Christine is a developmental pediatrician at Children’s and Women’s Health Centre of British Columbia, including Sunny Hill Health Centre for Children and BC Children’s Hospital. For over 20 years she has also served as the medical director of the provincial Cleft Palate Craniofacial Program. Early on in her medical training Christine developed an interest in “Social Pediatrics” advocating for innovative approaches for health service delivery to vulnerable children and families. She has pioneered work on identifying youth with Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) in the justice system and was instrumental in creating FASD-related programs and services run out of Crabtree Corner Community Resource Centre. Her ‘Key Worker Program’ has been particularly life-changing for the community as it provides one-to-one and group support to families affected by FASD. A mentor to many, Christine also led the development of the RICHER (Responsive, Intersectoral, Interdisciplinary, Child & Community, Health Education & Research) Social Pediatrics Program in BC and initiatives with the Canadian Pediatrics Society, where she is a founding member of the Social Pediatrics section. An Associate Professor in the Department of Pediatrics, Faculty of Medicine, UBC, Christine’s ground-breaking research and networks of interdisciplinary and intersectoral care delivery, improve the lives and circumstances of some of Vancouver’s most vulnerable people.
