Krzysztof Adamczyk has been the Information Technology Manager for the DFM since 2006. He has been an integral part of the DFM since 2004 and joined McMaster University 2003. He has a 4 year Honors BSc double major in Business Computing and Administrative Studies from the University of Winnipeg. He is skilled in the application of computing into different business situations, particularly e-health. He has a multitude of experience in medical record system implementation and technology, not just in the academic family practice setting, but in regular community practices as well. He has led the gowth of the DFM IT sector in Stonechurch in 2006, Niagara in 2008, Burlington in 2014, Downtown Hamilton in 2015 and Stonechurch again in 2016. His expertise in the implementation and maintenance of the Electronic Medical Record (EMR) is extensive. He has successfully managed and supported the whole Department’s EMRs in multiple clinical sites for more than 10 years, together with his team of enterprise technology level staff. He has specialist knowledge in OSCAR and its deployment and implementation, as well as general medical systems administration. Other areas of expertise are complex systems networking, and High Performance Team leadership for special project management. He also holds specialist certification in ITIL Fundation and ORACLE MySQL Cluster Computing.

He enjoys teaching and regularly accepts IT and Engineering students as interns and for practicums from Universities all over Ontario since 2006. He was an invited expert to Bandah Aceh, Indonesia, where he devised and taught a Workshop on the Implementation and Functioning of the OSCAR EMR in Syiah Kuala University in 2015.

Dr. Gina Agarwal is a Professor in the Departments of Family Medicine and Health Research Methods, Evidence and Impact and an Associate Professor in the Department of Health and Aging. She is a practicing Family Physician, Primary Care Epidemiologist, the McMaster Family Medicine Levitt Scholar, and the Tier 1 Canada Research Chair in Vulnerable Individuals in Primary Care. She is a member of the McMaster Institute for Research on Aging and the McMaster Institute for Health Equity. Her research achievements have been recognized with the CIHR-IHSPR Article of the Year Award (2019), the prestigious Mid-Career Researcher Award from the North American Primary Care Research Group (2018), and an Award of Excellence from the College of Family Physicians of Canada (2016). As the Director of the Vulnerable Individuals in Primary Care (VIP) Research Lab, she focuses on improving primary health care access for vulnerable populations, ensuring people in need receive appropriate care at the right time and in the right place. As the Principal Investigator of the McMaster Community Paramedicine Research Team, she has driven health system change including the uptake of the innovative Community Paramedicine at Clinic (CP@clinic) program by 51% of Ontario Paramedic Services and its national (e.g. BCEHS) and international (e.g. UK, Australia) scale-up. She has worked extensively in social housing to improve the health of this vulnerable population and identify healthcare usage patterns. Her quantitative and qualitative research, including complex pragmatic studies, uses rigorous methods to produce novel insight into the unmet health needs of traditionally difficult-to-reach populations and determines cost-effective and targeted healthcare solutions nationally and globally. She regularly supervises undergraduate, master’s and doctoral students.

Special Interests: Unmet health needs of vulnerable populations (e.g. social housing residents), Quantitative and qualitative research methods (e.g. community-based RCTs including complex pragmatic studies and cost-effectiveness of community programming), Community Paramedicine, Social Housing, Diabetes, Cost-effective and targeted healthcare solutions, Community programming for the management of chronic health conditions, Low-cost primary care innovations in low and middle-income countries.

VIP Research Lab Website (https://vipresearchlab.ca/)

CP@clinic Website (https://cpatclinic.ca/)

Cheryl Allaby became part-time clinical faculty in the Department of Medicine, Geriatric Division, at McMaster University in the mid 2000’s. In 2010, she accepted a full-time academic position with the Department of Family Medicine and became an Associate Professor in 2015, stepping back to part-time in 2020. She is involved in teaching and clinical supervision of clinical clerks and residents and has tutored in the undergraduate MD program since 1999.

She completed Medical School at McMaster University in 1993. Prior to medicine, she was a physiotherapist employed primarily at St. Peter’s Hospital in the Geriatric Day Hospital, having developed a passion for working with older adults in her teen years.

After completing her Family Medicine Residency at McMaster University in 1995, she worked as a hospitalist in the Department of Geriatric Medicine at Hamilton Health Sciences for 24 years. She undertook a Family Medicine Hospitalist role at West Lincoln Memorial Hospital for 2 years following this. These days, she is at the Michael G. DeGroote Pain Clinic involved in chronic pain management and also with the Shelter Health Network of Hamilton. She completed a post-graduate certificate in chronic pain at the University of Alberta in 2022 and the IIWCC in wound care in 2018. Her interests are varied and include geriatric medicine, chronic pain, wound care, end of life care, addictions, homelessness and international health.

She was the Site Coordinator for the Juravinski Geriatric Teaching Unit from 2016-2020. Cheryl is committed to making learning fun and has developed interactive case-based tutorials for teaching geriatric topics, including falls, delirium and polypharmacy and learning sessions in wound care for Geriatric fellows. Cheryl also counts international health experiences in Jamaica and Uganda as enriching her life experience and maintains these connections.

Personally, she is married and together with her husband Chris, has 4 adult children and recently became a grandparent. Cheryl cultivates spirituality in her life, pursuing connectivity with God, humanity and nature. She enjoys outdoors activities including camping, biking and hiking in addition to reading, visual arts and playing board games.

Special Interests: Geriatric Medicine, Chronic Pain, Medical Education, Wound Care.

Ellen Amster is the Jason A. Hannah Chair in the History of Medicine at McMaster University and Associate Professor in the Departments of Family Medicine and Religious Studies. She received her B.A. from the University of Chicago and Ph.D. from the University of Pennsylvania. Her research engages medicine in France, North America, and the Islamic world, focusing especially on global health, religion and nonwestern healing, women’s histories, and empire. From her award-winning book, Medicine and the Saints: Science, Islam, and the Colonial Encounter in Morocco, 1877-1956 (University of Texas) she developed an interdisciplinary global health field course for undergraduate students and is the Principal Investigator of the Morocco-Canadian Network in Maternal and Infant Health. Ongoing projects include the transnational legacies of race and colonialism in medicine, the history of public health, women and gender in medicine, midwifery, and medical education. Her research has been funded by IIE Fulbright-Hayes, the Chateaubriand Program of the French government, the Social Science Research Council, AIMS, SSHRC, and CIHR. Dr. Amster provides a regular speaker series open to the campus in the history of medicine. Her teaching includes the history of public health, research electives and professional competencies for MD students in the Michael DeGroote School of Medicine, and Islamic and gender studies in the Department of Religious Studies. For everyone to enjoy, she developed the AMS-funded Hannah History of Medicine and Medical Humanities Research Portal, with hundreds of libraries, archives, museums, digital collections, and grants, to browse for research and fun: http://medhumanities.mcmaster.ca.

Special Interests: Maternal and infant health, Islamic bioethics, race and colonialism in medicine, history of medicine, medical education, gender, public health.

Neha has been a part of McMaster since 2011 working in DFM since 2014 on the iGAP study. She is a trained physiotherapist and her research interests are in the care of the elderly.

Alisha started working at DFM in June 2022 and has thoroughly enjoyed her time since. She is coordinating a few projects that aim to improve health outcomes of people who use drugs by mitigating the harms associated with drug use. Alisha’s interest in harm reduction began during her time working in McGill University residences when safer sex and drug use were prioritized over punitive approaches. Alisha is excited to be conducting research that uses mixed methods designs and participatory action approaches to work with service users. Outside of work hours, you can find her biking, hiking, or climbing in Hamilton.

Kyle Auton began working for McMaster University in 2022 for the Department of Family Medicine.

Alison Baker is a family physician in Brantford, Ontario, and an Associate Clinical Professor at McMaster University. She teaches medical students and family medicine residents through the Grand Erie Six Nations Clinical Education Campus. She is the Assessment Director and Chair of the Central Competence Committee for McMaster’s Department of Family of Medicine Residency Program. She is a Fellow in the College of Family Physicians of Canada (CFPC) and holds a Clinician Educator Area of Focused Competence from the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada. She is the recipient of the DFM 2017 Excellence in Pre-Clerkship teaching award. She is Chair of the CFPC’s Faculty Development Interest Group and Chair of the CFPC’s National Assessment Community of Practice and sits on the College’s Certification Process and Assessment Committee. Her research activities include using simulation to teach essential conversations in palliative care, identifying opportunities for increasing access to palliative care, and examining motivations for pursuing enhanced skill credentials in family medicine. She is the lead physician for the Brant Family Health Organization, medical manager at Avenue Medical Centre, and a member of the strategic planning working group for the Brantford Brant Norfolk Ontario Health Team.

As a long-standing community family physician, Lopita feels fortunate to have found something that she loves to do. The variety in family practice, being hands-on and being front line, and growing along with her patients – she feels there are very few professions that have this!
The flexibility in Family Medicine has allowed Lopita to explore her other medical interests, including women’s health and low risk obstetrics. She actively practises in Brampton.
Lopita‘s other favourite thing is spending time with her dog, Luna, and of course her children, who have now taken a second seat to Luna the dog. Luckily, her husband feels the same way about the dog.

