Our Mission

The Canadian Association of Hepatology Nurses (CAHN) is a national professional organization that supports and promotes hepatology nurses and health care professionals with an interest in the care of people who are at risk for or living with liver-related conditions.  Our mission is to advance the science and practice of hepatology nursing in Canada through the promotion of clinical excellence and leadership, facilitation of knowledge sharing and networking opportunities, and through advocacy for equitable policies and practices that address the social and structural determinants of health.

Our Values

Caring Environments

We take a person-centred approach, recognizing that health is a human right and that people flourish under safe, inclusive, and caring conditions.

Clinical Excellence

We believe everyone at risk for or living with liver-related conditions should have access to quality clinical care from a specially trained hepatology nurse.

Collaboration

We are committed to sharing knowledge and working together to improve health outcomes at the individual, community, and population level.

Meet the 2024 CAHNference Planning Committee

Michelle Pittman

CAHNference Co-Chair

2024-2026

Michelle became an RN in 2016 and primarily worked in community health, addiction medicine, mental health, and sexual health. In 2020, she became the clinic manager at River Stone Recovery Centre, the first iOAT program in Atlantic Canada. Michelle earned her Master of Nursing from Athabasca University in 2023, becoming a Nurse Practitioner with Horizon Health Network while continuing to manage River Stone. She also started a nurse-led Hepatitis C treatment program, sits on the steering committee of Action Hepatitis Canada, and is a mentor for the Atlantic Mentorship Network in New Brunswick. Michelle’s goal is to start a mobile unit so the River Stone team can access hard-to-reach populations, provide primary care, substance use treatment, and reduce STBBI rates in the community. 

Elizabeth (Liz) Lee

CAHNference Co-Chair

2024-2026

Liz Lee is a nurse practitioner at the Toronto Centre for Liver Disease, Toronto General Hospital, University Health Network. She has worked for over 15 years in various clinical settings in the community and within the University Health Network, spanning the continuum of chronic liver disease from diagnosis to transplantation.
 
She obtained a Master of Nursing- Nurse Practitioner (Adult Emphasis) from the University of Toronto. She has a Canadian Nurses Association (CNA) Certification in Gastroenterology and has completed an NP Fellowship to support her clinical training in hepatology through the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases (AASLD).
 
Her main clinical focus is on the management of patients with cirrhosis and alcohol-associated liver disease (ALD). She works on developing quality improvement initiatives and research projects aimed at optimizing clinical management in these patient populations. She maintains a separate practice in managing patients in general hepatology. She is an AASLD Special Interest Group (SIG) Steering Committee member for ALD and is a founding member of the Canadian Association for the Study of the Liver (CASL SIG) on ALD.
 
She has a keen interest in clinical education and fostering the growth of hepatology nurses. She is a Hub Member for ECHO Ontario Liver, a provincially funded initiative supporting a virtual learning community for primary care providers (PCPs) to support their management of patients with liver disease. She also serves as an Adjunct Lecturer for the Faculty of Nursing at the University of Toronto.
 
On a personal note, she is an outdoors enthusiast, with her most recent trips (prior to pandemic) through the Yukon River, Patagonia and West Coast Trail. She aspires to paddle the Nahanni River in Northwest Territories in the future.