Celebrating our 2020 Department of Family and Community Medicine Program Award Winners

Department of Family and Community Medicine Research Award for Mentorship

Dr. Paul Krueger | Department of Family and Community Medicine
“Paul has been a mainstay of the research program offering support, advice and mentorship to faculty and graduate students. He is always generous with this time and willingness to help. His breadth of experience and knowledge about the challenges of building a research career has been an invaluable resources.”

First Place Publication

Dr. Navindra Persaud | St. Michael’s Hospital
Persaud N, Bedard M, Boozary AS, Glazier RH, Gomes T, Hwang SW, Jüni P, Law MR, Mamdani MM, Manns BJ, Martin D, Morgan SG, Oh PI, Pinto AD, Shah BR, Sullivan F, Umali N, Thorpe KE, Tu K, Laupacis A. Effect on Treatment Adherence of Distributing Essential Medicines at No Charge: The CLEAN Meds Randomized Clinical Trial. JAMA Internal Medicine. October 2019; 180(1):27-34.

Second Place Publication

Dr. Rick Glazier | St. Michael’s Hospital
Glazier RH, Green ME, Frymire E, Kopp A, Hogg W, Premji K, Kiran T. Do Incentive Payments Reward the Wrong Providers? A Study of Primary Care Reform in Ontario, Canada. April 2019; 38 (4): https://doi.org/10.1377/hlthaff.2018.05272

Third Place Publication

Dr. Jeff Kwong | UHN – Toronto Western Hospital
Kwong JC, Buchan S, Chung S, Campitelli MA, Schwartz KL, Crowcroft NS, Jackson M, Karnauchow T, Katz K, McGeer AJ, McNally D, Richardson DC, Richardson S, Rosella L, Simor AE, Smieja M, Zahariadis G, Gubbay J. Can routinely collected laboratory and health administrative data be used to assess influenza vaccine effectiveness? Assessing the validity of the Flu and Other Respiratory Viruses Research (FOREVER) Cohort. Vaccine. 2019 Jul 18;37(31):4392-4400.

PGY1 Impact Award

To increase discussions between providers and parents regarding evidence based resources at the 2,4 and 6 month well baby visits

We would like to nominate Drs. Madelaine Kukko, Leora Reiter, and Michael Taglione for their project “To increase discussions between providers and parents regarding evidence based resources at the 2,4 and 6 month well baby visits.  Their project received amongst the highest marks from our evaluators (all preceptors) for best use of QI methodology, multiple PDSAs and effective collaboration with other team members, including AHPs. Kudos were also given for their inclusion of patients’ perspective.

Team:
Dr. Madelain Kukko | North York General Hospital
Dr. Leora Reiter | North York General Hospital
Dr. Michael Taglione | North York General Hospital

Promoting Anal Cancer Screening in High-Risk Patients at the TWFHT

This QI project sought to improve anal pap screening to detect early anal cancer rates at the Toronto Western Family Health Team. With our quality improvement efforts, screening rate at the Toronto Western FHT increased by 75% for at risk patients. Cameron Caners, Joshua Kosta, Fereidoon Kavosian, and Yuhao Shi are currently PGY-2 Family Medicine residents based at the Toronto Western Hospital. They collectively share a passion for preventative care medicine and working with the diverse population in Toronto.

Team:
Dr. Joshua Kosta | UHN – Toronto Western Hospital
Dr. Cameron Caners | UHN – Toronto Western Hospital
Dr. Yuhao Shi | UHN – Toronto Western Hospital
Dr. Fereidoon Kavosian | UHN – Toronto Western Hospital
Dr. Benjamin Kaasa | UHN – Toronto Western Hospital

Decreasing Hospital Readmission rates from Pine Villa

Team:
Dr. Tianyang Dai | Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre
Dr. Love Shah | Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre
Dr. Katherine Stead | Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre

Improving CV FHT Resident Comfort in Osteoporosis Exercise Counselling

At our Family Health Team (FHT), there was no readily available resource for patients with osteoporosis regarding physical activity. The objective was to improve residents’ comfort level with exercise counselling for osteoporosis by 5% over 3 months. Interventions included an exercise demonstration to residents, and the creation of an exercise handout for patients. As a result of the project, there was a 24% increase in overall resident comfort in exercise counselling.