In 2018, Jean Paul commenced his academic odyssey at the University, finding his place in the Faculty of Health Sciences HR Department. He journeyed through various HR roles, gaining expertise. In 2023, he ascended to HR Partner at DFM, balancing responsibilities under the guidance of the Executive Director of DFM and Assistant Director of Faculty of Health Sciences. Armed with a B.A. in Labour Studies from McMaster University and a Post Grad Certification in HR from Mohawk College, Jean Paul boasts over 10 years of HR mastery in telecommunications, healthcare, and education. Beyond work, he thrives in the sports realm, reveling in both participation and observation. Despite his seemingly French name, bilingualism remains elusive.

Erin Beaulieu has worked for the Department of Family Medicine since March 2019 as a Knowledge Translation (KT) Specialist and then moved into the role of KT and Strategic Communications Manager in February 2022. In this role, she provides leadership, guidance and support for targeted, responsive and effective KT and communications initiatives across all departmental domains to further strategic objectives, strengthen internal and external engagement, enable greater research impact by furthering the uptake of evidence into practice and policy. Prior to joining McMaster University, Erin worked as a Registered Dietitian in public health and supporting local food policy and programs in the provincial government. Erin holds a Bachelor of Applied Science in Applied Human Nutrition and a Masters of Public Health in Community Nutrition. When she’s not at work, Erin enjoys cooking, cycling, and cuddling with her cat, Ollie.

Dr. David Beisel is a rural generalist physician practicing out of Collingwood, ON with locum privileges at several rural and remote hospitals in Ontario and Yellowknife NWT. He has special interest in underserved populations and newcomer health, with research and practice in LGBTQ+ medicine topics and disability. He is also a BFA graduate in Performance Production and theatre artist.

Amanda Bell is a graduate of McMaster’s medical school and has been practicing as a small-town family physician in Niagara since 2000 with clinical interest in adolescent medicine and women’s health. She is a Clinical Professor in the Department of Family Medicine. She has served as Regional Assistant Dean of the Niagara Regional Campus at the Michael G. DeGroote School of Medicine since 2017. She has completed a Master’s in Health Science Education Program at McMaster where her area of research was student mistreatment. Amanda’s research interests include distributed medical education, professionalism, student mistreatment and experience and leadership development. Amanda has received the John C. Sibley Award for Excellence in Education from the Faculty of Health Sciences as well as a Certificate of Merit from the Canadian Association for Medical Education and the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario Council Award. She is fueled by her family, chocolate, reading, Netflix and laughter.

Special Interests: student mistreatment, distributed medical education, professionalism, women’s health, adolescent medicine.

Jill has spent the past 20 years working as a Physiotherapist, Manager, Director and Consultant in multidisciplinary healthcare settings, in private and public sectors, in Canada and internationally. Jill has worked with the Department since 2013, and has enjoyed the challenge of developing her new role as Clinic Director at McMaster Family Practice.

Jill lives in Brantford with her husband and two boys. She enjoys volunteering with local groups and charities and sits on several different Boards, assisting in managing several different fundraising events. She and a small team raise thousands of dollars for cancer research each year as a special hobby. Other interests include spending time with family and friends, traveling, renovating old homes, reading and her book clubs.

Morgan Black is a Family Physician and has been an Assistant Professor with the Department of Family Medicine since 2017. In addition to her work as a Family Physician at McMaster Family Practice, Dr. Black has a significant interest in the domains of Women’s Health and Low Risk Obstetrics. She currently works as a staff physician with the Maternity Centre of Hamilton, providing full prenatal care to vulnerable populations and performing full intrapartum care at St. Joseph’s Healthcare Hamilton. She also has a strong interest in medical education at both a postgraduate and undergraduate level.

Keyna Bracken is a Professor in the Department of Family Medicine at McMaster University with a full time academic clinical practice at McMaster Family Practice. The former Undergraduate and Clerkship director for the department of Family Medicine, from 2016 until July 2022, Keyna is now the Chair Pre-Clerkship at the DeGroote School of Medicine where she actively works to champion the discipline of Family Medicine. Keyna is actively involved in teaching both at the undergraduate and postgraduate level with a special clinical interest in Women’s Health which has spanned comprehensive surgical obstetrical care across both high and low resource countries. Keyna has an academic fascination with the topic of optimal clinical learning environments and assessment in undergraduate medical education and is actively involved in several medical education research projects on that topic with both residents and undergraduate learners.

Apart from these scholarly interests and leadership roles, Dr. Bracken enjoys the promotion of Women’s Health care along with the concept of wellness and resilience both nationally and internationally and continues to work toward true reconciliation and the dismantling of the many systems of oppression and racism in both the learning and provision of health care both in Canada and internationally.

Special Interests: Optimal clinical learning environments, promotion of knowledge translation using learning psychology and technology assisted innovation, resilience and wellbeing over the course of medical education.

Alyssa has been a staff member with McMaster University since January 2014. After completing the Health Office Administration Program at Conestoga College, she started as an Education Program Associate at the Waterloo Regional Campus. In March 2016, she transferred to the Education Team of the McMaster Family Medicine Department in Hamilton. Between 2017-2020 she completed two back to back career growth opportunities as a Medical Secretary II with the Department of Pediatrics. In March 2020, she came to her current position as a Medical Secretary II in Patient Services at McMaster Family Practice. In this role she thrives with every opportunity to help her fellow staff members, faculty, and patients to the best of her abilities. In her spare time, Alyssa enjoys spending time with family and friends, but also enjoys her down time with a good movie or TV series and a hot beverage, or participating in alternative fitness classes for women. She is due to welcome her first child in May 2022 and is very excited to become a mom!

Tracey Carr is the Executive Director of the Department of Family Medicine at McMaster University, a capacity in which she provides leadership in the strategic and operational direction of education, research, clinical services and eHealth innovations of the Department. Tracey is a Registered Nurse with a Bachelor of Science in Nursing and a Master of Business Administration in Health Services Management from McMaster.

In her career, Tracey has collaborated effectively with diverse stakeholders and demonstrated skill in facilitating changes in process across systems, academic institutions and health care organizations. She was a founding member of the Senior Executive Team of the Trillium Gift of Life Network, an agency established by the Province of Ontario to promote and facilitate increased organ and tissue donation. As Administrative Director of McMaster’s School of Nursing, she was instrumental in strengthening collaboration within the Nursing Education Consortium comprised of McMaster University, Mohawk College and Conestoga College.

Since joining the Department of Family Medicine in 2010, Tracey’s leadership has been integral to its success through a time of great expansion in both education and research, and substantial changes in the local health system. In addition to optimizing the Department’s infrastructure and strengthening operations across all domains and sites, she has been a key leader in Health TAPESTRY and local care integration initiatives (e.g. Health Links and more recently the Hamilton Health Team). Tracey brings a strong voice and skill-set in digital health to system transformation opportunities, and is the Department’s primary liaison with industry partners collaborating on Family Medicine’s digital health innovations. These include:

• OSCAR, one of the most highly-adopted EMRs in Canada;
• CP@Clinic and CP@Home, technologies supporting the clinically proven Community Paramedicine Program led by Dr. Gina Agarwal;
• TaperMD, a tool supporting the proven approach of deprescribing led by Dr. Dee Mangin;
• kindredPHR, a platform designed to enable each person to have their own customizable space within an expanding digital health ecosystem in which they can connect the people and information that matter most to their health from their perspective; and
• FAST (Flu Automated Surveillance Tool), a tool integrated with OSCAR to facilitate capture of flu surveillance data that has been proven to mirror actual incidence of flu in the community.

Tracey believes passionately in the transformative potential of people working together for a common purpose. Her professional background in health and business administration, her leadership experience, and her skill in conceptualizing and implementing solutions to health and health system needs, together, enable her to make vital contributions to our Department, University and community.

Alice is a student in McMaster’s MD/PhD program, graduating in 2024. At the DFM, she’s worked on projects about medical student mistreatment and abuse with Dr. Meredith Vanstone, the health of people who are incarcerated with Dr. Fiona Kouyoumdjian, principles for data-driven education research with Dr. Lawrence Greirson, and primary care provision of medical abortion with Dr. Tejal Patel. She defended her doctoral dissertation, ‘Physician roles in addressing intimate partner violence: Stakeholder perspectives to inform policy and medical education’, in October 2022.

Dr. Chasen has been a faculty member of the Department of Family Medicine since 2016. He was born in Pretoria, South Africa, where completed his undergraduate training at the University of Pretoria in 1983, later obtaining a specialist degree in Internal Medicine, Medical Oncology, and Master of Philosophy (Palliative Medicine) at the University of Cape Town.

