Speakers
Dr. Alika Lafontaine is an award-winning Indigenous physician of Cree, Anishinaabe, Metis and Pacific Islander descent. He is past-President of the Indigenous Physicians Association of Canada, the first Indigenous physician listed on the Medical Post 50 Most Powerful Canadian Doctors, and in 2021 was listed #15 on the Medical Post top 30 most influential Canadian physicians. Active in leadership and advocacy across medicine, Dr. Lafontaine is recognized nationally and internationally as an expert on Indigenous health systems and health policy, institutional bias, racism and reflective practice. In 2021 he was elected nominee for Canadian Medical Association President-elect, making him the first Indigenous nominee in the CMA’s history.
Dr. Andrew Warren is a general Pediatric Cardiologist at the IWK Health Centre and a Professor of Pediatrics at Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia. In 2022, he will complete his second and final term as the Associate Dean for Postgraduate Medical Education at Dalhousie. Dr. Warren is privileged to have served in a number of educational leadership roles in his career to date, including his current roles as the Chair of the International Program Review and Accreditation Committee of the Royal College and the Vice Chair of the CaRMS Board. To relax, Dr. Warren enjoys cooking and backcountry camping.
Dr. Dickinson earned her PhD in Microbiology and Immunology from Tulane University in 1995 and completed post-doctoral fellowships at the National Institutes of Health and Children’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School. She is a graduate of the Harvard Macy Institute Program for Educators in Health Professions (2017) and earned a master’s degree in health professions education from the Massachusetts General Hospital Institute of Health Professions in 2019.
Prior to her appointment at Mercer University School of Medicine, Dr. Dickinson served as vice-chair of the Department of Biomedical Science at the Western Michigan University Homer Stryker MD School of Medicine where she was an inaugural faculty member. Dr. Dickinson is the current president of the International Association of Medical Science Educators (IAMSE). Dr. Dickinson’s scholarship focuses on how the biomedical sciences are taught in the undergraduate medical curriculum, the application of biomedical science knowledge to patient care, and professional identity formation.
Caleb Lapointe is a Registered Nurse with 14 years of paediatric nursing experience in general medical, respiratory, anaesthetics, recovery and simulation. For the past 5 years Caleb has been the Simulation Coordinator for the Westmead campus of the Sydney Children’s Hospital Network. Caleb has a special interest in simulation-based systems testing and human factors.
Catherine Lajoie has been President of the Fédération des étudiants en médecine du Québec since July 2020, and as such, sits on numerous provincial and national committees. She obtained her Bachelor of Laws degree from the University of Sherbrooke during which she completed internships in legal services at VIA Rail Canada and in tax litigation at PwC Law before beginning her medical studies at the University of Montreal. During her medical studies, she was a representative for the preparatory year before serving as President of the Medical Students’ Association of the University of Montreal for two consecutive years. She also completed the Women’s Leadership Program at the Yale School of Management. She is committed to the interests and rights of medical students, but especially to the advancement of medical education.
Dr Whitehead is a Professor in the Department of Family and Community Medicine at the University of Toronto; Director and Scientist of the Wilson Centre at University Health Network (UHN) and Temerty Faculty of Medicine; and BMO Financial group Chair in Health Professions Education Research at UHN. In these roles, Dr Whitehead is a leader in teaching, curriculum design, curricular evaluation, educational administration, and education research/ scholarship. As an education scientist, Dr Whitehead’s program of research focuses on deconstructing ‘truths’ of health professions education to expand our understandings of possibilities for change. Through this research, Dr Whitehead explores the historical development of structures, processes, and practices in health professions education locally, nationally, and globally, as a means of analysing current assumptions and power relations. Some of Dr Whitehead’s specific content areas of research include equity, diversity and inclusion, globalization of medical education, the history of medical education, and outcomes-based education. Dr Whitehead’s longstanding interest in outcomes-based education has led to exploration of the inclusion of interprofessional education and the exclusion of humanistic aspects of care, including compassionate and person-centred care, within competency frameworks and accreditation standards. Dr Whitehead’s expertise in outcomes-based education contributed to an invitation to be a working group member on two World Health Organization (WHO) committees: she is a current member of a WHO working group that is developing a global competency framework for universal health coverage; she is also a member of a WHO strategic working group that is developing competency standards for refugee and migrant health.
