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As an IMG,I had Master Degree in Internal Medicine 1988.Accepted as Internal Medicine Resident McMaster University, moved to Family Medicine Resident which is completed 2008.I completed the CCFP exam then worked as a Family Physician in Burlington 2009.I joined Oakville Trafalgar Memorial Hospital as a full time HOSPITALIST since 2010 until current date. I have been appointed as Associate Clinical Professor(Adjunct)2015.

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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.

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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, and the McMaster Family Medicine Levitt Scholar. 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/)

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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.

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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.

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Dr. Angeles is a Research Associate/Asst. Professor (part time) in the Department of Family Medicine in McMaster University. He is a member of the Vulnerable Individuals in Primary care (VIP) Research Lab and has worked in the Department of Family Medicine since 2009. Prior to coming to Canada, he was a physician in the Philippines, Assistant Dean for Graduate Studies in a University Medical School, and a public health officer (Epidemiology/Environmental Health) with 7 years of teaching (medical school and graduate school). He completed his PhD in Health Research Methodologies at McMaster University. He is a Co-Principal Investigator in global health research programs in the Philippines and Thailand that are funded by the Canadian Institutes in Health Research (CIHR) and Global Alliance for Chronic Diseases (GACD). He is also Co-Investigator in community paramedicine and vulnerable population research grants in Canada.

Special Interests: Global Health, Community Paramedicine.

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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.

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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.

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Dr. Anne Aubé is a bilingual Family Physician at The Beamsville Medical Centre. She obtained a Bachelor of Science in Physiology and Psychology at The University of Western Ontario and then went on to complete her Medical Doctorate and Family Medicine Residency through the Francophone stream at The University of Ottawa. Since 2009 she has been practicing Family Medicine in the community and has had hospital privileges at The West Lincoln Memorial Hospital in Grimsby where she participates in Inpatient Care, Obstetrics and Surgical Assisting. As well as her clinical role at this hospital, she has been the site lead of Family Medicine since March of 2020. She was recognized for her dedicated service and outstanding contributions to patient care when she received the West Lincoln Memorial Hospital Colleague Award in 2021. In her free time, Dr. Aubé loves to spend time with her husband and two children going camping and enjoying the outdoors. She enjoys yoga, reading, gardening and cooking and wishes every day had 48 hours in it to do more of those things she loves!

Special Interests: Inpatient Medicine, Women’s Health and Obstetrics, Palliative Care

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

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Alison Baker is a family physician in Brantford, Ontario and teaches medical students and residents through the Grand Erie Six Nations Clinical Education Campus. She is the Assessment Director for the Department of Family of Medicine Residency Program and an Assistant Clinical Professor at McMaster. She previously held the position of Faculty Development Site Coordinator for Grand Erie Six Nations. She completed the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons Area of Focused Competence Clinician Educator Program in 2022. She is the recipient of the DFM 2017 Excellence in Pre-Clerkship teaching award. Her research activities include using simulation to teach essential conversations in palliative care and examining motivations for pursuing enhanced skill credentials in family medicine. She is the lead physician for the Brant Family Health Organization and a member of the Brantford Brant Primary Care Council, helping to build the Brantford Brant Ontario Health Team.

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Dr. Bal is an Assistant Clinical Professor with the Department of Family Medicine, Michael G. DeGroote School of Medicine and Preclerkship Coordinator for the Waterloo Regional Campus. Dr. Bal is currently completing her Master of Clinical Science (FM) at Western University, and is a recent graduate of the ALiEM Faculty Incubator Program for digital scholarship. Dr. Bal is very involved with health system transformation and leadership, holding roles with Ontario Health as the Primary Care Clinical Lead for Cambridge, a member of the Steering and Joint Board Committees of the Cambridge-North Dumfries Ontario Health Team and sits on the Ontario Primary Care Council. She is engaged with medical politics and is co-chair of OMA Women and was recently elected to the Board of Directors of the Ontario Medical Association. Equity-based work is of particular interest to Dr. Bal, and in addition to gender equity she is involved in regional initiatives including membership on the Refugee Taskforce for the Region of Waterloo’s Immigration Partnership Council and the Steering Committee for the Waterloo-Wellington Older Adult Strategy. She enjoys hiking and spending time with her tweens!

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Nirosha Balakumar is the department’s EDI & Anti-Racism Partner in collaboration with the Equity and Inclusion Office. She is embedded within the departments’ leadership team and manages the design, delivery and evaluation of programs and initiatives aligned with the departments’ commitment to EDI and AR/AO. Nirosha is available to all faculty, staff and learners as a resource and provides office hours that can be used for check-ins, consultations, idea proposals, advice, raising concerns and providing feedback.

