OMA Award recipients

Community Service Award

Cheryl Behan graduated with a nursing degree from St. Michael’s Hospital in 1968 and completed post-graduate studies at the Montreal Neurological Institute. She worked in the neurological unit at St. Michael’s Hospital as assistant head nurse. In 1985, Cheryl obtained a BScN from Ryerson University and worked as a clinical instructor in neurological sciences for George Brown and Central Registry Nurses.

Cheryl moved back home to Orillia in 1985 and became co-ordinator of infection control at Orillia Soldiers’ Memorial Hospital and lecturer in infection control at Georgian College. She also studied at Tunney’s Pasture in Ottawa and received a certificate in infection control.

In 1998, Cheryl joined the Communicable Disease and Infection Control team at Simcoe County District Health Unit. She led a SARS team in spring 2003 and received a mentorship award from health unit peers. She retired from public health in 2012.

Cheryl volunteer activities include guest lecturer on the MAID team, COVID team member, Mariposa House Hospice, Orillia Concert Band (flautist), Orillia Concert Association board member, OSMH CEC committee member, former board member Hospice Orillia, former president AIDS Committee Simcoe County, active member St. James Anglican Church (volunteer award 2018), race committee member Champlain Sailing Club, Legion team member with poppy and kettles campaign, volunteer Champlain Service Club, active OSMH nurses’ alumnae member, active St. Michael’s Hospital nurses’ alumnae and Ryerson alumnae member.

Community Service Award

Jill Croteau graduated from Lakehead University with a bachelor of business administration and achieved her certified human resource leader designation with the HRPA. Jill started as an agency recruiter in Calgary, Alta. in 2000 and in 2002 moved to Ontario to continue working in this field. She has worked with companies in Niagara to source engineers, accounting professionals and a variety of other professions. For the past 11 years, Jill has been working for the Niagara Region as a physician recruiter, with a focus on family physicians. During this time, she has sourced and/or supported over 150 family doctors with their transition into practice in Niagara.  

Jill works collaboratively with local area municipalities, hospital systems, public health, Ontario Health, the Ontario Ministry of Health and McMaster De Groote School of Medicine. She sits on steering committees for primary care advisory and liaison with public health, Niagara Practitioners Healthcare Alliance and Niagara Health to help improve access to primary care and physician engagement within the Niagara Region. 

Jill served as an executive with the Canadian Association of Staff Physician Recruiters for six years and was selected to be the recipient of the CASPR Leadership Award in 2017 for contribution to the physician recruitment profession. 

Emerging Leader Award

Dr. Sinziana Avramescu is an anesthesiologist at Humber River Hospital and assistant professor at the University of Toronto. Her career goal has always been to advance science, medical knowledge and ultimately, the care we provide to our patients. To this end, she completed dual training, as a physician and a scientist. After finishing medical school in Romania, she moved to Canada and completed a PhD in Neurobiology at Laval University in Quebec, followed by anesthesia residency training at the University of Toronto. She joined the department of anesthesia at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre and undertook postdoctoral studies in translational medicine and a certificate in knowledge translation. She developed a research program in perioperative brain health, spanning from bench research to clinical trials and patient education.

Over the years, her research findings and scientific opinions have been published in top medical journals and her work has been recognized by grants and awards at national and international levels. Dr. Avramescu moved to a community practice at Humber River Hospital in 2018 and developed an interest in medical leadership. She completed a Master Certificate in Healthcare Leadership at York University, and she currently serves as the executive director of the anesthesia department at Humber River Hospital. During the COVID-19 pandemic, she was actively involved in developing resources to help her patients, her colleagues, and other members of the health care team. To help ease the pressure on the nurses in the Intensive Care Unit, she created the Physicians as ICU Care Providers program, to help train physicians to serve in a nursing role in the ICU. For her leadership and contributions to medicine and research, Dr. Avramescu was presented with a CPSO Council Award in June 2022.

Glenn Sawyer Service Award

Dr. Anil Dhar graduated from Kashmir University, India with MBBS and came to Canada to complete his respirology and critical care fellowships from the University of Manitoba. He started practicing in Windsor in 1999 where he helped establish several respiratory programs to improve the delivery of care to Essex region patients. These include the development of regional pathways for outpatient management of community acquired pneumonia and DVT and regional pulmonary rehab program for advanced lung disease.

Dr. Dhar became medical director of the ICU and section head of respiratory diseases at Windsor Regional Hospital. Under his leadership, he expanded both programs to what it is today. The ICU has become a busy 19-bed Level 3 unit which promotes multidisciplinary rounds, which improve outcomes. He became the lead of the Lung Diagnostic Assessment Program and established the Endoscopic Bronchial Ultrasound program for the assessment of lung/mediastinal masses, which enhanced lung cancer diagnosis and staging.

Dr. Dhar was president of the medical staff and also chair of the Quality of Care Committee at WRH. He was the treasurer of Essex County Medical Society. He is currently an adjunct professor of medicine at Schulich School of Medicine and actively participates in medical school education and resident teaching. He continues to maintain a large clinical practice and conducts clinical research to provide access to new technologies and medicines to patients in Essex county. Despite all his clinical achievements, he makes time to spend with his family and play golf.

Glenn Sawyer Service Award

Dr. John Song moved his family to London Ont. When he turned four he began his education. He attended kindergarten through grade 6 at Emily Carr Public School in north London. The growth of the community outpaced the school, so Grade 7 and 8 students suddenly were transferred from the suburbs to the gritty inner city Lorne Avenue Senior Public School. This twist did not stop him from ultimately entering medicine at Queen’s University and further on to orthopedic surgery at the University of Ottawa.

After an additional fellowship there in shoulder surgery, he began practice in Welland, Ont. He was attracted to the small hospital size and its sense of family. However, like a throwback to his grade 6 experience, the Welland County General Hospital amalgamated into the Niagara Health System. Joining this large bureaucratic organization was a change that required adjustments, nevertheless, he continued to pursue innovations for the region, such as incorporating shoulder arthroscopy into routine procedures, bringing in reverse total shoulder replacement, and recently pioneering direct anterior approach hip replacements. His efforts helped place their small hospital on the cutting edge, establishing Welland as the region’s destination for outpatient joint replacement surgery.

This village sensibility has been Dr. Song’s secret to enjoying the demanding work of a busy surgical practice. Families of patients and staff continually cross paths and share life with his family at the local arenas, schools and churches. Special shout out to all my colleagues and coworkers in the Welland Operating Room Village.

Glenn Sawyer Service Award

Dr. Sanjiv Mathur is an anesthesiologist at Health Sciences Centre in Sudbury, Ont. and an assistant professor at the Northern Ontario School of Medicine. His research interests include cardioprotection and environmental medicine. He is an invited speaker and lecturer on the environmental impact of medicine. He is on the founding board of the Canadian Anesthesiologist Society for Environmental Sustainability chapter and the Ontario Anesthesiologists Sustainability chapter. Dr. Mathur is a board member of Citizens Climate Lobby Canada. He has supported this organization in its goal to lobby politicians regarding climate change policies. He has personally lobbied MPs, MPPs, Senators and American Congress and participated in COP26. Dr. Mathur views climate change as the greatest risk to human health.

