Plaque Unveiling – Roberta Ellis Award

From left to right: Kyle Meeking, Roberta Ellis, Nicole Boeder, and Chris McLeod.

On August 19, 2019, the School of Population and Public Health (SPPH) hosted a ceremony to unveil the plaque for the Roberta Ellis Award for Excellence in the Study and Practice of Occupational and Environmental Health.

The Roberta Ellis Award is bestowed annually to one student from the University of British Columbia School of Population and Public Health (SPPH) who has demonstrated excellence in coursework, practicum, or research in the area of occupational and environmental health.

Throughout her career, Roberta Ellis worked at the forefront of occupational and environmental health. She spent the last 18 years of her career as a senior executive at WorkSafeBC, before retiring in 2016 as Senior Vice-President of Human Resources and Corporate Services where she oversaw the Policy, Regulation and Research Division.

The Partnership for Work, Health and Safety and WorkSafeBC were proud to fund the inaugural Roberta Ellis Award on April 7, 2017. The $1,000 award is now sponsored fully by WorkSafeBC in honour of Roberta Ellis’ longstanding support of the education and training of students in the area of occupational and environmental health.

The 2019 winner of the Roberta Ellis award is Emily Guy. After graduating from the MScOEH program in 2019, Emily began working as an Occupational Hygienist for Health Canada’s Public Service Occupational Health Program. Emily says that occupational hygiene is her passion, and she looks forward to sharing it with others by being an active member in the occupational hygiene community. She goes on to say that she aims to “make the Occupational and Environmental Hygiene program at SPPH Proud.” We know you will, Emily!

Kyle Meeking won the award in 2018, and is now working as an occupational hygiene officer for WorkSafeBC, where he serves in the field of construction. Nicole Boeder won the inaugural award in 2017 and is working as a health and safety advisor at the Vancouver Airport Authority.

Congratulations to our first three winners!

Thank you to Roberta Ellis for her passion and vision for occupational health and safety and workers’ compensation in BC and across Canada, and thank you to WorkSafeBC for sponsoring this award.