Shame is a silent yet powerful force in medicine. It impacts identity and erodes confidence.
Join us on Jan. 21, 2026, at 7 p.m. as the Physician Health Program shines a light on this often-hidden reality.
OMA President Dr. Zainab Abdurrahman will moderate a panel discussing personal stories and practical strategies for addressing shame, as well as how peer support can strengthen our professional community.
7 p.m. – Opening remarks from Dr. Abdurrahman, OMA President
7:05-7:35 p.m. – Shame in medicine: Dr. Nicole Green and Dr. Caroline Bowman:
7:35- 8 p.m. – How to be the peer you hope to find: Dr. Deepa Soni and Dr. James Maskalyk
8-8:10 p.m. – Peer support overview: Physician Health staff
8:10-8:30 p.m. – Q and A moderated by Dr. Abdurrahman
Dr. Nicole Green and Dr. Caroline Bowman
Dr. Caroline Bowman is a family physician based in Collingwood, Ont. and Dr. Nicole Green is an emergency physician based in Charlottetown, P.E.I. They became friends while Nicole trained and subsequently worked with Caroline in Collingwood. They have stayed connected over the years and across the country by sharing their common experiences with shame and resilience as they navigate their careers in medicine and journeys as human beings. Separately, and now together, they bring the uncomfortable topic of shame to physicians with humour and vulnerability and have heard from participants that learning about shame has changed their lives. Caroline and Nicole believe that all physicians (and all humans for that matter) could benefit from learning about this difficult emotion. They look forward to exploring shame and its impact on our medical identities with PHP town hall participants. 
Dr. Deepa Soni
Dr. Deepa Soni is a staff emergency physician at Credit Valley Hospital, Trillium Health Partners, assistant professor in the Department of Community and Family Medicine, University of Toronto, and founder and lead of the Peer Support Program at Trillium Health Partners since 2021.
Dr. Soni is the recipient of the TWEM (Toronto Women in Emergency Medicine) lifetime achievement award.
Dr. James Maskalyk
Dr. James Maskalyk is an author, Medecins Sans Frontieres and Associate professor of medicine at the University of Toronto. He is the inaugural Wellness Director for Toronto's Divisions of Emergency Medicine, and with Dr. Deepa Soni and the OMA, developed Toronto's first Peer Support Program for emergency physicians.