Nirosha is a recent graduate of Cambridge University, having pursued an MPhil in Education, Globalization, and International Development as a McKenzie King Scholar and Marty Memorial Fellow. Prior to her graduate studies, Nirosha completed her BAH in Global Development Studies and Gender Studies at Queen’s University. Nirosha has held roles at Queen’s University’s Human Rights and Equity Office, as well as with the City of Toronto, the Urban Alliance on Race Relations and the University Health Network in the areas of anti-oppression and anti-racism. Having worked in the non-profit sector for organizations such as Plan International Canada, CAMFED Canada, as well as with the United Nations Kosovo Team, Nirosha is committed to integrating intersectional global perspectives that challenge Eurocentric norms. Nirosha is also a spoken word artist and TEDx speaker who highly values the integration of art and advocacy as an approach to decolonizing education. She also takes great pride in her mixed cultural identity as a Tamil and Indo-Trinidadian woman and values the opportunity to bring her whole self into her work.

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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.

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Amanda Bell is a graduate of McMaster’s medical school and has been practising as a small-town family physician in Niagara since 2000 with special interest in adolescent medicine and women’s health. She is an Associate 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 is also interested in research and collaboration in areas of professionalism, mentorship, leadership development and student experience. 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. She is fueled by tea, chocolate, reading, Netflix and laughter.

Special Interests: student mistreatment professionalism women’s health adolescent medicine sexual health

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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.

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Dr. Monica Bertolo Graduated with Distinction from the University of Toronto with an Honours Specialist Degree in Human Biology and later from the University of Western Ontario Medical School in 2002. In 2012 she was awarded the Diploma in Practical Dermatology with Distinction from the Australian Institute of Dermatology. Concurrently she completed a clinical traineeship in dermatology and then further completed a psoriasis traineeship in 2015.
Her passion involves Dermoscopy and its utility in the diagnosis and management of skin cancers. She has completed numerous dermoscopy courses including the Intermediate course in Dermoscopy at the Sloan Kettering Memorial University Cancer Hospital in New York City (2015 and 2016) and is an active member of the International Dermoscopy Society.
Dr. Monica Bertolo has a Focused Practice Designation in Dermatology recognized by the Ministry of Health and Long Term Care and the Ontario Medical Association. She is a member of the College of Family Physicians of Canada, the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario, the Canadian and Ontario Medical Associations, the International Dermoscopy Society and is a past adjunct Clinical Professor at Queen’s University. She is currently am adjunct clinical professor at McMaster University and is actively involved in the education of medical students and local physicians. Recently, Dr. Bertolo has received the fellowship designation with the College of Family Physicians of Canada for her outstanding contribution to her community, colleagues, and the discipline of family medicine.

Special Interests: Dermatology, dermoscopy, skin cancer, education.

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Dhwani is a Research Assistant for the BC Atlas project. She received a Honours Bachelor of Science in Kinesiology from McMaster University, where she also pursued a Minor in Sociology. Dhwani’s research interest primarily focuses within public health, specifically health research methodologies and mental illness within vulnerable populations. She has extended a sociologically informed, intersectional approach to her research, studying the effects of transmigration on racialized immigrant populations. Dhwani aims to improve the quality of life for patients in palliative care through this research project.

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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.

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Alyssa Boyd has been a palliative care consultant in the South Georgian Bay area since 2008. She is currently the medical director of Hospice Georgian triangle and the lead physician for the North Simcoe Muskoka palliative care physicians group. She is an associate clinical professor from McMaster University and teaches regularly in her role as the Palliative Care mentor for the Rural Ontario Medical Program. Most recently she founded a charity called The Living Wish Foundation that grants end of life wishes to adults who are living with a life threatening illness.

Special Interests: Narrative Medicine

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Dr. Boyd’s passion for caring for older adults led him to provide primary care in a family practice for 6 years before pivoting to full time post-acute and long-term care. He supports the education of medical students, family physician residents, care of the elderly and geriatrics fellows. His research interests focus on long-term care. His academic service includes serving on the care of the elderly working group, the long-term care clinician’s interest group, the Greater Hamilton Health Network’s Long-term Care Advisory table, and the Provincial Geriatric Leadership Ontario’s Clinical Leadership council. When not providing bedside care, he serves as the medical director of St. Joseph’s Villa and Alexander Place as well as the chief of staff at St. Joseph’s Health Centre Guelph. He is a past president of the Ontario Long-term Care Physicians and the past chair of the Ontario Medical Association’s section on long-term care / care of the elderly.