He is currently the Medical Director of Palliative Care at William Osler Health System in Brampton. He was previously the Medical Director of Palliative Care at The Ottawa Hospital Cancer Centre and the Palliative Rehabilitation Program at Élisabeth Bruyère Ottawa.

Dr. Chasen has over 110 peer-reviewed publications, abstracts, and book chapters. Presently, he is the principal investigator for the RELIEF App study, using digital technology to make palliative care accessible to people in their homes. Dr. Chasen is also involved in the development of European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) clinical practice guidelines for patients with anorexia-cachexia and the development of a Pan-Canadian guideline in survivorship. He has led 2 teams to achieve the international ESMO accreditation for Integrated Oncology/Palliative Centres.

Dr. Chasen has received multiple awards, including the Elizabeth J Latimer Prize in Palliative Care from McMaster University, Kay Blair Community Service Award from William Osler Health System, and Eduardo Bruera Award in Palliative Medicine from the CSPCP.

Outside of academia, Dr. Chasen enjoys spending time with his beautiful wife Pamela, two daughters, and two grandchildren. His enjoyment of arts and theatre is one of many of his passions.

Special Interests: Palliative care, survivorship, cancer cachexia, digital health technology.

Kevin Chi is a resident physician at McMaster University doing his PGY3 Research and Scholarship Enhanced skills year. He completed his undergraduate medical degree at the University of Ottawa and his family medicine residency at McMaster University. He has a special interest in obesity and lifestyle medicine in primary care. He assisted at The Ottawa Hospital bariatric medicine program in elucidating the bodily changes that occur during weight loss. His main research goals during his fellowship include promoting physical activity at the primary care level. He will also act as an Inquiry tutor and research advisor for the current family medicine residents. He enjoys long distance running and cooking in his spare time.

Rebecca has worked at DFM since Summer 2019. As a Research Coordinator, she works with multiple projects and initiatives within the department including MUSIC, and the David Braley Primary Care Research Collaborative. She also advocates for good data management practices for research.

Rebecca has a Master’s of Science from the University of Waterloo. Her research interests are in primary care, in particular the improvement of health care delivery and collaborative team-based care. Outside of work, Rebecca enjoys spending time with her family and staying active.

Laura Cleghorn has conducted research about the organization and delivery of health care for over 15 years in the areas of home care, primary care and cancer care and specializing in interprofessional teams and qualitative methods. Since 2016, Laura has been with the Department of Family Medicine in several leadership roles that support research faculty and staff  in engaging in high-quality research. She is also interested in cultivating a workplace culture that encourages personal and professional growth.

Sarah Collier works with the People, Culture & Wellness team where she plans, evaluates, and continuously improves all human resources and labour relations activities for a diverse group of staff and faculty within the Department of Family Medicine.

As a true HR generalist, Sarah has the opportunity to provide great service and make an impact in a number of different areas – some of which include: employee relations; recruitment, selection and orientation; training and development; health and safety; human resources planning; and organizational development and culture.

Sarah received a Bachelor of Arts degree in History from McMaster University, and has a postgraduate certificate in Human Resources Management. She is a member of the Human Resources Professional Association of Ontario, and is a Certified Human Resources Professional.

When she’s not thinking about ways she can contribute to the overall HR strategy of the Department, she’s playing crokinole, going out and about, and collecting wonderful slices of happiness.

Dr. Katrin Conen is an experienced medical oncologist specializing in palliative care. She earned her MD in 2003 from the University of Wurzburg in Germany. Dr. Conen completed several fellowships, including research and clinical fellowships in Internal Medicine, Medical Oncology, and Palliative Care at the Massachusetts General Hospital Endocrine Unit in Boston, MA, USA, University Hospital Basel in Switzerland, and University Hospital Frankfurt in Germany.

In 2016, Dr. Conen relocated to Canada and assumed the role of Assistant Clinical Professor in the Department of Medicine at McMaster University, while also serving as an Adjunct in the Department of Family Medicine, Division of Palliative Care. Her clinical focus lies in the early integration of palliative care for advanced cancer patients. Dr. Conen operates an outpatient palliative program at the Walker Family Cancer Centre in St. Catharines. Furthermore, her university responsibilities concentrate on palliative care education within Royal College programs at McMaster.

Rebecca is a PhD candidate in Health Research Methodology at McMaster University and a Research Assistant in the Department of Family Medicine. Rebecca is coordinating the quantitative portion of the “Navigating Covid-19 Risk in Pregnancy” project led by Dr. Meredith Vanstone.

She liaises with theme group experts (clinicians, researchers, and persons with lived experience), methodologists, and statisticians to plan and oversee the quantitative analysis for this cross-provincial, mixed methods study involving the use of population-based health administrative data.

In her free time, Rebecca enjoys skiing, spin, and reading.

Dr. Kat Cottrell completed her medical training at Imperial College London where she worked before coming to Canada for her family medicine residency in 2020. She completed her Graduate Diploma in Clinical Epidemiology through McMaster in 2019 and build on this research work with a PGY3 in Research and Scholarship. She was awarded the CFPC Family Medicine Resident Award for Scholarly Achievement, Most Outstanding Family Medicine Resident Award, the Ennis Endowment Fund for Pain Management and the Resident Wellness Champion Award. She is passionate about Trauma Informed Care and has presented this work at OCFP and FMF. Her main research is focused on the health and wellbeing of performing artists, primarily musicians. This ties into her clinical work as a medical psychotherapist at the Musicians’ Clinics of Canada. She is also a board member and Education Chair of the International Performing Arts Medicine Association. Through this role she has organized over 25 virtual webinars and a 24hr ‘PAMAthon’, an international virtual gathering of over 730 participants from 53 countries. This work resulted in her being awarded the inaugural President’s Award of Excellence in July 2023. Closer to home at McMaster she is an MHBS and Inquiry tutor, and regularly supports residents with electives in research and scholarship. She loves to support residents and help create a supportive, collegial and authentic community that promotes wellbeing within the profession.

Dr. Amie Davis is a family physician in the Department of Family Medicine. For the first half of her career, she practiced community-based comprehensive family medicine which included adult inpatient, obstetrical, palliative and outpatient care. She was also the inaugural site director for the Halton Postgraduate Family Medicine residency site. Her work in medical education has allowed her to contribute in the roles of Site Director at many of the McMaster sites including Halton, Niagara and Hamilton. She is currently the Curriculum Director in the postgraduate Family Medicine program with a special interest in entrustment, competency-based learning and curriculum design. She became a full-time faculty member in 2019, and her family practice is located at Stonechurch Family Health centre where her special interests include delivering and teaching gender-affirming primary care, obstetrical care and women’s health. She is the current medical director of the Maternity Centre of Hamilton, where she participates in the collaborative model of expert family medicine obstetrical providers who provide antepartum, intrapartum and postpartum care to pregnant patients with a special expertise in providing care for pregnant people who may be socially at risk.

Special Interests: Family Medicine Obstetrical Care, Gender Affirming Primary Care, Medical Education.

Stephanie has worked with the Department of Family Medicine since 2018. She received a Master’s in Public Health from Queen’s University. In her current role, Stephanie works as a Research Assistant with the CAMH-McMaster Collaborative and Health TAPESTRY. In her primary role with Health TAPESTRY, Stephanie helps with the implementation and evaluation of the project, which aims to improve the health of older adults with multiple chronic conditions through community engagement and increased connections with primary care.

Bethany is the Administrative Director of the David Braley Primary Care Research Collaborative (PCRC). In this role, she supports the development and expansion of a network to explore important questions in primary care and amplify evidence to inform primary care practice, education, and health systems planning. Bethany has a Master of Public Health in health promotion and community development and prior to joining the PCRC worked in the public health sector in British Columbia and Ontario for over a decade. Through this work, Bethany collaborated regularly with health system partners, local and provincial governments and community organizations on projects ranging from health promotion and evaluation to health systems planning. Most recently, she provided strategic and operational support to the Hamilton COVID-19 Response Table – a collaborative table chaired by public health, primary care, and hospitals to prevent and respond to COVID-19 in Hamilton.

Asiana is a Research Coordinator working on various medical education research projects in the Department of Family Medicine. She completed her MSc in eHealth (Health Informatics) and her Honours BSc in Life Sciences at McMaster University. Her research interests include health system innovation, with a specific interest in researching the implementation of digital health interventions to improve access to primary care services for vulnerable populations.

Research Interests: Health System Innovation, Medical Education, Virtual Care.

Dawn Elston has been fortunate to work in research at McMaster University since 1988. Dawn’s research interests reflect a diverse range of positions in the social and health sciences. Between 1988 to 1998, Dawn worked in a basic science lab studying hunger and satiety in an animal model of inflammatory bowel disease. Moving from the social sciences into the health sciences, Dawn has worked on projects studying quality of life following treatment for prostate cancer, smoking cessation in patients with PVD, nursing undergraduate education, risk factors associated with hospital-acquired infections, cardiovascular disease in patients living with HIV and most recently Advance Care Planning in primary care. Dawn completed her Masters degree in 2013 focusing on gender and social determinants of health, specifically HIV stigma in women living with HIV. Dawn’s professional capacity is supported by her love of animals, friends, family and commitment to community.

