Cherry Tabb Herzig Eye Institute WOA Business Honouree

Founder and President of Barlin-Daniels Productions Inc., Elly is a theatre producer; publicist, mentor; writer and sought after advisor to the arts’ community. She is lead producer of a Broadway-bound musical; the author of a forthcoming children’s book from Cormorant Press; and the mother of two daughters, Olivia and Lily.   

With over 40 years experience in the communications industry, Elly began her career in Winnipeg as a producer and on-air host at CKY-TV (CTV) Winnipeg. She was staff publicist, writer, and producer at CKND-TV (Global) Winnipeg, and network publicist at CTV in Toronto, where she launched Murphy Brown and Roseanne in Canada, and other programs. Elly has been responsible for artist, corporate, and board public relations and publicity at Roy Thomson and Massey Hall and First Choice SuperChannel.

A children’s music and media expert, Elly ran the multi-year national media campaign for the children’s publishing initiative I Read Canadian on behalf of the Ontario Library Association; CANSCAIP (Canadian Society of Children’s Authors, Illustrators and Performers), and the Canadian Children’s Book Centre (CCBC). Elly is the sole sponsor of CANSCAIP’s yearly Packaging Your Imagination Conference; and on behalf of the CCBC and endows the annual Arlene Barlin Award in Science Fiction and Fantasy in honour of her late sister. Elly is an advisor to arts administrators; children’s book writers; and visual and performing artists including Juno-award winning children’s recording artists Jack Grunsky and Martha Johnson (Martha and the Muffins).

Elly is an investor in the Broadway production of Matthew Lopez’s Tony, Olivier and Drama Desk award-Winnipeg play The Inheritance and other Canadian productions. She advises many of Toronto's non-profit theatres and serves on the board of Crow’s Theatre, and the advisory boards of Chilina Kennedy’s Eclipse Theatre, and the Harold Green Jewish Theatre, where she created and endows the Barlin-Daniels Emerging Artist Initiative. Elly sponsors many Toronto theatres and their productions including the upcoming Art of Time Ensemble’s tribute to Joni Mitchell.

Elly is engaged in many philanthropic endeavours including supporting and sponsoring: the Canadian Human Rights Museum; the Hyeman Barlin Scholarship, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Manitoba in memory of her father; the Hyeman and Zelda Barlin Digital Beit Midrash at Toronto’s Temple Sinai congregation (in honour of her parents), the University of Toronto New Jewish Press; Witness: Passing the Torch of Holocaust Memory to New Generations, March of the Living (Polish Edition) from Second Story Press; the Bishop Strachan School’s Theatre; the Koffler Centre for the Arts Vine Book Awards; Mt. Sinai Hospital’s Panov Program for Precision Chemotherapy research; Toronto General Hospital; and Toronto Western Hospital. Elly is a past board member of Canada’s Walk of Fame, World Literacy Canada, and Baycrest Centre for Geriatric Care, and has Chaired the Royal Conservatory of Music Gala; Events for the Michael J. Fox Foundation and the Children’s Broadcast Institute. 

Elly is a chocoholic and baker who could subsist on warm chocolate chip cookies. She is a night owl; an amateur genealogist; and runs three Instagram pages including one called Learn Yiddish! Elly is working on a family musical with her daughter Olivia, who is an actor and director. 

Ronda Green WOA Inspirational Honouree

Dr. Carole Gruson is a retired Periodontist. She was in clinical practice for 35 years and a clinical associate in Dentistry at the U of T faculty of Dentistry, for 36 years receiving a 25 year service award.

Carole has served as president of multiple dental professional societies and as chair of the Board of BIALIK HDS, and Alpha Omega Dental Fraternity. She has sat on the board of CHAT, Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Centre, DARA ( Doctors against Racism and anti-semitism), and is on the UJA executive council. She has acted as co-chair of doctors4wiesenthal, a committee of FSWC. Carole is the founder and past chair of the Advocacy committee for Alpha Omega Dental Fraternity, Toronto chapter and has played an integral role in bringing webinars on anti-semitism to university students, faculty and the international community in partnership with UJA.

Carole has been a fundraiser for UJA for several years and has held many leadership roles. She is a recipient of a Shem Tov award for volunteerism and the Phil Granovsky award for campaign excellence both for UJA. She is also a recipient of an Ontario Volunteer Service Award, a Queen’s Jubilee pin and multiple awards from Alpha Omega International and Alpha Omega Toronto including most recently the Sheila Rodney Humanitarium Award.

In 2019, Carole was diagnosed with Pancreatic Cancer. After ignoring the ominous prognosis, she was given by several surgeons, she underwent a year of traumatic treatment ultimately ending with life saving extensive surgery.

