Canadian Women Physicians Day was established in 2021 with the objective of honouring women’s achievements in medicine. It marks the day that Dr. Jennie Trout became the first woman licensed to practice medicine in Canada on March 11, 1875.

 

In 2023, female physicians unfortunately continue to face a significant gender gap in medicine. One contributing factor appears to be that women are less inclined to self-promote on the job, leading to inequities in perceived achievements.

 

A study published in the British Medical Journal (Lerchenmueller et al., 2019) found that clinical articles involving a male first or last author were more likely to present research findings positively in titles and abstracts compared with articles in which both the first and last author were women, particularly in the highest impact journals. Positive presentation of research findings was associated with higher downstream citations.

 

In another study, both male and female physicians surveyed felt that social media increased collaboration within and outside their specialties and institutions. However, male physicians were more likely to report certain professional benefits from their social media use, such as invited talks and increased scholarship opportunities (Woitowich et al., 2021).

 

The uOttawa DEM Gender Equity committee is hoping to highlight the accomplishments of the female physicians in our group and also encourage self-promotion. We have compiled a list of our female physicians’ accomplishments, and hope that highlighting these achievements can act as one small step toward closing the gender gap.

Dr. Jen Leppard

Dr. Jen Leppard

Deputy Head

  • Deputy Head – Provider Support & Patient Experience
  • 2022 Winner of the CAEP Dr. Terry Sosnowski Memorial Teacher of the Year Award
  • 2020 Winner of the CAEP Dr. Helen Karounis Memorial Award for Professionalism in Emergency Medicine
  • Enrolled in Masters of Medical Education at Dundee University
  • Graduate of uOttawa Distinguished Teacher Program
Dr. Lauren Lacroix

Dr. Lauren Lacroix

Staff Physician

  • Named Director, Postgraduate Simulation Education for the DEM;
  • Diploma in Medical Education + nearing completion of Masters thesis
  • Nominated for EM teacher of the year in 2022;
  • Promoted to Partner; gave birth to Lucy (March 2020) and Noah (Dec 2021)
Dr. Alie Wudwud

Dr. Alie Wudwud

Resident Physician

  • Sr Residency program committee (RPC) Rep
  • Past Jr RPC rep
  • Past wellness committee member
  • EMOttawa Blog Jr Editor
  • MSc
Dr. Aajab Abdulhussein

Dr. Aajab Abdulhussein

Staff Physician

  • Resident Educator of the Year, CCFP-EM (2020)
  • Resident Research Award, CCFP-EM (2020)
Dr Sarah Addleman

Dr Sarah Addleman

Staff Physician

Dr. Justine Amaro

Dr. Justine Amaro

Staff Physician

  • EM Clerkship Teaching Award Nominee
  • Gratitude Award – TOH Foundation (2021)
  • Medical Assistance in Dying MD
  • Member Voices Rock Medicine Women Physician Choir
  • Solo mom to one 8 year old
Dr. Jessica Tat

Dr. Jessica Tat

Resident Physician

  • Social Media Committee Member
  • Resident artist and videographer of the DEM
Dr. Renee Bradley

Dr. Renee Bradley

Staff Physician

  • FRCPC chief resident 2020-2021
  • Resident Teacher of the Year Award, FRCPC
Dr. Valerie Charbonneau

Dr. Valerie Charbonneau

Staff Physician

  • Medical Director for Emergency Management
  • Partnership Executive
Dr. Soraya Davoudi

Dr. Soraya Davoudi

Staff Physician

  • Happily Married 29 years
  • Very Proud Ski Mom of 2 beautiful and kind teens
  • Gratitude Awards TOH x3, Guardian Angel X2
  • Nominated for EM teacher of the year Award (07),
  • University of Ottawa DEM Resident Educatorof the Year Award FRCP-EM (06)
Dr. Lisa Fischer

Dr. Lisa Fischer

Staff Physician

  • Mama to 4, wife to 1
  • Palliative Care physician.
  • Director of physician wellness (2017-2022).
  • Founder and ex-chair of Palliative Emergency Care CAEP committee
  • International speaker at University of Lisbon on the integration of Palliative Care into Emergency Medicine.
Dr. Deb Eagles