Special Interests

Women’s Health
Social Determinants of Health
Advance Care Planning

Special Interests

Addictions and Mental Health

Dr. Nancy Fowler is the Executive Director, Academic Family Medicine at the College of Family Physicians of Canada (CFPC). This CFPC division oversees the development and implementation of the standards of training and certification for family physicians in Canada, as well as working to advance family medicine education and research with universities and other partner organizations. She is a family physician and Associate Professor with 30 years of clinical and academic experience based in Hamilton Ontario affiliated with the McMaster University Department of Family Medicine. She served as the family medicine postgraduate program director for ten years, with a practice based at McMaster Family Practice and before that at the North Hamilton Community Health Centre where she made her start as a full time faculty member. She has a long history of leadership in the medical education and refugee health and believes strongly in family medicine as a force for good in the world.

Karla Freeman has been with the Department of Family Medicine since 2014, and is now working as a Clinical Research Coordinator with the TAPER-P project. Her interests include research in primary care, community pharmacy practice, and care of the elderly.

Jennifer has worked for the Department of Family Medicine at McMaster Family Practice since 2000 and has been in the role of Clinical Site Coordinator at McMaster Family Practice since 2015. Jennifer provides lead hand supervision with day-to-day clinic operations and issues related to clinic staffing and care delivery in the clinic. Jennifer completed her Human Resources Management Diploma at McMaster University in 2012. In 2015, Jennifer was awarded the Chair’s Award for Excellence in Service from the Department of Family Medicine. Jennifer loves camping, playing baseball and travelling with her husband Mike.

Jessica Gaber is a Research/Program Coordinator in Department projects that focus on promoting healthy individual behaviour change or large-scale systemic change, or both. She is skilled in developing, implementing, and evaluating health interventions, particularly using qualitative methods. Jessica is a Registered Social Worker with a Master of Social Work from Wilfrid Laurier University and experience in three sides of social work practice: research, community development, and clinical work. She’s most interested in projects that can bring voices to populations in need and support communities in making change where change is needed. Before joining the Department, she worked in research at the Offord Centre for Child Studies (Department of Psychiatry and Behavioural Neuroscience), as well as in crisis intervention, mental health counselling, and community mental health both at home and in western Africa. She is always looking at the next best way her skills can be used to create positive change. Beyond work, she enjoys writing fiction, aiming to grow a vegetable garden better than the year before, and playing piano and ukulele.

Special Interests: Mental health, Prison health, Chronic illnesses, Refugee and immigrant health, Global health, Elder health.

Dr. Erin Gallagher is a graduate of McMaster University’s Family Medicine residency program (2015), PGY3 Enhanced Skills Training in Palliative Care program (2016) and Master of Public Health program (2018). In 2017 she completed her Clinical Scholar training through McMaster Family Practice, followed by starting her own general practice in 2017 at Stonechurch Family Health Centre where she trained as a resident.

Through her undergraduate training, Dr. Gallagher discovered her love for medical education and leadership development of medical trainees, the latter being an area of research interest and publication. She is a clinical supervisor and lecturer at the undergraduate and postgraduate levels in the areas of general Family Medicine and Palliative Care. She sits on local, provincial and national committees for Palliative Care education for Family Medicine as well as Medicine and its Subspecialties. Her academic interests include public health approaches to palliative care, including community engagement and development, as well as building capacity for palliative care in primary care.

Clinically, Dr. Gallagher divides her time between providing comprehensive family medicine care to her patients and working as a palliative care consultant for McMaster’s Hamilton teaching sites and Hamilton Health Sciences hospitals. She is the Medical Director at Emmanuel House hospice in Hamilton and the Ontario Health West Physician Clinical Co-Lead for Palliative Care.

Sue has over 25 years of administrative experience at McMaster University. Her current role as a Senior Education Program Associate involves coordination of the undergraduate clerkship program. Sue is a dedicated administrative professional who enjoys meeting new people and learning new skills. In addition to having a strong work ethic, Sue likes to bring a fun, light-hearted approach to her interactions with others.

Ashlinder Gill is a Research Coordinator for the Department of Family Medicine, and Division of Palliative Care. She facilitates the implementation and evaluation of projects for faculty, palliative medicine residents, and the Dr. Joshua Shadd – Pallium Canada Research Hub. She has worked in health research since 2010, where her initial interest in palliative care began while completing her undergraduate studies at the University of Waterloo, and co-operative education placements with the Palliative Care Consult Team at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre. To advance her research training, she completed her graduate studies at the Institute of Health Policy, Management and Evaluation (University of Toronto), and was a trainee with the Health System Performance Research Network. During this time, Ashlinder conducted patient and caregiver interviews, and focus groups for multiple team grants, and ministry-funded projects. The primary aim of these projects were to better understand the challenges experienced by community-dwelling older adults with multimorbidity, and how to best deliver primary care services, and home care. Ashlinder began working at McMaster in 2020, as a Research Coordinator with the Health information Research Unit (Department of Health Research Methods, Evidence & Impact), and continues to support her role in Health Knowledge Refinery projects, and PLUS platforms.

Dr. Lawrence Grierson leads research concerned with understanding the relationship between health professions education policies and practices and the quality of healthcare delivered to patients and communities. This work pays specific attention to education antecedents for effective comprehensive family medicine practice, training approaches that promote the acquisition of clinical technical skills, and the ethical inter-institutional collation of training metrics for medical education research.

Dr. Grierson is a member of the Canadian Association of Medical Educators and the CFPC Section of Researchers. He is Associate Professor with the Department of Family Medicine (DFM); Assistant Dean of the Health Sciences Education Graduate Program (HSED); and Scientist with the McMaster FHS Program for Education Research, Innovation, & Theory (MERIT).

Special Interests: Medical and health professions education, admissions and assessment, education research data management, precision technical skills.

Dale Guenter has experience in community-oriented primary care among populations living on the margins of society and the health system, including people in the inner city, remote northern communities, the Philippines, and people experiencing incarceration. He has been focused clinically on managing illness from blood-born pathogens, chronic pain, addiction and mental health issues. He has pursued teaching, research and program development relevant to all of these areas. The emphasis in all of his work is to learn new ways to be profoundly relationship-centred, equity-seeking, and system-improving. His clinical role is with Shelter Health Network in Hamilton. He works to humanize the experience family medicine faculty members in his role as the Faculty Experience Director.

Dr. Guscott is an FPA and rural generalist in Collingwood, Ontario. A passionate, award winning educator, he is an Associate Professor and the long standing Program Director for the McMaster FPA program. He has leadership roles in education and simulation with anesthesia and family medicine residents as well as teaching a number of CME courses and running the interdisciplinary continuing medical education course SCORE.

Patricia Habran-Dietrich joined McMaster in 2013, as an administrative assistant for the Aging, Community and Health Research Unit (ACHRU), within the School of Nursing. In mid- 2014, Patricia joined the Department of Family Medicine as part of the HOPE program. Since 2015 she has been a member of the Research Enterprise, providing direct support to Drs. Dee Mangin and Michelle Howard in their research administrative tasks, as well as broadly supporting the staff of the research team.
Her broad interests include travel, reading and meeting people from diverse backgrounds.

Shuaib Hafid is a Statistical Analyst. Shuaib has worked in health research since 2019. He completed a BA and a MPH at McMaster University, a Professional Specialization Certificate in Population-Level Data Analysis at the University of Victoria and is currently enrolled in the Health Research Methodology PhD Program at McMaster University.

His PhD work will explore regional variations in end-of-life care provision and measure the association between patients’ residential proximity to their care providers and their end-of-life care patterns and healthcare outcomes.

His research interests include population-level health administrative data analysis, large-scale EMR data analysis, geospatial analysis, primary care, and end-of-life care.

Special Interests

Information Technology
music
Art
Graphic Design
Photography
Industrial Design
Instruments
Sculpturing

Dr. Shayna Henry joined the department as a full-time faculty member in November 2023. Shayna provides clinical services at McMaster Family Practice as well as the Shelter Health Network and The Hamilton Clinic, practicing addictions medicine. She has been a member of MFP since 2021. During that time, Shayna has demonstrated her skills as a knowledgeable clinician and passionate educator.

Shayna received her BSc in Biology in 2012 and her MSc in Global Health/Global Health Management and Policy in 2014, both from McMaster University. She completed her MB BCH BAO with honours from University College Cork in Ireland in 2019. She then completed her family medicine residency training with the Department of Family Medicine at McMaster University in 2021.

