In this episode, host Helen Angus, CEO of AMS Healthcare, speaks with Dr. Cynthia Whitehead.

Cynthia Whitehead is an education scientist, educator, and family physician. Her research examines the effects of power relations on various structures, systems, processes, and practices in health professions education, paying attention to who and what is advantaged or disadvantaged as a result. She aims to use her research findings to promote health and education practices that are compassionate, equitable, and effective. Working at the intersection of health and higher education, she sees exciting opportunities to harness the transformative potential of education in service of a healthier world.

Cynthia's program of research is anchored in critical historical analyses of health professions education. Knowing our history is vital for understanding our current contexts, avoiding past mistakes, preserving what works well, and appropriately adapting that which needs change. Aware of the need to deliberately collect multiple perspectives and voices in the history of health professions education—and at times dismayed by the absence and loss of documents—Cynthia is engaged in efforts to preserve relevant archival materials. She is also committed to helping to grow the community of scholars interested in studying the history of the field.

Theoretically, Cynthia engages with the work of Michel Foucault, as well as post-colonialism, anticolonialism, and decoloniality. Some of her specific content areas of interest are globalized medical education, primary care education, accreditation, outcomes-based education, and education for collaboration.

Underpinning Cynthia's historical research is the knowledge that the creation of Euro-American models of higher education, health professions education, and healthcare institutions globally were intrinsically intertwined with European colonization of Africa, the Americas, Asia, and Australia. She understands that colonization has shaped and continues to perpetuate inequities in health professions education and research practices locally, nationally, and globally. Cynthia's involvement in the Toronto Addis Ababa Academic Collaboration (TAAAC) is one key partnership within which she collaboratively interrogates these processes. As a high income country researcher and white settler Canadian, she strives to listen, learn, and collaborate with humility, taking care that her work not inadvertently reproduce colonial academic practices.

Cynthia has provided education consultations and worked with educators, scholars, and learners in many countries, as well as with the World Health Organization. She has held many education leadership positions, and is involved in teaching, curricular design, program evaluation, and education administration locally, nationally, and internationally.

Cynthia is a Professor in the Department of Family and Community Medicine; Director and Scientist at the Wilson Centre, Temerty Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto and University Health Network; and an academic family doctor based clinically at Women's College Hospital. She holds the BMO Financial Group Chair in Health Professions Education Research at University Health Network.

https://amshealthcare.ca/

In this episode, host Helen Angus, CEO of AMS Healthcare, speaks with Dr. Andy Smith.

Since 2017, Dr. Andy Smith has been the President and CEO of Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre where he leads over 12,000 staff, physicians, researchers and learners and an annual budget of more than $1.4 billion. Prior to his current role, Dr. Smith served as Sunnybrook's Executive Vice President and Chief Medical Executive.

With a long-established career as a surgeon and a recognized leader in the management of colorectal cancer, Dr. Smith is intensely passionate about improving healthcare. He has been involved for many years in quality improvement initiatives in Ontario and is passionately interested in healthcare leadership, innovation and the evolution of the healthcare system in Canada. Dr. Smith is on the Board of Directors for ORNGE, Public Health Ontario (PHO), HealthCareCAN, Toronto Innovation Acceleration Partners (TIAP) and is an active member of Toronto Academic Health Sciences Network (TAHSN).

https://amshealthcare.ca/

In this episode, host Helen Angus, CEO of AMS Healthcare, speaks with Dr. Tara Kiran.

Dr. Tara Kiran is a family physician and a health systems researcher with nationally and internationally recognized expertise in primary care policy, quality improvement, and health system evaluation. She holds the Fidani Chair in Improvement and Innovation at the University of Toronto where she also serves as Vice Chair, Quality and Innovation for the Department of Family and Community Medicine. Dr. Kiran's research focuses on understanding and addressing gaps in access, equity, and quality in primary care, with recent work examining shifts in the physician workforce, the impact of team-based care, and public priorities for reform. Dr. Kiran is the founder and national lead of OurCare, Canada's largest public engagement initiative on the future of primary care, which has shaped policy direction in multiple provinces and informed Ontario's Primary Care Act. She also hosts Primary Focus, a podcast that explores innovative primary systems and clinics—in Canada and around the world. She practices family medicine at St. Michael's Hospital, Unity Health Toronto where she is also a Scientist at the MAP Centre for Urban Health Solutions. Throughout her work, she is motivated by a deep commitment to improving access to high-quality, equitable, and patient-centred care.

http://amshealthcare.ca/

In this episode, host Helen Angus, CEO of AMS Healthcare, speaks with Dr. Laura Desveaux, PhD, CPCC, ACC , a scientist and Director of the Learning Health System Leadership Center at the Institute for Better Health at Trillium Health Partners. She is a Senior Fellow with AMS Healthcare, an Assistant Professor with IHPME at the University of Toronto, and a 2023-24 Leadership Fellow with the International Women's Forum.

Dr. Desveaux's program of work focuses on learning health systems, the future of leadership, and how and why things work in healthcare with a focus on identifying how context influences success (and failure). She is also the founder and Executive Director of Women Who Lead, a not-for-profit dedicated to supporting leadership development for women in the health sector.

http://amshealthcare.ca/

In this episode, host Helen Angus, CEO of AMS Healthcare, speaks with Dr. Gillian Strudwick, a Registered Nurse and an internationally recognized leader in digital health and mental health innovation. She currently serves as the Interim Scientific Director of the Digital Innovation Hub, Chief Clinical Informatics Officer, and Senior Scientist at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) in Toronto. In these roles, she leads research an implementation initiatives aimed at transforming mental health care through the responsible an equitable use of digital technologies.