Dr. Mathur has served as the president of the Sudbury and District Medical Society and as a member of OMA Council serving as a delegate for Northern Ontario. He is the lead physician providing MAiD service within Health Sciences North. Dr. Mathur was the co-founder and co-director of the Acute Pain Service at HSN focusing on perioperative analgesia and safety. Dr. Mathur founded the Blood Conservation Program at HSN and has sat on the boards of the Ontario Blood Advisory Committee and Ontario Nurse Transfusion Committee. He is the chair of the Transfusion Committee at HSN.

Honorary Membership

Madonna Ferrone is the director of Asthma Research Group Inc/Best Care since 2007, with an interest in chronic disease management, research and evaluation initiatives and health-system transformation. She is a leader for the Primary Care Innovation Collaborative servicing southwestern Ontario, the chair of PCIC Certified Respiratory Network, and the past chair of Ontario Primary Care Asthma Program with a focus on COPD, heart failure, asthma and atrial fibrillation. Madonna leads the best care program with expansion to 186 sites across southwestern Ontario, working collaboratively with over 900 primary care physicians and 100 nurse practitioners with a focus on program fidelity, quality assurance, and real-world implementation of international and national guidelines.

Madonna is a registered respiratory therapist, a certified respiratory and cardiac educator, has project management training from the University of Toronto, TEACH (CAMH) trained in smoking cessation and lean training. Before this, she worked for 15 years for Hotel Dieu Grace Hospital as the charge and staff therapist. 

Life Membership Award Recipient

Dr. Andrea Steen was born and raised in Windsor, Ont., and is married with four children. Dr. Steen began her education at St. Clair College in the nursing program. She then continued her education at the University of Windsor, earning a bachelor of human kinetics and then a master’s degree in science from the University of Waterloo. She obtained her medical degree from McMaster University and completed her residency in family medicine at Ottawa Civic Hospital from 1989 to 1991, becoming CCFP certified. Dr. Steen returned to Windsor in 1991 and started her family practice. 

Dr. Steen also started working at the Teen Health Centre where she treated youth with eating disorders for the next 25 years. She worked as a hospitalist at Windsor Regional Hospital in the medical units and in the psychiatry units at Hotel Dieu Grace Hospital. From 2006 to 2007, she served as the president of the Essex County Medical Society after spending several years on the executive committee. In 2012, she took on the role of the president of the Professional Staff at Windsor Regional Hospital and held that position until 2014. In 2013, with the re-alignment of the two hospitals, she took on the role of vice-president of Medical Affairs and Quality at Hotel Dieu Grace Healthcare. In 2018, she also added the role of the chief of staff at Hotel Dieu Grace Healthcare and in 2022, she added vice-president of Mental Health and Addictions to her portfolio. She continues to work as a mental health hospitalist at Hotel Dieu Grace Healthcare, looking after the medical needs of the patients.  

Outside of the medical field, Dr. Steen was awarded an honorary doctorate of laws from the University of Windsor as well as St Clair College’s Alumni of Distinction Award in the health and science category. In 2022, she completed a master of health law from Osgoode School of Law at York University. 

In addition to a career in medicine, Dr. Steen is an Olympian. Andrea was a three-time Canadian champion and record holder in 400-metre hurdles. She represented Canada in the 1983 world championships, the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics and the Commonwealth Games in 1982 and 1986. Dr. Steen was inducted into the University of Windsor and the Windsor & Essex County Sports Halls of Fame.  

Life Membership Award Recipient

Dr. Andrew Affleck graduated from Queen’s University in biochemistry in 1979 and in medicine in 1983. He received a certificate in family medicine with a competency in emergency medicine from the University of Ottawa in 1986 and began practice in Thunder Bay. In 1989, he joined the OMA Section of Emergency Medicine for which he was a member for 13 years and chair from 1998 to 2000. He was instrumental in developing the Alternate Funding Agreements for emergency medicine. 

In 1992, he became the medical director of emergency medicine and the director of Northwestern Ontario Trauma Program and the regional EMS Base Hospital Program at McKellar General Hospital. He was active with the base hospital for over 25 years and chair of the provincial Base Hospital MAC for two terms.

From 2005 to 2011, he sat on versions of the Ontario ED Task Force addressing ED Overcrowding in Ontario and nationally. He was president of the Canadian Association of Emergency Medicine and the International Federation of Emergency Medicine from 2006 to 2008. He led the transformation of the CAEPs head office and lobbied nationally on ED overcrowding for which he was a co-recipient of the CMA Sir Charles Tupper award for political advocacy. From 2009 to 2018, he was the emergency lead for LHIN 14 and co-chaired a committee to guarantee access to Winnipeg for critically ill patients. He also worked with ORNGE and facilitated placing the “ISTAT” biochemical analyzer in far north Indigenous nursing stations.

Throughout his career, he was active in teaching, initially bringing ACLS and ATLS to NWO. From 2003 to 2006, he co-chaired the Thunder Bay Medical Society’s CME committee. He has taught medical students and residents and is currently an associate professor with the Northwestern Ontario School of Medicine.

Life Membership Award Recipient

Dr. Barbara Clive graduated from the University of Ottawa in 1981. She completed her internal medicine and geriatric medicine training at the University of Toronto. During her residency, she started to plan services for seniors at the Credit Valley Hospital in Mississauga where she began her practice in 1986. 

Dr. Clive has served in many leadership roles in the hospital, including medical director of rehabilitation and continuing care and chief of medical staff from 1995 to 2005. She continues to care for patients daily in the hospital or their homes and takes this passion for patient care to her committee roles. She has served as the Mississauga-Halton LHIN lead for geriatrics. Dr. Clive has taught both undergraduate and postgraduate students to better understand the needs of frail seniors. Dr. Clive was awarded the Queen Elizabeth II, Diamond Jubilee Medal, for her work in 2012.  She currently is the medical director of Seniors Services at Trillium Health Partners. She continues to serve on the Chief Coroner’s Geriatric and Long Term Care Review Committee to help make systems changes to prevent the deaths of seniors in Ontario.

With the help of her supportive husband and children, Dr. Clive has been able to devote her career to improving the quality of life and care for people in their later years of life. 

Life Membership Award Recipient

Dr. David Mendelssohn is a member of the division of nephrology at the Humber River Hospital in Toronto and a professor of medicine at the University of Toronto. He was born and raised in Montreal, graduated from Dalhousie University, faculty of medicine in 1983, and did post-graduate training in internal medicine and nephrology in Toronto. He was on staff at the University Health Network (when it was called The Toronto Hospital), from 1989 to 1998, and then at St. Michael’s Hospital from 1998 to 2001. He was the chief/physician director, department of nephrology, Humber River Hospital for 13 years until June 2014. On Dec. 2, 2019, he was named Interim chief/physician director of the department of nephrology at the Humber River Hospital, which evolved into his recent title of medical director, division of nephrology, Humber River Hospital in November 2020.

He has been very active professionally, having served as chair of the Ontario Medical Association Section on Nephrology, chair of the Specialist Coalition of Ontario, chair of the Toronto Region Dialysis Committee and chair of the Professional and Public Policy Committee of the Canadian Society of Nephrology. He was co-chair of the 2004/05 Toronto Dialysis Access Task Force. He was a member of the Ontario Medical Association’s negotiating committee in 1996 and 1997 and was a member of the joint Ontario Medical Association-Ontario Ministry of Health Physician Services Committee from 1997 – 1999.

