Regional Speaker Spotlight — The Ontario Public Health Convention

Every Step Matters: A Practical Look at Medical Device Reprocessing in Community Settings

Certified Public Health Inspector, Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph Public Health

Diane Durk is a Certified Public Health Inspector with more than 20 years of experience in Public Health and Infection Prevention and Control at Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph Public Health. She has held her CIC certification since 2016 and has completed additional certifications in Medical Device Reprocessing. Diane is passionate about helping teams translate reprocessing standards into everyday practice and brings a practical, real-world approach to complex IPAC challenges. She is excited to facilitate this TOPHC workshop alongside her colleague Crystal and Public Health Ontario.

Infection Prevention and Control (IPAC) Specialist, Public Health Ontario

Catherine Kerr is an IPAC Specialist with the Infection Lapse and System Support Team, within Health Protection at Public Health Ontario. Catherine has been an Infection Control Practitioner for more than 15 years and was the IPAC lead in various acute care settings including the emergency department, operating room and medical device reprocessing, and the surgical, trauma and critical care programs, at large teaching hospitals. Catherine earned a Master’s Degree in Microbiology and Immunology from Western University and has continually held Certification in Infection Control and Epidemiology (CIC) since 2013.

Certified Public Health Inspector, Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph Public Health

Crystal Hendry is a member of the IPAC Hub team at Wellington-Dufferin Guelph Public Health and is a certified Public Health Inspector. She has over 15 years of experience in Infection Prevention and Control and has been certified in Infection Control since 2020. Crystal has been involved in many infection prevention and control investigations and brings her knowledge and expertise when troubleshooting complicated IPAC scenarios. She is looking forward to contributing her real-world experience at TOPHC alongside Diane and Public Health Ontario.

Infection Prevention and Control (IPAC) Specialist, Public Health Ontario

Raymond Gullekson is an Infection Prevention and Control (IPAC) Specialist with the IPAC Lapse and System Support team at Public Health Ontario. He began his career as a certified public health inspector and spent over a decade working for local public health units before joining PHO in 2022. Ray has held his Certificate in Infection Control since 2019. His work includes the Environmental Cleaning Toolkit, personal service settings resources, and the update of CSA Z7001. He is currently co leading the update of the Guide to Infection Prevention and Control in Personal Service Settings.

Team Lead, Outbreak Response and Support, Infection Prevention and Control, Response and System Support, Public Health Ontario

Anne has extensive experience in Infection Prevention and Control (IPAC), holding leadership positions across diverse health care environments such as long-term care, large tertiary care center, small rural community hospital, and public health. Currently, Anne leads a team responsible for supporting public health units that are conducting IPAC lapses risk assessments in community health care settings and serves as the Subject Matter Lead for medical device reprocessing.
She began her career as a medical laboratory technologist and maintains her CIC© certification through the Certification Board of Infection Control and Epidemiology. Most recently, Anne earned an MSc in IPAC, completing a thesis titled "Barriers and Facilitators to Compliance in Infection Prevention and Control in Ontario Community Healthcare Settings Operated by Regulated Health Professionals: An Implementation Science Informed Qualitative Study." Additionally, Anne is an active member of the CSA’s Technical Committee on Medical Device Reprocessing and regularly lectures on IPAC topics at Centennial College.