Team:
Dr. Betty Li Qun He | Trillium Health Partners
Dr. Ayesha Rana | Trillium Health Partners
Dr. Sandra Toutounji | Trillium Health Partners

Poverty Screening in the Barrie FMTU

This project aligned well with a LHIN based initiative around improving the 211 resource. This team effectively applied the QI methodology to better understand the lack of use of the 211 resource by HCPs and implement change ideas through PDAS cycles to improve the number of patients with regular scheduled primary care provider visits that were screened for poverty; and those who screened positive were referred to the improved 211 service.

Team:
Dr. Anzel Hennop | Royal Victoria Regional Health Centre
Dr. Shelby Stanojev | Royal Victoria Regional Health Centre
Dr. Nancy Trimble | Royal Victoria Regional Health Centre
Ms. Elizabeth Forde | Royal Victoria Regional Health Centre

Benzodiazepine deprescribing

This was an important project that focused on benzodiazepine deprescribing. This QI team performed an extensive literature search and used QI diagnostic tools to aid them in their approach. They collaborated well with other team members. Their work and reflections has resulted in continuation of this important improvement initiative.

Team:
Dr. Bernard Ho | Mount Sinai Hospital
Dr. Kailey Minnings | Mount Sinai Hospital
Dr. Mashad Vajar | Mount Sinai Hospital
Ms. Suzanne Singh | Mount Sinai Hospital
Dr. June Carroll | Mount Sinai Hospital
Ms. Claudia Boaventura | Mount Sinai Hospital

Poverty screening

Through their PGY-1 QI project, Drs. Li, Wu, and Xu were able to interact with patients and physicians to increase poverty screening in their family medicine clinics by 92% within a 6-month period. They have demonstrated excellence in their commitment to quality improvement through addressing this important social determinant of health in Scarborough.

Team:
Dr. Alice Xu | Scarborough Health Network
Dr. Christine Li | Scarborough Health Network
Dr. Margaret Wu | Scarborough Health Network

Improving Medication Reconciliation in Residents’ Practice at Health for All

I am pleased to nominate Drs. Mohammed Badawi and Beili Shi for the PGY1 Impact Award to recognize their contribution to patient safety at the Health for All Family Health Team. During their PGY1 year, they focused on improving the rate of documented medication reconciliation (Med Rec) in elderly patients using 10 or more medications. After developing and launching their Med Rec tool, they improved the rate of documented Med Rec by 75% from baseline.

Team:
Dr. Mohammed Ismail Badawi | Markham Stouffville Hospital
Dr. Beili Shi | Markham Stouffville Hospital

HPV vaccination rates in women aged 26-45 at WCH family practice: strategies for improvement

An EMR reminder was created for women aged 26-45 at WCH-FP with incomplete HPV vaccination. Vaccination rates had a relative increase of 67.9% during an equivalent timeframe between the three prior years to and the year following our intervention. A resident survey showed the largest perceived barrier to vaccination was “out of pocket” patient cost. This demonstrates the effectiveness of targeted patient reminders and highlights the need for future research investigating barriers to HPV vaccination.

Team:
Dr. Rebecca Jackson | Women’s College Hospital
Dr. Natasha Eardley | Women’s College Hospital
Dr. Arielle Zahavi | Women’s College Hospital

Improving Test Result Communication Efficiency Through the Use of e-Communication

This project aimed to improve the efficiency of test result communication at St. Michael’s Hospital Academic Family Health Team by increasing the use of Ocean E-messaging (i.e. email communication). Initial work demonstrated communicating normal and abnormal results to patients via email was at least as efficient as phone calls. Marketing electronic communication to staff resulted in increased rates of use from baseline by 49%/23% for clerical/RN staff, respectively.