Karenna’onwe – Dr. Karen Hill is a Mohawk physician from Six Nations of the Grand River Territory. She is the mother of two sons and step mother to five daughters. Hill completed medical school in 2003 and Family Medicine Residency in 2005 – both from McMaster University. Her vision is to see Traditional Indigenous Knowledge return to the centre of life and health care for Indigenous people across Canada. This vision led her to co-create a collaborative practice with Traditional Medicine Practitioners at Six Nations called Juddah’s Place. In 2015 Hill became the first recipient of the Thomas Dignan award for Indigenous Health conferred by the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons. In the same year she also received The College of Family Physicians Excellence Award for leading the way in Indigenous collaborative care in primary practice. Also, in 2016 she was honored by McMaster University with a Community Impact Award. Recently Hill partnered with Paulette Moore – A Mohawk filmmaker – to create “The Aunties Dandelion” media/research centre and healing space, focused on supporting Indigenous embodiment and expanding the human family. Karen continues to practice consultative holistic medicine at Six Nations and provides locum coverage and hospitalist care in Moose Factory. She has completed 4 years apprenticeship in Traditional Indigenous Medicine and continues learning Mohawk language. She continues both as life long commitments.

Michelle Howard is an Associate Professor in the Department of Family Medicine. Her research focuses on understanding the role of primary care for people with serious and life-limiting illness, by examining the influences of practice models, patterns and policies using health administrative and clinical data. She has also studied how patients and health care professionals in primary care talk about serious illness and preparing for future decision-making and has evaluated several tools for advance care planning in family practice.

Michelle has an MSc in Epidemiology from the University of Toronto and a PhD in Health Research Methodology from McMaster University. She primarily uses quantitative approaches including observational studies with population-based data (e.g. www.ices.on.ca www.cpcssn.ca), survey research and development of measures.

Michelle is an instructor for the Program Evaluation course in the McMaster Health Science Education (HSED) program and supervises graduate students with relevant research interests in McMaster’s Health Research Methodology Program.

Natalie has worked for the Department of Family Medicine since 2015. She has been with the University since 2004 working in various areas including Research finance, Administration and the Faculty of Engineering. She loves various activities during her free time including stained glass, reading and lots of walks with her dog Jaxxon.

Gabrielle Inglis joined the Department of Family Medicine as an Assistant Professor in 2019. In addition to her clinical practice at McMaster Family Practice, she works as a Consultant Physician with the Inpatient Addiction Medicine Service at Hamilton Health Sciences and St. Joseph’s Hospital. Prior to joining the department, she completed a Masters in Medical Education at Harvard University, and is actively involved in post-graduate and undergraduate medical education.

Special Interests: Care for People who use Drugs, Primary care generalism, Medical Education, Narrative Medicine

Casey Irvin works to amplify our department’s impact.

As the manager of knowledge translation and strategic communications at the department of family medicine (DFM), he supports faculty, staff and learners to help connect their ideas, research and purpose to key audiences.

Casey worked with DFM for six years as both a communications coordinator and as the department’s first knowledge translation specialist before joining the McMaster Institute for Research on Aging in 2021. Returning to DFM in 2024 (to cover a leave for Erin Beaulieu), Casey is a steadfast advocate for creating progressive, equitable improvements to health care through effective communication, knowledge mobilization and telling good stories.

He has a master’s degree in communications and cultural studies and over 15 years of communications experience in the health care, education and social services sectors.

Advina Kamaric has been working for the Department of Family Medicine since July 2023. In her role as Knowledge Translation Specialist, she works with DFM researchers to raise awareness of the outcomes of research projects in the department through the development of various knowledge translation products such as infographics, videos, reports, and social media posts.  

Advina holds a Bachelor of Science in Health Studies with a Specialization in Health Research and a Master of Public Health.  

Outside of work, Advina enjoys traveling, baking, and reading.

Dr. Kielstra grew up in a small town in Northern Ontario. She attended medical school at Queens University, followed by Family Medicine residency at McMaster University – Grand Erie Six Nations Site, starting independent practice in 2020. Transitioning to practice in the early days of the pandemic she did a number of community based locums in family medicine and addictions medicine. Dr. Kielstra also works as a hospitalist for The Brantford Community Healthcare System in the Dept. of Hospital Based Medicine and Division of Post-Acute Medicine. She also works in the Dept. of Surgery as an OR Assist.
She holds medical licensure in NWT and continues to locum in Yellowknife and Inuvik as time allows. She plays guitar, loves every sport (especially if on or in water), and drinks too much coffee. Her happiest and proudest moments are with her husband Dave and rockstar kids, Simon and Hailey.

Sarah Kinzie is an associate professor in the Department of Family Medicine at McMaster University. She is currently the Postgraduate Program Director for Family Medicine, a position she has held since 2015.

Dr. Kinzie joined the Department of Family Medicine in January 2000 after completing her undergraduate and postgraduate medical training here at McMaster University. She practices at Stonechurch Family Health Centre where she provides comprehensive care for a diverse patient population, in an interprofessional team-based model of care. Dr. Kinzie provided full-care obstetrics and neonatal care during her first 12 years in practice, and remains passionate about women’s health. Other areas of clinical interest include palliative care as well as home-based care for her frail elderly patients.

Dr. Kinzie’s primary academic focus lies in postgraduate medical education. As the former Hamilton Site Director (2009-2015), she led a number of curriculum innovations, including development of a unique, family medicine-led Maternal Child rotation for Hamilton residents, focused on interprofessional teaching of a comprehensive family medicine skill set in a family-centred model of care. Dr. Kinzie was also responsible for the creation of “Block 7”, an innovative, common, integrated Family Medicine-Academic block for all family medicine residents.

From 2005-2015, Dr. Kinzie served as National Director of the Residency Practice-Based Learning Program, (a program administered by the McMaster-affiliated, non-profit Foundation for Medical Practice Education). That involvement supported numerous research and faculty development initiatives that explore how physicians learn and change, with a focus on supporting the transition from residency to practice.

In her current role as Postgraduate Program Director, Dr. Kinzie oversees the training of over 200 family medicine residents distributed across 12 sites. In addition to curriculum development, her primary academic interests include relationship-centred care and teaching, effective learning and remediation strategies, and professional identity development.

Christie has worked with the Department of Family Medicine for over 10 years, and mostly recently joined the VIP Research Lab as a Research Coordinator in 2022. Prior to this, Christie worked on CATCH Study, as part of the Infant and Child Health Lab. Her areas of interest are physical health and fitness in children, and health promotion among vulnerable populations.

Christie graduated from McMaster University in 2008, with an Honours Bachelor of Arts in Anthropology. She is involved with the CP@clinic program, as well as the CHAP-P, ECHEC, and the Social Housing Cohort studies within the VIP Research Lab.

Fiona Kouyoumdjian is a Family Physician, Public Health and Preventive Medicine Physician, and Epidemiologist. She received her BA with Honors from Brown University, her MD from Dalhousie University, her MPH from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, and her PhD in Epidemiology from the University of Toronto Dalla Lana School of Public Health. She completed residency training at the University of Toronto and a CIHR Fellowship at St. Michael’s Hospital.

Fiona leads a program of research focused on the health status and health care of people who experience imprisonment. Her specific research foci are decreasing imprisonment, improving health care and health promotion for people in prison, and supporting successful re-integration to the community for people on release from prison.

Fiona is also an Adjunct Scientist at ICES and an Associate Member in the Department of Health Research Methods, Evidence, and Impact at McMaster.

Greetings everyone! I am from Hong Kong and hold a degree in public health from the United States. Following my studies, I delved into the healthcare field as a hospital administrator at the NHS in the UK. In addition to my academic pursuits, I have a profound love for ballet, boasting over a decade of experience in dance. The proud owner of two British Short Hair cats, I’m always eager to connect with fellow cat enthusiasts. As a fervent learner, I thrive in patient-facing roles, believing that healthcare work epitomizes the fundamental determinants of well-being. My day-to-day experiences at MFP have been both challenging and rewarding, pushing me to strive for excellence in catering to the unique needs of every patient. I anticipate the pleasure of crossing paths with you, whether it be within the family practice or out on the streets beyond the confines of work.

Dr. Linda Lee is a Care of the Elderly family physician, Associate Clinical Professor in the Department of Family Medicine at McMaster University, Director of the Centre for Family Medicine and KW Regional Memory Clinics, and Schlegel Chair in Primary Care for Elders. She has developed the MINT Memory Clinic model and Training Program which has assisted 120 other primary care settings in Ontario, BC, Alberta, and Saskatchewan to establish new MINT Memory Clinics. Dr. Lee’s research interests focus on improving health care for older adults living with dementia and other complex chronic conditions. She enjoys time with family, growing tomatoes, and raising parrots.

Special Interests: community-based dementia care, frailty in primary care.

Michael Lee-Poy is a family physician at the KW & Area Family Medicine teaching site. His passions are in medical education, curriculum and QI. He has an interested in advocacy and LGBT health, and engages in gender affirming training for learners.

Special Interests: Teaching & Education, Curriculum, QI, Indigneous Heath, LGBT Health.

