Speakers and Facilitators: WAM 2019

Joy Albequerque

Medical Director, Physician Health Program, Ontario Medical Association

Dr. Joy Albuquerque completed her medical training in Manitoba then worked as a general practitioner for a few years prior to specializing psychiatry, completing her FRCP training in Ottawa 1997. With a longstanding interest in mental health advocacy, she chose to round out her education through graduate training in philosophy (MA 2007).

Dr. Albuquerque joined the OMA’s Physician Health Program as Associate Medical Director in 2004 and accepted the role of Medical Director in 2017. Her role has evolved beyond the management of mental health conditions to expertise in the field of risk management of physicians and their work.  She is interested in the tension inherent to a self-governed profession that must navigate between public safety and the privacy of individual physicians who are experiencing mental distress. Dr. Albuquerque also regularly contributes to medical education events dealing with topics of physician health, burnout and resilience.

Dr. Albuquerque practices at St. Michael’s Hospital and is an Assistant Professor at the University of Toronto department of psychiatry.  Outside of medicine Joy is an avid reader of classics and fiction. She and her husband enjoy long-distance walking and have been going on annual walks for over 15 years.

Cristina Amon

Dean, Faculty of Engineering, University of Toronto

Cristina Amon is Dean and Alumni Professor at the University of Toronto’s Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering. Under her visionary leadership, Canada’s top ranked engineering faculty has become a global hub for interdisciplinary research and education, known for its strategic initiatives, cross-Faculty centres and institutes, and innovative undergraduate and graduate programming. Prior to joining U of T in 2006, Dean Amon was the Raymond J. Lane Distinguished Professor and Director of the Institute for Complex Engineered at Carnegie Mellon University.

A pioneer in Computational Fluid Dynamics for thermal designs subject to multidisciplinary constraints, Professor Amon’s current research is in thermal transport in nanoscale semiconductors, energy systems, EV batteries and biomedical devices. She is a professional engineer, elected fellow of major professional societies in her field, and has contributed over 380 articles to the education and research literature.

Among numerous recognitions, Cristina Amon received the ASME Gustus Larson Memorial Award, the ASEE Westinghouse Medal and the ASME Heat Transfer Memorial Award. She was named one of America’s most important Hispanics in technology and business, and received the Engineers Canada Award for support of Women in the Engineering Profession. She was recognized as one of Canada's Most Influential Women in 2012, received the YWCA Toronto Woman of Distinction Award, and was honoured with the 2011 Society of Women Engineers' highest honour for outstanding contributions to engineering over more than 20 years. She received the 2017 Sir John Kennedy Medal, the highest recognition of the Engineering Institute of Canada, and was awarded the 2015 PEO Gold Medal, Ontario’s most prestigious honour for engineering public service, technical excellence and professional leadership. She was inducted into the Canadian Academy of Engineering, Spanish Royal Academy, U.S. National Academy of Engineering and Royal Society of Canada.

Born in Uruguay, Cristina Amon earned her Mechanical Engineering degree from Simon Bolivar University in Venezuela, and her M.S. and Sc.D. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Anita Anand

Professor of Law, University of Toronto

Anita Indira Anand is a Professor of Law and holds the J.R. Kimber Chair in Investor Protection and Corporate Governance. She served as Associate Dean from 2007-2009 and since 2010 has served as the Academic Director of the Centre for the Legal Profession and its Program on Ethics in Law and Business. She is a Senior Fellow and member of the Governing Board, Massey College and is cross-appointed to the Rotman School of Management and the School of Public Policy and Governance and serves as the Director of Policy and Research at the Capital Markets Institute. She is a scholar in residence at Torys LLP.

During the 2009-2010 academic year, Professor Anand was a Visiting Scholar at the Bank of Canada and a Herbert Smith Visitor at the University of Cambridge. In 2005-2006, she was a Canada-U.S. Fulbright Scholar and Visiting Olin Scholar in Law and Economics at Yale Law School. During the Fall 2005, she was a Visiting Lecturer in Law at Yale Law School where she taught comparative corporate governance. In Fall 2017, she was appointed Director of Policy and Research at the Capital Markets Institute, Rotman School of Management at the University of Toronto where she also teaches in the Directors' Education Program.

