LeadHERs: Cross‑Sector Perspectives on Road Safety

Pamela Fuselli, MSc is the President and CEO at Parachute and one of the four co-founders who successfully led a process of national consultation and visioning, resulting in the formation of Parachute, Canada’s national charity dedicated to injury prevention.

What really drives her is the heartbreaking knowledge that the majority of serious injuries and deaths are preventable. Pamela leads Parachute’s mission to turn evidence of what works into action, building strong relationships with stakeholders across Canada to achieve this mission. Over 25 years in the health care and injury prevention field, Pamela’s work has focused on influencing public policy and harnessing the strength of those seeking similar outcomes to achieve social change.

Pamela has led publications including two Cost of Injury in Canada reports, the Evidence Summary on the Prevention of Poisoning in Canada, as well as the Canadian Injury Prevention Resource and the Canadian Guideline on Concussion in Sport, both first such resources in Canada. Pamela is a principal investigator, the co-chair of the Integrated Knowledge Translation & Stakeholder Engagement and Theme Lead Prevention on the Canadian Concussion Network, a CIHR-funded project, where she sits on the executive committee. She oversees the Secretariat for the Canadian Surveillance System on Poison Information and the Secretariat for the Canadian Collaborating Centres on Injury Prevention. Pamela is a long-time member on various national committees such as the Canadian Paediatric Society’s Injury Prevention Committee, the Trauma Association of Canada’s Injury Prevention Working Group, and Canadian Standards Association’s Technical Committees.

Pamela is involved with numerous research projects, with roles ranging from co-principal investigator to knowledge translation advisor on grants. In addition, Pamela is an invited keynote and plenary speaker and presenter at conferences and workshops, has testified as an expert at federal and provincial government standing committees and inquiries, and she is a media spokesperson on a wide range of injury prevention topics, public policy issues, knowledge mobilization, and collective action.

Pamela received her BSC in Psychology from the University of Toronto in 1992, her BHA (2002) from Ryerson University and MSc (2010) in Creativity and Change Leadership from the State University of New York College at Buffalo.

Twitter: @PFuselli

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/pamela-fuselli-99400514/

Web: www.parachute.ca

YouTube: www.youtube.com/ParachuteCanada

Dr. Linda Rothman is an Associate Professor in the School of Occupational and Public Health at the Toronto Metropolitan University and an Assistant Professor (status only) at Dalla Lana, School of Public Health, University of Toronto. She is an injury prevention epidemiologist, with previous clinical experience in Occupational Therapy.  Her current area of expertise is in vulnerable road user injuries in urban environments as a public health issue. Linda’s research projects involve multi-disciplinary collaborators from academia, hospitals, not-for-profit organizations, the private sector, school boards, and all levels of the government. She holds several Canadian Institutes of Health Research grants related to the evaluation of new road design modifications such as cycle tracks, reduced speed limits, and automated speed enforcement. She is also an investigator on the Healthy Cities CapaCITY/É implementation science team grant involving researchers working together with municipalities across Canada and Australia to examine the implementation and evaluation of interventions focused on speed reduction and All Ages and Abilities Bicycle Networks. Linda has published many scientific reports and manuscripts  related to injury prevention and presents her work in many international, national and local venues.

Brenda Bisceglia is a Manager in Public Works with over 15 years of experience in operations at the City of Vaughan. Throughout her career, she has progressed through a range of leadership roles, building a solid foundation in operations, road safety, and mobility initiatives. Brenda currently serves as Manager of the City of Vaughan’s MoveSmart Mobility Management Strategy, leading the implementation of Vaughan’s integrated mobility and road safety initiatives.

Over the past five years, Brenda has guided MoveSmart through key implementation milestones, ensuring initiatives remain aligned with Council priorities and community needs. Her leadership emphasizes collaboration, thoughtful planning, and a commitment to continuous improvement and service excellence for Vaughan’s residents.

Brenda is a strong champion and advocate for mentorship and team development within Public Works. Her leadership is grounded in collaboration, trust, and a focus on enabling others to succeed. She credits the continued success of MoveSmart to the dedication and expertise of her team, who continue to advance mobility, road safety, and inclusive leadership in municipal government.

Geni Bahar, P.Eng., P.E., RSP2, FITE has served as the president of NAVIGATS Inc., since 2008.

Geni is a civil engineer with more than 40 years of professional experience as a researcher and a practitioner.

She has a broad and unique blend of experience with analytical methodologies and tools for road safety management; road safety analysis; countermeasure selection and evaluation; multi-disciplinary safety program, and policy development. Geni developed and delivered courses focusing on the principles of road safety and their applications, and the dissemination of evidence-based high-quality research results bringing them into practice in Canada and USA.

Geni has served in key roles at TRB, ITE, TAC, and CARSP committees. She is an Emeritus Member of the ITE Safety Council. Geni served as Chair of the TAC’s Road Safety Committee and served on the Board of Directors of the TPCB – Transportation Professional Certification Board as Director in charge of the Road Safety Professional (RSP) Certification. Geni served in the Steering Committee and the Subject-Matter-Expert (SME) Group developing the certification exams toward the two levels of the RSP certification; she also served in the SME group developing the exams for Saudi Arabia. She is currently leading the 5-year cycle updates of the certifications for both RSP levels. Her efforts were foundational in the establishment of this successful certification program.