Sheila Turris | Director of Clinical Practice & Education

Sheila is Odyssey’s Director of Clinical Practice & Education, nationally. She is a self-confessed event junkie, education addict, and research nerd. Her call sign is ‘Starlight,’ the name used for WWII medics.

“I come to event medicine with a genuine desire to support best practice in the completely awesome, resource-light, practice setting of event medicine. Odyssey’s multi-disciplinary team is growing and every event is an opportunity to keep us learning from each other and focused on best known practices.”


Sheila can’t seem to stop going to school. She has degrees from the British Columbia Institute of Technology (BCIT), the University of British Columbia (UBC), and the University of Northern British Columbia (UNBC). After graduating with a PhD, she found herself a new hobby – special events. This is where she goes to learn, to get her batteries recharged, and to work with great people who have similar interests.

Although her background is in the emergency department, at the moment her day job is a busy family practice in North Vancouver, British Columbia. Working events helps Sheila stay connected to the pre-hospital environment and provides a nice contrast to her normal work week. Academically, she has affiliations with the Department of Emergency Medicine at UBC, with the Justice Institute of BC, and with the University of Victoria. Sheila provides clinical and educational support for multi-disciplinary teams across the country. She is the co-lead for the MGM Interest Group, which has a mission to grow the evidence base upon which to improve patient care during special events.

  • Medical Direction – committed to supporting our teams to work to their full scopes of practice with clear clinical and risk mitigation protocols in place
  • Clinical – emergency medicine, primary and urgent care, prehospital care, disaster medicine and emergency management
  • Research – since 2008, building a program to expand and validate the evidence-base for the work Odyssey does in mass gathering health
  • Education – teaching and empowering others in clinical care and event leadership; building orientation, training, and educational opportunities into every event; growing team expertise
  • Advocacy – seeking opportunities to improve health and safety in all categories of events through front line work in festival health, addictions medicine, and public health initiatives

E-mail:  [email protected]