She is the recipient of research grants from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (four awards), the Law Foundation of Ontario, the Foundation for Legal Research (three awards), the Connaught Foundation as well as the Canadian Association of Law Teachers' Scholarly Paper Award (2003).  In Fall 2004, she received the Queen's Law Students' Society Award for Excellence in Teaching and in Fall 2006, she and co-authors Frank Milne and Lynnette Purda were awarded the Best Paper in Managerial Finance by the International Journal of Managerial Finance for their empirical research relating to corporate governance. 

In 2015, Professor Anand was appointed by Ontario's Minister of Finance to the Expert Committee to Consider Financial Advisory and Financial Planning Policy Alternatives. She has conducted research for the Five Year Review Committee, the Wise Person's Committee, the Task Force to Modernize Securities Legislation in Canada and the Commission of Inquiry into the Investigation of the Bombing of Air India Flight 182.  She was the inaugural Chair of the Ontario Securities Commission's Investor Advisory Panel (2010-2012) and the president of the Canadian Law and Economics Association (2009-2011).

In 2012, she was appointed to the Bertha Wilson Honour Society by the Schulich School of Law for service to the legal profession.  She is the Editor of Canadian Law eJournal, published by the Legal Scholarship Network. She serves on the Ontario Rhodes Scholar Selection Committee and the U.S.-Canada Fulbright Committee. Her main research areas relate to the regulation of capital markets with a specific focus on corporate governance, enforcement, capital raising techniques and systemic risk.

Bonnie Anderson

Bonnie worked as a medical educator with the Standardized Patient Program of the University of Toronto for over 15 years. She began as a role player. With training and experience she grew to take on more senior positions, such as: SP trainer, facilitator of small and large group learning sessions and leader and creator of various communication workshops. She worked intensively with Dr. Katina Tzanetos in the SCORE program, created to help medical students whose communication skills were affecting their interactions with patients, colleagues and superiors. Bonnie is also a professional actor, playwright and director and has a Bachelor of Science degree in Psychology. A fun fact: Bonnie used to be a professional black jack dealer!

Ed Etchells

Professor, Department of Medicine

Dr. Etchells is the Medical Director of Information Services, and a staff physician with the Division of General Internal Medicine at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Center. He is a senior QI mentor at the Centre for Quality Improvement and Patient Safety, and a professor of medicine at the University of Toronto. Dr. Etchells’ academic interests relate to medication safety and usability of clinical software. More recently he has written narrative reviews on the value of small sample sizes and the importance of high fidelity implementation in quality improvement projects. He enjoys watching his family thrive and is very bad at yoga.

Lee Fairclough

Vice President, Quality Improvement, Health Quality Ontario

Lee joined Health Quality Ontario in 2014 as HQO’s Vice President of Quality Improvement. In this capacity she is responsible to support efforts promoting quality improvement across Ontario’s health system. She is the former Vice President of Strategy, Knowledge Management & Delivery at the Canadian Partnership Against Cancer, a national organization responsible for improving cancer control in Canada, after initially joining their executive team to establish the newly created organization. Lee also held a variety of roles at Princess Margaret Hospital, and was Director of the Toronto Regional Cancer program when it was first established.

Lee holds an undergraduate degree in Biology and Mathematics from McMaster University, and was trained as a Medical Radiation Technologist (MRT) through Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre and the University of Waterloo. She has a Master of Health Science from the University of Toronto, where she was a recipient of the Robert Wood Johnson Investigator Award in Health Policy Research. In May 2014, she was awarded the inaugural Louise Lemieux Charles Emerging Health Leaders award from the Society of Graduates

Maryam Hamidi

Associate Director of Scholarship and Health Promotion, Stanford Medicine WellMD Center

Maryam Hamidi, PhD is the Associate Director of Scholarship and Health Promotion at the Stanford Medicine WellMD Center and Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences. In her role, she is involved in development, implementation and evaluation of various innovative interventions to improve physician well-being. Dr. Hamidi has particular nutrition expertise in enhancing the cognitive performance and alertness of professionals with high cognitive demands. The focus of her current research is to use latest scientific evidence to improve the cognitive performance of physicians. Dr. Hamidi also leads initiatives that strengthen community and connections between faculty members and promote personal well-being, self-care and culture of wellness at Stanford Medicine.