Special Interests: Long-term care.

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Dr. Bracken has been with the Department of Family Medicine since 2006 after working as a community based comprehensive care family physician for many years. Her desire to promote the career and calling of Family Medicine drives her focus on undergraduate medical education as an opportunity to impact learning and professional identity formation. Dr. Bracken has held several leadership roles in the department notably Maternity Center Director, Enhanced Skills Director, and Undergraduate Director including Clerkship. In this latter role, she revised the FM clerkship tutorials into an eLearning pathway using adult learning theory and incorporating technology enhanced learning. She is now moving into new leadership roles both in the department and in the undergraduate medical program.
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.

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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!

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Special Interests: Emergency Medicine. Hospital Medicine. Memory Clinic.

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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.

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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.

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Dr. Chin has been a faculty member of the Department of Family Medicine since 2015. He serves as Chief of Hospital Medicine at Oakville Trafalgar Memorial Hospital, Halton Healthcare. Dr. Chin is Chair, Section on Hospital Medicine, Ontario Medical Association. Dr. Chin has a keen interest in Schwartz Rounds, an interprofessional forum exploring the social and emotional impact of providing care.

Special Interests: Hospital Medicine

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OHN CHONG MD, BASc, MSc, DOHS, FRCPC, FACPM, MDPAC(C), ARCT The harmonization of Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM) and Performing Arts Medicine (PAM) has created a powerful transformation for the healing of musculoskeletal pain, mental health and addictions, and stress-related disorders in a vulnerable population where current evidence-based medicine has fallen short. Although it has been a long journey to learn and practice the essential skills to provide effective healthcare to the performing arts community, the impact of CAM interventions has touched, moved, and inspired an energetic and creative generation of performing artists and healthcare professionals. The Musicians’ Clinics of Canada since 1986 has been the focus of clinical practice, education, and research in Complementary and Integrative Health igniting exciting possibilities in the orchestration of new clinical paradigms. By collaborating with many colleagues in the Performing Arts Medicine Association (PAMA) since its inception in 1983, methodical stepwise progress has been made in the design, implementation, and evaluation of CAM assessment and treatment approaches. This has required visionary leadership and personal integrity to move PAMA from traditional medical values to an inclusive multidisciplinary organization from diverse healing perspectives. Integration of experience in the performing arts, electrical engineering and public health and preventive medicine with the new frontiers of integrative medicine has been a catalyst for further progress. Building a foundation of practice-based evidence of applied psychophysiology drawing from eastern philosophies of acupuncture to the spectrum of psychotherapy will contribute to the scientific basis of evidence-based performing arts medicine.

Special Interests: Performing Arts Medicine, Complementary and Alternative Medicine, Cannabis Health Integrative Medicine Practice-Based Evidence Research, Performance Exposure Therapy, Public Health and Preventive Medicine.

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Rebecca works as a Research Assistant with Health TAPESTRY. Her role is focused on the evaluation of the project. She received a Master’s of Science in Kinesiology from the University of Waterloo. Rebecca’s research interests are in primary care, in particular the improvement of health care delivery and collaborative team-based care.

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Laura Cleghorn has conducted research about the organization and delivery of health care in Ontario for over 15 years in the areas of home care, primary care, and cancer care, often focused on improving access to care for marginalized populations. Since 2016, Laura has been with the Department of Family Medicine in a role that supports the faculty and staff of the Research Enterprise to engage in high-quality research. Laura is also interested in cultivating a workplace culture that encourages personal and professional growth. When not at work, Laura can be found in arenas in the greater Hamilton area, enjoying her kids’ hockey and figure skating activities. Laura’s second favourite past-time is walking her dog in Cootes Paradise, in all seasons.

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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.

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Rhonda Collins has been a faculty member of the Department of Family Medicine since 2012. She has a passion for improving the lives of older adults. She has achieved a certificate of added competence in care of the elderly. She has worked as a consultant for a geriatric mental health outreach team and a rehabilitation hospital with a focus on early diagnosis of dementia. She has served on the board of directors for the Alzheimer’s Society Niagara Region and is the current Vice President of Ontario Long Term Care Clinicians, a voluntary non-profit organization whose vision is that all Ontarians in Long Term Care will receive excellent care. Rhonda enjoys time with friends and family, traveling, scuba diving, gourmet food and excellent Ontario wines.