Dr. Deb Eagles

Staff Physician

  • Research Leader
  • Associate Professor
Dr. Amanda Collier

Dr. Amanda Collier

Staff Physician

  • CAEP Global EM committee
Dr. Dominique Trudel

Dr. Dominique Trudel

Resident Physician

  • Teacher extraordinaire with rave reviews from her medical student learners.
  • Invited as a guest speaker for the Skeptics Guide to Emergency Medicine podcast.
Dr. Roos Ramaekers

Dr. Roos Ramaekers

Resident Physician

Dr. Courtney Price

Dr. Courtney Price

Resident Physician

Dr. Jennifer Clow

Dr. Jennifer Clow

Staff Physician

  • Represented uOttawa’s Tanzania outreach
  • DEM representative for U of O Global Health Clinical Council
  • Medical Director, Canada-Africa Community Health Alliance
  • Medical Director, Dreams Take Flight Ottawa.
  • CACHA Mission Lead, Terrat Tanzania Medical Caravans x 10 years, CACHA Canada
  • Critical Care Physician Coordinator, NHL Ottawa Senators.
Dr. Kathleen O'Connell

Dr. Kathleen O'Connell

Resident Physician

  • Awarded Top resident research project with plenary presentation at ICRE 2022
  • Chief resident 2022-2023
  • Past Sr RPC Rep Sr EM Ottawa Blog Editor
Dr. Ariel Hendin

Dr. Ariel Hendin

Staff Physician

  • Worked in 3 provinces (ICU/ED) over the pandemic
  • Became an Academic Coach for the FRCPC residents
Dr. Christine Johns

Dr. Christine Johns

Staff Physician

  • Sage of our emerg group – always have advice, no matter how small or big
  • First woman hired full time in EM at the Ottawa Civic Hospital.
  • Chair of NCCEM 1998-2020
Dr. Emma Ferguson

Dr. Emma Ferguson

Staff Physician

  • CAEP resident research award
  • Invited track speaker CAEP 2022
  • FRCPC chief resident 2021-2022
  • Stroke Fellow and Expert!
Dr. Sara-Pier Piscopo

Dr. Sara-Pier Piscopo

Position

  • PEM staff, prehospital and transport medicine fellow.
  • 19 year ringette player 🙂
Dr. Tiffany Lam

Dr. Tiffany Lam

Staff Physician

  • EM Resident Research Award (2020
  • MSc Health Sciences Education, McMaster University
  • Simulation Fellow
Dr. Shirley Lee

Dr. Shirley Lee

Staff Physician

  • Chair – Coalition for Physician Learning and Practice Improvement, Canada
  • CMPA Senior Physician Advisor
  • Countless book chapters, manuals, awards spanning med ed and patient safety/physician education/leadership.
  • Member Voices Rock
  • Medicine Women Physician Choir
Dr. Samara Adler

Dr. Samara Adler

Resident Physician

  • Vice President PEM, CAEP Resident Executive 2021-2022 &2022-2023
  • JR EM Ottawa Blog Editor Presentation
  • AMEE (France, 2022): “Experienced or witnessed racism or microaggressions: An explorary survey of medical students and residents at a large Canadian medical school”
Dr. Ayesha Zia

Dr. Ayesha Zia

Staff Physician

Dr. Maria Berliant

Dr. Maria Berliant

Resident Physician

Dr. Meg Wilson

Dr. Meg Wilson

Position

  • UGME Director of Electives for UOttawa
  • Chair of Grad Committee
  • Nominee for Janet Nuth Teacher of the Year award 2020
  • Nominee Off Service Resident Teacher award 2020
  • Resident research award 2013
  • UOttawa medical school admissions panel
  • Camp doctor for 10 years (Glen Bernard Camp)
  • Wrangler of 2 amazing small people after summative total of 59 hours in labour
  • Founding member of DEM Bad Skiers’ Club
  • Bronze Cross/St John’s Ambulance Babysitter’s course/Ontario
  • Pleasure Craft Operator Card certified circa sometime in the 90s
Dr. Marianne Yeung