Maryam completed her graduate studies in nutritional sciences at University of Toronto in Canada. She is the author and co-author of many highly cited scientific papers on nutrition and physician well-being. Prior to joining Stanford, Dr. Hamidi served as a scientific associate at the University Health Network in Toronto, and as an advisor to Air Canada Rouge pilots and cabin crew on optimal nutrition.

Ayelet Kuper

Associate Professor, Department of Medicine

Dr. Ayelet Kuper is a Scientist and Associate Director at the Wilson Centre for Research in Education, University Health Network/University of Toronto, as well as a Clinician-Scientist, Associate Professor, and Co-Lead for Person-Centred Care Education in the Department of Medicine at the University of Toronto. She is a member of the Division of General Internal Medicine at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre where she attends on the inpatient Clinical Teaching Units. She obtained her DPhil from Oxford University as a Rhodes Scholar in 1997 and her MD from the University of Toronto in 2001. She has authored over 60 peer-reviewed publications and regularly presents her research nationally and internationally. She is currently focusing on drawing out some of the critical educational implications of her longstanding program of research related to the definitions and production of legitimate medical knowledge. In so doing she foregrounds work related to key patient-care-related concepts such as power, reflexivity, and social justice that both enhance daily clinical and educational encounters and enable physicians to address the structural and process-related challenges that currently hinder their ability to provide equitable care; she also teaches medical students, residents, graduate students, and faculty members about these concepts locally, nationally, and internationally.

Julie Maggi

Director, Office of Resident Wellness, Post MD Education, University of Toronto

Dr. Julie Maggi graduated from McMaster Medical School, and completed postgraduate training in Psychiatry at the University of Toronto. She completed fellowships in HIV Psychiatry at the University of Toronto, Administrative Psychiatry at Columbia University, and Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry at Mt. Sinai School of Medicine, NYC.

Dr. Maggi is currently a staff psychiatrist at St. Michael’s Hospital, providing clinical liaison psychiatry services to the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology. She served as the Director of Postgraduate Education at the hospital from 2011-2017, and was the interim Psychiatrist in Chief from July 2016-May 2017.

Dr. Maggi is currently the Director of the Office of Resident Wellness, Post MD Education, University of Toronto. She has an academic interest in understanding the organizational contributors to resident fatigue.

Onyenyechukwu Nnorom

MD Program Black Health Theme Lead, University of Toronto

Dr. Onye Nnorom is a Family Doctor and a Public Health & Preventive Medicine specialist. She is a clinical consultant for the Nicotine Dependence Clinic at Centre for Addiction and Mental Health and the Primary Care Lead for the Central East Regional Cancer Program (Cancer Care Ontario), providing leadership and guidance to primary care practitioners on cancer prevention, screening, and other aspects of the cancer journey.

She is also the Associate Program Director of the Public Health & Preventive Medicine Residency Program at the University of Toronto, and is the Black Health Theme Lead for the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Toronto. As the Black Health Theme Lead, she is tasked with developing educational content for teaching medical students about Black Canadian health, and inequities due to systemic racism. She is also the President of the Black Physicians’ Association of Ontario, which focuses on increasing the number of Black physicians in the province and equitable health outcomes for Black Ontarians. The BPAO has partnered with the University of Toronto to establish a Black Student Application Program for admission to medical school which has resulted in a substantial increase in the number of Black medical students at the university.

Dr. Nnorom completed her medical degree at McGill University and then completed a Masters of Public Health (Epidemiology) and residency training at the University of Toronto. Being of Nigerian and Trinidadian heritage, she is particularly interested in Black community health and wellness, and racism as a social determinant of health.