Special Interests: care of the elderly, dementia, behavioural and psychological symptoms of dementia, osteoporosis, fracture prevention, quality of life.

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David has been a faculty member since 2005. He has an interest in hospital medicine, emergency medicine, pediatrics and geriatrics. He also has a keen interest in how climate change is affecting health. He is a board member of the Guelph FHT and won the Preceptor of the Year award for the KW and area family medicine program in 2018. David enjoys time with his family, cycling, skiing, camping, live music and road trips.

Special Interests: Hospital Medicine, Pediatrics, Emergency Medicine, Geriatrics, Climate Change

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As a Program Manager, Julie Datta provides operational oversight to the Health TAPESTRY program and is the primary liaison for implementation sites across Ontario. Julie brings over ten years’ experience in health promotion, project management, volunteer engagement, and community development to the Health TAPESTRY team. Prior to joining the Department of Family Medicine in 2017, Julie was a Program Manager at the Canadian Cancer Society, where she oversaw the delivery of a peer-education program promoting cancer screening within under-served communities across Ontario. Julie was also a Health Promoter at the Halton Region Health Department where she implemented and evaluated health promotion strategies to achieve chronic disease prevention. Julie is a Registered Social Worker, and holds a Bachelor of Social Work from York University and a Master of Social Work from the University of Waterloo. She is a member of the Burlington Civic Chorale Singers, is an avid dragonboat racer, and has a lifetime goal of visiting all of Canada’s National Parks (so far she has visited 15 of them).

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Dr. Anthony Davies describes himself as a “generalist Family Physician” with practice areas in Academic Family Medicine, Family Practice Anesthesiology, Emergency Medicine, Integrative Medicine, Rural and Remote Medicine, Global Health, Pain management, Psychiatry and Addictions, and Care of the Elderly. As an academic general practitioner, Anthony has pursued interests in eLearning, simulation education and faculty development. Anthony trained and worked in Nigeria, Trinidad and Tobago as well as Rome, Georgia, USA, in the mid 1990s to early 2000s. Anthony joined the McMaster Department of Family Medicine, Waterloo Regional Campus in 2018 as an Assistant Clinical Professor (Adjunct) and have taught and supervised undergraduate and postgraduate learners in the clinical setting and in the classroom.  Presently, Anthony works in a busy solo family practice and share call with other physicians in the Grand River Family Health Organization. His research experience started in Africa as a medical student contributing to public health, potable water and sanitation in Lagos metropolis. Since 2017, Anthony has done unpublished work in Pain medicine, rehabilitation science and addictions. He is affiliated with CAMH/University of Toronto as a faculty fellow since 2019 to further his work in the field of mental health, chronic pain and addictions.

Anthony Davies Medicine Professional Corporation:

Dr. Anthony Davies Family practice serves uninsured, under-served families in Central and Southern Ontario, Canada. We are open to the public. All insurance and private pay accepted. Support, comfort, teaching and motivational interviewing are offered to all clients.

Hours: M-F, 9:00 am-5:00 pm.

Please call the appointment phone number (519) 742-2046 during office hours to schedule an appointment.

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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.

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Mara is a Research Assistant for the COVID@home and COPD project. She is a graduate of a B. A (Hons.) in Psychology, as well as the Certificate of Sexual and Gender Diversity at Queen’s University. She has acquired over four years of research experience, predominantly focused on psychopathology and interpersonal relationships. Mara is excited to work in the Department of Family Medicine and hopes to one day bridge the gap between primary care and mental healthcare.

Special interests

Women’s Health
Social Determinants of Health
Psychiatry/Psychology/Mental Health
Social Relationships

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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.

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Dr Dillon is a graduate of the Family Medicine program at McMaster University – Niagara Regional Campus(NRC). As chief resident she began her teaching career with McMaster-NRC. After a number of years working in small towns and larger cities in Niagara as a locum Family Physician she returned to school achieving her Postgraduate Diploma in Practical Dermatology. She practices in Port Colborne and while continuing to contribute to Covid-19 efforts through Covid Assessment Clinics and vaccination efforts in Niagara and Hamilton Regions. When she isn’t working, you can find her hiking the Bruce Trail or preparing gourmet meals for family and friends. Her hobbies include adopting senior dogs with special needs, watercolour painting and skiing.