Team:
Dr. Dan Cojocaru | St. Michael’s Hospital
Dr. Arya Motoghi | St. Michael’s Hospital
Ms. Ann Rodrigues | St. Michael’s Hospital
Ms. Elsa Eman | St. Michael’s Hospital
Ms. Jada-Lee Whytehorn | St. Michael’s Hospital
Dr. Rajesh Girdhari | St. Michael’s Hospital

Quality Improvement: Physiotherapy Access at St. Michael’s Hospital Family Practice

The Family Medicine Health Team (FHT) at St. Michael’s Hospital (SMH) offers physiotherapy services at no charge to its over forty thousand rostered patients. The current waitlist exceeds 200 patients, with an average wait time of up to 3 months. The aim of this project was to reduce these wait-times. This change resulted in no further increase in the number of waitlisted patients. Further work will include looking at opportunities to enhance equitable access to our PT services.

Team:
Dr. Zaak Jiwa | St. Michael’s Hospital
Dr. Augusto Estrada | St. Michael’s Hospital
Ms. Rhea Monteiro | St. Michael’s Hospital
Mr. Willem McIsaac | St. Michael’s Hospital
Ms. Maria Malia | St. Michael’s Hospital
Mr. Mo Alhaj | St. Michael’s Hospital
Ms. Lisa Miller | St. Michael’s Hospital
Dr. Rajesh Girdhari | St. Michael’s Hospital

Standardizing the Approach to a Positive TB Skin Test at the SJHC UFHT

Kazim Giby, Mark Grant and their team worked to Standardize the Approach to a Positive TB Skin Test at SJHC UFHT.  Referring to public health policy and with input from clinic staff, they developed, finessed and mapped a new process.  They created EMR tools and an educational handout to support it and to ensure sustainability.  This process is now the new normal and they are very deserving of the PGY1 QI Impact Award.

Team:
Dr. Mark Grant | St. Joseph’s Health Centre
Dr. Kazim Giby | St. Joseph’s Health Centre
Dr. Natascha Crispino | St. Joseph’s Health Centre
Ms. Roxanne Gopie | St. Joseph’s Health Centre
Ms. Anne-Marie Ward | St. Joseph’s Health Centre

PGY2 Impact Award

To improve the rates of access of lab results from Emergency Doctors to Family Doctors

We would like to nominate Dr. Jeremy Chad and his team for this award.  His QI project “To improve the rates of access of lab results from Emergency Doctors to Family Doctors” exemplified the essentials of QI work.  The quality dimension addressed was that of Patient Safety.  His project built on a gap in care identified by his preceptor.

Team:
Dr. Jeremy Chad | North York General Hospital
Dr. Orli Nadel | North York General Hospital
Dr. Eric Stutz | North York General Hospital
Ms. Jennifer Law | North York General Hospital

Increasing Advance Care Planning For Patients With Heart Failure

Sherry and Vivian are practicing family physicians whose passion for advance care planning entwined with the art of communication sparked during their residency at the Toronto Western FHT. They strive to apply this principle on a daily basis in their own practices. The benefits of Advance Care Planning (ACP) is well documented for patients with life-limiting illnesses, including Congestive Heart Failure (CHF).

Team:
Dr. Sherry Liu | UHN – Toronto Western Hospital
Dr. Vivian Xia | UHN – Toronto Western Hospital
Dr. Camille Lemieux | UHN – Toronto Western Hospital
Dr. Warren Lewin | UHN – Toronto Western Hospital

Faculty & Staff Impact Award

Dr. Jennifer Stulberg | North York General Hospital

We want to nominate Dr. Jennifer Stulberg for this award.  She has been a participant on a voluntary basis in the NYGH QI program for the past 3 years, generously giving of her time, experience and expertise.  She demonstrates the key qualities of leadership, innovation and team effectiveness.  Though not part of the NYFHT she engaged her fellow physicians and administrative staff to endorse quality work and use sound methodological approaches to QI initiatives, demonstrating true team collaboration.

Best foot forward: The path to comprehensive diabetes care

Given our FHT’s low rate of foot assessments in patients with diabetes, an interprofessional team was assembled and a SMART aim statement was developed. The team developed and rolled out several EMR tools, all of which connect to a diabetes care tool bar. This tool bar has shown sustainability in that it is now part of the regular clinical flow. The EMR tools have also been presented at local, provincial and national conferences.

