Jennifer Monaghan, LLB, BA

Kelowna, BC

Person with Lived Experience
Kelowna, BC

CWHHA member since 2020

Biography

Having heart disease and a stroke has not defined Jennifer, but rather given her the experience and passion to become an active volunteer and advocate. A lawyer by training, she served on the Heart and Stroke Foundation (HSF) Mission Council on Vascular Cognitive Impairment and as the British Heart Foundationʼs International Advisory Panel for the “Big Beat Challenge”– a global competition for a ₤30 million research award won by CureHeart.

She is a member of the 2023 and 2025 Canadian Women's Heart Health Summit Planning Committee, a Canadian Women's Heart Health Allliance Research and Knowledge Generation Patient Advocate Co-Chair, the BC Recovery & Rehabilitation Steering Committee as well as the Interior Health Stroke Innovation and Research Strategic Planning Committee.

She was only 43 when, without any risk factors, her stroke and discovery of heart disease happened, so she feels particularly invested in supporting health care and research on the heart and brain.