Between January 2011 and November 2013, he was provincial lead, research and innovation for the Ontario Renal Network. He was presented the Canadian Society of Nephrology’s inaugural Award for Outstanding Service in 2011.

He was one of two original Canadian principal investigators for the multinational Dialysis Outcomes and Practice Pattern Study (DOPPS) (2000-2016). His other research interests are referral patterns and predialysis care, bioethics (resource allocation, end of life), dialysis modality distribution, continuous quality improvement, and renal economics. He has published more than 120 peer-reviewed articles and book chapters.

And most important of all, he is married to Joy, a nephrology nurse clinician and has five wonderful kids, Jamie, age 31, Joshua age 30, Zachary age 25, Sam age 23, and Ryan, age 18 years.

Life Membership Award Recipient

Dr. Desi Brownstone completed medical school at the University of Western Ontario in 1982. Training in the psychiatry program at UWO followed and he qualified in 1987.

During residency, Dr. Brownstone was active on committees dealing with physician stress and well-being for both the Professional Association of Interns and Residents of Ontario and the Canadian Association of Interns and Residents, chairing each committee.

Following qualification Dr. Brownstone opened a private practice in psychiatry in London, Ont. and continues in practice. He also has provided sessionals at the London InterCommunity Health Center since 2001.

D.r Brownstone became active with the Section on Psychiatry of the OMA in the 1990s and was a long-serving section representative on OMA Council. He was chair of the OMA Section on Psychiatry from 2009 to 2012. Dr. Brownstone joined the Council of the Ontario Psychiatric Association in 2015 and served as president of the OPA from 2017 to 2018.

Life Membership Award Recipient

Dr. Douglas Bell obtained his MD in 1980 from Queen’s University, Kingston, Ont. He did his internship and residency training in obstetrics and gynecology at McGill University. He moved to Ottawa in 1986, where he joined the active staff at the Ottawa General Hospital. Dr. Bell started working at the Canadian Medical Protective Association in the fall of 1993. In 2004 he became managing director of the CMPA’s Physician Services Group where he managed Physician Consulting Services, and Membership and Contact Centre Services. In 2008, he was appointed to the position of managing director, Risk Management Services, which in October of 2014 became Safe Medical Care. In 2009, he also assumed the position of associate CEO.

Dr. Bell was the acting chief executive officer/executive director of the CMPA from February 2020 until August 2020. He was heavily involved in physician advocacy, risk management and the advancement of physician leadership through mentorship and education. He has been a long-time active member of the Society of Obstetricians of Canada and in 2018 received the SOGC President’s Award. In 2021, Dr. Bell received the Canadian Society of Physician Leaders: Excellence in Medical Leadership Award. He retired in 2021.

Life Membership Award recipient

Dr. Duncan Mackinlaywas born and raised in Sarnia, Ont. where his grandfather was a retired surgeon, his uncle was a surgeon/GP, and his dad was a GP/anesthesiologist.

Dr. Mackinlay attended Western University where he received a BSc in biology and a minor in kinesiology. He was drafted to the CFL by the Winnipeg Blue Bombers and played there for two years and then traded to Toronto Argonauts where he played three more years.

Dr. Mackinlay began medical school at the University of Manitoba in 1991 and actually played for the Argonauts the summer between first and second year. He graduated in 1995. He interned and did his orthopedic residency at Western University which he finished in 1990. He did a fellowship in shoulder and sports medicine at the Steadman-Hawkins clinic in Vail, Colorado finishing this in June 1991.

Dr. Mackinlay returned to Sarnia where he began the practice of general orthopedics specializing in shoulder and sports medicine in July 1991. He and his wife Ann raised their three children there. They are blessed to have three grandchildren and another on the way.

He and his wife travelled to Honduras with a group called Mercy Ships for two weeks where they operated on and cared for patients that had no money and were stuck in the hospital waiting to hopefully heal. They operated on 66 patients in the time they were there.

Dr. Mackinlay became an adjuvant professor for Western University 15 years ago. He continues practicing in Sarnia, doing about 75 per cent shoulder and 5 per cent sports medicine and knee surgeries.

Life Membership Award Recipient

Dr. Frank Lista is the founder and medical director of The Plastic Surgery Clinic. Born in Toronto, he was educated at St. Michael’s College and The University of Toronto Medical School, where he now serves as an assistant professor in the department of surgery. He is the past president of both the Canadian Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery and the Ontario Society of Plastic Surgeons. Since 2015, he has served as the breast section editor for the Aesthetic Surgery Journal. He has published over fifty papers and book chapters, and lectures around the world, most notably about his innovative techniques in breast surgery which he pioneered. He lives in Toronto, with his family.  

Life Membership Award Recipient

Dr. Gary Chaimowitz is a professor in the department of psychiatry and behavioural neurosciences at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ont. and the head of service of forensic psychiatry at St. Joseph's Healthcare in Hamilton. In addition to Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada Forensic Psychiatry Founder status, Dr. Chaimowitz has an MBA from the University of Toronto and is certified as a physician executive by the Certifying Commission on Medical Management (1999) – Diplomate of the American College of Physician Executives. He is a distinguished fellow of both the Canadian and American Psychiatric Associations and is currently president-elect of the Canadian Psychiatric Association.

Dr. Chaimowitz continuing medical education activities include organizing the Canadian Psychiatric Association International Professional Development conference and the forensic psychiatry Risk and Recovery conference. He is a member of the Ontario and Nunavut Review Boards, as well as a member of the Forensic Psychiatry Specialty Examination Committee of the Royal College of Physician and Surgeons of Canada.

Some past positions include president of St. Joseph’s Healthcare Medical Staff Association, chair of the Ontario Medical Association Psychiatry Section, president of the Ontario Psychiatric Association, chair of the Canadian Psychiatric Association Professional Standards and Practice Committee, vice-chair of the Consent and Capacity Board, chair of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons Forensic Psychiatry Specialty Committee, Council of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law, co-chair of the Forensic Directors Group of Ontario, and board of the International Association of Forensic Mental Health Specialists.

Life Membership Award Recipient

Dr. Gary Garber received his BSc from McGill University (1979) and his medical degree from the University of Calgary in 1980. He trained in internal medicine at the University of Toronto and infectious diseases at the University of British Columbia. He was the first full-time infectious diseases specialist at the Ottawa General Hospital in 1986, where he established the Regional Comprehensive AIDS Care Clinic, the University of Ottawa Adult Infectious Disease Royal College training program and was appointed the first division chief of adult infectious diseases, which he served for over 20 years.

Through his work at The Ottawa Hospital, he served as Vice-chair of the department of medicine for finance and later for patient safety and quality. He has been active provincially and nationally, sitting on governmental advisory committees and professional organizations. He was a founding director of the Canadian Association for HIV Research, served on the founding board of the Ontario HIV Treatment Network and was appointed a member of the CIHR Institute for Gender and Health. He also was president of the Canadian Infectious Disease Society and helped initiate the amalgamation with the Canadian Association of Microbiology into what is today AMMI Canada. He worked along with colleagues to establish the OMA section of Infectious Diseases and he served on its executive which helped established the provincial Infectious Diseases AFP.