Alison Paprica

Vice President, Health Strategy and Partnerships, Vector Institute

As Vice President, Health Strategy and Partnerships, Alison Paprica is the Vector Institute’s corporate lead for health strategy, overseeing health research collaborations, health data partnerships and health AI application projects. Prior to joining Vector in November 2017, Alison was Director, Strategic Partnerships at the Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences (ICES). In that role, she laid the groundwork for ICES analytic services for the private sector, initiated ICES’ first public engagement work, and developed and expanded ICES’ partnerships with important provincial, national and international health data holding organizations. From 2010 to 2013, Alison was the Director of the Planning, Research & Analysis Branch at the Ontario Ministry of Health & Long-Term Care, where she was responsible for up to $60 million of annual health research investment. Within the Ontario Public Service, Alison held the position of founding Manager of Performance Measurement & Results at the Ontario Ministry of Research & Innovation. From 1993-2001 she worked in international pharmaceutical R&D at Eli Lilly, Astra Pharma and Genpharm Inc. Alison holds an Honours Combined BSc in Biochemistry and Chemistry (McMaster), a PhD in organic chemistry (Western University) and is Assistant Professor (status) at IHPME. She is among the first 5% of people to obtain Project Management Professional (PMP) certification internationally, and led the development and delivery of two University of Toronto courses focused on project management for research.

Linda Rabeneck

Vice-President, Prevention and Cancer Control, Cancer Care Ontario

Dr. Linda Rabeneck, a gastroenterologist, clinician scientist and health care executive, is Vice President, Prevention and Cancer Control at Cancer Care Ontario. She is a Professor of Medicine at the University of Toronto and Senior Scientist at the Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences in Toronto.

Dr. Rabeneck received her MD from the University of British Columbia (UBC), followed by post-graduate training in Internal Medicine and Gastroenterology at UBC and the University of Toronto. She received a Master’s degree in Public Health from Yale University.

Dr. Rabeneck, whose scholarly work focuses on the evaluation of health care and health system performance, is best known for her research on colorectal cancer screening. She is the author of over peer-reviewed 230 articles. Dr. Rabeneck currently serves as Chair, Colorectal Cancer Screening Committee of the World Endoscopy Organization (WEO). She played a leadership role in the launch of ColonCancerCheck in Ontario, Canada’s first organized, province-wide colorectal cancer screening program.

Dr. Rabeneck was elected Master of the American College of Gastroenterology (ACG), received the ACG’s Berk/Fise Clinical Achievement Award, and UBC’s Medical Alumni Association Wallace Wilson Leadership Award. In 2012 Dr. Rabeneck was elected Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences and in 2017 she became President.

Lisa Richardson

Assistant Professor, Department of Medicine

Richardson is a clinician-educator in the University of Toronto's Division of General Internal Medicine, and practices at the University Health Network. Her academic interest lies in the integration of critical and Indigenous perspectives into medical education. She is Faculty co-Lead in Indigenous Medical Education for the University of Toronto's MD program and is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Medicine where she leads the new portfolio called Person-Centered Care Education. She is the Indigenous Strategy Lead for Women’s College Hospital and currently holds the Wilson Centre’s Indigenous Health Education Investigator award for her work related to teaching cultural safety. She chairs several provincial and national committees to advance Indigenous medical education, and was recently honoured with the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons’ Thomas Dignan Award for Indigenous Health.

Larry Robinson

Department Division Director, Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation

Dr. Larry Robinson is Professor and Division Director for Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation at the University of Toronto and holds the John and Sally Eaton Chair in Rehabilitation Sciences. He also serves as Program Chief for Rehabilitation at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre in Toronto.

moved to Canada from the University of Washington where he served as Chair of the Department of Rehabilitation Medicine and later as Vice Dean for Clinical Affairs and Post Graduate Medical Education. In that role he oversaw the programs for physician wellness and faculty development.

Sam Sabbah

Assistant Professor, Department of Medicine

Dr. Sabbah is a full time emergency physician and is the Assistant Medical Director of the EDs at UHN. He is a Physician in Quality and Innovation at the DOM at the rank of Assistant Professor. His main academic interests are in quality improvement and patient safety, especially as it relates to Information Technology and Innovation. He has led numerous projects of critical importance in emergency departments at UHN, many of which have successfully been implemented and have improved patient care. He plays an active role in several hospital-wide and University level IT initiatives such as Health Information System Renewal, Information Mobility, and Electronic CV management. Dr. Sabbah has also led the development and implementation of numerous evidence-based order sets to standardize and streamline care and ensure adherence to best practice. He has received three UHN stars for his contributions to patient safety, quality improvement, and information technology initiatives and was awarded the first ever annual UHN Local Impact Award for Clinicians. Dr. Sabbah was also nominated twice for the Anna Jarvis Award for Teaching Excellence. As a busy administrator , full time academic emergency physician, and a father of two little girls, he has first hand experience with the importance of work-life integration and provider wellness.