Team:
Ms. Andrea Payne | Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre
Ms. Leigh Caplan | Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre
Dr. Alison Culbert | Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre
Ms. Marsha Feldt | Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre
Ms. Dale Finlay | Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre
Ms. Corrie Procak | Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre
Ms. Jane Smart | Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre
Ms. Melissa Wynter | Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre

Dr. Jennifer Moore & Dr. Sarah Torabi | Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre – Division of Palliative Care

Inspired by the IHI’s Quadruple Aim framework and recognizing that physician burnout rates are at an all-time high, Dr. Moore and Dr. Torabi employed sound QI methodology to improve physician wellness in the workplace. Their work led to an improved safety culture within our team, as well as improved physician workload and satisfaction. Dr. Moore and Dr. Torabi have disseminated their work nationally and have presented at the Canadian Conference on Physician Health in October 2019.

Dr. Nina Yashpal | Trillium Health Partners

Dr. Yashpal has re-shaped the palliative care/home visit program at Credit Valley FHT. Dr. Yashpal worked with her interprofessional colleagues, and redesigned the program from the ground-up through PDSA cycles. There is now an organized referral process with clear intake criteria. She led educational initiatives to ensure all staff are providing patient-centred care. Consequently, CVFHT has enrolled over 45 patients in just 6 months.

Dr. Susanna Fung & Dr. Sisi Li | Scarborough Health Network

Scarborough houses a diverse and vulnerable patient population. Most family physicians in Scarborough are distributed in solo/group practices with limited access to multidisciplinary support and without a centralized EMR system. This creates additional barriers in coordinating care and quality improvement efforts. Despite these barriers, Drs. Fung and Li have led a coordinated quality improvement project between seven family practice offices in Scarborough to improve post-hospital discharge care in primary care.

Standardizing Vaccine Prescribing and Documentation: Small Steps with Big Gains

In Spring 2018, a number of vaccine-related incidents were identified where vaccines were incorrectly prescribed, administered and/or documented.  An interdisciplinary team of nurses, pharmacist, electronic medical record (EMR) specialist and physicians, identified that vaccine prescribing and documentation practices varied throughout the Department. The team developed, tested, and implemented a new standardized EMR vaccine prescribing and documentation pathway, coined #IMM. This new EMR pathway has been widely accepted by clinicians, with significant decline in vaccine-documentation-related safety events.

Team:
Dr. Daniel Bois | St. Michael’s Hospital
Dr. Jacqueline Chen | St. Michael’s Hospital
Dr. Doret Cheng | St. Michael’s Hospital
Dr. Margarita Lam-Antoniades | St. Michael’s Hospital
Ms. Lisa Miller | St. Michael’s Hospital
Ms. Sarah Nestico | St. Michael’s Hospital

Simplifying the Referral process to  Interprofessional Health Providers (IHPs) at the SJHC UFHT

Jane Bowman and her team worked to Improve the Referral Process to the Interprofessional Health Providers (IHPs) at the SJHC UFHT.  Through their work they developed a single EMR tool and streamlined process to support referrals to all of the IHPs. There is now improved workload distribution, collaboration, time savings and reduced patient no shows. Their work has impacted the entire SJHC team. Ms. Bowman and her team are very deserving of the Staff QI Impact Award.

Team:
Dr. Jane Bowman | St. Joseph’s Health Centre
Mr. Jonathan Fowler | St. Joseph’s Health Centre
Ms. Chloe Walls | St. Joseph’s Health Centre

Excellence in Advocacy

Dr. Pradeepan Arulchelvam | Scarborough Health Network
Dr. Daniel Bois | St. Michael's Hospital
Ms. Sheri Johnston | Women’s College Hospital

Excellence in Mentorship

Dr. Jeremy Rezmovitz | Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre
Dr Rezmovitz is passionate about medical education and innovation. He is a knowledgeable physician in addition to being a gifted speaker.

