PANELISTS' PROFILE

If a person smokes, quitting or cutting back is the most positive step they can take for their health. If you have questions about your quit journey, or want to support a loved one on their quit journey, join us for this virtual Q&A panel discussion, which will bring in experts with backgrounds in pharmacy, respirology, and addictions counselling, as well as a Saskatchewan Quits ambassador with lived experience. Our panelists look forward to sharing their knowledge and answering any questions people have about their quit journey.

1. Dr. Erika Penz is an Associate Professor in the Division of Respirology, Critical Care and Sleep Medicine at the University of Saskatchewan and Program Director for the Respirology Training Program. She has a particular interest in smoking cessation and the interaction of vaping and smoking among youth and is co-founder and co-facilitator of Youth4Change, an education and advocacy youth group aimed at protecting children and youth from the harms of vaping.
2. Cory Gambler works with the File Hills Qu’Appelle Tribal Council which is situated on treaty four territory. For the first 10 years with FHQTC he worked at a treatment center for first Nations Youth who have had addictions affect their lives. Now for the past three years, he has worked with FHQ Health Services, which provides services to 11 first nations communities. Since being at FHQ Health Services he has been in charge of running a tobacco cessation program. The program looks at helping people to cut down and or quit smoking, by the use of NRT’s or quit smoking challenges, also, with cultural teachings from elders in the communities.
3. Dr. Jeff Taylor is a pharmacist and academic with interest in OTC medicines and minor ailments at the community pharmacy level. Taylor has 30 years of experience teaching about such situations, including how to quit smoking. He started a community pharmacy smoking cessation program several years before the provincial pharmacy program came into existence.
4. Dale Roach is an Ambassador for Lung Saskatchewan. After smoking for many years, and after many attempts to quit, success was finally achieved! Dale knows firsthand how difficult quitting can be.