Kevin Smith

President & CEO, University Health Network (UHN)

Dr. Kevin Smith is President & CEO of University Health Network (UHN), Canada’s largest academic health sciences centre. Dr. Smith has spent his career at the interface of the University and Research Hospital and is passionately committed to the mission of education, research and exemplary clinical care. Dr. Smith is a pioneer in advancing integrated care models spanning the continuum of health and social services.

Dr. Smith is a Professor, Institute for Medical Sciences, Institute of Health Policy, Management and Evaluation (IHPME), Rotman School of Management and at the De Groote School of Medicine, Department of Medicine, McMaster University.

Educated in Canada, the U.S. and Great Britain, Dr. Smith began his career in medical education, followed by leadership roles in university administration, academic hospitals and health systems. He is professionally certified in Corporate Governance by the Institute of Corporate Directors and the Harvard Program in Effective Governance, and completed the Wharton School CEO Program for Health Care Leadership.

Dr. Smith currently serves as Chair, Council of Academic Hospitals of Ontario and was privileged to serve in many past roles including Chair, The Canada Foundation for Innovation, the Ontario Hospital Association and as a frequent advisor to governments and the private sector.

Liz Tullis

Professor, Department of Medicine

As the founding Director of the Toronto Adult Cystic Fibrosis Clinic at St. Michael’s Hospital, Dr. Tullis is responsible for the care of 500 adults with CF. Dr. Tullis is a Professor of Medicine at the University of Toronto, the Respirology Division Head at St. Michael’s Hospital, and an Adjunct Scientist at the Keenan Research Centre of Li Ka Shing Knowledge Institute. She is the Cystic Fibrosis Canada Chair in Adult CF Research.

Dr. Tullis completed training in Internal Medicine and Respirology at the University of Toronto. She then did a Fellowship in Adult CF in Melbourne, Australia.

Dr. Tullis has published over 100 articles and book chapters and has lectured nationally and internationally on issues related to CF in adults. She has had 25 years of experience with CF clinical care.

Jennifer Webster

Jennifer Webster is a conflict management professional with over 25 years’ experience supporting unions, employees and employers in resolving conflicts and developing their relationships. She has her own practice as a mediator, arbitrator and facilitator, and is a member of the Alternative Dispute Resolution Institute of Ontario. She is a part-time member at the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario and on the Federal Minister of Labour’s roster of arbitrators under Part I and adjudicators under Part III of the Canada Labour Code. She is also a Mediator and Arbitrator for the Sport Dispute Resolution Council of Canada and a member of the Transportation Appeal Tribunal of Canada. She supports an approach to conflict resolution that builds relationships and enhances creative problem-solving.

Since September, 2015, she has been certified in LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY® facilitation approaches and has used LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY® to facilitate sessions for team development, strategic planning, and the development of organizational vision. She has designed and facilitated a three-day program on Creative Conflict Management using LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY® with the Strategic Play Group. Prior to starting her mediation practice, Jennifer worked for over 15 years as a labour mediator with Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service, a branch of the Ministry of Labour. From 2009 to 2016, Jennifer was the Ontario Regional Director for Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service. Her work at Federal Mediation involved the conciliation of collective bargaining disputes, grievance mediation, the facilitation of negotiations and committees, and the design and delivery of training in all areas of labour relations. She has been a member of the Law Society of Upper Canada since 1992 and practised law as union counsel for 11 years before joining Federal Mediation.

Robert Wu

Associate Professor, Department of Medicine

Dr. Wu is an Associate Professor with the Department of Medicine at the University of Toronto and general internist at the University Health Network. He is the site director for General Internal Medicine at Toronto General Hospital. Dr. Wu's research interests focus on the development and evaluation of information technology to improve patient care. This includes the use of communication systems to coordinate care as well as mobile devices and wearables for chronic disease management. He is a member of the Mentorship, Equity and Diversity Committee.

He is the partner of a successful Clinician Scientist and a father to three active daughters.