Robin Lennox has been a Family Physician and Assistant Professor with the Department of Family Medicine since 2017. She has a clinical focus in the care of people who use drugs, which includes working with the Rapid Access Addiction Medicine Clinic and the Program for Substance Use in Pregnancy at the Maternity Centre of Hamilton. She is co-Head of Service for the Inpatient Addiction Medicine Service at Hamilton Health Sciences and St. Joseph’s Healthcare Hamilton. In addition, Dr. Lennox works with the Shelter Health Network providing primary care for people deprived of housing. She has a diverse research portfolio aimed at improving models of care delivery and the health outcomes of people who use drugs with infectious complications, and improving the experiences of people who use drugs when interacting with the health system.

Special Interests: Care of People Who Use Drugs, Addiction Medicine, HIV primary care, gender diverse care, care of people deprived of housing.

Guneet Mahal is a research assistant with the VIP (Vulnerable Individuals in Primary Care) lab at the David Braley Health Sciences Centre. She holds an HBSc in Life Sciences from McMaster University. She is passionate about issues of public health and social inequities, especially with regards to older adults and seniors.

Derelie (Dee) Mangin is a professor in the Department of Family Medicine, where she has held the distinguished David Braley Nancy Gordon Chair since 2013. Her academic interests include the role and value of generalist primary care; innovative models of primary care delivery; rational prescribing; effective incorporation of evidence into patient centered practice; and the influences of science, policy and commerce on the nature of care. An area of current focus is multimorbidity and polypharmacy among older adults as a lens for promoting care that maps onto patient priorities and where the burden or care does not exceed the patient’s capacity to benefit. She has wide clinical research experience in primary care, including observational and interventional quantitative research methods and community randomized control trials (RCTs) of innovative models of care. She is currently director of the McMaster University Sentinel and Information Collaboration (MUSIC) practice based research network. Dee has experience leading RCTs of clinical interventions in areas such as antidepressant use, community acquired pneumonia, antibiotics in urinary tract infections, and deprescription trials. She has received award for leadership in Family Medicine and in Family Medicine research that include the Royal New Zealand College of General Practitioners Distinguished Service Award and the Canadian College of Family Physicians Donald I Rice Award.

Special Interests: The role and value of generalist primary care in the health system; innovative models of primary care delivery; rational prescribing; effective incorporation of evidence into patient centered practice; and the influences of science, policy and commerce on the nature of care.

Courtney Manser is a family physician with a focus on palliative care in the Niagara Region. She has a passion for improving quality of life in her patients and is an advocate for physician and resident wellness.

Dr. Denise Marshall (she/her) is a McMaster Family Medicine-based Palliative Care Physician. After completing both undergraduate, graduate and palliative care training at McMaster, Dr. Marshall joined the faculty of Health Sciences at McMaster in 1990, becoming full Professor in 2016. She has held a number of academic leadership roles including Undergraduate Director for Family Medicine, and Assistant Dean, Faculty Development for the Faculty of Health Sciences. In 2003, Dr. Marshall helped launch the Division of Palliative Care, and was its founding Director. She examined Palliative Care as a public health issue during her sabbatical in 2013 and then focused much of her academic work on Public Health Palliative Care. She has provided leadership regionally, provincially and nationally on health systems issues and planning related to palliative and end of life care. She was the inaugural  medical director and founder of the Niagara West Palliative Care Team and McNally House Hospice located in Grimsby where she lived and worked for 40 years. Her interests include  hiking, German Shepherding , singing and  Grammie time with her grandkids.  She now divides her year between a cottage  on Lake Huron, and Halifax.

Francine Marzanek has worked in the Department of Family Medicine since 2009. Prior to this, she worked in public health and education for over 10 years with a focus on heart health and population based community health promotion strategies. As a Research Coordinator, she has been involved with planning, implementing, and evaluating multiple health promotion studies, including the Truckers Research for Innovative Health Promotion Programs. Francine has research interests related to cardiovascular health promotion and chronic disease prevention in the community.

Dr. Jonel Miklea is an Associate Professor in the Department of Family Medicine at McMaster University. He received his training on three different continents. Jonel graduated from the Faculty of Medicine Carol Davila in Bucharest, Romania and completed his Family Medicine residency at McMaster University. He joined McMaster Family Practice as a practicing family physician, and the Department of Family Medicine at McMaster University in 2001. He completed his Masters in Medical Education at Flinders University in Australia. During his time within the department, Jonel has been a committed mentor to medical students, family medicine residents, and international medical graduates. From 2004 until 2011, he was the Program Director of the Family Medicine Undergraduate Program and has been a leader in the development of an integrated clerkship program at McMaster University. In 2003, Jonel was awarded the Gerry Cohen Teaching Award for his excellence as a clinical teacher and his commitment to residency education. In 2008, he was co-recipient of the College of Family Physicians of Canada Outstanding Family Medicine Research Article. Over the years he held different roles in the department from Education Site Coordinator to Faculty Development Local Lead. Jonel pioneered the Adolescent Health Clinic at the Youth and Wellness Center for family medicine residents to sample social accountability during their training. Jonel is a Master Certified Physician Development Coach. His coaching training allows him to facilitate national workshops on coaching peers and learners. He leads the coaching faculty development program for the health sciences and has been doing academic coaching for faculty across the disciplines. Jonel sits on the executive at the Clinical Faculty Association at Hamilton Health Sciences and also actively practices inpatient hospitalist medicine.

Family physician with the Centre for Family Medicine (CFFM) Kitchener-Waterloo. Director of the CFFM Mobility Clinic, an interprofessional primary care clinic with a focus to improve primary care for individuals with spinal cord injury and other physical disabilities. The clinic is dedicated to clinical research in primary care, working closely with the Praxis Spinal Cord Injury Institute. Associate Clinical Professor with the McMaster University Department of Family Medicine and Clinical Specialist for Mobility and Falls with the University of Waterloo-Schlegel Research Institute for Aging (UW-RIA).

Special Interests: Director Mobility Clinic. Interest in primary care research involving spinal cord injury and physical disabilities.

Hi, I’m Margaret!

As one of the HR Partners for the Department of Family Medicine (DFM) at McMaster University, I’m here to support our staff, faculty, and students in every way I can. Since joining DFM in 2008, I’ve had the privilege of holding various roles that have helped me understand the needs of our community and how best to support everyone’s growth and success.

Lifelong learning is something I value deeply. I hold a diploma in Human Resource Management from McMaster University, am a Certified Career Development Practitioner through the Career Professionals of Canada, and have earned my certification as a Talent Management Practitioner. I’m passionate about helping others navigate their career journeys and providing the resources and guidance they need to succeed.

What truly drives me is being of service—helping people tackle challenges, discover new opportunities, and create meaningful career and workplace experiences. Whether through career development support, guiding transitions, or offering strategic HR solutions, I take great pride in empowering others and creating a positive, inclusive environment for everyone.

Outside of work, you’ll often find me spending time with family and friends, enjoying long walks in nature with my dog!

I look forward to connecting with you! Feel free to reach out to me at moscardm@mcmaster.ca.

Dr. Mountjoy is a Clinical Professor in the Department of Family Medicine at McMaster University Medical School and Regional Assistant Dean of the Michael G. DeGroote School of Medicine, McMaster University. She is also a clinician scientist – working for several International Sports organizations in the field of sports medicine including the International Olympic Committee (Games Group), the Association of Summer Olympic International Federations, FIFA, International Golf Federation, World Rugby, and for the World Anti-Doping Agency. She is a retired elite synchronized swimmer. One of her areas of expertise is in the field of harassment + abuse in sport, athlete mental health and female athlete health She is an active advocate of athlete health and well-being at the national and international levels.

Special Interests: Sport and exercise medicine, medical education.

Dr. Nagji has been a member of the Department since 2015.  Since his time in the Department, he has demonstrated a strong commitment towards medical education.  He has contributed to various academic programs that focus on clinical scholarship, and educational leadership and innovation. He has positioned himself to be a well-respected clinician within the local healthcare systems who is highly regarded by his peers.  He has also advanced the mission of emergency medicine (EM) through his to commitment to patient-centered care and has positioned himself as a mentor and faculty advisor to learners. Nagji practices out of Joseph Brant Memorial Hospital (JBH) in Burlington and St Joseph’s Healthcare Hamilton (SJHH). He has been the Director of the EM Clinical Teaching Unit at JBH and SJHH, where he supported faculty development initiatives. He is also the Director of Simulation Learning at JBH and the Simulation Lead for the Mac-Care Burlington CEC where he facilitates regular in-situ simulation programs for staff and learners.

Nagji has also made significant contributions to the Medical School through his involvement as Director of the Emergency Medicine Clerkship, including the renovation of curriculum and integrating innovative virtual teaching modalities during the pandemic. He is also well-known for his expertise in the field of curriculum design and healthcare simulation training. This expertise has garnered him certification from the Royal College Clinician-Educator Diploma Program and the Harvard Simulation Essentials Program.

