MMS

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Our Team

Board of Directors

Jean-Louis Roy

Honorary President

Jacques Corcos

President

Mark Lafrance-Fugère

Treasurer

Andrea Juarez​

Secretary

Julie Gagné​

Development Director

Dr. Mélanie Aubé-Peterkin​

Board Member

Stéphanie Breton​

Strategic Advisor

Claudia Champagne​

Board Member

Guillaume Brunet​​

Communications Committee​

Maria Chebra​​

Communications Committee​

Ndéye Amy Faye​​

Board Member​

Jacqueline Sanderson​​

Board Member

Anne Milamem​​

Board Member​

Dr. Alfred Homsy​​

Board Member​

Joviane Mukiza​​

Board Member​

Élourdes Pierre​​

Board Member

Danielle Groleau​​

Board Member​

Ousmanou Ngam​​

Board Member​

Advisory Committee

Pascale Bourbeau

Simon Corcos

Valérie Corcos

Erica Pomerance

Thomas Vignalou

Jean-Louis Roy

Honorary President

Jean-Louis Roy holds a PhD in history from McGill University and is a member of several boards of directors, including the Ordre du Québec. He succeeds Dr. Denis Mukwege, 2018 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate, as Honorary President. He also held the positions of Director of the daily Le Devoir, Delegate General of Quebec in Paris, Secretary General of the Agence intergouvernementale de la francophonie, President of the Canadian organization Rights and Democracy, and President and CEO of the Bibliothèque et Archives nationales du Québec.

Jacques Corcos

President

Dr. Jacques Corcos is a professor of surgery (urology) at McGill University and head of the Department of Urology at the Sir Mortimer B. Davis Jewish General Hospital in Montreal. Former chief surgeon of the Bambari Hospital in the Central African Republic, he has always been involved in voluntary aid in Africa and elsewhere in the world. He was Secretary General of the International Continence Society from 2008 to 2011. 2015 Recipient of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II’s Jubilee Medal and Meritorious Service Cross (MSC) In 2017, he authored over 200 peer-reviewed scientific papers and co-edited nine reference books in functional urology. In addition to chairing the MMS Foundation, he leads surgical missions to treat women living with obstetric fistula.

Mark Lafrance-Fugère

Treasurer

Mark Lafrance-Fugère joined the MMS Foundation as Treasurer in late 2022. He is a graduate of HEC Montréal, where he obtained a trilingual degree in business administration and a master’s degree in taxation. Since 2013, he has been practicing as a tax expert in his own firm, MLF Conseils. Mark also teaches courses at the college level in accounting, taxation, finance, and business law.

Andrea Juarez

Secretary

Andrea Juarez began her teaching career at different elementary and secondary schools in the West Island of Montreal. Currently, she is the Director of a learning center where she manages a team of teachers and has the opportunity to work with students presenting different profiles. Women’s and children’s issues are very dear to her, and she joined the Board of the Foundation in 2015. Since then, she has organized and participated in two surgical missions to Rwanda as coordinator.

Julie Gagné

Development Director

Julie Gagné holds a BA in business administration from HEC Montréal and a Master’s in health services administration from the University of Montreal. Julie worked before she joined the MMS Foundation at the Fondation pour la langue française. She has also worked at RDÉE Canada, la Fédération des caisses Desjardins du Québec, YMCA de Montréal and Canadian Red Cross, as well as in the health care sector, and was a board member for several organizations, including le Centre hospitalier Pierre-Janet and its foundation. She joined MMS in September 2019 and participated in one surgical mission in Tanzania as coordinator.

Dr. Mélanie Aubé-Peterkin

Board Member

Dr. Mélanie Aubé-Peterkin is an Assistant Professor of urology at the McGill University Health Center in Montréal. She went to medical school at Université Laval, did her urology residency at McGill and then completed a genitourinary reconstructive surgery fellowship at Eastern Virginia Medical School in 2018. Mélanie has a keen interest in medical and surgical education. She graduated from the Maastricht University’s master’s program in Health Professions Education in 2022 and is currently Assistant Program Director of the McGill urology residency program. She is also on the executive committee of the Canadian Royal College exam board.

