MEET OUR TEAM

Aaron Palmer, Chair

Aaron is a registered Occupational Therapist and Clinical Director of Palmer Wellness & Rehab, a community-based company that provides rehabilitation services to individuals of all ages who are dealing with the effects of complex and serious injuries (e.g., orthopaedic, neurological, spinal cord and traumatic brain injuries), have complex needs (physical, sensory, cognitive and/or emotional) as a result of injury/illness, and children who experience development, learning and behavioural challenges. He has developed a passion for working with individuals to live a life of purpose and meaning. As a BIST board member, Aaron brings  his personal and professional experience to contribute and create positive change for people living with the effects of brain injuries.

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Brandon Pedersen, Vice Chair

Brandon is a personal injury lawyer at McLeish Orlando LLP, where he represents victims and their loved ones who have been seriously or fatally injured. When he was a young boy, two of Brandon’s family members were unfortunately killed in a motor vehicle crash caused by a negligent driver. This motivated Brandon to pursue a career as a personal injury lawyer so that he could advocate on behalf of others. Brandon attended law school at Western University, where he served as a volunteer caseworker and student director at one of Western Law’s legal clinics and was heavily involved in the law school’s mentorship program. When he is not practicing law, Brandon enjoys playing golf and hockey, and being a loving cat-dad to his feline “daughter”, Cricket.

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Man Girn, Treasurer

Man Girn is the Chief Operations Officer of Mind Connections Inc. He studied Management Accounting from the University of Waterloo and is a CPA. His diverse career includes protecting stakeholder investments by being a Fraud investigator, Internal Audit Director, Foreign Corruption Consultant, Management Consultant and Chief Financial Officer of public companies in the United States and Canada. 

 

He currently lives in Vaughan and is a Board Member with INDUS Community Services and INDUS Community Foundation. In his spare time, he loves to travel with his family exploring different countries, food and cultures.

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Emily Doyle, Secretary

Emily Doyle is currently a Senior Technology Recruiter at Rogers Communications. She has been working in the Human Resources field for the past three years. Prior to this, Emily worked in the social service and co-operative housing sector on special projects, specifically focusing on diversity and inclusion. She is very passionate about affordable housing and specifically housing co-operatives. If you ever want to talk co-ops, she is more than happy to! Emily lives in a housing co-operative in downtown Toronto where she served on the Board of Directors for three years as staff liaison. In this position, she supported the running of the office of about 5 staff members. Emily learned about BIST in 2020 when she experienced a concussion in the August of that year. The concussion ended up turning into post concussion syndrome and she was at a loss as to where to turn. She says, “Having a concussion completely humbles you and I was so happy to have access to the services at BIST. I knew I wanted to give back in some way and hopefully I can as a board member. I’m looking forward to working with the rest of the board and staff to help to support and continue BIST’s amazing services and initiatives!” Emily loves biking, hiking, and walking around the city. She also really loves baking and feeding people.

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Tim Andrews

Tim Andrews is the Executive Vice President, Brand Experience, at Bridgepoint Financial. He is responsible for branding, marketing, product development and strategic initiatives. Before joining BridgePoint in 2020, Tim was Vice President at Emblem where he was the creative and strategic lead on brand, digital, social media, product development, packaging and marketing collateral. As member of the Senior Management Team, he contributed to strategies behind corporate operations, culture and vision. Tim has over 20 years of experience working with a diverse client roster including banking, finance, legal, aerospace, commercial and residential development, beer, wine, cannabis and the public sector. He studied at Queen’s University and Sheridan College, and he puts a strong emphasis on design thinking, meaningful strategies and thoughtful, business-minded work. Tim has chaired business development groups, founded successful not-for-profit campaigns and has helped with the launch of several startups.

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Judy Chau

Judy Chau is a registered social worker and therapist at Boost Child & Youth Advocacy Centre. She is a dedicated advocate for community care, equity, and youth empowerment. With a background in social work and program development, Judy has spent years building spaces where young people, particularly those from marginalized and newcomer communities, feel supported, valued, and heard.

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As Executive Director of Starts With One, Judy leads initiatives that foster mentorship, leadership, and access to education. She takes a reflective, anti-oppressive approach to her work, ensuring that programs are not only impactful but also responsive to the needs of the communities they serve.

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Judy brings expertise in advocacy, mentorship, and systemic change, and she is eager to contribute this experience to the Brain Injury Society of Toronto. She is committed to strengthening BIST’s work through a lens of inclusion and accessibility, and she believes in the power of community-driven change to create spaces where all individuals can thrive.

