President and founder of the Canadian Transverse Myelitis Association
Kimberley Kotar is the President and Founder of the Canadian Transverse Myelitis Association (CTMA). In this role, Kimberley coordinates, manages
and leads the team in all aspects of increasing awareness, advocacy and support for those with rare neuroimmunological diseases. Kimberley was diagnosed with transverse myelitis in March 2006 and it was this diagnosis
that led her to spearhead the CTMA.
Kimberley is no stranger to healthcare, having spent 14 years at the McGill University Health Centre as a research coordinator in the Departments of Medical Genetics,
Respirology/Clinical Epidemiology, and Cardiology. Kimberley also worked in clinical care setting for two years, including the Paediatric Intensive Care Unit of the Montreal Children’s Hospital.
Kimberley
has been published in several peer-reviewed medical journals, completed 17 marathons and 22 half marathons since her transverse myelitis diagnosis and works as a volunteer and first responder in animal rescue.
Board Member
Heather Allen-Johnson is a newly appointed board member for the Canadian Transverse Myelitis Association (CTMA).
Heather is no stranger to medical research- having spent over 10 years in
the field of medical research with several publications during her time at Dalhousie University. She now is a self employed business owner specializing in bookkeeping and consulting. She has decided to take advantage
of the flexibility in her schedule to volunteer with a worthy cause and has chosen CTMA.
Heather is married to a third generation Wild Blueberry farmer and they live on the farm in Cumberland County, Nova
Scotia with their four Bengal cats and horse. When things are not busy on the farm Heather and her husband Klaine enjoy many travelling adventures – always including the cats.
Board Member
Andrew was
diagnosed with Transverse Myelitis in 2018, resulting in long term
disability and chronic pain. Grateful for the advice and support he
received from Kimberley and the Canadian Transverse Myelitis Association then,
he decided to become more involved to give back to the organization now.
Professionally, Andrew is
a Québec Notary. He currently works as a policy analyst in a major federal
government department. He has a B.A. and M.A. in History and a B.C.L./LL.B. in
Law from McGill University and a D.D.N. in Law from the Université de
Montréal.