Dr. Garber has a successful research track record in the appropriate use of antibiotics and novel compounds, sepsis, the pathogenesis of Trichomonas vaginalis and infection prevention and control interventions to reduce nosocomial infections. His clinical focus has been on the management of infections especially in the immunocompromised host, HIV and viral hepatitis and setting up care pathways for disadvantaged patients. He has a longstanding interest in IPAC first as hospital committee chair for over 23 years and later as medical director/chief of IPAC at Public Health Ontario. He is a professor in the department of medicine and the School of Public Health and Epidemiology at the University of Ottawa and the department of medicine at the University of Toronto. He currently is the director of Safe Medical Care Research at the CMPA.

Life Membership Award Recipient

Dr. Hertzel C. Gerstein is an endocrinologist and professor at McMaster University and Hamilton Health Sciences in Hamilton, Ont., where he holds the population health research institute chair in diabetes. He is also director of the Boris Clinic Diabetes Care and Research Program, deputy director of the Population Health Research Institute, and a fellow of the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences.

Dr. Gerstein pioneered and firmly established international long-term patient-important cardiovascular outcomes trials as the norm for clinical diabetes research. Indeed, his trans-disciplinary perspectives and collaborations enabled him to design and lead many such trials, that collectively included more than 90,000 people with either diabetes or prediabetes. These trials were supported by the U.S. National Institute of Health, the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, other Canadian peer-review agencies and industry. Together, they have substantially expanded the evidence-base pertaining to the prevention and treatment of diabetes and its consequences, and some of their findings have provided the evidence base for international diabetes guidelines and novel drug indications that have improved the lives of people living with diabetes or prediabetes.

His research has been published in over 550 peer-reviewed papers, reviews, and commentaries, in high-impact journals, and his h index is 94. In 2016, he wrote and produced a widely viewed music video to mitigate the impact of diabetes on affected people and their families. Throughout his career, he’s received many awards, including the 2012 Canadian Diabetes Association’s Lifetime Achievement Award, and the 2022 American Diabetes Association Outstanding Achievement in Clinical Diabetes Research Award.

Lifetime Member Award Recipient

Dr. Isadore Czosniak is a native of Montreal, completing his bachelor of science and MD CM at McGill University, graduating in 1982.

He moved to Toronto in 1982 and completed his residency training in diagnostic radiology in 1987, based at the Toronto Western Hospital. Dr. Czosniak met his wife during his residency, and they were married shortly after he began his radiology career with the group of radiologists affiliated with the Doctors Hospital in downtown Toronto.

After seven years, Dr. Czosniak moved on to work both in private practice and in a community hospital with a group of radiologists at the York Finch/Humber River Hospital in north Toronto.

Dr. Czosniak’s interest in service to the profession began in medical school when he was vice- president for Medical Education of the Medical Students Society and continues until today.  He has served on many committees representing radiologists at the Ontario Medical Association and the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario. 

One of the greatest compliments Dr. Czosniak has received is being called an “old school radiologist”, having been mentored by Dr. Lou Harnick.

But his greatest accomplishment is raising three wonderful children with my loving wife of 34 years.

Dr. Czosniak would like to thank the Ontario Medical Association for this distinguished honour.

Life Membership Award Recipient

Dr. James Watson is honoured to have been considered for this award. He would like to thank former OMA President and board member Dr. Ron Wexler for encouraging him to get involved in medicine's political and administrative side many years ago. Dr. Watson has been a member and then president of the London Academy of Medicine and won the Glen Sawyer Award from the OMA

He was appointed to the Ecological and Environmental Planning Advisory Committee of London city council for six years. Dr. Watson has been a member of the faulty in anesthesiology and perioperative medicine at Schulich (Western) for 30 years serving in various teaching and administrative roles including site chief at St. Joseph’s Hospital for five years. He continues working and teaching as an associate professor in the department. He received the Professional Staff Organization Award.

At Fanshawe College, he was medical director of the newly created anesthesia assistant program for nine years and helped establish this new health-care profession.

Dr. Watson was a peer assessor for the CPSO for about nine years. Subsequently, he was a member of the Out of Hospital Premises committee for another seven or eight years

At the OMA, Dr. Watson was an executive member and subsequently chair of Ontario’s Anesthesiologists. He was a member of the board of directors of the Canadian Anesthesia Society.

He continues to provide advice to the MOHLTC and OHIP on various issues.

Life Membership Award Recipient

Dr. John Swenson graduated from the University of Ottawa in 1980 and spent four years as a military medical officer interning at St. Michael’s Hospital in Toronto. He then worked as a resident in cardiology at the National Defence Medical Centre. Following that, Dr. Swenson completed a psychiatric residency in Ottawa and a fellowship year in San Diego. 

In his clinical work, he focussed on the treatment of patients with both medical and psychiatric illnesses and participated in research on depression and heart disease. He also founded a collaborative mental health clinic with family physicians in Ottawa that provides training for residents in psychiatry and family medicine. He has been the head of psychiatry at The Ottawa Hospital and associate chair of psychiatry at the University of Ottawa. Dr. Swenson is a full professor at the University of Ottawa and was awarded distinguished fellow of the Canadian Psychiatric Association and the designation of Canadian Certified Physician Executive.   

At the OMA, Dr. Swenson spent eight years on the board as the academic board director. He participated in governance change, the Physician Health Program Advisory Committee and was the founding chair of the OMA Academic Medicine Forum.   

“Over the many years I spent with the OMA, I can attest that the OMA always put the interests of patients and physicians first. With all of the demands on physicians from Government, universities, hospitals and colleges, more than ever we need a strong OMA. It was a privilege to serve with the OMA.”

Life Membership Award Recipient

Dr. Lea Velsher received her medical degree at McGill University in 1980 and trained in pediatrics and genetics at Montreal Children’s Hospital and the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto. She had a pediatric practice in Thornhill, Ont. from 1987 to -1992, while also consulting in medical genetics

She worked in pediatrics and genetics in Israel from 1992 to 1995, returning home to join the genetics clinic at Oshawa General (now Lakeridge Health) in 1995. Dr. Velsher moved to North York General Genetics in 1999 and continues to practice there as well as in other genetics clinics in the GTA.   

Dr. Velsher is the advisor for the genetics program at Thunder Bay Regional.  She has worked in genetics clinics in the north since 1996.  

Dr. Velsher was active in the OMA section on genetics from 2003, and chair of the section from 2004 to 2015. During her tenure, she worked to get recognition for geneticists trained through the Canadian College of Medical Geneticists.  She recalls her attendance at the OMA council meetings with a smile.  

Dr. Velsher has also worked on committees with the Ontario Ministry of Health, the Northern Regional Genetics Program, and the Canadian College of Medical Geneticists. Dr. Velsher is a lecturer at the University of Toronto and is interested in sharing knowledge in genetics with primary care physicians, specialists, and learners at all levels of education.  

Life Membership Award Recipient

Dr. Peter Blake is a professor of medicine at Western University and staff nephrologist at London Health Science Centre. Since 2013, he has been medical director of the Ontario Renal Network, now part of Ontario Health.

Dr. Blake graduated from University College Dublin Medical School in 1980. He completed his training in internal medicine in Dublin in 1986 and in nephrology at the University of Toronto in 1990. He completed an MSc in immunology at the University of Alberta in 1992 and was appointed as an assistant professor of Medicine at Western University in 1992 and was promoted to professor of Medicine in 2002.