Dr. Rojas is a Scientist at the Wilson Centre, University Health Network; the Director of Program Evaluation in the MD Program, and an Assistant professor in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Temerty Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto. Academically, Dr. Rojas is an engineer with a Master’s in Computer Science and a Ph.D. in Medical Sciences. His program of research focuses on program evaluation practices in Health Professions Education, particularly around how to use theory to help evaluate complex educational systems in hospitals and academic institutions. Dr. Rojas is interested in studying how to capture and interpret unintended consequences when evaluating educational environments, the use of big data in program evaluation, the evaluation of accreditation practices and international academic collaborations, and simulation effectiveness. Dr. Rojas is one of the leaders of the multi-institutional collaboration between UofT, NOSM, and the AFMC to study the impact of accreditation and its recent changes on Canadian medical programs. Furthermore, at the Temerty Faculty of Medicine, Dr. Rojas has co-led the design, development, implementation, and evaluation of the new tool to assess Clinical Teacher performance. He is an invited consultant for the AFMC to evaluate the impact of changes to the CARMS process nationally. Dr. Rojas has a strong publication record that is helping advance theory-driven evaluations practices in the Health Professions Education field.
Deepak Dath, MD MEd FRCSC FACS
Professor of Surgery, McMaster University
Deepak Dath is a surgeon educator at McMaster University in Hamilton. He is grateful to live and work on land that is the home of the Haudenosaunee and Anishnaabeg nations, in the territory of the Dish with One Spoon Wampum agreement. Dr. Dath has a history of medical education work at McMaster University (program director) and at the Royal College (CanMEDS Clinician Educator) and currently holds leadership roles in his hospital. Dr. Dath co-founded Sanokondu, and co-chairs CLIME 2.0, both efforts at improving leadership education in medicine.
Dr. Erin Cameron is an Associate Professor in Medical Education at the Northern Ontario School of Medicine (NOSM). As the inaugural Director of the new Centre for Social Accountability at NOSM and the founding member of MERLIN (Medical Education Research Lab in the North), Dr. Cameron focuses on local educational and health system research that is meaningful to Northern Ontario communities, health stakeholders, and policy-makers, while also contributing to national and international scholarship around socially accountable medical education. As a scholar Dr. Cameron’s work broadly focuses on social justice pedagogies that support the transformation of education and health systems. She is currently the Co-Chair of the AFMC Social Accountability Network and a member of the CAME Centre Directors in Medical Education Research.
Executive producer | Writer | Director
Ewan Affleck was born and raised in Montreal in an eclectic home where creative freedom was treasured. A graduate of the McGill School of Medicine and Dalhousie University, where he studied history, he has lived and worked in northern Canada since 1992. A nationally recognized digital health informatics expert, he lectures widely on topics such as virtual care and artificial intelligence and balances work in digital health policy with a part-time clinical practice. In 2013, Ewan was appointed to the Order of Canada for his contribution to northern health care. The Unforgotten is Ewan’s first effort as a film producer and writer. He treasures his family, and in his spare time you can find him where he finds peace — on the land.
Gail Tomsic is Registered Nurse who has over 30 years nursing experience with qualifications in the following specialty areas, community paediatric nursing, hospital in the home, child & family health, paediatrics, lactation and infant feeding, and nursing management. Gail has practiced in a wide variety of settings including hospital paediatric units, parentcraft residential unit, and in the community setting providing home nursing to both post acute, acute and chronic children discharged from hospital to home. Gail has worked in senior nursing positions for the past 25 years as a Clinical Nurse Consultant (CNC) in a Grade 2 and a grade 3 level and as a Nurse Unit Manager. She currently holds the position as Clinical Nurse Consultant in the Child Development Unit for the past 3 years, previously working in the Specialist Disability Health Team for 8 years prior. Gail has been involved in the editing the Paediatric entries of the Mosby’s Dictionary of Medicine, Nursing & Health Professions (Harris, Nagy & Vardaxis, 2006 & 2010). Gail has also been involved in research as part of her daily working environment and has been a co-author on recent publications about working in the Intellectual disability field.