Nagji is the recipient of several teaching awards, including the Undergraduate Community Teacher of the Year Award in Emergency Medicine and the Joseph Brant Hospital Medical Staff Association Excellence in Teaching Award.

Mat practices and teaches comprehensive rural/ small town family medicine. He has privileges at West Lincoln Memorial Hospital, where he sees inpatients, cares for newborns, and has shifts in the ER. His practice is with the Smithville Family Health Team. He loves guitar jam sing-alongs, and skiing and skating on the creek behind his house.

Augustine joined the DFM as a research assistant in September 2023. His research interests cut across the organization of care in both primary and long-term care, including practice and educational policies geared towards innovation to promote efficiency and effectiveness at the micro, meso, and macro levels. He enjoys playing and watching soccer and table tennis.

Dr. Oliver is an Associate Professor in the Department of Family Medicine at McMaster University.

He joined the Department in 2004 and took on a full-time faculty position in 2007.

Dr. Oliver’s passion for elder care lead him to take on the position as Care of the Elderly Curriculum Coordinator from 2006 – 2015. This role allowed him to develop many innovative programs for the Department, including a Long Term Care clinical rotation for residents and a successful annual CME event entitled “Care of the Elderly: Perspectives for Primary Care”. His clinical commitment to this patient population continues with weekly nursing home rounds and house-calls to frail elderly patients.

He is also co-PI on Health Tapestry, a multi-year, multi-site primary care based intervention aimed at promoting optimal aging in community dwelling older adults. Dr. Oliver’s interest in improving access for patients in primary care resulted in study and co-development of an Advanced Access booking model in the McMaster Family Health Team. This model allows patients better access to their primary care team by having the majority of booking spots available for same day appointments.

Dr. Oliver is the Principle Investigator on a research project designed to better understand how and why patients make the choices they do, when calling in to book an appointment with their family doctor. On the academic front, Dr. Oliver is assisting the Department with several educational leadership roles including Co-Education Coordinator at McMaster Family Practice (2011-16), Hamilton Site Director and CBRT Education Coordinator (2012-2013) and Behavioural Sciences Co-Coordinator (2013-).

Dr. Oliver has held several academic leadership roles in the last few years, including Education Coordinator at MFP (2011-16), MHBS Curriculum Coordinator (2013-2019) and is currently the Medical Director at McMaster Family Practice (2016-present)”

Dr. Alessandra Palombo is a graduate of McMaster’s Family Medicine Postgraduate Training Program (2009), and is a practicing family physician in Brampton and Etobicoke Ontario. She is an Associate Clinical Professor at McMaster University, where she teaches undergraduate medical students, and previously held the role of Family Medicine Preclerkship Director. Dr. Palombo also teaches medical students and residents through the McMaster Family Medicine Brampton Training site, where she was instrumental in the early foundation of the training site and developing key educational initiatives and curriculum components. She also holds faculty appointments with the University of Toronto and Toronto Metropolitan University School of Medicine.

Dr. Palombo’s clinical interests include in Care of the Elderly, Palliative, and Home-Based Care. She co-founded Memory & Aging Canada in 2022, a unique multidisciplinary clinic to enhance access specialty assessments for seniors with cognitive concerns. Dr. Palombo is the Lead Physician for the Central West OHT Home-Based “CARE” of the Frail Elderly Program, where she works with a mobile interdisciplinary team to bring health care to seniors who cannot otherwise access healthcare services. Her scholarly interests include developing these initiatives into educational experiences for medical learners in Care of the Elderly and Home-Based Care. In her free time, Dr. Palombo enjoys indoor cycling, gardening and spending time with her four children.

Melissa Pirrie is a Postdoctoral Fellow with the Vulnerable Individuals in Primary Care (VIP) Research Lab, supervised by Dr. Gina Agarwal and Deputy Chief Richard Ferron (Niagara Emergency Medical Services). Melissa Pirrie has worked in health research since 2005, starting as an undergraduate research assistant with the Offord Centre for Child Studies. After completing a BSc in Kinesiology (McMaster University), she obtained an MA in Applied Health Sciences (Brock University), and recently completed a PhD in Health Studies and Gerontology (University of Waterloo). Her PhD focused on the associations between context and population health, and her dissertation examined school programs, policies, and resources associated with youth physical activity in a large cohort of Canadian students using multilevel modelling. Melissa was a CIHR training fellow in Population Interventions for Chronic Disease Prevention (PICDP) from 2010 to 2012, and currently holds a two-year CIHR Health System Impact Fellowship.

Special Interests: Research interests include population health, health equity, health systems, social epidemiology, vulnerable populations, chronic disease prevention, and the built environment.

Mikayla started working as a Research Assistant in the Department of Family Medicine in 2021. She completed an Honours Bachelor of Arts in Health Studies in 2017 at the University of Toronto and graduated with a Master’s of Science in Epidemiology from the University of Guelph in 2020. She is interested in population health, and the prevalence and prevention of chronic diseases in vulnerable populations.

As a research assistant, Mikayla is involved in a variety of projects including assisting with grant writing, developing knowledge translation materials, and tasks associated with the CP@clinic program.

Dr. David Price – Professor and Past-Chair (2006-2021), Department of Family Medicine at McMaster University. During his tenure as chair, the Department grew exponentially, graduating over 100 family medicine residents annually in what is generally acknowledged to be one of the top academic programs in the country. As part of the residency expansion; teaching units and/or Family Health Teams (FHT) were created in a number of communities in south central Ontario. Department owned and managed teaching sites include Burlington, Stonechurch and MFP. He was the founding director of the Maternity Centre of Hamilton; a multidisciplinary centre that cares for prenatal and intrapartum patients. Dr. Price was also instrumental in helping to create the academic FHT at McMaster University, an interprofessional team, currently serving over 40,000 patients in the Hamilton area. He was a key player in the development of the $85 M, David Braley Health Sciences Centre, a six-story, 185,000 sq. ft. home for Family Medicine and Hamilton Public Health in the downtown core. The research enterprise of the department has also grown in size and reputation, managing over $10M in research grants annually. He also led the creation of a second endowed chair in family medicine ($2 million), the Niagara professorship ($1 million) and the establishment of the David Braley Primary Care Research Collaborative with an additional $4 million endowment.

Through his leadership roles at the University and Hospital (Chief of Family Medicine at Hamilton Health Sciences from 2004-2018), and his involvement with local, regional, and provincial government bodies where he acts as a consultant and advisor, he has developed expertise in primary care reform and health care policy development. He has provided his expertise to provincial governments in Canada, as well as internationally. He has enjoyed learning about other primary care systems around the world during his many visits as an invited speaker to numerous countries.

As the Chair of the Provincial (Ontario) Expert Advisory Panel on Primary Care (2013-2014) he was instrumental in helping produce “Patient Care Groups: A new model of population based primary health care for Ontario” (“Price Report”). He is currently the chair of the Minister of Health’s Primary Care Advisory Table, and has been on Ontario’s Covid-19 Health Coordination Table since April 2020. At the University, he is chair of the Faculty of Health Sciences Finance Committee, and as Secretary of Regional Medical Associates, the incoming president (fall 2022). In July 2021, he became the co-lead of the Health Leadership Academy (a partnership between the DeGroote School of Medicine and DeGroote School of Business).

Dr. Amanda Ramdyal is Family Physician and joined the Department of Family Medicine in 2016 as a locum, and then became an Assistant Professor in 2017. She has a strong clinical interest in women’s health and sexual health. Dr. Ramdyal is a staff physician at Stonechurch Family Health Centre, as well as with Hamilton Public Health Sexual Health Clinic. She has a special research interest in prevention, screening and management of sexually transmitted infections.

Dr. Redwood-Campbell is a full-time faculty member and Full Professor in the Department of Family Medicine since 1996. She is the co-director, Global Health for Postgraduate Medical Education McMaster University. She has a keen interest and expertise in Global Health. She completed her MD and residency at McMaster and her Diploma in Hygiene and Public Health in London UK at the London School of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene. She additionally completed her Master’s in Public Health at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. She has been involved in global health partnerships in primary care and global family medicine. She is the current Chair, Besrour Global Family Medicine Advisory Council.  She has decades of experience international disaster humanitarian work mostly with the Canadian and International Red Cross. She has worked in many countries like Indonesia, Bangladesh, the Philippines, Haiti, Mozambique, Nepal and more. She is the recipient of the OMA Presidential Award, which recognizes long-standing humanitarian service to the greater community. Her more recent research focused on lessons learned by healthcare teams doing international humanitarian work and how this is directly applicable to the Canadian context. In 2023, she is a member of the Ontario Public Health Emergencies Science Advisory Council. She enjoys teaching medical residents and students in a broad family medicine context. Dr. Redwood-Campbell has a clinical practice at McMaster University and enjoys the Canadian outdoors. Further information can be found at https://mcmasterfamilypractice.ca/bios/lynda-redwood-campbell/

Special Interests: Global Health, humanitarian response, complex humanitarian emergencies, immigrant and refugee health, primary health care, global family medicine, equity in healthcare, medical education, teaching in medicine, quality assurance.