Special Interests: Dermatology, Palliative Care, Aesthetic Medicine

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Dr. Heather Dixon is a full time Family Physician and founding member of The Centre for Family Medicine Family (CFFM) Health Team in Kitchener, Ontario. She is the Director of the CFFM International Travel and Immunization Clinic and an Assistant Clinical Professor at McMaster University. She has been teaching and practicing Travel Medicine since 2006. She completed her Certificate in Travel Health® in 2007.

Special Interests: Travel Medicine & Immunizations.

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Dr. Kevin J. Dong is an Emergency Medicine Physician working at the Hamilton Health Sciences. He is the current Continuing Professional Development Lead for the Tri-Divisions of Emergency Medicine. He also is the co-founder of the MacEmerg Podcast and his interests are in medical education, transition to practice, and teaching.

Special Interests: Medical Education, Podcasting, Teaching.

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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.

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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.

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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

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Penny English is a graduate from McMaster Medical School where she completed her Undergraduate medical education and Family Medicine Residency. She is currently the Regional Educator Leader for Family Medicine at the Waterloo Regional Campus. She also has a Family Practice in Waterloo.

Special Interests: Student Health, Women’s Health.

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Special Interests: Internal medicine, endocrinology, rheumatology, nephrology.

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Special Interests

Addictions and Mental Health

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Special Interests: hospital medicine, medical education, quality improvement.

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As the Managing Director, Research Enterprise, Pam Forsyth provides strategic oversight, financial management and operational planning to the Department’s research initiatives.

Pam’s expertise is in planning and evaluating strategic health initiatives, facilitating systems change and managing teams to maximize their potential. She has held senior management positions in health promotion, health communications and knowledge translation. Before joining McMaster DFM, Pam was the Managing Director of the National Collaborating Centre for Methods and Tools, a federally funded organization with a mandate for building capacity for Knowledge Translation in Public Health across Canada. Prior to that, Pam Managed the Community Relations Division with Halton Region and the Health Promotion and Communications program with the Halton Region Health Department.

Pam is a Registered Dietitian and holds a Master’s degree in Health Promotion from the University of Toronto.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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Dr. Froese is a full-time family physician splitting her time between comprehensive family medicine office practice, long-term care, newborn hospitalist work, and various teaching and leadership positions (including as a Board Member for the Ontario College of Family Physicians). She strives to optimize the use of technology to improve the quality of patient care and practice efficiencies, and she loves sharing her passion for family medicine with learners.

Special Interests: Full scope family practice, leadership, newborn hospitalist, LTC, practice management/efficiency.

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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.

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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 became an Assistant Professor in the Department of Family Medicine in 2017 and is a clinical supervisor and lecturer at the undergraduate and postgraduate levels in the areas of general Family Medicine and Palliative Care.

Dr. Gallagher’s most recent pursuit was the completion of her Master of Public Health, recognizing the importance of community engagement and development in promoting effective palliative approaches to 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 Ontario Representative on the College of Family Physicians of Canada’s Palliative Care Committee.

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Special Interests: Penicillin drug allergy and testing, Hepatitis C screening and treatment, hospitalist medicine, long term care.

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Special Interest: Medical education, hospitalist medicine, emergency medicine in developing countries, global health, narrative medicine and philosophy.

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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.

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Special Interests: prenatal care, well baby care.

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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.

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Dr. Jeffrey Graham is a Postdoctoral Fellow in the Department of Family Medicine at McMaster University. He completed a PhD in Exercise and Health Psychology at McMaster University in the Department of Kinesiology. His research focused on understanding how self-control, self-regulation, and social-cognitive factors modify the performance of physical exercise. His current research is examining the impact of physical activity on executive functioning and self-regulation in children with and without neurodevelopmental disorders.

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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.

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I have been with the Department of Family Medicine since July 2013, starting as the Accounting Assistant for OSCAR EMR Inc. I am now working within the Finance Team and my portfolio consists of DFM Education and the Stonechurch Family Health Centre. I love dogs, reading and jigsaw puzzles.

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Dale Guenter completed medical school at University of Calgary, internship at Dalhousie, and Master of Public Health at Harvard. He joined the Department of Family Medicine at McMaster in 1999, at North Hamilton Community Health Centre, following several years as a family physician in the Canadian Arctic and in Calgary’s inner city. He developed a lasting collaboration with Ateneo de Zamboanga University in Philippines starting 1997, assisting with problem-based learning curriculum and a new Master of Public Health program. Dr. Guenter co-founded the Shelter Health Network in Hamilton as one part of a health care solution for people whose lives do not fit the mould of traditional medical models, and was the founding primary care lead for the Hamilton Health Links initiative. He joined McMaster Family Practice in 2006, and served as medical co-director from 2008-2016. He is a founding faculty member for the Master of Public Health program at McMaster, which started in 2014.