Gregory Power (CPA, CMA) became the chief operating officer for the college of medicine in April 2016 and is responsible for the administrative functions of the college including finance, human resources, information technology, communications, strategic project and program management and outcomes reporting. Prior to that, he spent five years as the director of information technology at Dalhousie University’s Faculty of Medicine in a role where he supported curricular renewal, the creation and operationalization of a new campus site, and transformed information technology services to enable distributed medical education across Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island. Before moving into senior administrative roles in higher education, he led a business and information technology consulting practice in Atlantic Canada, serving public sector clients and also provided senior business consulting services to a diverse array of organizations across Canada and in the United States.
Ivy Oandasan is a Full Professor with the Department of Family and Community Medicine at the University of Toronto. An active family physician who practices at the Toronto Western Hospital, she has been involved in teaching and research since 1997. Dr. Oandasan’s main scholarship has been in curriculum development, evaluation, and research related to competency-based education, family medicine education, and interprofessional education. As the Director of Education at the College of Family Physicians of Canada (CFPC), she is charged with enhancing undergraduate and postgraduate family medicine education. Believing that health professions education is a health system intervention, Dr. Oandasan’s burning platform remains to foster a generation of competent and caring healthcare professionals who believe in the practice of interprofessional patient-centred care and are ready to meet the evolving healthcare needs of Canadians.
Dr Jessica Ruel-Laliberté, the fourth woman to be FMRQ President, is currently an R5 in Obstetrics and Gynecology at the University of Sherbrooke. Since she first started her undergraduate medical studies, she was very involved with her colleagues, in particular as President of Laval University’s medical students group (RÉMUL) and President of the Fédération médicale étudiante du Québec (FMEQ). She has also sat on the CaRMS Board, and the Standing Advisory Panel on Physician Resource Planning in Quebec. Since entering residency, she has developed a passion for research and health management. Following two terms as chairperson of the Physician Resource Planning Committee (CPEM), she continued to defend her colleagues’ interests last year, as FMRQ Vice-President, both on the Executive Committee and as chair of both the CPEM and the Resident Wellness Committee (CBER).
Dr. Jillian Horton is an Associate Professor of Internal Medicine at the Health Sciences Centre and the University of Manitoba. She is a graduate of McMaster medical school and completed her residency and fellowship in general internal medicine at the University of Toronto. Dr. Horton has completed a longitudinal internship in teaching Mindful Practice (at the University of Rochester) and Chief Wellness Officer training at Stanford University. She is a sought-after speaker and teacher of mindfulness for clinicians, both nationally and internationally. Her writing about medicine appears regularly in the LA Times, the Globe and Mail, Maclean’s and Medscape, as well as a wide variety of American news outlets by syndication She hosts the novel series Arts, Medicine, Life at the National Arts Centre in Ottawa. In April 2020 she was awarded the Gold Humanism award by the Association of Faculties of Medicine of Canada for her national contributions to compassion in clinical care and her leadership in the field of humanities in medical education. Her first full-length book, We Are All Perfectly Fine: A Memoir of Love, Medicine and Healing" was released by HarperCollins Canada in February and is a national bestseller.
Kinnon R. MacKinnon, MSW, PhD is an Assistant Professor in the School of Social Work, York University. Dr. MacKinnon’s program of community-engaged scholarship critically examines gender-affirming care for trans and nonbinary people, exposing the consequences of status quo policy, practice, and medical education to gender minorities in Canada. His interdisciplinary academic writing is available in Social Science & Medicine, the Canadian Urological Association Journal, Education for Primary Care, and Advances in Health Sciences Education, among others. His digital education resource aims to improve clinicians’ knowledge of gender-affirming care and is freely available at www.patient-centred.ca. Prior to joining YorkU, he completed a PhD in Public Health Sciences and postdoctoral training at the Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto. Dr. MacKinnon also held fellowships at the Munk School of Global Affairs (U of T) and in health professions education research at the Wilson Centre (Temerty Faculty of Medicine, U of T).
