Executive Director
Kathryn Blain
Kathryn is the Mother of two children, Stepmother of three children and Grandmother of six children. After leaving a career as a financial planner, she became involved in the interior design business. She decided to expand upon this career and opened a furniture store in 2001, along with her husband Don who was a retired Platoon Chief from the Kitchener Fire Department. In addition to that she is a residential contractor, dealing with a wide range of projects from basements, kitchens, bathrooms and total renovation of entire houses, taking them, from creating the design concept to implementation, hiring and supervising the trades and seeing each project through to completion.
Her proudest accomplishment has been being a Mother, a role that, for her, embodied the essence of her being. In 1995 she was shaken to the core of her existence in the sudden death of her son Michael Longo age 19 from Meningococcal Septicemia. The loss of Michael in her life channels so much of how she lives her life and what energy she puts into the various aspects of her life. As a symbol of her love for him and who he was as a person, Kathryn is the Founder and Past Chair of Meningitis Foundation Canada and currently serves in the role of Executive Director. It is her desire that people learn from her experience and it is her hope that no family needs to suffer the pain of losing a family member to vaccine preventable meningitis. It is also her prayer that in her lifetime she will see an end to this insidious disease. Kathryn is part of the Founding and Steering committee of CoMO (Confederation of Meningitis Organizations) that serves as a worldwide network to share best practice and to support other Meningitis organizations.
Ask the Expert
Dr. Ronald Gold
Dr. Ronald Gold received his AB from Harvard University (Massachusetts, USA) in 1957, his Medical Degree from Harvard Medical School in 1962 and his Masters in Public Health from Harvard School of Public Health in 1967. He obtained his pediatric training at Boston City Hospital, Children's Hospital Medical Center in Boston (USA) at St Mary's Hospital in London (United Kingdom). Dr. Gold's research has focused primarily on the safety and immunogenicity of vaccines.
Dr. Gold came to Canada in the late 1970's. From 1979-1996 he served as Professor of Paediatrics in the Faculty of Medicine University of Toronto and Head of Division of Infectious Disease at Sick Children's Hospital, Toronto. He was Senior Medical Advisor (Volunteer position:1998-2018) for the Meningitis Foundation Canada, making himself available to communicate with families about all aspect of meningitis, the after affects of meningitis. He has written all the medical content of the MFC website. He has taken the time to speak to stakeholders and the public and has been interviewed to provide expert details about the science and advocates for the vaccines available. He has participated in NACI (National Advisory Committee of Immunization), Infectious Diseases and Immunization Committee of the Canadian Pediatric Society, Immunization Subcommittee of Ontario Infectious Disease Advisory Committee. He has assisted in putting together a document that Health Units across Canada can provide to the public about Meningitis. He was co-principle investigator in the development of the Immunization Monitoring Program, Active (IMPACT) and active surveillance system based at 12 Canadian children's hospitals to detect severe adverse events occurring after vaccination. He has written several articles in various publications about Meningitis and has been a contributing author to the book Your Child's Best Shot.
Dr. Gold is part of the founding committee of CoMO (Confederation of Meningitis Organization) that serves as a worldwide network to share best practice and to support other Meningitis organizations. He has also served on the Governing Council of CoMO as a Medical Director for 6 years and continued on as an Advisor. Dr Gold's credentials are respected Canada wide. He serves when needed, often without compensation, to share his vast knowledge and in wanting to see an end to this insidious disease of Meningitis.
Board of Directors
Lucie Marisa Bucci
Ms. Bucci is a public health consultant with twenty years of experience in health policy. She is the co-founder of Bucci-Hepworth Health Services Inc., a Canadian-based consultancy with international offices, and the Society for Intelligence Management (SIM). Prior to her work as a consultant, Ms. Bucci was a research associate at the Centre de recherche en droit public at l’Université de Montréal and the Centre for Genomics and Policy at McGill University’s and Genome Québec’s Innovation Centre. Between 2010 and 2022, she was the senior manager of Immunize Canada and a liaison member to the Canadian Nurses Coalition on Immunization (CNCI). She was a member of the Elimination of Cervical Cancer Advisory Committee and the WHO’s Vaccine Safety Network (VSN) Advisory Committee. She also served as Chair of the VSN’s research working group. She represented the Canadian Public Health Association (CPHA) on the National Advisory Committee on Immunization (NACI) between 2019 and 2024. She is currently a board member of HPV Global Action, the co-chair of the Working Group to Increase Vaccination Rates in Adults with Respiratory Issues, member of the World Meningitis Day planning committee, and consultant to the HELPinKIDS&ADULTS team at the University of Toronto.