He was chair of the Ontario Association of Nephrologists/Nephrology Section of the OMA from 1995 to1997 and participated extensively in OMA activities during the 1990s.

He was chair of the Division of Nephrology at Western University from 2003 to 2013 when he took up his present role as medical director of the Ontario Renal Network.

He has longstanding research and educational interest in chronic dialysis and has published over 200 papers, edited two major textbooks and lectured widely in this field. He is the former editor-in-chief of Peritoneal Dialysis International and former president of the North American Chapter of International Society of Peritoneal Dialysis. He has served on Guideline Committees for the Canadian Society of Nephrology and the U.S. National Kidney Foundation and has served on Task Forces and Committees for the International Society of Nephrology, American Society of Nephrology and the International Society of Peritoneal Dialysis.

Life Membership Award Recipient

Dr. Grodinsky graduated from medical school in 1985 and completed a three-year pediatric residency at McGill University. He fulfilled the clinical component of a pediatric gastroenterology fellowship at the University of Calgary. His first independent clinical experience was in Langley, B.C., as a consulting pediatrician.   

He worked in a Level 3 NICU for one year while taking shifts in the CHEO ER in Ottawa. He provided neonatal care at the Ottawa Civic Hospital while establishing his own private clinical practice.  

Dr. Grodinsky practiced pediatric primary and consulting care in Ottawa for 30 years in an office setting while working at local Ottawa Hospitals, performing on-call service for newborns. He became chief of pediatrics at the Queensway-Carleton Hospital (QCH) from 2000 to 2008.   

He was an examiner for the LMCC and continues to be responsible for supervising family medicine residents in a clinical practice setting. He founded and chaired the West End (Ottawa) Paediatric Journal Club in 2010.

When he was chief of pediatrics, he collaborated with the QCH hospital administrator to solve a medical manpower shortage that resulted in maintaining the neonatal program and which continues to thrive. Dr. Grodinsky developed an interest in medical politics, specifically for pediatric and general health care in Ottawa and across the province. Dr. Grodinsky became vice-chair of the Pediatric Section of the Ontario Medical Association from 2003 until 2015. In 2015, he assumed the position of chair of Pediatrics of the OMA. In 2017, he became the Eastern Ontario regional delegate to the OMA council until 2021. He later was elected chair of District 8 for the OMA.

He continues to focus on his Ottawa pediatric consulting clinical practice while passing the advocacy role to younger physicians. 

Life Membership Award Recipient

A graduate of McGill University in 1980, Dr. Poleski pursued a medical internship at the Montreal General Hospital and was fortunate to be accepted to a fine ophthalmology residency program at Queen’s University in Kingston under the leadership of Dr. Ron Pinkerton. Afterwards, Dr. Poleski went back to McGill for a research fellowship in ophthalmic pathology with Dr. Seymour Brownstein and finally a clinical fellowship in cornea and external diseases of the eye under the direction of Dr. Peter Laibson at the Wills Eye Hospital in Philadelphia.

The best thing about the research fellowship in Montreal was that Dr. Poleski met his future wife, Sandy Pollack. He convinced her to move with him to Ottawa when all of the studying was done and both pursued their respective successful and enjoyable careers while raising three wonderful children.

Dr. Poleski is an assistant professor at the University of Ottawa and has been on active staff at Montfort Hospital where he has also been chief of ophthalmology for the past seven years. He has also been on active staff at the Ottawa Hospital. Dr. Poleski has enjoyed teaching many medical students and residents over the many years and has participated on committees for the OMA and has also worked for the College of Physicians and Surgeons.

Medical Student Achievement Award

A graduate of McMaster University, BHSc (Honours) 2016, and second-year medical student at the University of Ottawa, Alex Lee has been involved in numerous advocacy, research and education initiatives throughout his career at the community, national and international levels.

Alex has been working as an active leader in the community through his involvement at the Youth Wellness Centre, a mental health and addictions service serving numerous marginalized youths. In his role, he’s been leading the development of mental health and housing services that are accessible to 2SLGBTQ+, Indigenous and low-income service users. At a national level, Alex is the director of student affairs and vice-chair for the Canadian Federation of Medical Students, a national organization that has over 8,600 student members. 

In his role, he works closely with other national organizations such as the Association of Faculties of Medicine, the Canadian Medical Association and MD Financial Management to ensure that medical students across Canada have the required financial, education, advocacy and peer support throughout their training. Internationally, Alex has completed numerous international missions through the World Health Organization and non-governmental organizations to combat infectious diseases. As a biostatistician and scientist, he is actively engaged in developing predictive modeling for infectious diseases around the world. 

Alex continues to be engaged as a leader in numerous initiatives that focus on fostering equity, diversity and inclusion to ensure that vulnerable populations have access to health care, resources and knowledge to improve health outcomes.

Medical Student Achievement Award

Angela (Angie) Salomon is a third-year medical student in the class of 2023. Professionally, she is passionate about primary care and working with diverse and marginalized populations. Before medical school, she received a B.Sc. and MPH from the University of Toronto and worked in Nigeria and South Africa studying quality of care for prenatal health and tuberculosis, respectively.

A “yes-woman” at heart, Angie’s extracurricular interests are vast and varied. In the realm of health advocacy, she chaired Queen’s Municipal Day of Action, successfully lobbying Kingston’s city council to adopt improved policies regarding the involvement of people with lived experience of homelessness in local politics. She also co-founded Queens’ Public Health and Preventive Medicine Interest Groups and has volunteered her time to various student initiatives including the development of a clerkship-focused point-of-care mobile app and a curriculum review identifying gaps in representation of diverse skin colours. 

Currently, Angie sits as the president of the Ontario Medical Students’ Association, where she leads the work of over 100 students to implement OMSA’s many grants, programs, services and events. She also represents the interests of Ontario medical students to the CFMS, OMA, PARO, CPSOand other provincial and national bodies. She strives to lead by example with humility and compassion and commits herself to be open to change.

She loves scuba diving, rock climbing, listening to podcasts and learning French. She is humbled to receive the OMA Medical Student Achievement Award and looks forward to continued service to her peers.

Medical Student Achievement Award

Ashley Perreault is a second-year medical student at Northern Ontario School of Medicine. During her time at NOSM, she has been an avid advocate for her colleagues and community. She represented NOSM for two years at the Canadian Federation of Medical Students as the local officer of reproductive and sexual health. Through this role, she cofounded the menstrual product drive, an annual fundraiser that raises funds for sustainable menstrual products for NOSM’s Indigenous community partners. To date, over $16,000 has been raised.

Last year she cofounded the Pronoun Pin Project, providing over 300 personalized pronoun pins and educational resources to NOSM students and staff with the intention of creating safe environments for queer patients, students and clinicians. The project has been a success: pins are available through the NOSM store, and she has collaborated with institutions like Health Sciences North and UBC. 

Aware of the prominent issue of human trafficking in northern Ontario, Ashley has also been NOSMU’s chapter president for two years on the national Canadian Alliance of Medical Students Against Human Trafficking. She led the school’s first two-part series on human trafficking which focused on awareness, identifying signs and symptoms of a human trafficking victim and the legalities of reporting. Ashley is also involved in various interest groups at her school: anatomical teaching group, palliative care and neurology. Last year, she founded the personal finance 101 interest group to help her peers develop basic financial literacy and to equip them with the tools to make informed financial decisions. 

