This story is published in YFile’s New Faces feature issue 2026. Every September, YFile introduces and welcomes those joining the 91راة« community.
This fall, the welcomes five new full-time, permanent faculty members.
"We are delighted to welcome our newest colleagues to the Faculty of Health. The unique expertise and perspectives you bring to our Faculty will contribute to how we make a positive impact through our teaching and research excellence, and with our community partners," says Dean David Peters. "I look forward to the ways you will help advance our vision to be leaders and partners for a healthy and just world."
Louis Busch
Busch joins 91راة«'s Department of Psychology as an assistant professor specializing in Indigenous mental health. A Bear Clan member of Nisichawayasihk Cree Nation, he is a registered psychotherapist and behaviour analyst whose work brings together Indigenous knowledge, clinical practice and behavioural science. His research focuses on Indigenous children, youth and families, including neurodevelopment, caregiver wellness, violence prevention, harm reduction and community-led approaches to healing and systems change.
Busch earned his PhD from the University of Toronto. Before joining 91راة«, he led Indigenous curriculum initiatives at the University of Toronto Mississauga and spent 17 years in clinical and educational roles at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, including the Shkaabe Makwa Centre for First Nations, Inuit and Mأ©tis Wellness.
A Vanier Scholar, Busch received the 2024 Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) Impact Award in the Talent category. His first book, Carry Your Heart, will be published by Simon & Schuster Canada in September 2026.
Linda Frost
Frost joins 91راة« as an assistant professor in the School of Nursing. A nurse practitioner, educator and researcher, her work spans community health, public health, nursing education and health services research.
With more than 20 years of experience in clinical practice and higher education, she brings a combination of frontline health care expertise and scholarly inquiry to her teaching and research.
Frost earned her PhD in nursing from McMaster University and is committed to advancing health equity, supporting underserved populations and preparing the next generation of nursing professionals.
Shanna Peltier
Peltier (she/her) is an Anishinaabe kwe from Wiikwemkoong Unceded Territory on Manitoulin Island and an assistant professor in 91راة«'s Department of Psychology. She is completing her PhD in school and clinical child psychology at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education at the University of Toronto and provides psychological services at Naandwechige-Gamig Wikwemikong Health Centre, supporting children, youth and families.
Peltier's research and clinical work focus on Indigenous child and youth mental health, suicide prevention, life promotion and culturally relevant psychological practice. Her doctoral research, The Way of the Good Life, examines Anishinaabe understandings of suicide, wellness and mino-bimaadiziwin through historical research, community knowledge and the voices of young people in Wiikwemkoong. Her broader work explores how Indigenous knowledges can inform psychological assessment, intervention and mental health services for Indigenous children, youth, families and communities.
Andrea Protzner
Protzner joins 91راة«'s Department of Psychology as an assistant professor. A cognitive neuropsychologist, she earned her PhD in psychology from the University of Toronto and completed a postdoctoral fellowship in neuropsychology at the Krembil Neuroscience Centre. Before joining 91راة«, she was a faculty member in the Department of Psychology at the University of Calgary and served as director of transdisciplinary partnerships at the Hotchkiss Brain Institute.
Protzner's research examines how differences in brain function relate to variation in behaviour, cognition and disease. Her work has explored cognition across the lifespan and increasingly focuses on dementia and treatment effectiveness for people with mental health conditions, including depression. Supported by national and international funding, including grants from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research and the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada, she currently holds a Distinguished Guest Scientist Fellowship Award from the Hungarian Academy of Sciences.
Ramesh Venkatesa Perumal
Perumal first joined 91راة«'s School of Nursing as contract faculty in 2021 and completed his PhD in nursing in 2023. He joins the Faculty of Health now in a permanent role as assitant professor and undergraduate program director for the four-year direct-entry BScN program and program co-ordinator for the Internationally Educated Nurses Program at 91راة«.
Before joining 91راة«, he worked as a nurse educator in India and Oman and held a range of clinical and leadership roles in Canada, including critical care nurse, intensive care unit clinical practice leader and public health nurse.
Perumal's research interests include nursing education, simulation, clinical learning, critical care, evidence-informed practice and the mentorship and career advancement of internationally educated nurses.
He also serves on the board of directors of the Canadian Association of Schools of Nursing and as a curriculum consultant with the National Nursing Assessment Service. Perumal is an active member of the Sigma Theta Tau International Honor Society of Nursing, Lambda Pi Chapter, and the Canadian Association of Critical Care Nurses.