Craig Thompson
Craig Thompson co-founder of the Society for Intelligence Management, advancing collaborative solutions to global health challenges and is a founding partner of Bucci-Hepworth Health Services. Craig is a visionary healthcare leader, innovator, and entrepreneur with nearly 25 years of transformative experience spanning provincial and municipal governments, public health, academia, the military, and NGOs—both nationally and internationally. As Director of Immunization and Tuberculosis, and Acting Director for Sexual Health and Blood-Borne Infections with the British Columbia Ministry of Health, Craig was at the forefront of ground-breaking initiatives, co-founding and driving the development of innovative digital education and promotion platforms like ImmunizeBC, the BC Immunization Clinic Locator, I Boost Immunity, and Kids Boost Immunity. His thirst for innovation continues with pioneering a cutting-edge digital informed consent approach, designed to meet the needs of BC’s Vaccine Status Reporting Regulation in collaboration with the Ministry of Health and the Public Health Association of BC (PHABC). Craig's leadership has been instrumental in shaping legislative and policy advancements, spearheading strategic frameworks, national and provincial emergency preparedness plans, operational reviews, and the launch of impactful immunization programs. Notably, he was a leader in expanding the scope of practice for new immunization providers—including pharmacists, midwives, licensed practical nurses, and naturopaths—enhancing access to critical immunization services across British Columbia. A dedicated advocate for collaboration, Craig served as Co-Chair of the Pan-Canadian Immunization Policy and Health Promotion Committee and as a former member of the Executive Member of the World Health Organization’s Vaccine Safety Net. He is a former member of the Canadian Immunization Committee and has chaired the BC Immunization Committee and the BC Promotions Committee. He is the Canadian lead for the prestigious Hilleman Essay Contest, managed by the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, and spearheads training, development, and exchange initiatives for Indigenous community nurses in British Columbia.
Dr. Joanne Langley
Dr. Langley is a pediatric infectious disease physician in the Department of Pediatrics at Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia and is cross-appointed in the Department of Community Health and Epidemiology in the Faculty of Medicine. She is based at the IWK Health Centre and the Canadian Center for Vaccinology. She conducts studies on the prevention of infectious diseases using vaccines, from phase 1 (first in humans) through to efficacy trials (phase 3) and post-marketing studies of how well vaccines work when they are used in immunization programs (phase 4). These studies are done with collaborators in public health, industry, universities, and non-governmental organizations.
Dr. Langley has a particular interest in prevention of respiratory infections such as Respiratory Syncytial Virus and influenza. Her work also focuses on vaccine policy and evidence-based decision making in immunization programs. She is a member of the COVID-19 Science Expert Panel, and of the Expert Group on Health Systems of the Chief Science Advisor of Canada, and a former member of the Canadian Task Force on Preventive Health Care and Canada’s National Advisory Committee on Immunization (Chair, 2007-2011), and serves as an advisor on several immunization decision making expert groups. She is an active investigator in the Canadian Immunization Research Network and leads its Clinical Trials Network (CTN).
Andrea Kerton
Andrea and her husband Rob live in Toronto, where they have raised their two children, Chloe and Maxwell. Andrea worked in newspaper marketing for ten years until her second child was born. For the last ten years, she has been a Patient and Family Partner volunteer at Unity Health, advocating for patients and their families.
Last December, while a first year university student living in residence, her daughter Chloe became very ill with Meningococcal Septicaemia. It was a terrifying and traumatic experience. She was very lucky to survive.
Chloe had received all of the scheduled vaccines. Andrea and her family did not know Chloe wasn’t protected against Meningitis B, which was responsible for the outbreak at her university. They also learned there are vaccines to protect against Meningitis B, but they were not yet a part of any province’s vaccine schedule. Andrea would like to help spread awareness about Meningitis, including Meningitis B which is now the most common type affecting youth and young adults, advocate for vaccine availability, and help families who have been affected by Meningitis.
Marion Gray
Marion lives on the edge of Moorefield with her family. Marion has worked for GHD (formerly Conestoga-Rovers & Associates) and eSolutionsGroup Limited for over 32 years and during that time worked in multiple departments holding various positions from word processing, assisting in financing department, project coordinator, Executive Assistant, web master and technical support to various clients, including Meningitis Foundation for maintaining their websites. Marion is involved and donates time to her church and other volunteer organizations in her community.