Medical Student Achievement Award

Prior to beginning her medical career at Western University, Nessika Karsenti completed a masters in health policy at the University of Toronto. Since, her research interests and advocacy efforts have centred on improving policy, promoting equity, and navigating the intersection of clinical and social medicine. She also has a keen interest in infectious disease research. 

Previously she has published research surrounding HIV policy and the impact of policy monitoring and involvement of grassroots movement on the prevention of vertical transmission of the disease.  She has also designed a tool to help analyze stool samples for parasitic eggs in low-resource settings. Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, Nessika has worked with the North American Observatory as a research assistant, cataloguing and analyzing the policy decisions made by each Canadian province in response to the pandemic. These technical reports have been used by policy analysts at the WHO and beyond to guide future policy decisions. 

Currently, she also serves as Schulich’s representative on the Canadian Queer Medical Students Association, where she helps queer students navigate a career in medicine. As the CQMSA’s education portfolio lead, she also advocates for improved curricular design, aiming to empower future physicians with the knowledge and skillset needed to care for sexual and gender minorities. Recently, her team has launched an asynchronous education program to that effect, and she is helping to spearhead a national survey assessing students’ perceptions of their queer curriculum. She hopes to continue to impact curriculum and policy decisions across medical institutions.

Medical Student Achievement Award

Sydney McQueen completed her undergraduate degree at Queen’s University in life sciences with a specialization in neuroscience. She pursued her master’s of science in health science education at McMaster University, studying resident assessment and feedback. She is now an MD/PhD candidate at the University of Toronto, starting her final year of clerkship after completing her doctoral work focused on surgeon stress.

Sydney's academic and extracurricular pursuits are centred around supporting and enhancing medical training. She served on the Ontario Medical Students Association for six years, including two as director of education where she helped develop the Medical Student Education Research Grant and launched the Ontario Student Medical Education Research Conference. Sydney has previously served as editor-in-chief of both Toronto Notes and Pharmacology You See, publishing educational materials for medical trainees. She is heavily involved in teaching and mentorship, volunteering for a number of organizations to support students pursuing careers in health care and research and serves as vice-president mentorship for the MD/PhD program.

Medical Student Achievement Award

Dr. Victoria Turnbull is a first-year urology resident at the University of Western Ontario. She received her MD from McMaster in 2022 and her Bachelor of Medical Sciences with specialization in medical cell biology in 2018 from the University of Western Ontario. She is in the process of completing her graduate diploma in clinical epidemiology through McMaster.  

Dr. Turnbull currently serves as the director of education and Ontario regional director for the Canadian Federation of Medical Students, where she is a passionate advocate for medical education and residency match reform, representing the voice of over 8,300 Canadian medical students. In her time with the CFMS, Victoria has advocated for the implementation of the CaRMS Self Identification Questionnaire, in partnership with the Ontario Medical Students’ Association for improved health and human resource planning and has been a fervent voice for reducing the stigma associated with unmatched graduates. As a local student representative, she voiced student concerns in response to rapidly shifting clinical environments to administration and organized a class-wide social media wellness challenge to promote student wellbeing during the COVID-19 pandemic. She is grateful for all the support she received from her fellow student leaders and hopes to continue in medical leadership during residency. 

Mentor for Students and Residents Award

Dr. Michael Fralick is a board-certified general internist in Canada and the United States. He completed his undergraduate degree at Queen’s University and his medical degree and internal medicine residency training at the University of Toronto. Thereafter, he completed a master of science in clinical epidemiology at Harvard University, which included a research fellowship in the division of pharmacoepidemiology and pharmacoeconomics at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital. His PhD, completed at the University of Toronto, focused on the intersection between supervised machine learning and pharmacoepidemiology. During the COVID-19 pandemic, he shifted his research focus to pragmatic clinical trials and was co-investigator on SOLIDARITY, RAPID COVID COAG, and CONCOR-1, and co-principal investigator for the COVID-PRONE clinical trial.

Currently, Dr. Fralick is clinician scientist at Sinai Health in Toronto and assistant professor at the University of Toronto’s faculty of medicine. He also works clinically at the Sault Area Hospital in Sault Ste. Marie, Ont. Michael lives in Toronto with his soon-to-be-wife Brittany, who is a veterinarian.

Resident Achievement Award

Dr. Ainsley Kempenaar is a fifth-year resident in physical medicine and rehabilitation at the University of Toronto. She completed her training in Toronto after obtaining her undergraduate degree in kinesiology from Queen’s University. Dr. Kempenaar served as the PM&R chief resident from 2020 to 2021, coinciding with the university’s octennial residency program accreditation review. Leveraging this opportunity to enhance the learner experience, she co-led a focus group series to elicit resident feedback on program performance relative to accreditation standards. This initiative catalyzed the enactment of several key changes aimed at enhancing resident wellness, encouraging graduated responsibility, and optimizing the learning/service balance.  

During her chief term, Dr. Kempenaar also founded the inaugural PM&R Resident Council, encouraging shared leadership across nine resident-led subcommittees, each dedicated to diverse dimensions of resident life (education, research, social, wellness, mentorship, community outreach, and beyond). Her passion for mentorship and teaching has motivated numerous formal and informal teaching pursuits with junior trainees, along with the co-development and publication of a formalized PM&R mentorship program, as well as a code of “netiquette” to support residents through the pandemic-imposed transition to virtual learning.

Beyond her formal training experience, Dr. Kempenaar’s small-town upbringing in Stirling, Ont., inspired her vision for increasing access to specialized rehabilitation care in underserved communities, both at home and abroad. This vision continues to fuel her work with NepalAbility, a charitable organization dedicated to supporting rehabilitation care in Nepal via capacity-building, interdisciplinary education, and service collaboration. 

Resident Achievement Award

Dr. Danielle Kelton is a final-year resident in emergency medicine at Western University. Growing up in the countryside outside Elora, Ont., Dr. Kelton completed her undergraduate studies at the University of Guelph and MD at Queen’s University. In Kingston, while serving on the Queen’s Medicine student government as well as multiple academic committees, she began to cultivate an interest in medical education. 

Her commitment to improving the learner experience continued when she joined the FRCPC-EM program at Western University. She designed a simulation curriculum for PGY-1 residents aimed at honing resuscitative skills and confidence in junior physicians. Within the emergency medicine program, she has served as chief resident, medical student liaison and elected resident member to the residency program committee. From 2021 to 2022, while completing a year-long area of focussed competency in sports medicine, she developed a hands-on educational series for EM residents focused on the management of musculoskeletal presentations. Within Western University at large, she has advocated for learners in the EM/IM working group and the LHSC Cultural Realignment working group.  

Dr. Kelton has presented her prehospital medicine research nationally and was awarded divisional and departmental awards for her research in online medical control. After completing her residency, Dr. Kelton will be pursuing a dual practice of sports medicine and emergency medicine at Western University’s Division of Emergency Medicine. She keeps busy in her spare time competing at the national level in Ringette (winning two national titles during residency), coaching U-16 Ringette in London and participating in recreational athletics. 

