Newsletter

Written on February 23, 2024.

Department of Medicine Weekly Roundup - February 22nd

Please see below for the following updates:

Interim coverage for Executive Vice President, Clinical Programs and Chief Medical Officer
Message from Sonya Canzian and Thomas Parker, EVPs: Announcing two new Vice Presidents Clinical
Annual Medical Staff Re-appointments
Enhancements coming to MyChart on Feb. 21
CALL FOR NOMINATIONS: The Philip Berger Advocacy Award
REMINDER: Nominations now open: SMHDOM Master Clinician Award, Dr. Michael R Freeman Award for Integrity and Professionalism, and the Dr. Michael Ward Mentorship Award
REMINDER: Call for Nominations now Open - Unity Health Toronto Education Awards

As announced late last year, Dr. Thomas Parker, Executive Vice President, Clinical Programs, and Chief Medical Officer, will step down from his executive role on April 5, 2024. We are actively recruiting for his replacement and expect that this process will continue until well into the summer. As such, we have developed an interim coverage plan that will ensure leadership and clinical service delivery. This interim coverage plan, effective April 6, will be as follows:

Clinical Programs: Sonya Canzian, Executive Vice President, Clinical Programs, and Chief Nursing and Health Disciplines Officer will provide interim leadership for the Emergency, Renal, Medicine, Community and Strategic Partnerships clinical portfolio.
1. Jonathan Fetros, Vice President Clinical, will report to Sonya on an interim basis.
Chief Medical Officer & Medical Affairs: Ori Rotstein, Vice President of Research and Innovation, will assume the role of Chief Medical Officer for Unity Health.
1. Ashley Verduyn, Vice-President of Medical Affairs and Chief of Providence Healthcare, will report to Ori on an interim basis.
2. Irfan Dhalla, Vice President, Clinical Programs, Quality, Equity and Medical Affairs will report to Ori on Medical Affairs, and to Dr. Tim Rutledge, President and CEO, for all other areas on an interim basis.
Access and Flow: Irfan will provide leadership for Access and Flow.
1. Laurie Jenkins, Senior Director, Access and Transitions, will report to Irfan.
Clinical Ethics: Tim will provide interim leadership for the Clinical Ethics portfolio.
1. Michael Szego, Senior Director, Centre for Clinical Ethics, will report to Tim on an interim basis.
Strategy and Integration: Tim will provide interim leadership to the Strategy and Partnerships portfolio.
1. Tory Merritt, Director, Strategy and Partnerships, will report to Tim on an interim basis.

Many thanks, once again, to Tom for his dedication and leadership. He has been a trusted advisor to the executive team, the Medical Advisory Committee and the Board of Directors and we value his efforts over the next few months as he supports the smooth transition to this interim coverage structure. Tom leaves a strong and lasting impact that will benefit patients and families we serve for years to come. We will share opportunities to celebrate Tom’s accomplishments and career, and wish him well as he continues on as a clinical cardiologist at St. Michael’s. Thanks also to all providing interim coverage.

After an extensive recruitment process, we are pleased to announce two new Vice Presidents Clinical. Jonathan Fetros will be the new Vice President Clinical, Emergency Medicine, Renal, Internal Medicine, Family & Community Medicine, and Community and Strategic Partnerships, effective March 4. Julie Trpkovski will join Unity Health as the new Vice President Clinical, Surgery, Critical Care, Oncology and Women’s and Children’s Health, effective in May, with the final date to be announced shortly. Read the full announcement in Twice a Week.

CMaRS went live today for all of UHT – all physicians should have received an email from CMaRS.

If you did not receive the CMaRs email today, please contact Narisha Jiwa at [email protected]

Please be sure to complete your re-appointment before March 31!

Please be reminded that effective Feb. 21, Unity Health will be introducing enhancements to the existing MyChart portal to provide patients with access to the following results, which were previously excluded from the portal:

At St. Joseph’s – patients will now have access to laboratory and imaging results for microbiology, cytology and pathology
At St. Michael’s – patients will now have access to laboratory and imaging results for microbiology, cytology and pathology AND vascular and cardiology results

Please note that these enhancements were initiated nearly a year ago, with support from Unity Health’s Patient and Family Council, Executive Committee and Medical Advisory Committee, to improve the patient experience. These enhancements do not impact the new MyChart patient portal that will be launching with our Epic EPR system later this year.

If patients have questions, please let them know that there is no obligation to review their results ahead of an appointment. Patients can also be reminded that results should be discussed with the ordering physician or nurse practitioner before deciding what to do next. A similar message will be posted on the landing page of patients’ MyChart portal as of Feb. 21.

If you have any questions about these changes, please reach out to [email protected] or [email protected]. Thank you for your assistance and cooperation.

~~Sent on Behalf of Beverly Bulmer, Vice President of Education and Dr. Karen Weyman, Chief, Dept. of Family and Community Medicine~~

Unity Health Toronto is committed to a just and brave learning environment that is safe, accessible and inclusive for all. As we work collectively to enable our commitment to anti-racism, equity, and social-accountability we are pleased to celebrate our learners for their education/teaching excellence and their commitment to the mission and values of Unity Health through advocacy.

The Philip Berger Advocacy Award was jointly established by the Department of Family and Community Medicine and the Student Center at St. Michael’s Hospital in 2014. It recognizes Dr. Philip Berger’s outstanding leadership and commitment in advocating for patients and communities served by St. Michael’s Hospital during his term as Chief of the Department of Family and Community Medicine from 1997 to 2013.

Eligibility

To be eligible for the award, the recipient:

1. Must be a Resident or Fellow who has had a placement at St. Michael’s Hospital in the past academic year.

2. Must have responsibly used his/her expertise and influence to advance the health and well‐being of individual patients, and/or communities, and/or populations;

3. Must have demonstrated one or more of the CanMED competencies of Health Advocacy:

Respond to individual patient health needs and issues as part of patient care;
Respond to the health needs of the communities that they serve;
Identify the determinants of health of the populations that they serve;
Promote the health of individual patients, communities and populations.

The Philip Berger Advocacy Award

The nominator must provide his/her own letter of nomination plus at least one other supporting letter from a physician who knows or has worked with the nominee.

Please see the attached Terms of Reference for full details on eligibility and nomination criteria.

Deadline for new applications is Monday, April 1, 2024 – please send all nominations to:

Education Awards: [email protected]

Thank you,

Bev Bulmer Dr. Karen Weyman

Vice President, Education Chief, Dept. of Family & Community Medicine

Nominations are open for the following SMH DOM Awards:

SMHDOM Master Clinician Award
Michael R Freeman Award for Integrity and Professionalism
Michael Ward Mentorship Award

Nomination deadline is March 31^st. Please see the attached emails for more details about these awards.

Unity Health Toronto Education Awards Nomination Form (smhroot.net)

Department of Medicine Weekly Roundup - February 29

Department of Medicine Weekly Roundup - February 22nd

Department of Medicine Weekly Roundup - February 15th

Congratulations to Dr. Louise Perlin, who will retire on February 29, 2024

Department of Medicine Weekly Roundup - February 8th

Department of Medicine Weekly Roundup - February 1st

Department of Medicine Weekly Roundup - January 25