Dr. Jane Ridley | St. Michael’s Hospital
Dr. Jodine Rosenberg | North York General Hospital
Dr. Melinda Wu | Women’s College Hospital
Dr. Evelyn Rubin | Women’s College Hospital

Excellence in Program Development and Coordination

Dr. Difat Jakubovicz | St. Joseph’s Health Centre

Role Modeling Clinical Excellence

Dr. Diana Hsiang
Dr. Julia Rackal | St. Michael’s Hospital
Dr. Eric Stutz | North York General Hospital

Dr. Matthew Orava | Royal Victoria Regional Health Centre
Dr. Orava consistently displayed superior professionalism and exceptional compassion towards his patients. Additionally, he found the time to teach around his busy schedule, including in between patient encounters. Finally, he was able to effectively integrate research into the clinical environment, both with patients and with learners to improve patient outcomes and reduce unnecessary investigations.

Dr. Sharon Domb | Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre
Dr. Domb is a longstanding physician teacher in the family medicine teaching unit at Sunnybrook. She is recognized as a skilled physician and teacher.

Role Modeling Clinical Excellence – Electives

Dr. Paul Philbrook | Trillium Health Partners

Dr. Rachel Wortzman | Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre
Dr. Wortsman is a palliative care physician at Sunnybrook. She is an enthusiastic and talented teacher who is regularly recognized by her students for her commitment to education.

Teaching Excellence

Dr. Pamela Lenkov | Women’s College Hospital
Dr. David Silver | North York General Hospital
Dr. Nicolas Pimlott | Women’s College Hospital
Dr. Jodi Sonshine | North York General Hospital

Teaching Excellence – New Teacher

Dr. Esther Ernst | St. Michael’s Hospital
Dr. Rahul Jain | Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre
Dr. Sofia Khan | St. Joseph’s Health Centre
Dr. Francesco Leanza | Toronto Western Hospital
Dr. Caroline Ruderman | St. Michael’s Hospital

Teaching Excellence and Role Modeling Clinical Excellence – FMLE

Dr. Charles Jaipargas | FMLE
Dr. Jason Li | FMLE
Dr. Melissa Singer | FMLE

Advocacy for Patients

Dr. Amanda Lynn Sauvé | Royal Victoria Regional Health Centre
Dr. Marlee Klaiman | UHN – Toronto Western Hospital
Dr. Olivia Brooks | Enhanced Skills Program

Clinical Excellence

Dr. Beili Shi | Markham Stouffville Hospital
Dr. Kousha Azimi | North York General Hospital
Dr. Erica Victoria Pollieri | St. Joseph's Health Centre
Dr. Beerpal Kaur Plaha | St. Michael’s Hospital
Dr. Jaskirat Gill | Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre
Dr. Karishma Ramjee | Scarborough Health Network
Dr. Karina Prucnal | Toronto East Health Network
Dr. Yang Guo | Rural Residency Program

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

Dr. Quynh Huynh | St. Joseph's Health Centre

Excellence in Teaching

Dr. Paige Steciuk | Royal Victoria Regional Health Centre
Dr. Sofia Khan | St. Joseph's Health Centre
Dr. Christopher Gilchrist | Trillium Health Partners - Mississauga Hospital
Dr. Mary Thomas | Toronto East Health Network
Dr. Melinda Wu | Women's College Hospital
Dr. Aaron Barnett | Rural Residency Program

Hollister King Teaching Practices Preceptor Award

Dr. Peter Wells | Collingwood ON
Dr. Wells does it all; in-patient medicine, obstetrics, aboriginal health, skin cancer, coroner and truly embodies what it means to be a rural family physician. I am amazed every day by his vast knowledge, skills base, compassion, work ethic, and life balance. His willingness to learn and implement new innovative ways to manage patients and clinic flow. In an unprecedented time like COVID19 I witnessed him lead and advocate for his community, patients, colleagues, staff and learners.