Resident Achievement Award

Dr. Al-Sajee was born and raised in Baghdad, Iraq. She completed her MBChB and MSc in Histopathology from Al-Nahrain University, Iraq. She also obtained the Arab board certificate in anatomical pathology. At McMaster University, she finished a PhD and a clinical research fellowship. During her PhD, she served on the faculty Development Program Advisory Group, McMaster Children and Youth University Organization Committee, McMaster Youth and Children Outreach Programme. She is currently a PGY4 Anatomical Pathology resident. During her residency, she served as a residency program committee representative and chief resident.

Dr. Al-Sajee is a strong advocate of wellness. During her term as chief resident, she arranged wellness and other online social events using funds from the McMaster PGME Bob and Helen Brown Social Networking Wellness during the COVID-19 lockdown.

She is also interested in medical education improvement and accessibility. During her PhD, she completed the University Teaching Program. As an anatomy and physiology teaching assistant, she won two teaching assistant awards for her skills and creativity in teaching nursing students. She also worked with her fellow anatomical pathology residents to create a common online account for pathology residents at McMaster University to access all department-purchased textbooks.

She has more than 20 peer-reviewed publications, abstracts, and conference presentations. In her free time, she likes to spend time with her family, loves to run and hike, and volunteers in the community as a school council co-chair and a past member of the Parent Involvement Committee at the HWDSB.

Resident Achievement Award

Dr. Elyssia Adamo was born and raised in Thunder Bay and completed medical school in her hometown at NOSM in 2019 after finishing an undergraduate degree in applied bio-molecular science in 2015. She then went on to complete both her family medicine (2021), and most recently, emergency medicine enhanced skills residency programs (2022) at the University of Ottawa. She will be starting the Acute Care POCUS fellowship in Ottawa while she works as a staff emergency physician at The Ottawa Hospital.

During her residency training, Dr. Adamo was selected to fill numerous leadership and advocacy roles where she set out to improve resident wellness and advocate for her peers. This drive and initiative started when she was voted to represent all residents in Ottawa through PARO’s General Council. She remained a part of this residency advocacy council during all three years of her residency training. During the second half of her family medicine training, she was voted by her colleagues to represent family medicine residents as chief resident. It was through this role that she developed a peer-peer mentorship program and spearhead various interest groups. She then went on to become a co-chief resident of her emergency medicine program, further developing her leadership experience.

Dr. Adamo also represented residents nationally across Canada, advocating to improve overall training experiences and factors influencing transition to practice, wellness, curriculum development, and many other initiatives.

She has interests in medical education, FOAMed, POCUS, rural emergency medicine, and advancing wellness amongst physicians - demonstrated through her leadership as the faculty of wellness resident representative in Ottawa. In her spare time, you can find her exploring the outdoors, hiking, painting, and cooking!

Resident Achievement Award

Dr. Jennifer McCall is a fourth-year resident in obstetrics and gynecology at Queen’s University. She is immensely honoured to accept the OMA Resident Achievement Award, for which she was nominated by her co-residents. Dr. McCall is the resident principal investigator of the research study Impostor Phenomenon Among Female Surgeons, for which she was awarded a Physician Services’ Incorporated Resident Research Grant, and which recently won the Robert Reid Award for best presentation at the Society of Obstetricians and Gynecologists of Canada Annual Clinical and Scientific Conference.

Dr. McCall is a proud advocate and community leader. She has served on the board of directors of the Sexual Assault Centre Kingston since 2017, during which time she spent three years as chair of the organization. She is also the founder and CEO of SexMed since 2018, a not-for-profit sex education group for students in grades 7 to 12 with programming designed and delivered by medical students.

Dr. McCall loves to teach and is honoured to have been selected by the Queen’s University graduating medical students in 2021 for the Resident Teaching Award, awarded to one Queen’s University resident per year for outstanding contributions to undergraduate medical education. She is also an eternal student, completing her master of health management at McMaster University this fall.

As she completes her final year of training, Dr. McCall is working toward becoming an excellent gynecologic surgeon and is hoping to have an academic career with further teaching, research, and advocacy.

Presidential Award

Dr. Frank Boyce graduated from the University of Toronto in 1966. After a one-year internship, his first job was two years in Inuvik. Dr. Boyce continued general practice in the Australian outback, where he met his wife and in Williams Lake and Stewart B.C. In 1976, after another year in Inuvik Dr. Boyce and his family moved to Belleville Ont., and he worked in the then-new field of emergency medicine.

At the age of 62, he discovered Doctors Without Borders, eventually going on nineteen three-to-six-month missions, returning to the Belleville ER between missions. Dr. Boyce retired in 2024.

Section Service Award

Dr. Cargill is a family physician and Royal College specialist in Windsor, Ont. with a full-time focused practice in palliative medicine. 

In 2020, Dr. Cargill was named as the Ontario Palliative Care Network Provincial Clinical co-lead. He was the past Palliative Care regional lead for Erie St. Clair at Cancer Care Ontario and a member of OPCN’s Clinical Advisory Council from 2016 to 2018.

He is an adjunct professor at the Schulich School of Medicine – University of Western Ontario, where he completed his medical school and residency training. It is the only medical school in Ontario without a division of palliative medicine.

Dr. Cargill is the past Section Chair for Palliative Medicine at the OMA and previous committee work has included the 2017 Negotiations Committee and 2019 Appropriateness Working Group.

Dr. Cargill has a fellowship in the CFPC, Royal College and AAHPM. He is a certified Pallium LEAP (Learning Essential Approaches to Palliative Care) facilitator. He is one of only two certified hospice medical directors in Canada.  Dr. Cargill completed the CMA-OMA Physician Leadership Program and has his designation as a Certified Canadian Physician Executive.

He received an OCFP’s and OMA Award of Excellence for his work on “Dan’s Law,” which aimed to remove the three-month OHIP waiting period for patients requiring palliative care. He also won the 2017 Larry Librach Award from HPCO for community leadership. In 2017, he was awarded the Schulich School of Medicine “Subspecialist of the Year” for the Windsor Campus.

Darren enjoys spending time with my wife and family as well as travel, time at the cottage and driving his nine-year-old son to hockey and lacrosse.

Growing up in the GTA but now living in Windsor has left him conflicted as a sports fan…

Section Service Award

Dr. David Neilipovitz is an anesthesiologist and critical care physician in Ottawa. He graduated from medical school at Queen's University in 1994 as a gold medalist. He completed his residency in anesthesiology and his critical care fellowship at the University of Ottawa.

In addition to clinical care, he has provided anesthesia and critical care for over 20 years and has taken on many leadership roles. He served as a department head and as the regional lead for critical care (including leading Ontario East during COVID). He served as the section head for Ontario’s Anesthesiologists and help cofound the Beyond the Mask initiative. BTM has worked to help develop Ontario’s anesthesiologists but more importantly, helps improve patient care through its Choosing Wisely implementation guide and its solvingpain.com initiative to improve pain management while reducing opioid misuse.

In his career, he has attempted to address challenges through innovation and novel solutions. He helped create the ACES Resuscitation Course which has impacted the training of critical care specialists in Canada and abroad for over 20 years. He started the Family Satisfaction Tool which is now a standard of care for all Ontario intensive care units. He continues to help physicians and health professionals improve their knowledge and address their challenges with the monthly critical care webinar series Ontario Critical Care Clinical Practice Rounds (OC3PR).

