Department promotes two full-time faculty members

The Department of Family Medicine is pleased to announce the promotion of Keyna Bracken to professor and Danielle O’Toole to associate professor, effective July 1.

Bracken joined the department in 2007 and was promoted to associate professor in 2014. Bracken is an exemplary and thoughtful leader, demonstrating a firm commitment to high-quality education through clinical teaching, educational excellence and academic leadership at the local, national and international levels.

Bracken has committed much of her career providing comprehensive family medicine. She promotes women’s health and the importance of the patient-centred model of medicine, serving as a voice within the clinical leadership team. Bracken’s expertise in medical education helps shape future family doctors through support of collaborative learning and teaching.

Bracken contributes to many educational roles, including formal and informal clinical teaching, supervising medical students and family medicine residents, and managing faculty development and curriculum development initiatives. She is passionate about undergraduate medical education and has had a direct influence on this level of education at McMaster and abroad. As the Undergraduate Director and Clerkship Director for Family Medicine, Bracken advanced curriculum development through learning and technology. These initiatives were driven by the desire to create a new family medicine clerkship experience that resulted from changing needs in medical education.

Outside of McMaster, Bracken has held roles with the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada serving on the Discipline and Fitness to Practice Committees and with the College of Family Physicians of Canada Undergraduate Education Committee where she worked to refine family medicine learning resources for medical students. Her work with these organizations was acknowledged in 2021 by the Canadian Association of Medical Education Award of Merit. Bracken continues to work with the Medical Council of Canada working on various test committees to develop robust assessment tools for medical licensure in Canada.

O’Toole has been with department since 2015 and has a strong commitment to innovation and quality education through clinical teaching and educational excellence and scholarship. She practices comprehensive family medicine at McMaster Family Practice (MFP), where she is a role model in providing exceptional care. She is a passionate clinician and educator which has benefitted both medical learners and colleagues.

In addition to providing a high level of patient care, O’Toole has led various academic and scholarly programs. Incorporating the generalist approach, O’Toole contributes to various levels of education, including undergraduate and post-graduate roles, curriculum development initiatives and educational leadership. She also serves as the Education Lead for MFP where she assesses and monitors the quality of all educational activities.

One of O’Toole’s most significant contributions is the Remediation Toolbox. This evidence-based tool supports learners in difficulty and serves as a template for supervisors to develop an enhanced education plan.

Given her interest in medical education, O’Toole played an integral role in the residency admissions process by co-developing and evaluating the “Multiple Personal Interview” process.

O’Toole’s commitment to academic excellence was acknowledged as the recipient of the Department of Family Medicine’s Gerry Cohen Award in 2022.

Please join us in congratulating Dr. Bracken and Dr. O’Toole on this well-deserved honour!