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Lara Fitzgerald-Husek

Lara is a lawyer from Oatley Vigmond, representing seriously injured individuals and their loved ones.  Lara’s practice focuses solely on personal injury law, including motor vehicle accidents, medical malpractice, occupier’s liability, and product liability cases.  Lara completed her undergraduate degree at the University of Toronto. She obtained her Juris Doctor and Master of Public Administration at Queen’s University and also completed the International Business Law program at the Bader International Study Centre in England. When Lara is not practicing law, she enjoys hiking with her dog and tending to her balcony garden.

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Jon MacDonald 

Jon is a personal injury lawyer at MacDonald Injury Lawyers in Toronto, where he advocates for individuals and families whose lives have been profoundly impacted by serious accidents, with a particular focus on cases involving traumatic brain injuries. His work involves guiding clients through complex legal processes while ensuring they feel supported and understood every step of the way. Advocacy in this field is deeply personal for Jon. Growing up, he watched his father fight tirelessly for brain injury survivors and saw not only the profound impact that advocacy had on clients and their families, but also how the courage and resilience of survivors shaped him. Inspired by that example, Jon dedicated his career to continuing this work and carrying forward that commitment. Outside of his work, Jon enjoys beating his brothers on the golf course, playing with his dog Arnie, and spending time in Canada's great outdoors.

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Laura Pazzano

Laura first became involved in the BIST community when she joined the BIST Advocacy Committee following a personal experience with brain injury, and has since been inspired to expand her work with BIST to include serving on the Board of Directors. Laura holds an Honours Bachelor of Sociology specialized in health and ageing with a minor in Thanatology, as well as a Masters of Health Policy degree. Currently, she is a policy Lead at Ontario Health where she drives quality and innovation in the province’s cancer care system. Her career has focused on strategic planning and performance management, seeking to improve the quality of care and experiences of those interacting with the health care system. When she’s not working or spending time with her two young children she can be found jogging or in the kitchen whipping up some tasty treats.

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Dr. Milan Unarket

Dr Unarket is duly qualified specialist in physical medicine and rehabilitation and licensed to practice medicine by the College of Physicians and Surgeons in Ontario. He has a a fellowship from the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada.  He is currently in community practice after almost 15 years combined experience of being a consultant physiatrist at Bridgepoint hospital and Toronto Rehabilitation Institute, as a subspecialist in neurological rehabilitation, musculoskeletal rehabilitation and electromyography. His clinical work does and has involved the assessment and treatment of patients with various neurological and musculoskeletal injuries from the initial inpatient rehabilitation stay to the latter stages of rehabilitation.  He has assisted in publishing in vocational rehab and was involved in the U of T with an academic appointment at the University of Toronto as a lecturer and has have taught students and residents over time. He successfully obtained certification and proficiency in electromyography from the Canadian Congress of Neurological Sciences. He has completed on certification training in performing catastrophic impairment based on the 4th Edition AMA Guides on Permanent Impairment. He also has completed certification in non-economic loss impairment assessments through the WSIB.

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He has a special interest in Acquired Brain Injury rehabilitation including the medical complications of Acquired brain injury and their functional implications. He is married to a pharmacist with two young children ages 2 and 4.

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Dr. Andrew Wong

Dr. Andrew Wong is a clinical, school and rehabilitation psychologist with 15 years of experience and is registered with the College of Psychologists and Behaviour Analysts of Ontario. He works with children, youth, and adults providing therapy and assessments. He completed his Ph.D. at the University of Alberta’s Counselling Psychology program. During that time, he also completed his clinical psychology residency in Kingston, Ontario.

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While Dr. Wong provides a compassionate and gentle approach to therapy with adults, he can be playful and creative when working with children and teenagers in order to promote a strong therapeutic connection. Dr. Wong is also specialized in working with neurodiverse populations including individuals with autism spectrum disorder, intellectual disability, and other developmental disorders. Overall, his experiences include helping in hospital, school board, community mental health in rural locations, and private practice settings.

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Dr. Wong was a supervising psychologist at the York Catholic District School Board for eight years and was most recently the Clinical Director at the Neurologic Rehabilitation Institute of Ontario (Bayshore Residential Rehab). Beyond seeing his clients and managing the private practice, he enjoys spending time with his family as well as playing golf and tennis.