Hollister King Teaching Practices Resident Award

Dr. Jaskirat Gill | Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre
Dr. Gill proved to be very skilled at effectively and quickly developing rapport and therapeutic relationships with patients of all ages and backgrounds. This allowed him to collaboratively develop the best evidence-based treatment plan for his patients. He provided superior inpatient care to a variety of complex inpatients all without the benefit of in-house specialist support. Dr. Gill exhibits and practices family medicine with the skill and knowledge of an individual who throughout his career will improve and enhance the lives of the patients he encounters

Innovation in Education

Dr. Doret Cheng | St. Michael’s Hospital

Leadership

Dr. Noam Berlin | Mount Sinai Hospital
Dr. Tina Hsin-Yu Chiang | Southlake Regional Health Centre
Dr. Sandra Toutounji | Trillium Health Partners - Credit Valley Hospital
Dr. Herman Hing-Man Tang | Trillium Health Partners - Mississauga Hospital
Dr. Harjot Atwal | Women's College Hospital

Program Leadership

Dr. Erin Bearss | Mount Sinai Hospital
Dr. Nasreen Ramji | St. Michael’s Hospital
Dr. Anne Wideman | Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre
Dr. Melissa Graham | Trillium Health Partners - Credit Valley Hospital
Dr. Sarah Fleming | UHN – Toronto Western Hospital

Resident Advocacy

Ms. Beverley Nutt | Markham Stouffville Hospital
Dr. Monique Moller | Enhanced Skills Program

Role Modeling Clinical Excellence

Dr. Harvey Blankenstein | North York General Hospital
Dr. David Makary | Southlake Regional Health Centre
Dr. Erum Raheel | Scarborough Health Network
Dr. Christopher Douglas Fairgrieve | Enhanced Skills Program

Teaching Excellence

Dr. Dan Cojocaru | St. Michael’s Hospital
Dr. Lucie Pivnick | Enhanced Skills Program

Jamie Mueser Award for Excellence in Leadership and Innovation in Faculty Development

Dr. Judith Peranson | St. Michael’s Hospital
Dr. Peranson is very attentive to class and group processes and has been an incredible co-instructor, being able to identify and rectify group process issues such as poor student participation, tension between group members etc. She engages with the existing literature and best practices in education and as is evidenced by her CV pursues a scholarly approach to both development and dissemination of her educational faculty development activities.

Mentorship

Dr. William (Bill) Sullivan | St. Michael’s Hospital
Over several decades of work, Dr. William (Bill) Sullivan remains a tremendously inspiring mentor and role model in the compassionate care of adults living with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD). Always remarkably humble in regards to his own expertise and many accomplishments, Bill is curious, thoughtful, respectful, and attentive in his approach to assisting learners as well as junior and experienced colleagues in meeting their learning, career and practice goals in this area.

Excellence in Scholarship in Faculty Development

Dr. Lisa Del Giudice | Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre
Dr. Del Giudice work has spanned across the entire cancer spectrum from prevention and screening, through diagnosis, to survivorship, palliative and end of life care. She has made outstanding contributions in the development of professional practice as well as creating exemplary professional practice. She has accomplished this in part by establishing the evidentiary base to inform the knowledge translation of cancer information, through active participation in the implementation of cancer programs as well as dissemination of cancer information to other PCP.

New Leadership in Faculty Development

Dr. Rami Shoucri | St. Michael’s Hospital
Since joining the SMH DFCM in late 2016, Dr. Rami Shoucri has earned a well-deserved reputation as a champion and leader in understanding –and empowering others to understand and act on –key opportunities for advocacy to improve the health of our more vulnerable patients and communities.  This includes his work as Chair of our Advocacy Committee, in which he led a group of colleagues in the development of a newly adopted department-wide process for engaging our large and diverse faculty in advocacy campaigns.

Excellence in Faculty Development

Dr. Margarita Lam-Antoniades | St. Michael’s Hospital
Dr. Margarita Lam-Antoniades has demonstrated excellence in promoting faculty development in the area of Patient Safety and Event analysis. In her roles as Quality Improvement, Patient Safety and Physician Lead within the Department of Family and Community Medicine at St Michael’s Hospital, she has initiated new programs to promote psychological safety during safety event analysis.  Our faculty has developed a strong capacity in Patient Safety due to Dr. Lam-Antoniades’ emphasis on promoting a safe space for sharing safety events and prioritizing a patient and system-centred approach.