Section Service Award

Dr. Dominik Nowak is a family doctor and health leader. In addition to his clinical practice, Dr. Nowak's mission is to build teamwork across the health system. Through COVID-19 vaccine rollout, Dr. Nowak chaired a consortium of health organizations, partnering closely with government, public health, hospital, and ‘Team Ontario’ leaders to build on the relationships that primary care professionals establish with their communities.

Dr. Nowak trained at McMaster University, where he specialized in family medicine and served as chief resident. He went on to finish a Master of Health Administration at the Institute of Health Policy, Management and Evaluation at the University of Toronto, and holds a Certified Health Executive designation by the Canadian College of Health Leaders. Dr. Nowak is currently a faculty member at the Dalla Lana School of Public Health and the Department of Family and Community Medicine at the University of Toronto.

Section Service Award

Dr. Julie Kovacs completed medical school at McGill. She did her internal medicine training and rheumatology fellowship at the University of Toronto. She subsequently completed a lupus fellowship at U of T.

Dr. Kovacs is a lecturer at U of T and clinician teacher for years in the rheumatology clinics at St. Michael’s and Wellesley Hospital. She participated in Rheumatology Undergraduate Teaching at U of T in Foundations of Medical Practice, ASCM 2 Rheumatology physical examination skills instructor to Year IV medical students and an ASCM 2 OSCE Examiner. Dr. Kovacs has served at all levels of the Section of Rheumatology Executive since 2016 enthusiastically advocating for her peers.

Dr. Kovacs is passionate and devoted to advancing numerous initiatives in the interests of Ontario’s rheumatologists across the province. She is in her third term as Section on Rheumatology chair. She is also co-chair of the Ontario Rheumatology Association OMA Committee and served on the ORA Board of Directors and the ORA Therapeutics Committee.

Dr. Kovacs is a rheumatologist in Toronto with courtesy privileges at St. Michael’s Hospital.

Section Service Award

Dr. Samir Sinha is the director of Geriatrics at Sinai Health System and the University Health Network in Toronto and a professor of Medicine at the University of Toronto and the director of Health Policy Research at Toronto Metropolitan University’s National Institute on Ageing.

A Rhodes Scholar, Dr. Sinha is a highly regarded clinician and international expert in the care of older adults. He is the architect of the Government of Ontario’s Seniors Strategy and in 2014, Maclean’s proclaimed him to be one of Canada’s 50 most influential people and its most compelling voice for the elderly. Dr. Sinha is a member of the Government of Canada’s National Seniors Council and is also currently leading the development of new National Long-Term Care Standards for Canada. 

Beyond Canada, Dr. Sinha is a fellow of the American Geriatrics Society and a member of the American Red Cross Scientific Advisory Council. Dr. Sinha has further consulted and advised hospitals and health authorities in Britain, China, Iceland, Singapore, St. Kitts and Nevis, Taiwan and the United States on the implementation and administration of unique, integrated and innovative models of geriatric care that reduce disease burden, improve access and capacity and ultimately promote health.

Section Service Award

Dr. Sharon Burey is a consultant behavioural pediatrician in private practice in Tecumseh, Ont. She is an adjunct professor of pediatrics at the University of Western Ontario. Dr. Burey is currently a member of the OMA Health Policy Committee and the Immediate past president of the Pediatricians Alliance of Ontario which is the Ontario chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics. Her involvement with the OMA includes years as a Section Delegate and OMA Women Committee member.

She is a medical and community leader in the areas of behaviour and learning for children and adolescents. Spearheading ADHD Windsor since 2006, a grassroots effort to raise awareness, educate and connect parents and children to services in the community, has been some of her most gratifying work. 

Dr. Burey has appeared before the OHRC Right to Read Inquiry and her testimony is featured in the landmark and historic Right to Read Inquiry Report and video. As president of the Pediatricians Alliance of Ontario, she was at the forefront of initiatives that called attention to the impacts of school closures on children’s mental, physical and socio-emotional functioning, the lack of learning gains, and the impact of racism and equity during the pandemic. During her tenure, the Pediatricians Alliance of Ontario received prestigious awards of excellence.

Dr. Burey completed her MD and specialty training in pediatrics at Dalhousie University. She received additional training in child and adolescent psychiatry from Children’s Hospital of Michigan. Dr. Burey graduated with a master’s certificate in physician leadership and an mMBA in physician business leadership from the Schulich School of Business at York University.

Dr. Michael Paré has had a long-time deep involvement with the learning, teaching, and providing of psychotherapy for many years. Dr. Paré has several credentials in the practice of medicine. He is certified in interpersonal psychotherapy and certified in group psychotherapy.

In addition, Michael has obtained a diploma in the Advanced Program in Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy from U of T. Dr Paré is a teaching mentor /supervisor of the Medical Psychotherapy Association of Canada and also supervises the Ontario College of Family Physicians. Dr. Paré is currently offering modified types of supervision/mentoring sessions (by Zoom) to family practice residents and to family doctors/psychotherapists. 

Family Practice Medical Staff NYGH since 1968. Semi-retired now on NYGH Covid Virtual assessment team. First chair of Family Practice Division of Obstetrics. Multiple-year member of OMA Board, OMA Council, CMA council and multiple OMA Committees. Chair of OMA Physicians Human Resources Committee. Originator of Family Practice Most Common Fees and Diagnostic Codes pamphlet. Instigator of update of Ontario Antenatal Record and participated in all recent updates. Life member OMA, Honorary Member CMA, Distinguished service awards OMA and Section on General and Family Practice, and OMA Section on Obstetrics and Gynecology.

Married to Ina 57 years, two children Arthur (political consultant), Robert (veterinarian) and two granddaughters. Interests are classical music, electronic and computer repair and updates, and choir membership, most recently Toronto Physicians Choir.

Dr. Nicholas Pairaudeau is an obstetrician and gynecologist who is transitioning from a very active role in both obstetrics and gynecology to a more office-based practice. As the last year has passed, it became obvious to Dr. Pairaudeau that the medicine that we know is being sorely tested. He is trying to explore what we will be doing in medical practice in the next five years and beyond. The challenges are enormous and so this requires a careful review of what is done; how do physicians relate to their patients; and generally, how to try and keep current to best practices.

Dr. Barbara Erdelyi is a family doctor and has been secretary for the North York General Medical Society for many years. 

She is very interested in helping family doctors and residents to learn.

Dr. Nermine Gorguy is a family physician practicing psychotherapy. She provides psychotherapy to both individuals and groups in the community. She completed her family medicine residency at the Western University and graduated from Dalhousie University Medical School. She has a particular interest in women's and youth/young adult mental health and spends much of her volunteer time teaching youth healthy self-care & mental health habits. 

Dr. Raj Rathee is ophthalmology service chief (eye medicine and surgery) at North York General Hospital. He is also physician lead, North York Regional Eye Surgery Centre. He is interested in supporting doctors and residents to learn.

Dr. Neil Isaac is a radiologist at North York General Hospital.  He is also a member of the Board of the Black Physicians' Association of Ontario, and the Co-Lead for the Black Health Vaccine Initiative for Toronto.  He is a lecturer in the Department of Medical Imaging at the Temetry School of Medicine, University of Toronto.