Honouring the Mind, Body and Spirit: A Panel on Black Health and Wellness

Professor Bukola Salami is the Director of Intersections of Gender Signature Area at the Office of Vice President Research and a Professor at the Faculty of Nursing, University of Alberta. Her research program focuses on policies and practices shaping migrants' health as well as Black people’s health. She founded and leads an African Child and Youth Migration Network, a network of 42 scholars from 4 continents. In 2020, she founded the Black Youth Mentorship and Leadership Program at the University of Alberta. She is a member of the Public Health Agency of Canada Working Group on the Mental Health of Black Canadians, an advisory committee on Bell ets Talk Funding, a Board member of Black Opportunities Fund, a Board member of the Canadian Nurses Association, an advisory board member of the CIHR Institute for Human Development, Child and Youth Health, Editor for the Canadian Journal of Nursing Research, Associate Editor of the Canadian Medical Association Journal (CMAJ) and on the Editorial Board of Nursing Inquiry and Qualitative Health Research Journal.

Sipiwe worked in HIV and sexual health awareness specifically with African, Caribbean and Black communities for the past 11 years.

Sipiwe has vast experience working with marginalized communities and immigrant population.

The focus was raising awareness in this population and tackling stigma which continues to be a problem in HIV education with ACB population.

Sipiwe was co-chair of CHABAC (Canadian HIV/AIDS Black, African Caribbean) a national network of people responding to HIV and AIDS in that community.

Sipiwe has retired from SafeLink Alberta where she was coordinator of Drumbeat the African Communities Program.

In 1995, she lost her mom to breast cancer, a difficult journey for her and the family. In 2016, her husband, Bayo Oladele, was diagnosed with Multiple Myeloma, cancer of the plasma cells. She dropped everything to help her husband through the healing process. In 2017, they co-authored a book titled SECOND CHANCE: Surviving the Battles of Cancer and registered the Oladele Foundation with her husband and their son.

Cancer is regarded as a taboo in many African communities, and sharing her lived experience as a caregiver, encouraged others to speak up and ask for help. In 2017, along with her husband started helping and assisting other cancer survivors by registering The Oladele Foundation, and in 2018, her husband and a Breast Cancer survivor co-founded the African Cancer Support Group.

Yinka Oladele is an entrepreneur, being the first African woman to join the UPS Store franchise network in Canada and has continued to mentor other startups and existing entrepreneurs. She has received several business and community awards within the African and Business communities. She recently featured in a magazine, TV and digital story series on “Caregiver in the Wild.” She has a Master of Education (M.Ed.) and is nearing the completion of a Master of Counselling Psychology (MACP) to help with their mental health and psychological situations in the community.

Today, Yinka Oladele will share her caregiving journey and how she uses her lived experience to help cancer survivors, patients and caregivers in the Black community. She is married and blessed with a son and grandchildren

Dr. Izu Nwachukwu is a physician with extensive international education and practice experience. After his undergraduate medical education at the University of Port Harcourt in Nigeria, he proceeded to Europe where he completed his Basic and Higher Specialist Training in psychiatry as well as other postgraduate studies.

Dr. Nwachukwu immigrated to Canada in November 2012, and currently holds the following credentials and positions across Medical Leadership, Clinical Teaching and Academic Research:

• Associate Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at University of Calgary
• Medical Director for Alberta International Medical Graduates Program
• Section Chief, Community Outpatients Programs, AHS, Calgary Zone
• Member, Executive Management Team, Addiction & Mental Health, Calgary Zone
• Member, Executive Committee, Department of Psychiatry, University of Calgary
• Member, Faculty Council of Cumming School of Medicine at University of Calgary
• Extensive research experience with over 30 scientific publications in several reputable international peer-reviewed journals

In 2021, Dr Nwachukwu accepted a non-stipendiary position of Adjunct Professor of Medicine at Imo State University in Nigeria where his roles include advising the University Vice Chancellor on matters relating to Education Policy, Curriculum Development, Leadership, and International Liaison.

Dr Nwachukwu is involved with several charitable endeavors in the community. In June 2021, he inaugurated IZU NWACHUKWU FOUNDATION with the mission and vision of ensuring that children from marginalized communities can access quality education and better opportunities. He is passionate about equity and cultural sensitivity in clinical practice, as well as on social determinants of mental health and wellness.

Dr. Régine Uwibereyeho King is an Associate Professor in the Faculty of Social Work, University of Calgary. King has a Ph.D. in Social Work and a Master’s in Counselling Psychology and Community Development (M.Ed.) from the University of Toronto. Her research interests include racial justice, cross-cultural mental health, social processes of healing, forgiveness and reconciliation, and Indigenous knowledge. Her research agenda is guided by anti-colonial, antiracist perspectives, and Black feminism. King is a community-based researcher who has published in the areas of truth and reconciliation, intergroup dialogue, healing approaches to collective trauma, anti-Black racism, refugee mental health, transnational social work, and critical pedagogies. King is a knowledgeable translator through public speaking. She is a member of various academic committees and community advocacy groups including the anti-Black racism Task Force.