Community-based Contributor to Faculty Development

Dr. Natascha Crispino | St. Joseph’s Health Centre
Dr. Natascha Crispino has excelled in the development of a uniquely innovative, informative and highly interactive Professional Development Program to assist New Faculty in managing “Teaching and Assessment Challenges”. This program has received outstanding reviews yearly and continues to influence and mold more attentive, aware, and adept preceptors while providing them with the skills and the knowledge to provide effective and appropriate feedback to their learners.

Excellence in Continuing Education

Dr. Morty Eisenberg | Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre & St. John’s Rehab
Dr. Eisenberg is active in developing wound care educational programs for family physicians and other health professionals. In 2019 he was a member of an educational planning committee that developed two educational programs for Wounds Canada entitled “Wound Care for Primary Care Practitioners” and “Skills Lab for Offloading the Diabetic Foot”. This year, he is a member of an educational planning committee developing an online educational module on the fundamental principles of advanced wound care, specifically designed for primary care physicians.

Learner: Contributor to Faculty Development

Dr. Melissa Li | UHN – Toronto Western Hospital
Dr. Li went above and beyond the expectations for a resident scholarly project especially when it came to the dissemination of this work. Melissa was collaborative, hard working and engaged throughout the process. She was a key member of the team and we were all thankful for the opportunity to work with her.

Continuing Education Student Award for Scholarship

Dr. Muna Al Khaifi | Women's Health in Women's Hands, St. Michael's Hospital Breast Centre & Immigrant Women's Health Centre
Dr. Al Khaifi completed both the INTAPT and Clinical Research Certificate Continuing Education programs in 2019, during her final year of residency training in Women's Health in the Enhanced Skills Program, impressively indicative of her motivation, organization and high academic ability. She excelled at teaching medical clerks and junior residents, completing teaching logs and experiences as part of her INTAPT program requirements.  English is a foreign language for Dr. Al Khaifi and she demonstrated both confidence and skill as she developed her teaching competencies. She received an excellent evaluation of a clinical literature review and research proposal from her field preceptor during her Clinical Research Certificate Practicum. Dr. Al Khaifi is now a current Graduate studies student in the Master of Public Health program and continues to demonstrate a scholarly approach to her work.

Continuing Education and Graduate Studies Instructor Award

Dr. Paul Krueger | Department of Family and Community Medicine
Dr. Krueger has over 10 years of sustained contributions to the learnings of Graduate and Continuing Education students that includes curriculum development, teaching and learner support at all levels. His curriculum development activities include: Masters in Public Health in Family and Community Medicine Working Group and development of the Clinical Research Certificate program, DFCM Academic Project website and the bi-monthly DFCM Research Rounds. Dr. Krueger has been a Co-Instructor for CHL5605: Research Issues in Family Medicine and Primary Care (4 years), Instructor for CHL5616: Applied Survery Methods for Health Care Professionals (5 years) and a Guest Lecturer for 8 years for numerous DFCM graduate courses. We estimate that he has mentored over a hundred Continuing Education and Graduate Studies students. Dr. Krueger is known for his dedication to student learning through the significant guidance, feedback and coaching he provides through grading. He has inspired many Graduate Studies students to integrate research into their career path and provided faculty support in integrating research into course assignments.

Field Practicum Preceptor Award

Dr. Amol Deshpande | UHN – Toronto Rehabilitation Institute
Dr. Deshpande is a recently appointed Assistant Clinical Professor with the Department of Family and Community Medicine and a Family Physician with a focused practice in pain management at Toronto Rehab, with an avid interest in Research. This year, he supervised 3 Continuing Education students and provided them with excellent research and structured experiences, that required the intergration into research teams and maintenance of self-directed work ethic producing scholarly work for publication, data analysis and research reports. Dr. Deshpande's willingness to take multiple students and customize their experiences was a time intensive task given that 2 of the students had academic difficulties, requiring assessment and monitoring during their Practicum work. Dr. Deshpande truly models the importance and significance of a strong field preceptor through his positive approach to challenging work, his supportive teaching style and his caring attitude.

