O'Brien Institute welcomes new team members

Melanie Columbus, Health Policy Manager

Melanie Columbus completed a PhD and postdoctoral fellowship in biological sciences at Western University. After a brief stint working in the environmental non-profit sector, she found her way to health services research and has spent most of her career providing research administration and management to fields such as emergency medicine and critical care. Melanie has extensive experience with managing human and financial resources, project management, and developing and operationalizing strategic plans.

Melanie says she started her training in another field and found her way here by following her passion and pursuing her dream. Being in a space where she can have an impact on healthcare and influencing the direction of the future of healthcare for Canadians is that dream.

In her spare time, Melanie is an avid reader of everything from historical non-fiction to fantasy science fiction. Her favourite part of moving to Calgary has been exposing her kids to the mountains and amazing outdoor spaces. If the weather is good, you will find her outside. 

As the Health Policy Manager, Melanie will be overseeing the Health Sustainability Initiative and developing and operationalizing the strategy for the creation of a new Health Policy Centre.

Kyle Gilroy, Administrative Clerk

The O’Brien Institute for Public Health welcomes new Administrative Clerk Kyle Gilroy. Kyle joins the Institute from Sara Consulting, where he worked as the administrator for the B.C. Region. He also has a strong background in Information Technology, having worked for many years in IT across several companies. 

When not focused on work, Kyle likes to experiment in the kitchen, board gaming, tending to his indoors food garden project, and woodworking.  He is also a snake keeper, caring for two ball pythons, Shallan and Adolin, who sometimes make an appearance on the team’s weekly TGIF Zoom get togethers.   

In his new role, Kyle will be supporting the communication team by tracking metrics and website updates, and assisting the wider team with data management.