Presenters

Dr. Bridges practised emergency and sports medicine at McGill University where she is an assistant professor and has served in many capacities in medical education at the undergraduate and postgraduate level.

Nationally, she has served with organizations such as the Canadian Association of Emergency Physicians, the Canadian Academy of Sport and Exercise Medicine, as well as the Medical Council of Canada.

Dr. Johnston later obtained his flight surgeon qualification from the Defence Research and Development Canada School of Environmental Medicine.

Following subsequent residency training in anesthesiology and fellowships in thoracic anesthesiology and medical informatics, Dr. Johnston practised clinical anesthesiology at the Ottawa Hospital and l’Hôpital Montfort. He also served as a trauma team leader at the Ottawa Hospital from 2011 to 2016, was a critical care air evacuation physician with the Royal Canadian Air Force from 2010 to 2016, and was medical director of the Canadian Armed Forces Medical Simulation Centre at CFB Valcartier.

Dr. Johnston has had many clinical, advisory, and educational roles in the Canadian Armed Forces, including designing and delivering numerous military courses and training events. Owing to his worldwide experience providing resuscitative care, and using simulated crisis management and team dynamics training, Dr. Johnston has been influential in shaping military critical care and tactical care capabilities.

At the beginning of her career, Ms. Jakeman represented the College of Physicians and Surgeons of B.C. and had a general litigation practice.

She currently maintains a busy broad-based practice. Her civil litigation practice includes professional liability, general insurance, and major property loss disputes as well as a small percentage of plaintiff’s personal injury work. Her administrative law practice includes regulatory work for a variety of professions.

Ms. Jakeman has developed niche expertise in the emerging field of MAID (medical assistance in dying).

In addition to her legal practice, Ms. Jakeman has an active mediation practice. Through her work and training, she has a deep understanding of and key insights into the realm of mediation in civil litigation and in the context of workplace disputes. She is a Roster member with Mediate BC. Ms. Jakeman was an early adopter of virtual mediation and continues to effectively mediate through this forum. She has more than 20 years of conflict resolution experience.

Born and raised in Alberta, Ms. Jakeman now lives in the Lower Mainland with her family. She is an accomplished athlete. She enjoys road biking, has completed two marathons and has dabbled in the world of triathlons. Her athletic pursuits have allowed her to bring a strong sense of discipline and focus to her conflict resolution practice.

Dr. Lee has previously served in a number of leadership capacities at the University of Toronto at the undergraduate, postgraduate and faculty level. In addition, she has served with a number of national specialty society organizations including the College of Family Physicians of Canada, the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada, and the Canadian Association of Emergency Physicians. Nationally, she has been the recipient of numerous awards for her teaching, as well as international recognition for her work in creating innovative CPD programs to provide equity in improving healthcare access in rural areas of Canada.

Her professional interests include the use of digital technology in health professional education, physician wellness, and leadership. She is passionate about supporting the well-being of physicians, and in helping to provide physicians with the tools needed to practice medicine with joy and resilience.

Dr. Lee is currently a Physician Advisor at the CMPA and continues to practise emergency medicine at the Ottawa Hospital.

Dr. Nuth was the co-director of the University of Ottawa’s emergency medicine clerkship for third year students and the director of Faculty Development for the Department of Emergency Medicine.

Dr. Nuth was one of seven nationally recognized emergency medicine educators that developed ED STAT!, a one-day course where academic emergency physicians learn how to teach effectively in the high-pressure emergency environment. As part of the national teaching faculty, she provided this program to emergency physicians across Canada and internationally. Dr. Nuth also served as the medical director of the P.A.R.T.Y. program (Prevent Alcohol and Risk-related Trauma in Youth) for over 15 years. Over 14,000 Ottawa area high school students have participated in this weekly injury prevention program held at the Ottawa Hospital.

Dr. Nuth has been recognized as an accomplished educator by a wide spectrum of learners from medical students, residents, medical faculty, and allied health personnel. She has won over 10 university and provincial teaching awards, including the Ontario Leadership in Faculty Teaching Award, the Capital Educator’s Award and the University of Ottawa Award of Excellence in Education.

Prior to joining Gowling WLG in 2010, Mr. Lapner articled with a major national firm in Ottawa and served as junior counsel to the Oliphant Commission.

She has been involved in resident education and wellness initiatives and pursued training in quality improvement.

Dr. Larivière worked as an academic, full-time family physician, and residency program site director with the University of Ottawa’s department of Family Medicine before joining the CMPA in 2017.

Dr. Pound holds a Master of Science in clinical epidemiology as well as a Master of Public Health with a focus on health policy.

Dr. Pound has obtained multiple external grants for her research and published extensively in the domains of public health and health promotion. In addition, she has developed strong evidence-based medical education curricula that have been disseminated across the country.

He also provides advice in matters of commercial litigation and constitutional linguistic issues.