Yves Talbot Award for Excellence in Global Health Leadership

Dr. Praseedha Janakiram | Women’s College Hospital
Dr. Praseedha Janakiram is a staff physician at the Crossroads Clinic at Women’s College Hospital. In her recent role as interim Vice-Chair Global Health and Social Accountability, she was unanimously lauded for her skills and rich contribution to the program and to the department. Beyond the wealth of her expertise, her warmth and thoughtfulness, ability to calmly resolve problems that involve transcultural issues and sustained optimism sets her apart as a remarkable leader.

Faculty Award for Excellence in Global Health

Dr. Michael Bartucci | Markham Stouffville Hospital
Dr. Michael Bartucci is a skilled clinician in rural and remote Ontario and locally in Toronto, offering full scope comprehensive family medicine. His tremendous expertise as a teacher and mentor has been recognized locally by PGY3 GHVP trainees and internationally by colleagues in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. As the founder and president of Helping Hands Philippines, he has acted as preceptor to PGY2 residents seeking meaningful global health electives at DFCM.

Dr. John Ihnat | Toronto East Health Network
Dr. John Ihnat is a family physician serving a refugee and new immigrant populations within the Thorncliff Park neighborhood in east Toronto. His dedication as a teacher and educator has been recognized both locally by family medicine residents and internationally by colleagues in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. He has exhibited many characteristics of excellence in education and training in Global Health. His passion for work has sparked many productive outputs and is an inspiration for trainees and colleagues.

Resident Award for Excellence in Global Health

Dr. Katherine Stead | University of Toronto
During her WHO internship in 2019, Dr. Katherine Stead was able to leverage the full richness of her family medicine expertise and, most importantly, demonstrate a remarkable level of initiative, collaboration, creative and adaptability to inform and shape the development of the foundations of an essential package of primary care services. She established exemplary relationships with colleagues, taking the lead in organizing work for a specific project.

Excellence in Teaching in Emergency Medicine (Early Career)

Dr. Eileen Cheung | Toronto East Health Network
Dr. Cheung is described by all levels of learners as a highly enthusiastic and engaging teacher and role model.  In addition to bedside teaching, formal lectures and SIM facilitation, Dr. develops videocasts and podcasts to support learners. Dr. Cheung is also reaching learners internationally through her ongoing work with the Toronto Addis Ababa Academic Collaboration in Emergency Medicine.  Her incredible achievements so early on in her career are a testament to her passion and dedication to teaching.

Excellence in Teaching & Education in Emergency Medicine

Dr. John Foote | Mount Sinai Hospital & St. Joseph’s Health Centre
In his role as Program Director for the family medicine emergency medicine program for over a decade, Dr. Foote has influenced the careers of countless practicing faculty at UofT. Through his leadership the program has become a highly sought after training experience across Canada. Residents praise him for his approachability and commitment to continuously improving the program, and as one stated “Dr. Foote is the kind of person, educator, administrator and physician that we should all strive to be”.

Excellence in Research/Quality Improvement in Emergency Medicine

Dr. Megan Landes | UHN – Toronto General Hospital
Dr. Landes has had impressive local and global impact with her research contributions to pioneering EM in new environments, creating and sustaining positive global health partnerships, developing effective HIV prevention strategies, and providing care for some of the world’s most vulnerable populations. Recently, she received funding for a large proposal exploring point-of-care testing for HIV in Toronto EDs and secured a $1 million grant to investigate the effectiveness of hydroxychloroquine as COVID prophylaxis for health care workers. 

Excellence in Emergency Medicine

Dr. Arun Sayal | North York General Hospital
Dr. Sayal has been a highly regarded clinician, teacher, educator and role model in Emergency Medicine for over 25years. He is an incredible lecturer and highly coveted speaker at conferences and on podcasts nationally and internationally. He is a Canadian EM expert in orthopedics and developed the hands-on nationally renowned CASTED course for primary care providers. As an outstanding leader and educator Dr. Sayal has had a tremendous impact in the EM community.