Dr. Maria Mylopoulos holds her PhD in human development and education. She is currently Scientist and Associate Director of the Wilson Centre for Research in Education, Associate Professor in the Department of Paediatrics and Curriculum Scientist in MD Education at the University of Toronto. Over the last 15 years she has successfully led a program of research aimed at understanding the development and performance of adaptive expertise in medicine, with a particular focus on identifying the ways in which expert clinicians move beyond application of their past knowledge when appropriate to address the needs of patients as well as the limits and opportunities of their own contexts. In her work, Maria uses a range of methodologies and theoretical frameworks from cognitive psychology, clinical reasoning, and the learning sciences to evolve understanding of the knowledge, capabilities and learning experiences that underpin adaptive expertise. The ultimate goal of her research is to translate this understanding to educational design that promotes the development of expert clinicians who are able to handle the complexities and challenges of the healthcare workplace.
Marie Wilson served as one of three Commissioners of the historic Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC 2009-2015), leading to an unprecedented oral and written record of the facts and impacts of more than a century of forced residential schooling for Indigenous children in Canada. A prominent public speaker throughout Canada and internationally, she brings acknowledged expertise on the successes and challenges of advancing reconciliation. She currently serves as Senior Advisor, Reconciliation, to Her Excellency Mary Simon, the Governor General of Canada.
Fluently bilingual in French and English, Ms. Wilson has lengthy accomplishments in related professions, as an award-winning journalist and program trainer, federal and territorial executive manager, high school teacher in Africa, university lecturer, and consultant.
She has served as 2016 Professor of Practice at McGill University’s Institute for the Study of International Development, a Mentor for the Pierre Elliot Trudeau Foundation and Board Director for the Rideau Hall Foundation and the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC-Radio-Canada).
Ms. Wilson has received honorary degrees from several Canadian universities, the Order of the Northwest Territories, the Order of Canada, and the Meritorious Service Cross.
She and her husband, Stephen Kakfwi, have three children and four grandchildren…her most valuable achievements!
Dr. Melanie Lewis graduated with MD 1997 (Calgary); Postgrad Peds 2001 (UA); Masters in Medical Eduation (Dundee, UK) Professor of Pediatrics, Chief Wellness Officer, at the University of Alberta. General Pediatrician at the Stollery Children<s Hospital with a background in child maltreatment and directing the Down syndrome program.
Ming-Ka Chan, MD, MHPE, FRCPC is a Chinese settler grateful to be living, playing and working on Treaty 1 Territory/Homeland of the Metis Nation (Winnipeg), Turtle Island (Canada). A Pediatrics Clinician Educator and Hospitalist at the University of Manitoba, her scholarship focuses on leadership education and social justice in the health professions.
As Co-Director, Office of Leadership Education for Rady Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Manitoba, she works collaboratively to promote leadership education across the educational continuum in the five health Colleges. Locally, she is the Vice-Chair of the Doctors Manitoba Physician Health and Wellness Committee. Nationally, she is the Co-Chair of the Canadian Leadership Institute in Medical Education (CLIME 2.0) Planning Committee organized by the Canadian Association for Medical Education. Internationally, she is the Chair of the Sanokondu Leadership & Governance Team, a multinational community of practice focused on health leadership education (https://link.edgepilot.com/s/118a3a3d/ykUpZCara0eqDEwtf4Hkxw?u=http://www.sanokondu.com/).
Dr. Nancy Fowler is the Executive Director of Academic Family Medicine at the College of Family Physicians of Canada (CFPC). This CFPC division oversees the development and implementation of the standards of training and certification for family physicians in Canada, as well as working to advance family medicine education and research with universities and other partner organizations. She is a family physician and Associate Professor with 30 years of clinical and academic experience based in Hamilton Ontario affiliated with the McMaster University Department of Family Medicine. She has a long history of leadership in the areas of medical education and refugee health and believes strongly in family medicine as a force for good in the world. Currently she lives in Hamilton, Ontario with her husband and spends most of her free time enjoying the company of her children.