Mr. Boivin has appeared before the Ontario Superior Court of Justice, the Ontario Court of Appeal, the Federal Court, and the Supreme Court of Canada. He is a part-time professor, teaching evidence law and trial advocacy at the University of Ottawa Faculty of Law. He also lectures on evidence law, advocacy skills, and health law with various organizations.

Mr. Boivin practises in both official languages. Since the start of his career, he has been heavily involved in promoting access to justice for the Francophone community. He is the president of Fédération des associations de juristes d'expression française and past president of the Association des juristes d'expression française de l'Ontario. He has been involved on the boards of a variety of community organizations, including the Radio communautaire francophone d'Ottawa, the Council for the Arts in Ottawa, and the Ottawa Symphony Orchestra.

Also involved in amateur sports, Mr. Boivin is the president of the Outaouais Ski Zone.

Since 1980, Dr. Cohen has been on active staff at the Central Newfoundland Regional Health Centre, where he served as president of the medical staff and chief of staff for 10 years.

Throughout his medical career, Dr. Cohen has served on numerous governance bodies. He is a past president of the Newfoundland and Labrador Medical Association (1996-1997), a founding member of the Atlantic Provinces Medical Peer Review program, and a past chair of the Canadian Medical Association’s committee on health care and promotion (2001-2005).

Dr. Cohen was first elected to CMPA Council in 2000. He has served on many of the Association’s committees, including the Executive Committee, and as the chair of the Case Review Committee and Governance Committee. Prior to his election as president, Dr. Cohen served as the CMPA’s second and first vice-president.

Dr. Cohen is a strong advocate for protecting physician integrity and safe medical care.

She then pursued her passion for patient safety by completing two additional fellowships: the Patient Safety Fellowship in Emergency Medicine from the Society for Academic Emergency Medicine and the Emergency Medicine Patient Safety Foundation, and the American Hospital Association’s Fellowship in Patient Safety Leadership.

As a researcher, she has published close to 90 peer-reviewed publications and has been successful in securing research funding, including over 2 million dollars as principal investigator.

Dr. Calder is an associate professor at the University of Ottawa’s Department of Emergency Medicine, and has received the University of Ottawa’s Excellence in Emergency Medicine Quality and Safety Award as well as the Canadian Association of Emergency Physicians’ Teacher of the Year Award.

Dr. Calder spent more than a decade practising as an emergency physician in Ottawa before joining the CMPA in 2015 as the director of Medical Care Analytics. She was appointed CEO of the CMPA in August 2020. Her areas of focus are to be there for members, modernize the CMPA, and do so in a collaborative way.

During his residency, Dr. Brossard was president of the Fédération des médecins residents du Québec (1987-1992). While in practice, he presided over the Association des médecins endocrinologues du Québec (1996-2005) and was involved in medical research (1993 – 2007). From 2006 to 2015, he was medical director of the metabolic medicine program at the CHUM and chief of endocrinology from 2009 to 2015. Since 2015, he has been managing partner of the Clinique d’Endocrinologie de Montréal and has progressively increased his involvement in CMPA governance.

Dr. Brossard was first elected to CMPA Council in 2002. He has served on many of the Association’s committees over the years and as chair of the extent of assistance, investment, and case review committees. Since 2020, he has served as the CMPA’s first vice-president.

Mr. Garbolinsky joined the CMPA in 2012 as the Director of Finance. Prior to the CMPA, he worked as the Chief Financial Officer and Vice President Finance for International Datacasting Corporation, previously a TSX listed technology company. Mr. Garbolinsky obtained his Chartered Accounting designation in 1998 and graduated with a Bachelor of Commerce (Honours) from the University of Manitoba in 1995.

A graduate of the Max Rady College of Medicine at the University of Manitoba, Dr. Johnson is a past president of Doctors Manitoba (2007-2008) and a past president of the Manitoba College of Family Physicians (2003-2004).

As a longstanding and passionate advocate for physicians, Dr. Johnson has served on many boards and committees. He currently serves on MD Financial Management’s inaugural physician advisory council. He formerly served as secretary of the section of family practice at Doctors Manitoba, as chair of the department of family practice at Concordia Hospital, and also served on the boards of the Canadian Medical Association and the College of Family Physicians of Canada (CFPC).

Dr. Johnson is the recipient of the CFPC Award of Excellence (2008), was named Family Physician of the Year in 2009 by the Manitoba College of Family Physicians, and was one of CFPC’s Canada’s Family Physicians of the year in 2009.

He is a member of Health Canada’s Scientific Advisory Committee on Digital Health Technologies, the CMA Virtual Care Task Force, the National Research Council Medical Devices Research Centre Advisory Board, and chair of the Canadian Association of Emergency Physicians Digital Emergency Medicine Committee.

Dr. Ho’s research interests include virtual care, digital health with sensors and wearables, and big data/AI in emergency medicine.

