2022 DFCM Program Award Winners

Continuing Education Student Award for Overall Excellence

Dr. Shruti Gupta | Trillium Health Partners – Mississauga Hospital, Family Medicine with special interest in Palliative Care
Dr. Shruti Gupta, family physician with a special interest in Palliative Care, enrolled in the Clinical Research Certificate in 2021-and is on track to graduate this Fall. Further to her high academic standing in program courses, her practicum is well underway entitled, Urine Drug Testing for Patients with Advanced Cancer Receiving Palliative Care in Canadian Outpatient Settings. She has developed a full research protocol to submit to REB for approval with the intention of carrying out her study. As an active clinician, she identified a practice need for research skills and took action in an independent and self-directed manner to dive into her courses, building her competencies with enthusiasm and dedication. She is goal-driven and aspires to apply knowledge to her practice and disseminate to her resident learners.

Dr. Phillip Tsang | St. Michael's Hospital (Residency), Enhanced Skills Program, Family Medicine
Dr. Phillip Tsang is a Clinical Teacher Certificate student, who ambitiously enrolled in the program while concurrently completing his Enhanced Skills PGY3 Education Scholar residency. In addition to his exemplary motivation and organization, Dr. Tsang has consistently demonstrated a strong performance in course work achieving high academic results in assignments and final course grades. He has distinguished himself as a role model student by his calm and confident work ethic and attentiveness. His contributions to class work demonstrate his deep and collegial engagement and broad knowledge base.

Continuing Education and Graduate Studies Instructor Award

Dr. Savithiri Ratnapalan | The Hospital for Sick Children, Pediatric Emergency Medicine
As lead Instructor of the Continuing Education for Health Professions courses, core requirements of the Education stream Fellowship and Graduate degree programs, Dr. Ratnapalan provides exceptional, essential and consistent medical education leadership of CE and Graduate students. As such, her contributions to professional development have been immense. Her continued flexibility with course enrolment capacity and delivery exemplifies her commitment and collaborative efforts to support the Academic Fellowship and Graduate studies program. Her enthusiasm to inclusivity has enabled learners from a range of disciplines, clinical and cultural backgrounds and other departments to experience dynamic and respectful learning spaces. She leads many of her students to publications of their work through her passionate mentorship and teaching.

Field Practicum Preceptor Award

Dr. Abhimanyu Sud | Trillium Health Partners – Mississauga Hospital, Family Medicine
As a Practicum Supervisor for a MScCH(FCM) student this past year, Dr. Sud exemplified supportive, communicative and innovative scholarship and leadership skills through this Preceptor role. His passion for research and teaching is inspiring and infectious; he is described as an exceptional role model by the graduate student he supervised. Dr. Sud creates a safe and respected learning space ensuring practicum projects align with long term research and career goals. He encourages self-directed learning with timely feedback. Further to his excellent mentorship and supervision, the research work of the graduate student was accepted for journal publication and conference presentation.

Excellence in Research/Quality Improvement

Dr. Caroline Chan | Scarborough Health Network – Division of Emergency Medicine
Dr. Chan has masterfully lead her department's quality improvement team thorough the pandemic with her dual skill sets of environmental engineer and  MD clinican/educator to impressively decrease patient wait times and significantly improve quality metrics.

Excellence in Teaching and Education

Dr. Maria Ivankovic | Unity Health Toronto – St. Joseph's Health Centre – Division of Emergency Medicine
Dr. Ivankovic is described by learners as a once in a career type of educator who motivates you to better yourself personally and professionally. She goes to exceptional efforts to support learners in achieving their goals. She personifies teaching excellence, and is the model academic Emergency Medicine Physician.

Excellence in Teaching in EM (Early Career)

Dr. Vince Brienza | Mount Sinai Hospital – Division of Emergency Medicine
Dr. Brienza is an enthusiastic, patient and skilled teacher. Since becoming staff he has been involved in lectures, procedural skills labs, simulation and bedside teaching. His evaluations are consistently outstanding with comments such as "one of the best teachers I have had during my whole education at UofT!"

Excellence in Emergency Medicine

Dr. Rick Penciner | North York General Hospital – Division of Emergency Medicine
Dr. Penciner is a full professor in the Division of EM and has made immense contributions to the field of emergency medicine through teaching & education, mentorship, scholarship and leadership roles locally, nationally and internationally.

Elana Fric Family Medicine Award for Leadership and Advocacy

Dr. Kamakshi Ganesan | North York General Hospital
Dr. Ganesan is an exceptional family medicine and addictions physician. She has a strong background in working with diverse and marginalized populations. She works in collaborative, multi-disciplinary teams to meet the primary care needs of those with chronic mental illness and addictions. She completed her family medicine residency and addictions training at the University of Toronto. She is passionate about harm reduction, health promotion, and community advocacy.