Mélanie has also participated in several reconstructive surgical educational missions abroad with IVUmed, SAFE and Physicians for Peace in Central and South America and Africa. In 2017, she participated in an MMS Foundation mission in Rwanda. Mélanie is involved with multiple local, national, and international societies such as the Association des urologues du Québec, Canadian Urological Association and the Société internationale d’urologie (SIU). She is the Trauma and Reconstructive sub-committee lead for the SIU.

Stéphanie Breton

Strategic Advisor

Stéphanie Breton has been involved with the MMS Foundation since 2012, following her participation in a medical mission in Burkina Faso. Since then, she has held several important roles on the board. With an MBA from HEC Montréal and a BA in Communications from the Université de Montréal, she helps the Foundation strategically while overseeing its management. In her professional life, Stéphanie is a manager who is passionate about teamwork, business strategies and operations. She has over 13 years of experience in the tourism, food and event sectors.

Claudia Champagne

Board Member

Working in the field of nursing since 2005, Claudia Champagne discovered her true passion in the operating room. Having the cause of women at heart, she joined the team for a first mission to Rwanda in 2017. It was only the beginning of a great collaboration. Through her strong interest in philanthropy and logistics, she actively participates in the organization of each mission by gathering all the surgical equipment needed for each of them and ensuring its safe transportation. She is very proud to be involved in the cause of the MMS Foundation.

Gillaume Brunet

Communications Commitee

Founder and President of Substance for more than 10 years, Guillaume Brunet has more than 20 years of experience in the field of marketing. Guillaume’s initiatives were also praised by various awards during the Boomerang competitions, CMA Awards and Golden Arrows, where he was named Digital Personality of the Year at the 2014 Gala. He is an outstanding communicator who quickly grasps the different business realities of his clients. Guillaume helps grow organizations such as Tremblant, Saputo, Groupe Métro, Abri Tempo, SICO and many others.

Maria Chebra

Communications Commitee

Maria Cherba is a professor at the Department of Communication at the University of Ottawa. With other members of the communications committee, she takes care of the Foundation’s website, newsletter, social media, and well as media relations and the production of promotional material. She joined MMS Foundation in 2011 and has participated in three surgical missions in Burkina Faso and Rwanda.

Ndéye Amy Faye

Board Member

Holder of a master’s degree in applied finance from UQAM, Ndéye Amy Faye also holds a general degree in Accounting and Financial Sciences and a master’s degree in accounting Control Audit (CCA) from the Université Paris Descartes. Amy is currently with the Caisse de dépôt et de placement du Québec in the Quantitative Strategies and Data Science department. She is involved in the analysis of investment portfolios and the development of new analytical capabilities. She also contributes to the assessment of the quality of the data and the information needed for analyses. Before that, she worked at the Autorité des marchés financiers du Québec within the Investment Funds department.
Social causes are very dear to her. Originally from Mali and Senegal, Amy knows the African reality as well as the problem of obstetric fistulas. She joined the Foundation to share her experience and help the noble mission of the MMS Foundation.

Jacqueline Sanderson

Board Member

Me Jacqueline Sanderson is a lawyer and has been a member of the Barreau du Québec since 1998. Me Sanderson specializes in tax law including corporate income tax, personal income taxes and international taxes. She does both tax planning and tax litigation. Even before Me Sanderson became a lawyer, she knew she would specialize in tax law due to her broad knowledge in accounting and finance because she completed a Bachelor of Commerce at Concordia University in 1994.

Me Sanderson practiced at several large law firms and accounting firms prior to starting her private practice, at which she assisted a team of tax lawyers and accountants to develop tax plans and prepare corporate reorganizations. She also assisted with the planning for several public transactions. She uses her knowledge in accounting rules and tax principles to her advantage to argue income tax cases at the notice of objection level before Revenu Quebec and the Canada Revenue Agency, the Tax Court of Canada, the Court of Quebec and the Federal Court of Appeal.

Anne Milamem

Board Member

A pharmacist by training, Anne Milamem founded Styl’Afrique Coop in 2011, a cooperative of women from diverse cultural backgrounds, mainly from African countries. She joined the MMS Foundation to share her experience in the community and offer her expertise in organizing fundraising events with the African community. Anne supports the Association des femmes victimes de fistules obstétricales au Tchad by providing moral, material and financial support.

