lilli Ann Zahara graduated with Honours from Ryerson Polytechnical Institute in 1967. She started her career in Ontario, but her love for the west brought her back to Alberta in 1970. Lilli worked for several years as a PHI before specializing in Health Education. In 1976 Lilli accepted the additional position of Executive Secretary-Treasurer for the Canadian Institute of Public Health Inspectors (CIPHI) and held this challenging position until 1982. She left the Calgary Board of Health to become a consultant in Environmental Health and was subsequently appointed to sit as a member of the Board of Health by Mayor Ralph Klein.
Lilli was a member of the CPHA, an Honourary Member of the Canadian Restaurant Association and received an award from the Academy of Chefs. In 1977, she was awarded the prestigious
Canadian Silver Jubilee Medal by the Governor General of Canada in appreciation of worthy
and devoted service rendered and the esteem in which their colleagues held them. Lilli died in
2004 after a two-year battle with cancer.
T
he CIPHI and the Environmental Health Foundation of Canada sponsor the Lilli Ann Zahara Award, presented annually to a member of CIPHI who displays the highest level of dedication, commitment, inspiration and leadership in the field of environmental health, particularly with a focus on food safety and/or health education.