Dr Natalie Ong MBBS (Melb), MRCPCH(UK), FAMS(Sing), FRACP, MClinEd(Flinders) is a developmental paediatrician of over 15 years’ experience in developmental behavioural paediatrics with special interests in intellectual disability health, clinical education, child development service development, autism and learning disorders. She is currently Staff Specialist for the Child Development Unit, Children’s Hospital Westmead. She has led the development of multidisciplinary assessment services at Wollongong, Illawarra and Shoalhaven LHD and Sydney LHD. She was also the team lead for the Fairfield Specialist Disability Health service, providing clinical care and leading capacity building projects in development of clinical pathways, training and education of the health workforce to improve care for children with developmental disability. She has led the development of an eLearning program designed to upskill GPs and Practice Nurses on conducting health and developmental surveillance using the child Personal Health Record. She also co-facilitates the Masters of Paediatrics program (University of Sydney) and teaches Child Development with the Sydney Child Health Program and Royal Australasian College of Paediatrics Community Child Health Program. In her advocacy role for children and young persons with developmental disabilities, she is a member of the Neurodevelopmental Paediatric Society of Australia. She has been on ACI ID network committees and RACP Community Child Health/ Adolescent and Young Adult Medicine committees advocating for the needs of children with disability. She is currently enrolled in a PhD at University of Sydney in developing a Patient Safety Education Framework for healthcare staff caring for children with intellectual disability in hospital.
Dr. OmiSoore H. Dryden, a Black queer femme, is the James R Johnston Chair in Black Canadian Studies, Faculty of Medicine, and Associate Professor, Community Health & Epidemiology at Dalhousie University. Dr. Dryden engages in interdisciplinary scholarship and research that focuses on Black LGBTQI communities, blood donation systems in Canada, systemic/structural issues that affect health and well-being, medical education, and Black health curricular content development.
Dr. Dryden is the Principal Investigator of #GotBlood2Give / #DuSangÀDonner a research project that seeks to identify the barriers Black gay, bisexual, and trans men encounter with donating blood and also analyzes how anti-black homophobia/transphobia shapes the blood system in Canada. Most recently, Dryden is the Principal Investigator on the project Don’t Count Us Out! – a community-informed, culturally sensitive approach to health promotion for African Nova Scotian communities with an initial focus on COVID-19 pandemic. Dryden is a content expert and Associate Scientist with the Maritime Strategy for Patient-Oriented Research (SPOR) SUPPORT Unit (MSSU). In that capacity, she provides guidance on Canadian Black Health metrics needed to inform the development of health policies and improve the health care system, this specifically focuses on survey data and demographic information, determinants of trust, sexual health and qualitative data collection and analysis.
Dryden has a number of peer-reviewed publications including the co-authored Commentary (with Dr. Onye Nnorom), Time to dismantle systemic anti-Black racism in medicine in Canada” published January 11, 2021, in the CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal).
Dryden is the co-lead of the Black Health Education Collaborative (https://link.edgepilot.com/s/fc920345/H687HQRvmUaFTvF-_M1VPA?u=https://www.bhec.ca/), a member of the Black Feminist Health Science Studies Collective (https://link.edgepilot.com/s/8fc59e83/GoFAq-TLW0ed0SIlnDcpQg?u=https://blackfeministhealth.com/), a board member of the Health Association of African Canadians (https://link.edgepilot.com/s/93e4f303/0hCSBTUF9USJ88HiJFy-YQ?u=http://haac.ca/), and the past co-president of the Black Canadian Studies Association (2019-2021, https://link.edgepilot.com/s/74a4a041/BFKJK_zDekikvErydhI6AA?u=http://www.blackcanadianstudiesassociation.ca/).
