Meet Our Team | Canada East Spine Centre, Saint John, New Brunswick

Erin Bigney, MA Experimental and Applied Psychology

Director of Research

Erin Bigney is the Director of Research for Canada East Spine Centre and Canada East Foot & Ankle. She also co-Founded Canada East Foot & Ankle along with Dr. Jacob Matz. Bigney holds a Master’s degree in Experimental and Applied Psychology and has worked in the field of research for the past 15 years. Bigney’s educational and work experiences have focused on experimental design, methodology and program evaluation. She has multiple peer-reviewed publications and has presented at national and international scientific conferences.

Eden Richardson, B.A. Political Science & English, Graduate Certificate-Human Resources Management

Database Manager

Eden oversees one of the largest sites for CSORN (Canadian Spine Outcomes and Research Network) of the 23 participating sites in Canada through the Canadian Spine Society. She also oversees 5 other CSORN sites across Canada. These include The Moncton Hospital, Sault St. Marie Hospital, Sudbury Regional Hospital, and The Ottawa Hospital-Civic Campus. Eden also works for the Canadian Spine Society nationally as the Data Quality Coordinator and Trainer for CSORN because of her fantastic work with CSORN registry. Eden has hosted national training sessions for research coordinators and surgeons on data quality for CSORN. Eden also runs all the sub-studies for CSORN which includes sub-studies on adult deformity, cervical spondylotic myelopathy, and degenerative/idiopathic spondylolisthesis. Eden completed her Bachelor of Arts at the University of New Brunswick, Saint John campus with a double major in Political Science and English and graduated with First Division. She has also completed her Graduate Certificate in Human Resources Management at Seneca College. Eden is also a proud mommy to her daughter Ireland.

Jill Kearney

Operations Manager

Jill Kearney is the Operations Manager for Canada East Spine Centre. She has several years of quality assurance and management experience in a business environment, which translates well to her role with CESC. Jill manages our core staff and manages our Volunteer Mentorship Program. She is also responsible for quality inspection of our systems and processes, and has oversight of our Clinical Trials program. Other responsibilities include coordinating our Research in Medicine (RIM) students, overseeing our social media accounts on Facebook and Twitter, and our maintaining the CESC website. Jill assists with our valuable work with the Canadian Spine Outcomes and Research Network and the Rick Hansen Institute as well. As our main patient contact, she enjoys working closely with Orthopaedic and Neurosurgery patients and their surgeons for consenting and follow-up involvement in our research projects.

Dresden Forshner

Clinical Trials Associate

Dresden Forshner's experience as a past Volunteer Research Assistant for CESC, as well as prior positions in other departments throughout Horizon Health, provided a strong foundation for his role of Clinical Trials Associate at Canada East Spine Centre. Dresden is passionate about the work he does with our patients and coordinates with many of our surgeons for our clinical trials. He is also a current undergraduate student at the University of New Brunswick, where he is pursing his Bachelor of Health with a major in Biomedical Science.

Ore Alugo

Research Assistant

Ore Alugo is a Research Assistant at Canada East Spine Centre. She recently graduated from Western University with a Bachelor of Science in Biology. Ore has a background in research from her time at Western, as well as experience from spending summers with both CESC and the Centre for Research in Integrated Care at UNB. Having previously been on the team, Ore is excited to return and looks forward to contributing to the ongoing success at CESC.

Meghan Fitzgerald, BN, RN, ONC(c), Nurse Manager

Clinical Research Associate

Meghan graduated with a Bachelor of Nursing from the University of New Brunswick (Saint John campus) in May 2000. In 2006 she was one of the first Registered Nurses to write the CNA certification exam for Orthopaedic Nursing and has maintained this certification through continuous learning credits. After 8 years working as a Registered Nurse on the Orthopaedic inpatient unit at the Saint John Regional Hospital, Meghan accepted the position of Unit Manager. Her analytical mind loves a good clinical chart review so she is thoroughly enjoying her adverse event reporting work with Canada East Spine Centre.

Janice (Loop-D) Kenny RN, BN

Neurosurgery Case Manager

Loop-d graduated with a Diploma in Nursing from the Saint John School of Nursing in 1981, and completed Post-Graduate studies in Neuroscience Nursing from the Montreal Neurological Institute at McGill University in 1987. More recently, she completed her undergraduate degree in Nursing from UNBSJ in 2006. Loop-d has held the National CNA Certification in Neuroscience Nursing since 1991. She has served on the National Board of Directors for the Canadian Association of Neuroscience Nurses and was the National President in 1995. She is currently practicing Nursing in the Neurosciences. Loop-D's clinical interests are in Neuro Trauma, and Neuro Critical Care in the management of Brain & Spinal Cord Injuries.