Continuing Education Impact Award

Dr. Paolo Mazzotta | Mount Sinai Hospital – Division of Palliative Care
Dr. Paolo Mazzotta is an outstanding educator whose contributions as a teacher and program developer deserve to be recognized by the DFCM through its Continuing Education Impact Award. He has played a significant and sustained (2009 – 2021) leadership role in the development, refinement, and delivery of the Palliative Care eLearning (PCeL) Program, a 6-month collaborative online case-based continuing education experience aimed at increasing the knowledge and skills of Ontario family physicians to deliver palliative and end-of-life care to their patients.  The PCeL Program has been delivered to over 250 family doctors and others engaged in primary clinical care.  Evaluations of the learning experience by participants have been consistently superlative, and the PCeL Program has earned ongoing support from the Ontario Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care as one of its signature vehicles for increasing access to high quality palliative and end-of-life care for Ontario citizens. PCeL is the first online education experience in Canada to achieve certification by the CFPC at the level of 3 credits per hour.

Outstanding Contribution to Scholarship in Faculty Development

Dr. Rahul Jain | Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre
Dr. Rahul Jain is a primary care leader in cardiovascular disease prevention and management and demonstrates sustained contribution to the discovery and knowledge translation of clinical practice guidelines. As co-chair of the Canadian Cardiovascular Harmonized National Guideline Endeavour (C-CHANGE) and annual CHEP+ conference as well as invited participation with Diabetes Canada, Canadian Cardiovascular Society, and Heart and Stroke Foundation, he provides important primary care perspectives and contributes to high-quality continuing professional development for clinicians.

Mentorship Award

Dr. Paul Das | Unity Health Toronto – St. Michael's Hospital
Dr. Paul Das exemplifies the traits of mentorship. He is generous with his time, leads by example, and finds ways to bring out the best in people. He mentors through sharing experiences, providing growth opportunities and role modelling. During the pandemic, Paul took on significant leadership roles in developing and overseeing the Unity Health COVID Assessment Centre and COVID Vaccine Clinic. He mentored the interdisciplinary staff by focusing on teamwork, safety and flexibility.

Faculty Award for Excellence in Global Health

Dr. Vanessa Redditt | Women's College Hospital 
Dr. Vanessa Redditt contributes in outstanding ways to Global Health and Social Accountability in our department and internationally. Vanessa demonstrates clinical excellence as a family physician serving resettled refugees and asylum claimants. Her work focuses on enhancing the health of vulnerable individuals and communities through clinical care, health system improvement, and tackling social inequities. She is a gifted teacher who has deep knowledge of the content and a longstanding passion for global health and equity. 

Yves Talbot Award for Excellence in Global Health Leadership

Dr. Abbas Ghavam-Rassoul | St. Michael’s Hospital
Dr. Abbas Ghavam-Rassoul has distinguished himself as a leader in guiding and nurturing a large number of international colleagues. In the context of international collaborations that demand particular attention and responsiveness to cultural safety and flexibility, Abbas uses his leadership skills to nurture relationships and partnerships, and to offer concrete and constructive solutions to challenging problems and ever-changing landscapes. Few in our Department have had such a direct and profound impact on nurturing our discipline internationally.

Carmelita Lawlor Award

Dr. Sandy Buchman | North York General Hospital – Division of Palliative Care
Dr. Sandy Buchman is a palliative care physician and an Associate Professor in the DPC/DFCM. Sandy is also a founder and medical lead of a new residential hospice (Neshama Hospice) currently being built in the Toronto area. His lecture from the lens of access, equity, and compassion “Reimagining how palliative care can foster more compassionate, accessible, equitable and effective healthcare in Ontario”, was delivered at the HPCO Annual Conference in April.

Advocacy for Patients

Dr. Cam Matamoros | Toronto East Health Network
Dr. Matamoros practices exemplary patient-centered care and is a physician we would want on our care team because of their demonstrated strength as a patient advocate. Dr. Matamoros seeks a comprehensive understanding of patients, and their journeys and experiences. We appreciate Dr. Matamoros’s commitment to creating more inclusive environments for patients.

Dr. Yi-Hong Shao | Enhanced Skills Program
Dr. Shao assessed cultural barriers to long-acting reversible contraception via TAAAC-FM. She included the target audience in the discussion in order to appropriately advocate for necessary changes.  She also advocated for vulnerable women by creating a comprehensive pathway for 2nd trimester non-viable pregnancy management, a long-time gap in the system, as her scholarly project.

