About Theresa

For 25 years, Theresa has been a thought leader and policy specialist in health promotion and public health. Honoured in 2010 with the Lori Chow Award for career achievement in health promotion, she has designed and led community based strategies and policy development in the areas of human nutrition, tobacco and substance abuse prevention, child and youth health, obesity prevention, rural health, community development and social inclusion.

Most recently Theresa initiated and directed a successful 10 year food systems policy research and advocacy agenda at Region of Waterloo Public Health. During this she time coached an interdisciplinary team through an alignment of food system policies and land use planning practices, resulting what has been described as the first and strongest sustainable food land use policy in Ontario.

As a forward-looking champion of community based change Theresa’s work extends from policy to practice. She is credited with beginning a number of widely replicated initiatives designed to connect urban markets with rural farming systems, including: Waterloo Region’s Food Systems Roundtable, Foodlink Waterloo Region, the Buy Local, Buy Fresh map and neighbourhood based local food markets.

Theresa holds a BASc in Human Nutrition from the University of Guelph and a MSc in Health Behaviour from the University of Waterloo, where she is currently completing doctoral studies related to alternative food systems in China and Canada.

In 2009, Theresa established Garden Party, an innovative local organic food hub and year-round Community Supported Agriculture farm that has been honoured with the Premier’s Award for Agri-Food Innovation Excellence in Ontario.

Theresa excels at fast and complete background research and the development of comprehensive frameworks and visions. Moving easily between academic and community worlds, she is skilled at building authentic partnerships and common agendas across desperate groups. Theresa’s ability to develop community based food system solutions is born out of practical experience as a farmer and policy leader, informed by formal research and advanced by strong network connections. Her diverse academic background and work experience give her a broad conceptual basis from which to approach food systems issues. Her rural background gives her an unpretentious “let’s get it done” style.