Leslie Nickell

Dr. Nickell is an Associate Professor at DFCM and Advisor of the Physician Assistant Program, and has been a faculty member since 1993. Previously, she was the PA Program's Medical Director from September 2018 to August 2022. She was a full-time family physician at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre for over 20 years before joining Bridgepoint Hospital in 2013. She is the Medical Lead for Caregiver Support Services at the Bridgepoint site of Sinai Health System. She has served in many medical education roles throughout her career, most recently as the Associate Dean, Health Professions Student Affairs, at the Temerty Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto. 

Dr. Nickell’s priorities include continuing to support the excellent education delivered to students, as well as undertaking scholarship activities to further identify and validate the  benefits of the program and the profession; with the ultimate aim to strengthen the role of the physician assistant within the Canadian healthcare system, both provincially and nationally. She believes we can learn from studying our own experiences to date and those of Canadian and global colleagues.