Dr. Alfred Homsy

Board Member

Dr. Alfred Homsy is an anesthesiologist in intensive care, but also a pediatrician by training. He participated in his first humanitarian medical mission in Haiti in 2004. He joined the MMS Foundation in 2013. Since then, he has been part of almost all missions in Burkina Faso and Rwanda. Dr Homsy attaches as much importance to the realization of good anesthesia, in a context generally in shortage of resources, as to training and transmitting his skills and knowledge to his colleagues anaesthetists or nurses. It also contributes to the educational and research objectives, motivating at all levels and bringing them together, anyone who can participate in the achievements of the MMS Foundation.

Joviane Mukiza

Board Member

Joviane Mukiza has been a nurse clinician in the intensive care unit of the Centre hospitalier de l’Université de Montréal (CHUM) since 2015. She is also pursuing a Master’s degree in Global Health at the School of Public Health of the Université de Montréal. Having always been sensitive to health matters, particularly to those of maternal health, she joined the Board of Directors of the MMS Foundation in 2019. Jovianemhas participated in several missions.

Élourdes Pierre

Board Member

Elourdes Pierre (B.Ed. Preschool and Primary Education, 1989), a teacher, consultant, educator, lecturer and committed volunteer, has, throughout her career, developed an approach to prevent bullying, verbal abuse and rejection. Her approach, which she has developed and refined over the years, has been repeatedly rewarded by her peers, the teaching, and the social community. In 2004, she won the Peace Medal awarded by the YMCA of Greater Montreal for the Bouquet d’humanité project, an exchange program in which she matched Quebec students with refugee families. This project, which has been Byenvini in Montreal for a few years, is aimed at refugee children, asylum seekers and newcomers aged 5 to 17.

The recipient of the 2015 Recognition Award from the Faculty of Educational Sciences has published two books, L’extrait, outil de découverte in 2002 and Ma première classe in 2004, practical resources for
teaching conflict management. Elourdes Pierre was also the star of Marcel Simard’s documentary, Le petit monde d’Elourdes, in 2010, a feature film that reveals the teacher’s approach to her students and the application of her methods. In the wake of the documentary, the Elourdes Pierre Scholarship was created in 2016 by Ms. Pierre and Mr. Alain Simard to encourage research in the educational sciences pertaining to the improvement of teaching practices, on the following themes: respect, dialogue, the fight against bullying and the socioemotional dynamics of the class.

Danielle Groleau

Board Member

Danielle Groleau is a medical anthropologist, holds a PhD in public health and a post-doctorate in social and cross-cultural psychiatry. She is a full professor in the Division of Social and Cross-Cultural Psychiatry at McGill University and a senior researcher at the Jewish General Hospital in Montreal. Her research program focuses on the socio-cultural determinants of sexual and reproductive health among vulnerable populations and the qualitative evaluation of health interventions, services, and policies. She has been a consultant at the World Health Organization (WHO) and the European Commission. Funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) and the Fonds de recherche du Québec – Santé, she has published numerous scientific articles in international journals.

Ousmanou Ngam

Board Member

Ousmanou Ngam holds a master’s degree in business administration from the Université du Québec à Montréal (UQÀM) and a management development program from ESSEC in France. He is currently completing his PhD in Business Administration at Paris Dauphine University. Chairman and CEO of Transminex, Ousmanou founded this company, which plays a major role in the ports of Douala, Cameroon, and Pointe Noire, Congo, nearly 20 years ago. Since then, the company has opened subsidiaries in the CEMAC region as well as in Shanghai and Paris. He also founded NIG Holding, which oversees the management of other businesses created under the direction of Ousmanou, namely BETA Constructions, GAMA Engineering, SCI IMMO Plus, Global Trade and Logistics and, of course, Transimex. He is a member of the Groupement Inter-Patronal du Cameroun (GICAM) and the American Chamber of Commerce (AmCham) and a member of the board of directors of the Sealink Promotional Company. He is married and has six children.