast, passionate cook, unapologetic TikTok dance participant, and proud gym girlie through and through. She believes resilience and softness can coexist, that systems can be challenged with both data and heart, and that even the most complicated medical story can become a source of power. |
Michal Liddell
Northern Zone
Bio
Bio coming soon!
Maggie Byrne
Central Zone
Bio
| Maggie is currently in her final semester of a Master of Public Health at the University of London, and is working as a Research Coordinator at the IWK in Critical Care. She aspires to become a physician and is interested in primary care, so being a part of this patient advisory council is a great way for her to both learn from and contribute to discussions on how we can better respond to the primary care needs of Nova Scotians! |
Ellen Crumley
Central Zone
Bio
| Ellen is a health researcher and librarian with 26+ years of experience in post‑secondary organizations and non-profits. She enjoys engaging health professionals, patients, and community members and making sense of qualitative data. Driven by her passion for research and writing, she draws on a decade of patient‑partner and board‑director experience. |
Linda Verlinden
Central Zone
Bio
| Linda is retired from a career in healthcare and has had some significant health issues. She believes that research creates critical changes and growth. The addition of the experiential voice is essential for research to meet the needs of the primary care community moving forward. |
Teal Verus
Central Zone
Bio
Bio coming soon!
Coady Peters
Eastern Zone
Bio
Bio coming soon!
Francene Gillis
Eastern Zone
Bio
| A former high school English teacher, educational consultant, and professional writer, author, living in beautiful Cape Breton, married with two grown daughters and three grandchildren. |
Nathan Elling
Western Zone
Bio
Bio coming soon!
Eunice Abaga
Central Zone
Bio
Bio coming soon!
Linda Verlinden
Central Zone
Bio
Bio coming soon!
Interested in Joining?
BRIC NS has co-developed a series of Patient Partner Orientation Guides for patients and caregivers who are interested in becoming involved in healthcare research.
If you would like to:
- Learn more about the PAC and how you can be involved as a patient partner
- Share an opportunity or idea for patient engagement in research
Please contact us at bricns@dal.ca
We would love to hear from you.
BRIC NS 