Dr. Strudwick is also an Associate Professor at the Institute of Health Policy, Management and Evaluation at the University of Toronto, where she teaches and mentors the next generation of health system leaders and digital health scientists. Her program of research sits at the intersection of digital health, implementation science, and mental health services, with a focus on designing, evaluating, and scaling innovations that improve care experiences and outcomes for both patient and providers.

Nationally and internationally, Dr. Strudwick is a sought-after expert and advisor. She serves on the boards of AMS Healthcare, the Village Family Health Team, and the Thunder Bay Regional Health Research Institute. She is the youngest nurse to be named a Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Nursing and the first woman in Canada to be named a Fellow of the American Medical Informatics Association. Her contributions have been recognized with numerous accolades, including the Sigma Emerging Nurse Researcher Award, the CIHR Rising Star Award in Health Services and Policy Research, and the Top 20 Under 40 in Canadian Life Sciences.

Dedicated to collaboration and impact, Dr. Strudwick has worked with health system partnersacross Canada and internationally, including Oxford University, Harvard University and the Mental Health Commission of Canada, to ensure digital solutions in health are usable, effective, and equitable. She has provided scientific guidance to policymakers, including as a member of Ontario's COVID-19 advisory table, and regularly contributes to thought leadership in the areas of AI, usability, and human factors in health care.

http://amshealthcare.ca/

In this episode, host Helen Angus, CEO of AMS Healthcare, speaks with Dr. Robert Reid.

Dr. Robert Reid is the Chief Scientist Emeritus at Trillium Health Partners, where he previously served as the Hazel McCallion Research Chair in Learning Health Systems at the Institute for Better Health (IBH) and Senior Vice President. He is a global expert and thought leader in population health, learning health systems and primary care.

He is best known for his work in developing and evaluating a patient-centred medical home at Group Health Cooperative, now Kaiser Permanente. With IBH colleagues, Dr. Reid is also well known for leading the development of the Learning Health System (LHS) Action Framework that is now being used across Canada to guide system-based learning approaches.

Dr. Reid is currently providing expertise in the re-design of Ontario's health care system through the Ontario Health Teams initiative. Dr. Reid co-leads of the Rapid Improvementand Support Exchange (RISE) which provides technical support for rapid learning and improvement for Ontario Health Teams.

At the University of Toronto, Dr. Reid holds an academic appointment as Professor(status) with the Institute of Health Policy, Management and Evaluation (IHPME), and the Department of Family and Community Medicine. He is also a Professor with McMaster University's Department of Health Research Methods, Evidence, and Impact.
Board certified in preventive medicine, Dr. Reid received his medical degree from the University of Alberta and completed a Master's Degree in Epidemiology and a Ph.D. in Health Policy and Management at Johns Hopkins University

amshealthcare.ca

Kimberly Moran has served as OMA's CEO since December 2023. She is a highly respected health-care leader and accomplished executive with more than 30 years of senior leadership experience in the private and not-for-profit sectors.

Kimberly comes to the OMA from her most recent role as the president and CEO of the Ontario College of Family Physicians, where she was able to unite stakeholders around a common purpose and vision of attracting new and sustainable funding in the health-care system.

She has held roles as special adviser to the dean of the faculty of medicine at the University of Toronto, where her work included attracting new funding for research and innovative health-care models, CEO of Children's Mental Health Ontario, and CEO of UNICEF Canada.

She has advised health-system stakeholders at all levels of government in Canada and internationally. Kimberly is a recognized health-system transformation contributor and collaborator, with previous roles in the Ontario Children's Health Coalition, which represents children's hospitals and children's community health-care providers, and as co-chair of the Children's COVID-19 Vaccine Table. She was previously on the Premier's Council on Improving Health Care and Ending Hallway Medicine, a voluntary expert advisory council reporting to the premier and the minister of health.

Kimberly is a chartered professional accountant and chairs the finance committee for the Seneca College Board of Director.

AMShealthcare.ca

In this episode, host Helen Angus, CEO of AMS Healthcare, speaks with Dr. Danielle Martin, a Professor and Chair of the Department of Family and Community Medicine (DFCM), University of Toronto. DFCM is the largest academic department of family medicine in the world and home to the World Health Organization Collaborating Centre on Family Medicine and Primary Care.

Dr. Martin is an active family physician whose clinical work has ranged from comprehensive family medicine in rural and remote communities to maternity care. She is a dedicated educator, mentor and role model to learners aspiring to enter medicine and health care leadership. Dr. Martin is a respected leader in Canadian medicine and well-recognized media spokesperson. Dr. Martin spent eight years as a senior hospital executive, most recently as Executive Vice President and Lead Medical Executive at Women's College Hospital (WCH), where she was also medical lead of the hospital's COVID-19 pandemic response. There, she led the establishment of Women's Virtual, Canada's first virtual hospital.

The recipient of many awards and accolades, in 2019 Dr. Martin became the youngest physician ever to receive the F.N.G. Starr Award, the highest honour for Canadian Medical Association members.

http://amshealthcare.ca/