I currently work in Hamilton, and the Sahtu and Yellowknife regions of the Northwest Territories. My special interests are in addiction, mental health, correctional populations and other marginalized groups. I focus on evidence-based overdose prevention strategies in all community, correctional and hospital settings. I am also interested in clinical care standards for, and substance use issues in, detransitioners.

Dr. Cathy Risdon is Professor and Chair of the Department of Family Medicine at McMaster aiming to help reinvigorate a sustainable, inclusive learning and practice environment for current and future family medicine learners and providers. For Risdon, breaking down barriers and honouring different viewpoints is key to building a successful department capable of training top-quality family doctors and attracting skilled staff and faculty.

She was the first holder of the David Braley-Nancy Gordon Endowed Chair in Family Medicine, mandated to develop innovations in education, clinical service and research relating to the doctor-patient and interdisciplinary team relationships. She co-created the Michael G. DeGroote School of Medicine’s Professional Competency Curriculum, a two-year course to teach professionalism, communication skills, advocacy, ethics and reflective practice. Following the ten-year term of her Endowed Chair, she became Associate Chair, Academic within the Department of Family Medicine, as well as the co-lead for the McMaster Family Health Team.

Dr. Risdon has completed a Doctorate of Management in Organizational Change at the University of Hertfordshire where her research explored themes of excellence and improvisation within curriculum design and implementation. She has conducted training and consultations across North America for primary care and community-based agencies wishing to improve their capacity for effective team and interprofessional collaborations. Her expertise in facilitation was used to design and deliver on the successful Hamilton Health Team submission. She is an expert in health system integration and primary care and is one of three Canadians who has been inducted as a Fellow of the Academy of Communications in Healthcare in recognition of her contributions to curricular design and facilitation.

A McMaster graduate (class of ’92), Dr. Risdon’s clinical practice has included a varied inner-city population with a focus on vulnerable populations.

After more than 30 years in the Department of Family Medicine at McMaster, Dr. Risdon is still amazed at her good fortune in working with such terrific people. “We have extraordinary people engaged in our mission of service, teaching, and discovery. It’s my privilege to do all that I can to help them thrive.”

Dr. Rochman is graduate of the McMaster residency program in Brampton and works as a comprehensive family physician in Woodbridge and as an active member of the Family Medicine Department at William Osler Health System.

Hailing from Ottawa, Dr. Rochman completed her undergraduate medical degree at the University of Toronto. Passionate about medical education, she supervises medical learners at all levels and is the residency site lead at her practice. She is involved in the Brampton Site Competence Committee, and eagerly contributes to the residency program for CaRMS, local IQ judging, graduation events and wellness seminars. Outside of work, Dr. Rochman enjoys spending time with her two boys and family, “navigating life through a plethora of play dates and extracurricular activities

Dr. Jennifer Salerno’s research interests include chronic disease epidemiology and the application of epidemiology methods to trial research, population and public health, and health services research. She holds a PhD in Epidemiology from the University of Toronto, MSc in Community Health and Epidemiology from Queen’s University, and Honours BSc from McMaster University’s Biology and Pharmacology Co-operative Program. She completed fellowship training at both the Toronto Rehabilitation Institute in the area of traumatic brain injury epidemiology and the U.S. National Institutes of Health (National Cancer Institute’s Hormonal and Reproductive Epidemiology Branch) in the area of breast cancer epidemiology. Her previous research interests included studying the epidemiology of brain injuries and related vascular dementias, and specifically, examining the etiology of cognitive function in aging populations using molecular/biochemical methods and advanced statistical models. She previously worked for several years as a clinical epidemiologist in the Government of Ontario (MOHLTC and Health Quality Ontario) where she performed several health technology assessments, systematic reviews and meta-analyses. She also developed cancer clinical practice guidelines supporting Cancer Care Ontario’s Cancer Imaging Program through McMaster’s Program in Evidence-Based Care, Department of Oncology.

Currently, at McMaster University, she is a Research Associate for the Department of Family Medicine. She is involved in the TAPER research study (TAPER: Team Approach to Polypharmacy Evaluation and Reduction) which aims to reduce multiple medication use and the harmful effects of polypharmacy among older adults. She is also involved with the Primary Care Research Collaborative (PCRC) in the Department of Family Medicine by providing clinical faculty teaching and mentoring initiatives and opportunities and developing the patient/public/community advisory group for the PCRC. She currently teaches in the health research methodology program in the Department of Health Research Methods, Evidence, and Impact at McMaster and is currently the Vice Chair of the American College of Epidemiology (ACE) Ethics Committee. She has held numerous leadership positions in ACE and more recently, she is involved with the International Epidemiological Association as the North American Regional Councillor.

Comprehensive Family Physician, with an interest in medical education and training of future Family Physicians.

Dr. Inge Schabort is an Associate Professor of Family Medicine and the Postgraduate International Medical Graduate (IMG) Director at the Department of Family Medicine, McMaster University. She practices as a full-time academic family physician at Stonechurch Family Health Centre and she tutors Evidence-Based Medicine, Quality Improvement and Mental Health and Behavioural Sciences in the residency program She just completed her term as Academic Half Day Coordinator in the Department.

Dr Schabort recently completed a Master of Health Professions Education (MHPE) at the University of Maastricht in the Netherlands (2020) and an MSc in Evidence Based Health Care from Oxford University in the UK (2022).

After medical school she worked as a physician in Sub-Saharan Africa for 10 years and completed postgraduate training in obstetrics and gynecology, internal medicine, epidemiology, immunology, endocrinology, biochemistry and pathology before she was recruited to Canada. In Canada it took several years for her to compete for an IMG position in Ontario and then repeat her clerkship as well as complete a family medicine residency in the Ontario IMG program.

Dr. Schabort is an author of the national Future of Medical Education in Canada (FMEC) IMG Environmental Scan document, and she also was a physician-stakeholder consultant for the Pan-Canadian Framework for the Assessment and recognition of foreign qualifications for the entry to Residency pathway. She sat on the Thomson IMG Working Group of the Council of Ontario Universities and is currently representing the CFPC on the national N4 Working Group to leverage IMGs to close healthcare labour market gaps. She completed a comprehensive review of the medical student and resident selection and IMG literature and has published research on IMG selection predictors for success. Her MHPE thesis studied IMG selection in Canada and her Oxford dissertation studied IMGs internationally. She recently completed a systematic review of prognostic studies on predictors for success in IMGs in postgraduate training and practice internationally as part of her Oxford dissertation. She currently sits on the Board of Directors of the Canadian Residency Matching Service as an expert in IMG matters.

Dr. Schabort was on the Ontario Steering Committee for the development of the Curriculum for the Ontario International Medical Graduate Pre-Residency program and currently is on the Curricular Advisory Committee for the Pre-residency IMG program for all RCPSC and CFPC IMGs entering residency training in Ontario. She sat on the provincial steering committee for the development of the curriculum and selection process for Practice Ready Assessment. She sat on the Steering Committee for the Ontario Inter-professional Spinal Assessment Education Clinics (ISAEC) and was the Hamilton Primary Care Lead for the implementation of the ISAEC pilot.

She has authored papers on several topics in medical education and primary care research, and an invited book chapter on International Medical Graduates. She has received several awards including the 2012 Award of Excellence from the College of Family Physicians of Canada and the Glenn Sawyer Service Award from the Ontario Medical Association in 2015 as well as the Professional Association of Residents of Ontario (PARO) Excellence in Clinical Teaching Award in 2021

Her clinical and academic interests include medical education, selection, assessment, remediation, leadership, mentorship, IMG education and advocacy, disease screening, prevention and health promotion global health, inter-professional care and education, vulnerable population health, women’s health, chronic disease management, evidence-based medicine and primary care research.

Dr. Keya Shah is a Family and Care of the Elderly physician who joined the Department of Family Medicine in 2020 as a locum physician. She has been engaged in the postgraduate education program and became the Domain Lead for Care of the Elderly in 2021. She is now an Assistant Clinical Professor in the Department and a staff physician working at Stonechurch Family Health Centre as part of the McMaster Family Health Team. Dr. Shah is a proud graduate of McMaster University’s family medicine residency program and now acts as a clinical preceptor to current residents. She utilizes her unique perspective to offer mentorship and support clinical experiences in Care of the Elderly at each of the teaching sites. Her clinical interests include polypharmacy, cognitive impairment and providing home visits to frail older adults and palliative patients. As one of the lead physicians for the Memory Clinic at Stonechurch Family Health Centre, Dr. Shah enjoys working through complex presentations alongside an interdisciplinary team. Outside of work, Dr. Shah enjoys outdoor activities such as camping and kayaking, as well as enjoying good food and board games with her family and friends.

Special Interests: cognitive impairment, home visits, polypharmacy, medical education, palliative care.