Dr. Jane Tooley | Unity Health Toronto – St. Michael's Hospital
Throughout her training, Jane has demonstrated excellence in social engagement and patient advocacy. She thrives on providing attentive, compassionate, and comprehensive care to our most vulnerable patients, including patients experiencing homelessness, substance use disorders, and mental health challenges. She inspires her co-residents to reach new standards of advocacy in our community

Dr. Liane Bailey | Royal Victoria Regional Health Centre
Dr. Bailey has superior skills around advocating for patients. She not only explores the values of the patient, she ensures that any family involved in complex cases are heard and addressed through her skills of rapport building. Her patients' needs are top priority along with ensuring their dignity and respect.

Dr. Garvin Leung | Trillium Health Partners – Credit Valley Hospital
Resident leader who rises to the challenge to serve colleagues and community.  As wellness representative advocated for better supports in the pandemic, founding member of THP's Diversity & Inclusion Leadership circle and during COVID 19 pandemic stepped up to support work to help indigenous peoples evacuated by a wild fire.

Clinical Excellence

Dr. Deema Couchman | Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre
Deema has an incredible work ethic, constantly going the extra mile to follow up, or see an extra patient, without being asked, because she knows it will help the patient. As a chief resident, she exemplifies one who leads by example, the first to do extra call or sign up for weekend flu clinics.

Dr. Thomas Kirkham | Scarborough Health Network
Tommy Kirkham is the best resident in 30+ years of teaching FM residents. Logical, innovative, evidence based, patient centred care, thinks outside the box. A very solid physician. A genius with personality disordered patients.

Dr. Jonah Elfassy | North York General Hospital
Jonah is the strongest resident we have seen. Jonah takes thorough and accurate assessments in a timely manner while empowering the Choosing Wisely approach. He is always patient-centred and keenly aware of when expectant management is appropriate and equally astute at determining when a case requires more urgent care or investigation.

Dr. Maxine Kish | UHN – Toronto Western Hospital
Dr. Maxine Kish personifies clinical excellence.  She has a careful, yet confident approach with her patients, develops instant rapport and uses her fantastic knowledge base to co-create unique management plans, all while maintaining her humble mindset.  She is dedicated to patient care, insightful and committed to continuous professional growth.

Dr. Jacob Wong | Unity Health Toronto – St. Joseph's Health Centre
Dr. Jacob Wong exemplifies clinical excellence.  He has an exceptional knowledge base and possesses remarkable judgement when facing complex presentations.  He formulates sophisticated assessments and comprehensive treatment plans, both applying evidenced-based medicine and staying patient-centred. Dr. Wong is a warm, humble, and thoughtful clinician who provides exemplary care.

Dr. Daniel Sigal | Integrated Communities Program
Dr. Sigal recognized that he required more experience and did as much as he could to attain clinical excellence which he has demonstrated over many times in our Department.  His kind and compassionate manner along with his excellent clinical skill set will serve him well in his future practice.

Dr. Joo Hyung (James) Yoon | Enhanced Skills Program
Stands among the top residents over the past 10 years. Consistently garners excellent POWER and other evaluations, extending across all SEM disciplines, primary care, specialty, and allied health.  His attitude really shines, demonstrating humble confidence, knowing when and how to ask the right questions, without compromising clinic flow or quality.

Dr. Kevin Si | Mount Sinai Hospital
Dr. Si has been an exceptional resident in our program who functioned at a high level early on. He has a sound knowledge base and a good clinical common sense. He will be an excellent family physician and we look forward to seeing where his career takes him.

Dr. Samuel Leitenberg Memorial Scholarship for the Humanitarian Practice of Family and Community Medicine Award

Dr. Russell Bahar | Toronto East Health Network
Dr. Bahar is an exemplary resident who strives to help his patients, colleagues, and community. His personality, trustworthiness and well-rounded practical approach enhances everyone’s experience around him. The descriptors for Dr. Leitenberg; self-effacing, warm and engaging, with a delightful sense of humour immediately make us think of Dr. Bahar.

Excellence in Teaching

Dr. Dana Newman | Unity Health Toronto – St. Joseph's Health Centre
Dr. Newman is an outstanding teacher. She provides high-quality patient care and encourages residents to strive to do the same through role modelling and mentorship. She always creates a positive learning environment for residents and does not shy away from tailoring her teaching style to meet residents’ learning needs and objectives

Dr. Jane Ridley | Unity Health Toronto – St. Michael's Hospital
Jane has a very sharp clinical eye and teaches her students to think critically and carefully to provide the highest level of care to patients. Her feedback is meaningful and cultivates excellence in her students, be it wider differentials or clever problem solving. Working with Jane has been a pleasure.