Dr. Affleck is the chair of the Alberta Virtual Care Coordinating Body, a member of the pan-Canadian Health Data Strategy Expert Advisory Group, and was chair of the national Task Team on Equitable Access to Virtual Care. He is the past chief medical information officer of the Northwest Territories and was co-chair of the CMA Virtual Care Taskforce.

Dr. Affleck is the executive producer and co-writer of The Unforgotten (2021), an award-winning film about inequities in health service for Indigenous people living in Canada. In 2013, he was appointed to the Order of Canada for his contribution to northern healthcare.

Dr. Ross is the site lead for the Ted Rogers Centre for Heart Research and currently holds the Loretta A. Rogers Chair in Heart Function and the Pfizer Chair in Cardiovascular Research. She received her medical degree from the University of British Columbia, her cardiology training at Dalhousie University, and her postdoctoral fellowship in cardiac transplantation at Stanford University, California. She earned a Master of Bioethics from the University of Toronto. She has published over 370 peer-reviewed articles and won numerous awards including the inaugural CCS Women in Cardiovascular Medicine/Science Mentorship Award (2020) and the Canadian Heart Failure Society Annual Achievement Award (2019).

Dr. Smart works primarily with children who have experienced trauma and adverse childhood events, and she witnesses the broad and lasting impact these events have on children and their development daily. She is passionate about improving services for marginalized children in an effort to change their life trajectory. In addition to her community-based work, Dr. Smart enjoys acute care and provides on-call services to the hospital. Before moving to the Yukon, she was a pediatric emergency medicine physician at the Alberta Children’s Hospital in Calgary.

Since starting the role as president of the Canadian Medical Association (CMA) in August 2021, Dr. Smart has cemented a reputation as a trusted, authoritative voice to advance key priorities for Canadian physicians and the medical profession. Her presidency has been underscored by some of the most difficult challenges health care workers have ever faced in Canada. She is one of Canada’s leading health care experts, respected and lauded by colleagues across the country.

As president of the CMA—the national voice of the medical profession–Dr. Smart is the 10th woman to take on this role in the association’s 154-year history. She is leading the profession at a key moment in time, as more women enter medicine than ever before and the need for health leadership is paramount.

Simultaneously, the CPSO created and implemented a new, modern business infrastructure making it the first fully digital regulator in Canada.

Throughout her career, Dr. Whitmore has held numerous leadership positions. Prior to her role at CPSO she served as president and CEO of St. Thomas Elgin General Hospital, where she also served as vice-president and chief of staff. Dr. Whitmore was instrumental in the implementation of substantial process improvements throughout the hospital and played a key role in making St. Thomas Elgin General Hospital an award-winning facility.

Dr. Whitmore received her medical degree from the University of Manitoba and completed her obstetrics and gynecology residency at Western University. She is a fellow of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada and a graduate of the MBA program at the Richard Ivey School of Business at Western University. As an avid lifelong learner, Dr. Whitmore has also completed the Executive Training for Research Application (EXTRA) Program at the Canadian Health Services Research Foundation, where her project work focused on Lean process redesign in healthcare and its role improving quality of care and patient safety.

In 2014, she moved to the College of Family Physicians of Canada where she held the position of executive director of Academic Family Medicine. She came to the CMPA in 2016, as the director of Physician Consulting Services. In 2020, she took on the executive director role of Member Experience, responsible for medico-legal services, physician support and wellness, and membership services.

Dr. Eisener-Parsche holds the designation of Certified Canadian Physician Executive and served on the Board of Directors of the Canadian Society of Physician Leaders for 12 years.

Mr. Crolla has appeared before all levels of courts and administrative tribunals including as lead counsel in a number of complex matters in both a trial and appellate capacity. He is a senior advisor to the CMPA.

Mr. Crolla is a frequent author and lecturer and the editor of Electronic Healthcare Law Review (LexisNexis). He has taught in Osgoode Hall Law School’s LL.M in health law program and was the regional director of Osgoode’s LL.M in e-business. Mr. Crolla participated in the drafting of a proposed convention on telehealth as part of the work of the Medicine and the Law Committee, International Bar Association (IBA).

He is a member of a number of professional societies where he has served in a number of capacities including as president of the County of Carleton Law Association, as chair of the Medicine and the Law Committee, IBA, and is a past director of the Advocates’ Society and Bar-Ex Communications. He was a member of the Steering Committee for the Futures Program of the Canadian Bar Association. He is a Fellow of Litigation Counsel of America.

Mr. Crolla is recognized by Chambers Canada (band 1), Benchmark Canada, the Canadian Legal Lexpert® Directory (Leading Lawyer), and The Best Lawyers in Canada (several Lawyer of the Year recognitions). In 2021, he received the Ontario Bar Association’s Susan Hillary Davidson Award for Excellence in Health Law and is a 2021 recipient of the Medical Professional Liability Association’s Defender Award. From 2007 to 2010, Mr. Crolla was a member of Gowling WLG’s Executive Committee and held the position of firm managing partner, internal. Until 2022, Domenic was lead trustee of the firm’s Board of Trustees.