2021 Premier’s Award Nominees

Tamara Dus- Health Sciences

1993 Registered Nursing

Tamara Dus is a progressive and innovative health care leader with expertise in collaboratively steering system transformations, while ensuring positive stakeholder outcomes for sustainable health care practices to meet community needs.

She was a frontline Registered Nurse for 14 years, and later transitioned into leadership positions at Lakeridge Health, including clinical manager, Systemic Therapy and Cancer Research; clinical director, Durham Regional Cancer Centre and the Central East Regional Cancer Program; clinical director for the Women and Children Program; and finally, clinical director, Emergency, Critical Care and Central East Prehospital Care Program.

In her positions with Lakeridge Health, Dus was responsible for the development and management of administrative and operational activities within the large multi-site community hospital, including four emergency departments, three critical care units, inpatient respiratory therapy, a domestic violence and sexual assault department and the Central East Prehospital Care Program.

Today, Dus is director of Health Service, Occupational Health and Wellness for the University Health Network (UHN). In 2020, she became lead for UHN’s COVID-19 employee response, addressing frontline worker burn-out and stress from the pandemic, and co-lead of the provincial pilot vaccination roll-out to support Ontario's immunization strategy for vaccine clinics. In this role, she had direct involvement in establishing the first COVID-19 vaccine clinic in Ontario, and in December 2020, Dus administered the first Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine in the province.

Tamara Green- Recent Graduate

2018 Advanced Baking & Pastry Arts

2017 Culinary Management

Tamara Green is a recent culinary graduate and entrepreneur whose personal chef company Indigenesis provides Indigenous ingredient-based catering drawing from the Great Lakes region and surrounding Indigenous nations. She prepares items with historical ingredients that were used prior to the colonization of Canada, avoiding the flora, fauna and animals that were introduced to the area by settlers. She uses traditional cooking methods, re-imagining them with modern techniques. Through Indigenesis, Green offers an experience focused on learning history through food, while honouring Indigenous culture and cuisine.

In 2017, Green was chosen to kick off Bistro ‘67’s Heritage Series Prix Fixe by drawing inspiration from her Indigenous heritage to create and cook a meal representing the Haudenosaunee (Six Nations) people. Guests dined on fried Mohawk beans and cornbread, hay-roasted venison and enjoyed a dessert of ground cherry and honey sorbet.

Later that year, she was a part of the winning team that created a video exploring the Three Sisters – corn, beans and squash – and their role in Indigenous cuisine for a prestigious competition hosted by Canoe Restaurant in Toronto. Held as part of Canada 150 celebrations, Canoe’s student series competition asked entrants to create a video answering the question, what does Canadian food mean to you? Together, Green and her team created their submission, inspired by her Indigenous heritage and the diverse backgrounds of all the team members.

Judy Pal- Community Services

1983 Sports and Entertainment Administration

Judy Pal has had a long and rewarding career. It’s one that has seen her hold the title of community relations coordinator for the Edmonton Oilers, television anchor for Global Television, chief of staff for numerous police organizations, and director of operations for the FBI Law Enforcement Executive Development Association (LEEDA).

After beginning her career in sports, journalism and entertainment, Pal was able to take the communications experience gained from these industries and apply it to her first love, law enforcement, accepting a role with the Halifax Regional Police in Nova Scotia before moving to the U.S.

After a short stint with the City of Irvine in California, Pal joined police departments in Georgia, managing public relations in Atlanta and then Savannah. From there, she received the chief of staff role in Milwaukee and Baltimore before serving as director of operations for FBI-LEEDA. In this role, Pal developed and managed leadership course curriculum and became a public speaker in the field of communications for public safety. She finished her full-time career as an assistant commissioner with the New York City Police Department (NYPD).

With a wealth of knowledge and experience in communications, public relations, law enforcement and entertainment, today Pal conducts media training, communications counsel, and virtual training across North America as a consultant to ensure information officers and leaders in policing know how to better communicate within their organizations and the communities they serve.