New Horizons Speaker Series

Navigating towards the future of family medicine

New Horizons header

New Horizons is a speaker series hosted by Dr. Danielle Martin, Chair of the University of Toronto Department of Family and Community Medicine, the largest academic department of family medicine in the world.

As we emerge from the COVID-19 pandemic and look toward the future, DFCM has an opportunity to help shape the health system in Canada. Our department aspires to dream big about the potential of primary care, family medicine, and the role of the university in our society and our communities. This requires us to learn across disciplines and to take inspiration from the broadest possible range of fields – the arts, public health, community activism, the social sciences and more.

In each session, a wise interprofessional colleague will provide a fresh perspective on the role of family physicians in a changing world and challenge us to consider what a community responsive department of family medicine should be aiming for.

Recordings for our past sessions are available here.

Upcoming sessions:

Mar. 31, 2023 | 8:00-9:00am ET

Join us for a conversation with Dr. Kwame McKenzie, CEO of Wellesley Institute, on how DFCM can better link our work in education, research, and quality improvement to the social determinants of health, and how we can partner with organizations that serve communities to be more socially accountable in our work.

Dr. Ruth Heisey and Dr. Bjug Borgundvaag

How can peer counsellors extend interprofessional teams and enhance care?

Apr. 28, 2023 | 8:00-9:00am ET

Speakers: Dr. Bjug Borgundvaag & Dr. Ruth Heisey

More information and registration coming soon.

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Dr. William Cherniak and Dr. Tara Kiran discusses the role of technology-enabled care in the future of Ontario’s health care system.

Minister Carolyn Bennett shares what inspired her to enter politics, the skills from family medicine that serve her well in her current work and the ways in which family doctors can engage successfully with policymakers.

Medhat Mahdy, President and CEO of the YMCA of Greater Toronto, discusses community engagement and shares a vision of access to health care centred on meeting people where they are – especially when it comes to prevention.

Frankie Abralind, co-founder and executive director of The Good Listening Project, discusses the importance of good listening and his experience of creating custom poetry through radical acts of listening.

Dr. Sandro Galea, physician, epidemiologist and Dean at Boston University School of Public Health, discusses the foundational forces shaping health in our society and what this could mean for primary care and family medicine.

About the artist

Meryl McMaster is a Canadian artist with nêhiyaw (Plains Cree), British and Dutch ancestry. Her work is predominantly photography based, incorporating the production of props, sculptural garments and performance forming a synergy that transports the viewer out of the ordinary and into a space of contemplation and introspection. She explores the self in relation to land, lineage, history, culture and the more-than-human world.

Lead Me to Places I Could Never Find on My Own II, 2019, is provided courtesy of the artist, Stephen Bulger Gallery and Pierre-François Ouellette art contemporain.

For more, visit: http://merylmcmaster.com