Clinical Associate Professor of Surgery and Critical Care, University of Calgary Dr. Paul McBeth is a Clinical Associate Professor in the departments of Surgery and Critical Care Medicine at the University of Calgary. He began his career as an engineer with post-graduate training in surgical robotics and human performance evaluation. He was lead clinical engineer in the design and development of Project neuroArm, an image-guided neurosurgical robot system based on technologies developed for the Canadarm. Paul completed post graduate training in General Surgery at the University of Calgary, with sub-specialty training in Critical Care Medicine at the University of British Columbia and Trauma Surgery at the Elvis Presley Memorial Trauma Centre in Memphis, Tennessee. During his medical training, he continued his research interests in surgical robotics, remote ultrasound and aerospace medicine. He is also an adjunct professor at the Schulich School of Engineering, where he is involved in several technology-development projects. Paul has been conducting research in the field of acute-care surgery and robotics for the past 15 years, having published more than 150 journal articles, conference papers, abstracts and patents in this field. He is currently leading a research program supporting intelligent systems monitoring for pre-hospital transport of critically ill patients. He is also a recognized leader in medical/surgical education.
Peter de Jong is a strategic advisor and senior researcher in the field of Technology Enhanced Learning at Leiden University Medical Center in The Netherlands, where he leads a team for the development, implementation, and support of learning materials and where he provides strategic advice in the field of technology enhanced learning. His research interest is in the field of Online and Blended Learning in medical education, especially the integration of Massive Open Online Courses into regular classroom teaching, and the use of Mixed and Virtual Reality applications. He authored several articles on the topic of the use of computers in education and online learning, and presented numeral oral, poster and workshop presentations. Since 2007 Peter is involved in the International Association of Medical Science Educators (IAMSE), an international organization with a focus on advancing medical education through faculty development while ensuring that the teaching and learning of medicine continues to be firmly grounded in science. Since 2010 he holds the position of Editor-in-Chief of Medical Science Educator, the online journal of IAMSE published by Springer. For the period of 2022-2023 Peter serves as the President-Elect of the organization.
Retired Astronaut, Canadian Space Agency Dr. Robert Thirsk received degrees in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Calgary and from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). He also holds a Doctorate of Medicine from McGill University and an MBA from the MIT Sloan School of Management. Bob has flown on two space missions as a member of the Canadian Space Agency’s astronaut corps. He first flew aboard the space shuttle Columbia in 1996 with six international crewmates as part of the Life and Microgravity Spacelab Mission. This 17-day mission was devoted to the study of life and materials sciences. In 2009, Bob launched aboard a Russian Soyuz spacecraft to the International Space Station (ISS). As members of the ISS Expedition 20/21 crew, Bob and his five crewmates performed multidisciplinary research that has brought about terrestrial benefit and enabled future space exploration. During the 188-day expedition, the Expedition 20/21 crew also performed robotic operations and maintenance of station systems and payloads. Bob is a strong promoter of an economy based upon exploration and innovation. He encourages students to build their career dreams upon a solid educational foundation and advanced skills.
Roberta L Bondar
Astronaut | Physician | Scientist | Photographer
The first Canadian woman and neurologist to fly in space, Dr. Roberta Bondar is globally recognized for her pioneering contributions to space medicine research, fine art photography, and environment education. She expanded the horizons of millions when she joined the space shuttle Discovery for its 1992 mission, where she conducted experiments for 18 countries in the International Microgravity Laboratory, a precursor to the International Space Station. Her highly motivational talks — punctuated by her stunning photographs — focus on change, social responsibility, and our environment.
For more than a decade after her spaceflight, Dr. Bondar headed an international space medicine research team, finding new connections between astronauts recovering from spaceflight and neurological illnesses on Earth, such as stroke and Parkinson’s disease. Her techniques have been used in clinical studies at the B. I. Deaconess Medical Center, a teaching hospital of Harvard Medical School and at the University of New Mexico. Dr. Bondar was also Chancellor of Trent University in Peterborough, Ontario for six years.
Dr. Bondar is a leading speaker and consultant within the medical and scientific communities, and in the field of corporate social responsibility and care for the Earth's environment. She is the co-founder and president of The Roberta Bondar Foundation, a not-for profit charitable organization created to inspire people of all ages to connect with nature through photography. She is also the author of four bestselling books featuring her writing and photography.
Dr. Bondar holds a BSc in Zoology and Agriculture, MSc in Experimental Pathology, PhD in Neurobiology, MD, and is a Board-Certified Neurologist by the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada. She sub-specialized in Neuro-ophthalmology at Tufts New England Medical Center in Boston and at Toronto Western Hospital.