Dr. Navsheer Gill | Southlake Regional Health Centre
Dr. Gill has been involved with the development of business curriculum, Quality Improvement physician lead/educator, Balint leader, Ethics AHDs/BeSci CBT AHD. She is an excellent teacher, clinician and excellent example for residents in the program.

Dr. Yuet Ming Lam | Markham Stouffville Hospital
Dr. Lam is an excellent teacher and role model who is kind and compassionate with exceptional dedication to resident learning. She consistently provides excellent and timely feedback for resident learning. She always takes the time to provide helpful and concise teaching around each patient case in clinical encounters.

Dr. Jordana Sacks | North York General Hospital
Dr. Sacks without a doubt is the most comprehensive and caring family physician I have worked with. She maintains thorough notes and CPPs, and always stresses the importance of patient-focused care. Her patients are lucky to have her, and her trainees are lucky to learn from her stellar standard-of-care.

Dr. Ruby Alvi | Trillium Health Partners – Mississauga Hospital
Dr. Alvi has been an excellent teacher at the FMTU since the inception of this unit, her clinical intuition is not surpassed and she is a great education advocate.

Dr. Sakina Walji | Mount Sinai Hospital
Dr. Sakina Walji is an excellent clinical teacher and role model. During supervision of residents, she consistently provides support, constructive feedback, and challenges learners to refine their clinical skills. She is actively involved in resident research and remains approachable to assist with and support resident projects.

Hollister King Resident Award

Dr. Kevin Si | Mount Sinai Hospital
Kevin is a very personable and energetic resident; he excels at inpatient care and his knowledge and skill set has certainly helped patients and he will no doubt help countless more into the future. Kevin is a confident and skilled physician with a great personality, he can establish a doctor patient relationship with ease and can back it up with the confident knowledge that patients come to expect.

Hollister King Preceptor Award

Dr. Mike Kirlew | Weeneebayko Area Health Authority
Dr. Kirlew is a dedicated clinician that often hangs around the hospital and ED to help his colleagues with his knowledge even on his days off. He also volunteers to teach our nursing staff about airway equipment and to lead other educational sessions. It's obvious how dedicated he is to his patients and his teaching and multiple staff, patients and other community members have described how lucky Moose Factory is to have him here.

Leadership

Dr. Antoine Normandin | Unity Health Toronto – St. Michael's Hospital
Antoine has demonstrated exceptional leadership during a very exceptional time. He strives on creating emotional bonds within the residents, focusing on building trust within the team and fostering a sense of belonging to the program. His efforts have boosted morale and created harmonious working relationships at the PG Executive table.

Dr. Kathleen Armstrong | Women's College Hospital
Katie is an excellent resident and has demonstrated clinical excellence while always striving for more. She has exceptional leadership skills and teaching skills. Her strong leadership skills helped to ensure that process changes during covid went smoothly and were well communicated. Katie has always been thoughtful, perceptive and professional.

Dr. Alexandra Brown | Southlake Regional Health Centre
As co-chief resident, Ali acts as an incredible example of leadership among the residents. She is always communicative with other residents and sensitive to the needs and concerns of her co-residents. AHDs run very smoothly and well organized thanks to her leadership. Respected by teachers, co-residents, and staff for clinical excellence and leadership.

Dr. Angela Duan | Markham Stouffville Hospital
Dr. Duan has excelled this year in her role as chief resident. She has guided her fellow residents through transitions between virtual and in person care and learning with ease.  She is a quiet yet confident leader.

Dr. Polina Myrox | Trillium Health Partners – Mississauga Hospital
Polina has been a strong advocate for the safety and wellbeing of her colleagues she has stepped up many times despite the challenges of being a wiselblower.

New Teacher

Dr. Christa Kozanczyn | Royal Victoria Regional Health Centre
Dr. Kozanczyn may be a new Faculty member, however she is well versed in teaching Residents during their Hospitalist rotation. Christa is an attentive and thoughtful teacher with residents in clinic and on the wards. Her clinical acuity and ability to instill her skills upon learners is valued beyond measure.

Dr. Jeffrey Ho | Scarborough Health Network
Dr. Jeffrey Ho empowers learners and strives to involve them in the larger professional team. He has a great personality, he offers abundant practical pearls for inpatient care and is very knowledgeable. He is an excellent teacher and made my rotation a joy.

Dr. Stephanie Godard | Toronto East Health Network
Dr. Godard is a graduate of the FM Program who has used her experiences to improve the learning environment for learners and quickly become an asset to our faculty. Her FMOB/Women’s Health teaching is invaluable. She challenges learners to expand their understanding of medicine and ensures they leave as more capable physicians.

