About Us

Our Team

Sarah Cockell

I am a clinical psychologist and I have 25 years of experience helping people adjust to living with chronic conditions. I am also a mother who has lived for many years with stress incontinence. As a psychologist I understand the impact of health issues on self-image, emotional well-being and quality of life, and as a patient I live with these issues. These two perspectives put me in a unique position to contribute to our team’s goals to teach women about pelvic floor care in pregnancy and delivery. I am honored to have been asked to be part of this talented group of health care professionals and am confident that I can make meaningful contributions. My goal is to transform my own suffering into something useful to others!

Manisha Tilak

I am a resident doctor at the University of British Columbia, specializing in Obstetrics and Gynecology. I work and learn in many lower mainland hospitals, spending time in maternity wards, clinics, emergency rooms, and operating rooms. Outside the hospital, I have a passion for teaching. I’m very excited to create educational resources about pelvic floor health, and to raise awareness around women’s health issues. Ultimately I hope to help others learn more about this important topic, and to use this website to help promote women’s healthcare across Canada.

Kim Vopni

I am The Vagina Coach, a self-professed women’s pelvic health evangelist, published author and enthusiastic speaker. I am a certified fitness professional and pelvic trainer and became passionate about spreading information on pelvic health when I was pregnant with my first child. I am now a mom to two boys.  

I founded Pelvienne Wellness Inc - a company offering pelvic health programs products and coaching for women in pregnancy, motherhood and menopause.  I also certify other fitness and movement professionals to work with women with core and pelvic floor challenges through my Core Confidence Specialist Certification and Pre/Postnatal Fitness Specialist Certification. 

Trish Gipson

I have been a Pelvic Health Physiotherapist for over 15 years, working in pelvic health since 2011. I am currently working at The Cheerful Pelvis in East Vancouver.  It is becoming clear that pelvic health is important for overall health, and I regularly witness how pelvic floor dysfunction can interfere with a person’s physical, psychological and emotional wellbeing. As a physiotherapist, educating my clients about health and wellbeing is something that I am passionate about, but I can only reach one person at a time. As part of the bepelvichealthaware.ca team, I hope to use this platform to help share evidence-based practical information to help people improve their pelvic, and thus overall, health.

Adrienne Sim

I am a Pelvic Health Physiotherapist working in Langley, BC. I am a member of Full Circle Physiotherapy, a collective of passionate independent providers serving areas across the Lower Mainland. I have had the privilege of working in Pelvic Health for over 8 years and know how much pelvic health issues can often be associated with shame, embarrassment and withdrawal from meaningful social and physical activities. While these concerns may be common, they are often under-recognized and under diagnosed leaving people without opportunity access meaningful treatment. Improving awareness and access to information and services can be essential for maintaining health through one’s life. My mission, as a part of the bepelvichealthaware.ca team, is to empower people to make informed healthcare choices by providing current evidence based pelvic health education and resources for the public to easily access.

Nikki Koenig

I am a research manager, and I work for the University of British Columbia in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology.  I have a passion for pelvic floor disorders and I dedicated the past 9 years to assisting with research for these conditions. I look forward to helping to build a website that promotes awareness as well as provides evidence-based information to help women who suffer from pelvic floor disorders.

Nicole Prestley

I am the Manager, Research and Knowledge Translation at the Women’s Health Research Institute. I have worked as health care research facilitator and patient partner liaison since 2006. I am passionate about engaging patients in the research and information sharing (knowledge dissemination) processes. Professionally, I am dedicated to accelerating the access to and use of evidence-based information for patient, community, and other knowledge user audiences.

Sarah Munro

I am a qualitative health services researcher whose focus is knowledge translation and implementation science in women's health. My program of research focuses on investigating the factors that influence implementation of evidence-based innovations in women’s health care. As a member of bepelvichealthaware.ca team I bring my expertise in developing and testing tools in collaboration with patients to support effective knowledge translation.

Melissa Nelson

I am the Communications Coordinator at the Women’s Health Research Institute. In this role I have had the pleasure of supporting several knowledge translation initiatives, including the #DebunkingDesire and #ItsNotInYourHead social media campaigns. I am excited to bring my experience from this work along with my passion for building awareness about women’s health issues to the bepelvichealthaware.ca team.