Among many awards and honours, Dr. Bondar has been recognized with the NASA Space Medal, inducted into the Canadian Medical Hall of Fame and the International Women’s Forum Hall of Fame for her pioneering research in space medicine. She has also received 28 Honorary Degrees from universities across Canada and is a Companion of the Order of Canada and a recipient of the Order of Ontario. She is also a Specially Elected Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, an Honorary Fellow and Honorary Vice-President of the Royal Canadian Geographical Society, and has her own star on Canada’s Walk of Fame.
Dr. Sandra Monteiro is a Faculty of Health Sciences MERIT Scientist appointed to the Department of Medicine. Sandra has a second appointment to the Centre for Simulation Based Learning as the Director of Scholarship. Sandra received her PhD in Psychology from McMaster University in 2013 and currently manages a successful international collaboration investigating theoretical models of cognitive processes behind clinical reasoning with application for education and assessment. In 2020, Sandra received the Excellence in Graduate Student Supervision Award from the Faculty of Health Science. In 2021, she received the Meridith Marks New Educator Award. In addition to her primary research program on clinical reasoning, Sandra has expertise in the area of competence assessment and best practices for education strategies. Sandra’s contribution to these programs is mainly as a content expert on theories of learning, cognition more broadly, data analysis and research design. Within her main research focus on clinical reasoning, she is part of an internationally recognized research collaboration with Geoff Norman, Matthew Sibbald and Jonathan Sherbino. This research collaboration extends to research partners including Jonathan Ilgen from the University of Washington and Henk Schmidt and Laura Zwaan from Erasmus University. Recently, our research collaboration evaluated the utility of electronic diagnostic support systems in improving and assessing diagnostic reasoning skills.
Santanna Hernandez is Dene, from the Liidlii Kue Nation in the Northwest Territories and Cold Lake First Nation in Cold Lake Alberta on her father's side and Dutch on her maternal side. Being raised on the traditional territory of the Sto:lo Nation and spending many years as a guest on the unceded territory of Sinixt (Lakes), the Syilx (Okanagan), the Ktunaxa, and the Secwepemc (Shuswap) nations whom she honors for the many traditions and gifts shared with her. Santanna is a mother of 4 children and working on her own healing journey from post-generational trauma and ongoing systemic racism. She is a medical student at the University of Calgary. She is currently the President of the Canadian Federation of Medical Students, Sr. VP External-National for the CMSA, Co-Chair on the ii'taa'poh'to'p student advisory circle and is continually working on research and initiatives to support Indigenous students at the University. She previously served as the Co-Chair of the National Indigenous Advisory Committee with the Canadian Alliance of Student Associations and the Indigenous Student Representative for the BC Federation of Students. With a Bachelor of Indigenous Social Work Degree from the University of Victoria, her focus was Indigenous Health and Policy and working towards advancing Indigenous Voices within Health and Education.
Founding Director Centre For Indigenous Health Research and Education (CIHRE) Faculty of Medicine, University of Ottawa Dr. Funnell is a First Nations Family Physician and Public Health Specialist. Sarah is an Associate Medical Officer of Health at Ottawa Public Health and Director of Indigenous Health within the Department of Family Medicine at Queen’s University. Previously Sarah offered Primary Care services for refugees, immigrants, homeless and Indigenous people. Since March 2020, Sarah has directed her attention towards supporting the COVID-19 response and advancing Indigenous Health Medical Education. After completing medical school at the University of Ottawa (U of O), Dr. Funnell pursued her dual interests in family medicine and epidemiology through the five-year Public Health and Preventive Medicine Residency Program at U of O. She received her Certification in the College of Family Physicians of Canada (CCFP) in 2015 and became a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada in 2018. Her background is Algonquin (Kitigan Zibi) and Tuscarora and grew up among the Mississaugas of Alderville First Nation. Sarah is on the Board of Directors of both the Indigenous Physicians Association of Canada and the Board of Directors of the College of Family Physicians of Canada. She is also on the Executive of the National Consortium for Indigenous Medical Education (NCIME). Sarah is past co-Chair of the Indigenous Health Committee at the CFPC and also sits on the Indigenous Health Advisory Committee at the Royal College. She is currently working with both colleges to improve Indigenous Health Curriculum in all residency programs. She is lives in Ottawa with her husband and 3 daughters.
