About Us
Who We Are
Vaccines in Pregnancy Canada (VIPC) is a partnership of the Cumming School of Medicine at the University of Calgary, the Alberta Children’s Hospital Research Institute, BC Children’s Hospital Research Institute, and the Faculty of Medicine at the University of British Columbia.
We are an international group of dedicated clinicians, researchers and patient partners, all united by a common goal: to improve vaccine communication in pregnancy. Our diverse team is committed to empowering parents with confidence in vaccines. As advocates for public health, we value the important role of open, empathetic communication between healthcare providers and their pregnant patients or clients. This communication is the cornerstone of making informed, collaborative decisions.
Our aim is to empower parents, their families and healthcare providers with the knowledge and tools to engage in open and collaborative dialogue, ultimately leading to well-informed vaccine decisions that foster the health and well-being of pregnant people and their children. We strive to create an environment where vaccine conversations are welcomed and encouraged for the benefit of families everywhere.
Our Story
We know that pregnancy is a unique time for expecting parents and that there is a lot of new information to take in. Through our extensive research with patient partners and healthcare professionals, we’ve learned that expectant parents want and need open, non-judgmental communication with their healthcare providers to support them in making informed decisions about vaccination.
We've developed a website, resources, and training materials to equip expectant parents and healthcare providers with the most reliable and up-to-date information about vaccines in pregnancy. To ensure the information we provide is relevant and useful, we developed these materials in partnership with pregnant individuals, their families, midwives, researchers, doctors, nurses, pharmacists and other health professionals.
Our resources are designed to facilitate more effective and empathetic communication about vaccine benefits and safety for pregnant people, addressing any questions with sensitivity and understanding.
Parent Partner Research & Advisory Council
Our Parent Partner Research & Advisory Council (PPRAC) is made up of parents with lived experience who represent diverse populations and perspectives. As a vital part of our team, the PPRAC contributes to direction-setting and decision-making by sharing insights and reflections. This helps us better understand the needs of pregnant individuals, new parents, and families planning for pregnancy.
The PPRAC plays a key role in identifying priorities, supporting knowledge translation, and engaging with the community. Their involvement ensures that our practices, research, and overall work remain person-centered and inclusive.
Our Team
Eliana Castillo | M.D.
FOUNDER & CLINICAL LEAD
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Dr. Eliana Castillo (She/Her) is a Clinical Associate Professor at the Cumming School of Medicine, University of Calgary in Canada. Her medical and academic practice focuses on reproductive infectious diseases and implementation science. She is an emerging leader on vaccination in pregnancy and partners with patients to understand their journey during pregnancy, focusing on opportunities to engage in a dialogue about interventions that we know can protect mothers and babies. She works with the National Advisory Committee for Immunization, Society of Obstetrics and Gyneacologists of Canada, and the Canadian Association for Immunization Research, Evaluation and Education. Dr. Castillo completed her fellowships at the University of British Columbia and the Pontificia Javeriana University in Colombia, South America.
Julie Bettinger | PhD, MPH
KNOWLEDGE SPECIALIST
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Dr. Julie Bettinger, PhD is a Professor at the Vaccine Evaluation Center in the Department of Pediatrics at the University of British Columbia. She is an infectious disease epidemiologist whose research interests include vaccine safety and vaccine preventable diseases, as well as attitudes and beliefs around immunization uptake and use. She is the data center director for the Canadian Immunization Monitoring Program, Active (IMPACT), an active surveillance network for vaccine preventable diseases and vaccine adverse events in 12 tertiary care pediatric hospitals across Canada and the principal investigator for CIRN’s Canadian National Vaccine Safety (CANVAS) network, which monitors the safety of flu vaccines each year and is monitoring COVID vaccines.
Andrea Patey | PhD, MSc, BSc
KT & IMPLEMENTATION SCIENTIST
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Dr. Andrea Patey (She/Her) is a Knowledge Translation & Implementation Scientist at IWK Health and holds a PhD in Health Psychology. She is also Co-Director of the Healthcare Improvement Fellowship at the Centre for Quality Improvement and Patient Safety/Choosing Wisely Canada. Her work sits at the intersection of behaviour sciences and implementation research applying psychological theory and methods to explain and change health professional behaviours across a range of clinical settings to improve the delivery of care. The broad objectives of her work are to promote the use of theory and rigorous methods to improve the delivery of evidence-based healthcare through the development and evaluation of complex behaviour change interventions.
Maoliosa Donald | PhD, MSc, BSc
IMPLEMENTATION SCIENTIST
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Dr. Maoliosa (Mo) Donald (She/Her) is an Adjunct Assistant Professor at the Cumming School of Medicine, University of Calgary. She is trained as a health services researcher, implementation scientist, and physical therapist. Her research focuses on using pragmatic approaches to identify strategies to improve person-centered care for individuals. Dr. Donald has extensive experience in stakeholder engagement in the implementation of health innovations. She is interested in applying theories, methods, and frameworks to determine factors that promote or impede implementation, adaptation, and sustainability in ways that are effective and practical for various contexts.
María Castrellón Pardo | PaCER, BSc
PATIENT/COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT LEAD
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Maria Castrellon (She/Her) is a certified Patient and Community Engagement Researcher (PaCER, University of Calgary). She holds a Bachelor's degree in psychology from Universidad de la Sabana (Colombia) and a post-diploma in Health and Community Services Management from Bow Valley College. The combination of her lived experience as a mom, her training, and her trajectory promoting behavioural changes through community engagement interventions with a focus on knowledge translation and participatory-action research brings to our team a meaningful connection to the community and a liaison to patients. Maria is committed to maternal health improvement based on patient-oriented research as a way to empower and gather diverse voices to make transformations that respond to the real needs of pregnant patients and their families.
Our Partners
What Parents Are Saying
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![Picture of a mother cradling her newborn baby.]()
Carly (Calgary, A.B)
“We all want to do what we can to protect our precious babies, and getting the vaccine was one of the ways I could do that.”
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![Picture of a mother feeding her newborn baby.]()
Kelsie (Calgary, A.B)
“What a golden opportunity I had! I could get my vaccine and pass antibodies to my baby. I could provide a layer of protection for my baby.”
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![Picture of a mother smiling beside her newborn baby.]()
Valentina (Calgary, A.B)
“Because I trust the doctors and scientists behind the research and development of these vaccines, I knew this was the best decision for my family.”
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![Picture of a happy family with a mother and father holding their newborn baby and toddler.]()
Myrriah (Red Deer, A.B).
“I discussed with my midwife who encouraged me to get it. I trust I made the right decision and am so relieved to have me and my now big healthy 5 week old boy protected.”
