Insulin100: Team

Brent Crane

Storymaps Coordinator and Education Consultant

Brent Crane graduated from Nipissing University’s Concurrent Education Program with a BA Honours Specialization in Mathematics and a Minor in History in 2021. Brent’s passion for interdisciplinary education, particularly within his teachable subjects led him to work on educational resources for the Defining Moments Team. He hopes to create enthusiasm for Canadian history in learners across the nation.

Garfield Gini-Newman

Education Consultant

Garfield Gini-Newman is an Associate Professor in the Department of Curriculum, Teaching and Learning at OISE, University of Toronto. He explores how to teach through sustained critical inquiry while nurturing deep conceptual understanding and genuine competence. Garfield has worked with thousands of teachers across grades and subjects, helping them to frame learning around engaging and provocative activities and rich, authentic assessments. Currently, Garfield is engaged with schools across Canada, in South America, and in Europe. Over the past two decades request for Garfield’s services have taken him from Asia to the Middle East, Europe, the Caribbean and across North America. His interest in effective teaching and learning has led him to actively explore the challenges and opportunities presented by teaching and learning in the digital age. In addition to his work at the University of Toronto and delivering workshops, Garfield has also authored several articles, chapters in books and seven textbooks and has taught in the faculties of education at York University and the University of British Columbia. His most recent book co-authored with Roland Case, Creating Thinking Classrooms has received widespread praise from leading educators across Canada and internationally.

Laura Gini-Newman

Education Consultant

Laura Gini-Newman is a recently retired educator with over 30 years of experience working as a university professor, classroom teacher, resource teacher, coach and instructional co-ordinator. She has taught History, Geography, Politics, Philosophy, Computer Science, Economics, and Mathematics. Laura has developed a new reasoning-focused approach for math learning that she has been sharing in her role as the math consultant with The Critical Thinking Consortium working with students, teachers and leaders to become better thinkers in mathematics and other subject areas across Canada, in the USA, the Caribbean, Central and South America, Europe and Asia. She has published and co-authored textbooks, papers and learning resources in philosophy, history, mathematics, Indigenous education and most recently applied positive psychology. She is a certified applied positive psychology practitioner and co-founder of FlourishCo, a Canadian company that supports the cultivation of a flourishing mindset and that works with individuals, communities and businesses to help them learn how to flourish in their work and lives. Prior to her career in education, Laura worked as an economist and accountant. She has taught at both the University of Toronto and York University. She is also a professionally trained facilitator. Laura volunteers with the Alma Foundation to help young disadvantage learners in remote Andean villages experience learning success.

Dr. Madeleine Mant

Education Consultant

Dr. Madeleine Mant is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Anthropology at the University of Toronto Mississauga. Her biocultural research program examines health inequities in marginalized and institutionalized human groups through an interdisciplinary integration of bioanthropological and archival datasets. Her work investigates and amplifies previously unheard voices, demonstrating the powerful legacy of historical health in shaping health consequences and experiences today.

Craig Brumwell

Education Consultant

Craig Brumwell has been teaching Social Studies for over 30 years in Vancouver. The focus of his practice is inquiry approaches to place-based learning through digital interactive storytelling. Examples of his projects are Dilemma 1944 and its online educational resource site, Though Poppies Grow and Kitsilano Fallen. He is the recipient of three national awards for teaching excellence, the Governor General’s History Award (2015), the Government of Canada History Award (2015), and the Prime Minister’s Award (2018).

Dr. Christopher Rutty

Contributing Historian

Christopher J. Rutty, Ph.D., is a professional historian with special expertise on the history of medicine, public health, infectious diseases and biotechnology in Canada. He earned his Ph.D. at the University of Toronto in the Department of History, with his dissertation on the history of poliomyelitis in Canada. For his Ph.D. Christopher was supervised by the late Professor Michael Bliss, author of the seminal book, The Discovery of Insulin, which serves as the foundational source for much of the insulin story he has developed for the “Insulin 100” project. Since completing his Ph.D. in 1995, Dr. Rutty has provided a wide range of historical research, writing, consulting and creative services to a variety of clients through his company, Health Heritage Research Services. Dr. Rutty holds an Adjunct Professor appointment in the University of Toronto’s Dalla Lana School of Public Health. He has also curated prominent historical exhibits, including on the discovery of insulin, most notably for the University of Toronto Faculty of Medicine to mark the 90th anniversary of the discovery. Dr. Rutty has also published several articles on the history of insulin, as well as books on the history of public health in Canada, the history of the Canadian Nurses Association, the history of St. Mary’s General Hospital in Kitchener, ON, as well as numerous articles in print and online on the history of polio and the history of vaccines.

Scott Smalley

Education Consultant

Alison Li

Contributing Historian

Alison Li is an historian of science and medicine based in Toronto. She is the author of J. B. Collip and the Development of Medical Research in Canada (McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2003). Her current project, Wondrous Transformations: A Maverick Physician, the Science of Hormones, and the Birth of the Transgender Revolution, will be published by University of North Carolina Press.

Anne-Chantal Fontaine

Translator

Certified by OTTIAQ in 2010, Anne-Chantal holds a master’s degree in French Studies from the University of Sherbrooke (1996) and has nearly 25 years of experience in translation. She has acquired a diverse clientele almost everywhere in Canada (Quebec, Ontario, Nunavut, Northwest Territories, Prince Edward Island, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Manitoba). In addition to the privilege of contributing to the promotion of the French language, Anne-Chantal translates for museums and organizations that, like Defining Moments Canada, cultivate the duty of remembrance and raise awareness about important chapters of history, some of which are dark and little known, particularly concerning Indigenous Peoples and veterans.

Geneviève Desaulniers

Translator

Marie-Catherine Gagné

Translator

Seasoned translator, Marie-Catherine has over 25 years of experience, working in many fields. She has been a translator for the federal government for over 15 years, but also for several humanitarian non profit organizations. Marie-Catherine enjoys literature, cats and great food.