Currently, Carole is very involved in canvassing for Cancer research, most specifically Pancreatic Cancer research  and has organized two very successful “Carole’s annual charity golf tournaments in support of Pancreatic Cancer Research”, a third party event for Pancreatic Cancer Canada and Princess Margaret Hospital. She is a top fundraiser for PMH through the Journey to Conquer Cancer.

Carole has been a volunteer for Wellspring, a cancer support centre and mentors many other pancreatic cancer patients. She is also an active member of HADASSAH WIZO, Tzedakah Chapter. Carole has been married to Charles Goldberg for 43 years and they have 3 married children, Stephanie and Corey, Hailey and Jeff, Justin and Ronly and 4 amazing grandchildren, Madison, Jax, Nathan and Bodie with one more on the way.Ronda Green WOA Inspirational Honouree

Pam Albert is the Executive Director of the Canadian Friends of the Jaffa Institute. She works as an independent consultant, coach and builder of community in the charity world. She is involved in leadership and advisory roles for numerous charities, bringing her considerable experience to both newly developing and long-standing charitable organizations. Canadian Friends of The Jaffa Institute is a more recent and key focus for her. In the not-for-profit field, Pam’s many consulting engagements have included work in Development and Community Engagement at JNF and she has also served as VP of Community Engagement at the Mt. Sinai Hospital Foundation. She is currently on the board of ARZA Canada. Before forming her consulting practice, Pam was the Founding Director of One Family Fund Canada, where she spent 15 years successfully building an organization to support victims of terror in Israel. Through her extensive involvement in this and other organizations, she has engaged thousands of individuals from Canada and around the world with Israel.  To help foster this engagement, she has honed her skills at planning and delivering out-of-the-box travel/experiences in Israel. 

Myra York WOA Community Honouree

Lori Rosenthal is a past co-Chair of the 2017 UJA Federation of Toronto Annual Campaign and a past Chair of the 2014 UJA Federation of Toronto Women’s Philanthropy Campaign. She is an active mentor to future leaders in the community. Lori founded and co-chaired the Tikun Olam Project, Fashion Conscience and Share Your Style.

Lori is a JFNA Fisher Flight Fellow and a 2018 recipient of the Wilson Kipnis award and along with her husband Jeff, a recipient of the Harold Lederman Award for Philanthropic Leadership.

Lori is a past co-Chair of the 2021 Annual Campaign for Chai Lifeline of Canada. She currently serves on the Board of Directors for Birthright Israel.

She is a past Vice-President and former board member of the Mount Sinai Hospital Women’s Auxiliary. She participated on the executive for various events on behalf of Mount Sinai Hospital including “Wine Down Easy”, Chef’s Challenge, and the Mt. Sinai Hospital Gala. 

Lori is married to Jeff, her husband of 32 years and is a dedicated mother of three children, Rachel, Lilah and Benjamin. 

Wendy Lack WOA Scientific Honouree

Dr. Toni Zhong, M.D., FRCS, MHS is an Associate Professor in the Department of Surgery, and the inaugural Belinda Stronach Chair in Breast Cancer Reconstruction at University Health Network (UHN). She is also the Clinical and Research Director for the Breast Reconstruction Program at UHN and Mount Sinai Hospitals, leading centres for advanced techniques in breast reconstruction in North America. She was recruited by University of Toronto in November 2008 from Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York City. In 2011, she also obtained her Masters of Health Sciences in Clinical Epidemiology from the Harvard School of Public Health.

To complement her clinical expertise in the field of breast reconstructive surgery, her research aims to improve the access of women to optimized techniques of post-mastectomy reconstruction through clinical trials and health services research. In 2012, she was awarded the prestigious 2012 Career Development Award from the American Society of Clinical Oncologists. She holds a five-year Canadian Institute for Health Research (CIHR) grant and leads a national team to examine barriers to breast reconstruction surgery across Canada. She was also awarded the highly competitive CIHR New Investigator Award in 2015. Recently, she was appointed as the Provincial Lead in the development of clinical guidelines to set new provincial standards for breast cancer reconstruction in Ontario. She currently has over 75 peer-reviewed publications in high impact oncology and surgical journals, holds 5 active national level research grants, and numerous Canadian and American Plastic Surgery Foundation Funds.

Dr. Zhong is also active in humanitarian activities. She is one of the founding members of Reconstructing Women International, a non-profit international humanitarian organization and annually leads international surgical teams overseas. She is a co-founder the UHN Helps Fund, a humanitarian fund to support patients from developing countries to receive their life-saving or life-enhancing surgeries at UHN. To recognize her volunteerism, she was awarded the Dean’s Alumni Award in Community Service from University Of Western Ontario in 2018. 

For more information, visit myreconstruction.ca