Jillianne Code, PhD
Vancouver, BC | @jilliannec
Person with Lived Experience
Co-Founder & President, HeartLife Foundation
Assistant Professor, Faculty of Education, University of British Columbia
Vancouver, BC | @jilliannec
CWHHA member since 2022
Biography
Jillianne Code, MEd, PhD is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Curriculum and Pedagogy, in the Faculty of Education at the University of British Columbia. Dr. Code is an educator, and learning scientist specializing in student and patient agency and its role in learning technology, media studies, applied design, and translational research. Before joining the University of British Columbia, Dr. Code was Associate Professor of educational technology and psychology in the Faculty of Education at the University of Victoria, and a Post-doctoral Research Fellow at the Harvard Graduate School of Education in Assessment and Learning Technologies. Dr. Code holds a Ph.D. in Educational Psychology from Simon Fraser University, a M.Ed. in Educational Psychology and a B.Ed. in Science Education from the University of Alberta.
Dr. Code’s most important role, however, is that of a heart failure survivor and two-time heart transplant recipient. Following her heart transplants, to honour the efforts of her medical team and the sacrifice of her donors, Dr. Code has worked to advocate for the inclusion of patients as partners in health care practice and research. In July 2016, Dr. Code co-founded the HeartLife Foundation, Canada’s first – and only – national patient-led heart failure organization that has grown to include a network of heart failure patients from across Canada. In October 2019, along with her co-founders of HeartLife, Dr. Code was awarded the prestigious Dr. Harold N. Segall Award of Merit from the Canadian Cardiovascular Society in recognition of their significant contribution to the promotion of cardiovascular health in Canadians.
In addition to her foundation work, Dr. Code is a public beneficiary member on the Medical Services Commission for the province of British Columbia, member of the Heart & Stroke Heart Failure Working Group and the Women’s Heart and Brain Health Research Steering Committee, and the first patient group representative on Health Canada’s Scientific Advisory Committee on Medical Devices Used in the Cardiovascular System. Dr. Code is also an active keynote and invited speaker at such events as the Canadian Heart Failure Society annual conference, the Canadian Cardiovascular Society, the Cardiovascular Clinical Trialist Forum, the American College of Cardiology, and the Heart Failure Society of America. Dr. Code will be a featured speaker at the European Society of Organ Transplantation in Milan, Italy in August 2021.