Dr. Guenter’s primary interest is in exploring and delivering novel approaches to health care that that will result in a more effective experience of healing. His research, teaching and clinical work are focused on people affected by HIV, mental health and addiction, chronic pain, frailty and end of life concerns. His work takes place through community partnerships, collaborations between public health and primary care, improved communication skills, and reflection-in-practice.

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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.

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Abe Hafid is a Statistical Analyst at the Department of Family Medicine. Prior to joining the department, Abe completed his graduate studies at McMaster University. His research interests include end-of-life health services research using population-level health administrative data.

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Julie has an educational and professional background in social work, she spent the beginning years of her career working as a Behaviour Support Worker, assisting with difficult discharges from hospital to community settings and managing complex behaviours primarily associated to diagnosed dementias within the parameters of an acute care environment. She has spent the past few years working within retirement living communities, as an Assisted Living/Memory Care Manager where she led a diverse team of nursing staff throughout the pandemic. Outside of her professional life, she is a self-published fiction author of two novels and spends a lot of time studying as she is also pursuing her MSW on a part-time/online basis. She is passionate about learning and is very excited about making an impact in her role with William Osler and McMaster University.

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Erich Hanel divided his training between Ireland, the United States and Canada. His training included full time internal medicine, family medicine and emergency medicine. His current role with the Division of Emergency Medicine involves the education of medical students, residents, paramedics and fellows in emergency medicine, ultrasound and simulation. When not working, he would always prefer to be outside with or without his family. Throughout his time with the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and McMaster he is proud to have won numerous teaching and educational awards.

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Dr. Janice Harvey is primary care physician with a Certificate of Added Competence (CAC) in sport and exercise medicine from the College of Family Physicians of Canada (CFPC) where she a Physician Advisor in Continuing Professional Development. Dr. Harvey is also the Director of the Standardized Patient Program (SPP) at the Centre for Simulation Based Learning (CSBL) at McMaster University. Dr. Harvey was the Chair of the Ontario College of Family Physicians’ CME/CPD Committee for 6 years and was the President of the Canadian Academy of Sport and Exercise Medicine in 2011. Dr. Harvey has abundant national and international sport experience where she is currently the Medical Lead of the World Curling Federation and is the Canadian Delegate to the World University Sport Federation (FISU) 1997 to present.

Special Interests: Medical Education, Sport and Exercise Medicine.

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Special Interests

Information Technology
music
Art
Graphic Design
Photography
Industrial Design
Instruments
Sculpturing

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Karenna’onwe – Dr. Karen Hill is a Mohawk physician from Six Nations of the Grand RiverTerritory. 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 healthcare 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 Universitywith 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.

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Certina Ho is a graduate of the Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Toronto. She obtained her graduate degrees in Library and Information Science and in Education from the University of Toronto.

Certina is currently appointed as Clinical Assistant Professor at the Department of Family Medicine, Michael G. DeGroote School of Medicine, McMaster University, providing teaching support to the InQuiry curriculum and quality improvement projects of family medicine residents at the Kitchener-Waterloo Teaching Site.

At the Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy, Certina is the course coordinator of a Year 3 elective course for Doctor of Pharmacy students on Patient/Medication Safety. She is also one of the Faculty Advisors for the Industrial Pharmacy Residency Program. She joined the Department of Psychiatry as the Director, Educational Program Evaluation and Scholarship, in January 2020. Certina has been an adjunct faculty member at the School of Pharmacy, University of Waterloo, since 2008. Certina has been actively engaged in academic research and continuous professional development in teaching and learning, experiential education, medication safety, and pharmacy practice. Her research and scholarly interests are related to educational program evaluation, development of patient/medication safety and quality improvement initiatives, respectively.

At the Institute for Safe Medication Practices Canada (ISMP Canada), Certina was the inaugural Director, Community Pharmacy Reporting and Learning, with a primary responsibility on medication safety initiatives related to community pharmacy practice, medication incident reporting and analysis. Currently, Certina remains affiliated with ISMP Canada as a Medication Safety Advisor.

Special Interests: Educational program evaluation, education scholarship, patient/medication safety, quality improvement

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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.

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Special Interests: Addictions medicine, delirium, inpatient medicine

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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.