Dr. Naushin Walji | Enhanced Skills Program
Dr. Walji is an exceptional clinician, teacher, and mentor. In my two months working with her, she fostered a supportive and educational environment, ensuring I was meeting learning objectives, having exposure to diverse cases, and building independence. She provided constructive feedback and offered practical informal and formal teaching throughout.

Program Leadership

Dr. Melissa Graham | Trillium Health Partners – Credit Valley Hospital
Outstanding mentor and leader of all faculty & resident initiatives/curricular innovations in our FMTU including Women's Health, Mental Health & Addictions, Procedures Clinic/Derm and responsiveness to community needs (Syrian refugees, Indigenous evacuees of wildfires, newborns without a GP). A  responsive leader who listens to those she leads and galvanizes them towards a common vision.

Dr. Vaibhav Kamble | Enhanced Skills Program
Dr. Kamble’s passion, patience, support and investment in our success go above and beyond anything we have ever experienced. He is committed to a culture of inclusivity, diversity and  is an extraordinary leader who has made a tremendous positive impact in the future of healthcare by improving access to anesthesia in rural and remote communities.

Resident Advocacy

Dr. Manjot Sarao | Unity Health Toronto – St. Michael's Hospital
Dr. Mannie Sarao has demonstrated exceptional advocacy in her new role as the site PG competency lead at 61 Queen Clinic. She has balanced empathy and resident-centredness with educational priorities. She has dealt with a number of challenging situations and has supported multiple residents through their wellness journeys.

Dr. Sarah Fleming | UHN – Toronto Western Hospital
We are extremely lucky to have Dr. Fleming as our Site Director. From promoting wellness to advocating on our behalf, our residents have always felt well-supported and heard. Despite facing pandemic-related challenges, she went above and beyond to make sure the residents were unaffected. She is well-deserving of this award.

Ms. Jennifer Capell | Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre
Ms. Capell works tirelessly to advocate for residents wellness. On her own, she took Peer Support Workshops, so she can better support our learners and staff in the unit. She keeps an open door policy -allowing all to walk in for advise/support as needed. She is also a huge support to EDISON.

Role Modeling Clinical Excellence

Dr. Charissa Chen | Women's College Hospital
Dr. Chen is a wonderful role model. She spends time providing helpful counselling to her patients. She has strong clinical skills and always shares useful knowledge with residents. She spends extra time during OB shifts to discuss cases. She is always a dedicated teacher and very approachable.

PGY1 Impact Awards

(Full Research Program Awards list coming soon)

DFCM Research Program Award for Research Mentorship

Dr. Aisha Lofters | Women's College Hospital
Dr. Lofters is a family physician at Women’s College Hospital and Chair in Implementation Science at the Peter Gilgan Centre for Women’s Cancers at Women’s College Hospital, in partnership with the Canadian Cancer Society. An accomplished clinician scientist, Dr. Lofters is an associate professor at the University of Toronto in the Department of Family & Community Medicine, as well as an adjunct scientist with the Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences. She currently holds a New Investigator Award from CIHR. She also serves as the provincial primary care lead for Cancer Care Ontario’s Cancer Screening Portfolio. Her research interests include cancer screening and prevention and health equity, using a broad range of methods.

Excellence in Advocacy

Dr. Mary Thomas | Michael Garron Hospital

Excellence in Mentorship

Dr. Matthew Myatt | ROMP New Tecumseth
Dr. Nena-Rae Watson | Unity Health Toronto – St. Michael's Hospital

Excellence in Program Coordination

Ms. Gilda Barillas | Unity Health Toronto – St. Michael's Hospital

Role Modelling Clinical Excellence

Dr. Leslie-Anne Hutchings | ROMP Collingwood
Dr. Dave Wheler | Scarborough Health Network

Role Modelling Clinical Excellence - FMLE

Dr. Jennifer Potter | Office-Based Physician

Teaching Excellence - Clerkship

Dr. Scott Nguyen | Trillium Health Partners – Mississauga Hospital
Dr. Barbara Vari | Unity Health Toronto – St. Michael's Hospital

Teaching Excellence - Electives

Dr. Tom Leventis | Markham Stouffville Hospital

Teaching Excellence - FMLE

Dr. Corey Bricks | UHN – Toronto Western Hospital
Dr. Thomas Yeates | Office-Based Physician

Teaching Excellence - New Teacher

Dr. Lauren Payne | UHN – Toronto Western Hospital
Dr. Esther Rosenthal | Unity Health Toronto – St. Michael's Hospital