We have impact in our work not only through impact on the health of communities where we work, but also through the capacity building and career opportunities that have been provided to the individuals who have worked with HealthBridge. When I joined HealthBridge in 1998 (then called PATH Canada) Sian FitzGerald and Debra Efroymson were already here in their current positions, but all other staff from 1998 have moved on and many others moved in. HealthBridge is a long term home for some of us, but for many more it has been a one or two or five year stopping point on the way to other destinations. I have been reminscing about some of the stars whose light for a time burned brightly at HealthBridge.

Catherine (Katie) Reed was one of the pioneers in malaria control through ITNs. She was PATH Canada's Malaria Advisor when I joined in 1998. Around 2000 she returned home to the UK to earn a PhD from Manchester University.

Mark Young worked as a physician in Malawi before joining PATH Canada in the early 2000s as Health Advisor. Among other things, he codeveloped what would become Soils, Food and Healthy Communities. Together we wrote the "VitANet" paper, an at-the-time innovative idea for strengthening Vitamin A and bednet programming through integration. We were not able to get it off the ground, but integration of vitamin A and bednet programming and other interventions as well has since become relatively common practice. Mark has been with Unicef for about five years now, currently serving in NYC as Senior Health Advisor.

Ismael Ngnie Teta joined us in the mid-2000 after completing his PhD in nutrition at the Université de Montréal, working closely with me on the iron pots project. From here he moved on to CIHR for one year and then two years at the Micronutrient Initiative. About a year ago he took a posting with Unicef in Haiti to gather more field experience. He currently serves as Chair of the HealthBridge Research Ethics Board.

Manisha Kulkarni joined us as Malaria Advisor after completing her PhD in entomology at McGill University. Among other things, she lead HealthBridge's first work in Madagascar using PDAs for direct data capture in large-scale surveys, a practice that we continue today. She was with us from 2006 through 2008 when she left to join Jeremy Kerr's lab as a post-doc at the University of Ottawa. She is now an epidemiologist in the Zoonotic Division of the Public Health Agency of Canada, but still working with us on the side, providing expert malaria advice.

Jackie Kung’u joined us in 2010 as a post-doc after completing her PhD at Cornell University. She was co-PI on our nutrition survey in Rwanda (report forthcoming). She returned to her home country of Kenya in 2011 where she now works with the Micronutrient Initiative as Regional Advisor, Research and M&E.

There are many others... Julie Krasevec now with Unicef, Nathalie Simoneau with WWF, Carolina Budiman with Nestle, Stephen McConnell - I wish I knew where he is now..., a dozen or more interns, volunteers and students, and perhaps I am temporarily forgetting some others. It is an impressive roster and I am grateful that our paths crossed here for a while and that HealthBridge was able to be a part of their lives for a time.