Sey is currently the President of Resident Doctors of Canada. She is completing a fellowship in Pediatric Emergency Medicine at the University of Alberta while working as an Emergency Medicine physician in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. Having been raised in Rural Alberta, she is passionate about serving similarly rural and remote communities. Her other interests include emergency medical services, physician wellness, and spending time with her partner, Graeme, and their dog, Jet.
Creative director | Animator | Writer
Stephen Gladue was born and raised on the Fishing Lake Métis Settlement in Alberta. Classically and technically trained at some of the best art schools in Canada, Stephen has made it his mission to contribute to the advancement of Indigenous arts and has become one of western Canada’s most sought-after Indigenous content creators. Now located in Vancouver, British Columbia, he specializes in animation and visual effects for film, television and games. His work has been profiled by the CBC, graffiti arts magazines and a variety of other print and digital publications.
Dr. Horsley is the Associate Director, Research at the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada and adj. faculty in the School of Epidemiology and Public Health, University of Ottawa. Prior to joining the Royal College, she completed a Post-Doctoral Fellowship at the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, Division of Diabetes Translation (Atlanta) with a focus on approaches to systematic review & meta-analyses. Dr. Horsley now leads an emerging program of research looking at the formalization of integrated knowledge translation for the co-creation, use and influence of research and complex systems of care with a particular focus on multi-stakeholder engagement and organizational contexts. Tanya is passionate about improving the standards for reporting research and has co-authored several internationally recognized reporting guidelines. She has authored over 80 peer-reviewed publications, and regularly presents at national and international conferences.
Taryn S. Taylor, MD, PhD, FRCSC completed medical school and residency in Obstetrics & Gynecology at Western University. During her residency training, she completed a PhD in Health Professions Education through Maastricht University, the Netherlands as a Clinician Investigator Program trainee with the support of the Royal College Maudsley Fellowship for Studies in Medical Education. In 2017, her doctoral thesis entitled “Exploring Fatigue as a Social Construct: Implications for Work Hour Reform in Postgraduate Medical Education” was recognized by the largest international conference in medical education, the Association of Medical Education of Europe, with the PhD prize for best doctoral research. Dr. Taylor subsequently completed a Senior Fellowship in Simulation Education through the Department of Innovation in Medical Education and the University of Ottawa Skills and Simulation Centre. Presently she is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Obstetrics & Gynaecology, London Health Sciences Centre and a Scientist at the Centre for Education Research & Innovation (CERI), Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry.
Dr. Taylor has continued to develop her research program exploring the nature and implications of fatigue in the clinical performance of physicians and trainees. Further research interests include investigating how simulation and various qualitative methodologies can be used in innovative ways to better understand and improve psychological safety within healthcare teams.
Tasha R. Wyatt, PhD is an associate professor and Associate Director at Uniformed Services University's Center for Health Professions Education. As a trained Educational Psychologist, her research interests include issues related to how culture informs teaching and learning, the intersection of race and racism in health professions education, professional identity formation in racially minoritized physicians, and decolonial research methodologies.
Dr. Tomas J. Saun is a senior Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery resident, and a Surgeon-Scientist innovator at the University of Toronto. His research interests include engineering, robotics, augmented and virtual reality, computer vision and machine learning. His research aim is to explore how rapidly advancing, convergent technologies can shape the future of surgery and healthcare.
Victoria Blouin is a third-year medical student at the University of Montreal and is the Vice President of
the Quebec Medical Federation of Students (FMEQ). She represents Quebec students on educational
and political committees at the provincial and federal levels.
Victoria is passionate about defending the interests of the next generation of physicians. She first
became involved in the Medical Students Association of the University of Montreal (AÉMUM) as a class
representative and then as president. She has also been part of the Choosing wisely initiative since
2019.
She has a special interest in medical education, medical culture, and student advocacy.