IBA’s Board of Directors are united with a purpose.
Passionate about the mission and committed to responsible governance.
Inflamed Brain Alliance is a Canadian grassroots charitable organization with an active working and governance board of directors committed to ensuring IBA’s activities and transactions are advancing its mission.
Marnie Deschenes (she/her)
Co-Chair and Co-Founder
Marnie and her husband Richard, along with a small Board, co-founded the Inflamed Brain Alliance in 2020. Marnie knows firsthand the challenges of accessing physician care for PANDAS after her oldest son experienced a sudden, acute onset of debilitating neuropsychiatric symptoms in June 2013, followed by her youngest son two years later. As a dedicated mother of three and a fierce advocate for families living with PANS PANDAS, she is passionate about ensuring that other families don’t have to endure the exhausting medical labyrinths she faced. When not volunteering for IBA, Marnie teaches piano in her private music studio. Her commitment to seeing the best in her students is a value she carries into her work with IBA, where she views patients, caregivers, educators, and health professionals as collaborators in building a strong, caring community.
Richard Deschenes (he/him)
Co-Chair and Co-Founder
With a deep conviction to develop a caring and resourceful Canadian PANS PANDAS community, Richard joined his wife Marnie and a small board to launch Inflamed Brain Alliance in 2020. Richard is the Leadership Giving Advisor for Wood’s Homes, mental health centre that provides treatment and support for children, young people, adults and families with mental health challenges. With over two decades of senior management experience in the non-profit sector, he’s committed to using his expertise to help IBA provide much needed awareness, education and funding around this largely misunderstood disease.
Stephen Park (he/him)
Treasurer and Co-Founder
Stephen shares a passion for IBA after his daughter experienced PANDAS in 2018 and was successfully treated. For over 20 years Steve served as a senior accountant (CA, CPA, and CFP) with an international engineering, architecture, and environmental consulting firm. His passion for fitness led him to venture out to become Owner and CEO of Calgary’s CrushCamp Fitness, as well as a Fractional CFO and Consultant. An avid fitness enthusiast and distance runner, he’s completed both a 250-mile ultramarathon AND an epic adventure known as the Triple 7 Quest Run – 7 marathons in 7 days on 7 continents. Outside of work life and long distance trail running, he enjoys coaching his kids in sports and golfing.
Jill Marcinkowski (she/her)
Director
Equipped with nearly 20 years of program and organizational leadership experience in neuroeducation, Jill feels that it was her trained ability to dig for root causes that allowed her to interpret a sudden shift in her son’s behavior through the lens of encephalopathy rather than willful actions at the beginning of their harrowing PANS PANDAS journey. Shaped by the grueling and unexpectedly disheartening path to a proper diagnosis, she is now ready to turn trauma into transformation, bringing both her personal and professional skill set to the IBA team. Driven by her passion for creating meaningful, impactful change in the lives of others, she is excited to help pave the way forward, hoping to reduce the enormous burden this disorder places on so many lives. When she sets aside her educator hat, you’ll find Jill mindfully enjoying life by the lake and developing her eye as a hobbyist photographer.
Dr. Mary Noseworthy (she/her)
Director
Dr. Noseworthy graduated from Memorial University with a BSc in Biochemistry (Honours) and completed her pediatric subspecialty training at Memorial University and the Janeway Child Health Center in St. John’s, Newfoundland. She furthered her expertise with fellowship training in Pediatric Respiratory Medicine at the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto. Since moving to Alberta in 2009, Dr. Noseworthy has focused on severe asthma research and quality assurance in medicine. Currently a Clinical Assistant Professor at the Cumming School of Medicine in Calgary, she received an Innovative Research Award from the Department of Pediatrics for her work with the KIDsPRO asthma project alongside Dr. Maria Santana, developing the electronic Pediatric Provincial Asthma Pathway now used across all pediatric ER departments in Alberta. In her personal life, Dr. Noseworthy is an avid outdoor enthusiast, frequently hiking in the Rockies, and enjoys traveling, learning languages, and spending time with her four grown children and two dogs.
Land Acknowledgement
Inflamed Brain Alliance is grateful to have the opportunity to meet and work on many Indigenous homelands across this land we share, Canada.
As settlers on these lands, it is important to acknowledge that our Calgary office is located on the traditional territory of the Blackfoot and the people of the Treaty 7 region in Southern Alberta, which includes the Siksika, the Piikani, the Kainai, the Tsuut’ina and the Îyârhe Nakoda First Nations, including the Chiniki, Bearspaw and Wesley First Nations. Calgary is also home to Métis Nation of Alberta, Region III.
We want to express our respect for the territories we reside in and honour the diverse Indigenous People who have lived and worked on this land historically and presently.
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