Dr. Marianne Yeung

Staff Physician

  • Director, Community Emergency Medicine Outreach Program.
  • Interim Director, Distributed Medical Education uOttawa.
  • M Ed, CCFP(EM), FCFP.
  • Academic interests – medical education at every stage, mentorship, and links between community and academic medicine.
  • Gord Wallace Teaching Award, 2022 and 2008.
  • Award of Excellence in CPD, Faculty of Medicine, 2021.
  • DEM Scholarship for Education and Research Fellows, 2015.
  • Janus CPD Development Grant, CFPC, 2014.
  • Teaching Skills Attainment Award, Faculty of Medicine, 2009.
  • Ottawa Innovation Fund Grant, OMA-MOHLTC-TOHAMO, 2008.
  • A bunch of papers and presentations.
  • Fun stuff – skiing, cycling, paddling and the great outdoors
  • Voices Rock Medicine choir – my first solo!
Dr. Stella Yiu

Dr. Stella Yiu

Staff Physician

Dr. Anita Pozgay

Dr. Anita Pozgay

Staff Physician

  • Invited Speaker CWHHA (Canadian Women’s Heart Health Alliance) Summit:
  • A Novel Chest Pain Algorithm for Earlier Recognition of Cardiac Ischemia in Women
  • Member Education Working Group for CWHHA
  • Co-Chair AFC RCPSC Sports & Exercise Medicine (2017-2022)
    Sports & Exercise Physician (Human 2.0)
  • MSK POCUS Instructor (Sport Medicine Ultrasound Canada)
  • Mom to twin tweens 
  • Nordic Ski coach and volunteer
  • Lifelong athlete
Dr. Elyssia Adamo

Dr. Elyssia Adamo

Staff Physician

  • PARO General Council Member, University of Ottawa (2019-2022)
  • Resident Doctors of Canada (RDoC) Executive Board Member (Ontario Representative): 2020-2021
  • Editor – EMOttawa Blog
  • Family Medicine – Site Chief Resident (2020-2021)
  • CCFP-EM Chief Resident (2021-2022), University of Ottawa
  • Lakehead Leader Recognition Award (2017), Lakehead University, Thunder Bay ON
  • University of Ottawa Faculty of Wellness Resident Representative (2019-2021)
  • POCUS Teaching Instructor at the National SRPC rural conference 
  • Fellow instructor for the Ottawa POCUS Symposium (2023)
  • Joined the Awards & Grad Committee (2023)
  • Started the Acute Care POCUS Fellowship in Ottawa (2023)
  • PARO OMA Resident Achievement Award (2022)
  • Resident Research Award: CCFP-EM (2022)
  • Invited track speaker at CAEP 2022
  • Winner of the CAEP CCFP-EM National Resident Leadership Award (2022)
  • PGME University of Ottawa Award in Education – Leader (Manager) Competency (2021)
Dr. Camille Dagenais

Dr. Camille Dagenais

Resident Physician

  • Resident Wellness Rep
  • BSc Eng – Biomedical Mechanical Engineering
Dr. Maria Dubova

Dr. Maria Dubova

Resident Physician

  • CAEP Resident Research Award
Dr. Dr. Sophia-Maria Giannakakis

Dr. Dr. Sophia-Maria Giannakakis

Staff Physician

  • Fellow extraordinaire: doing a POCUS and Clin Epi Fellowship at the same time
Dr. Lisa Thurgur

Dr. Lisa Thurgur

Staff Physician

  • Medical Toxicologist – PADIS
  • Royal College Program Director of the year nominee 2022
  • Lois Ross PARO Resident Advocate Award winner 2019
  • Some research papers – can’t remember what they were
  • Annual Diaper Fundraiser for 13 successful years – collecting over 200,000 diapers for families in need
  • Mom, wife and dog owner
  • New to wheelchair tennis
Dr. Vivian Tam

Dr. Vivian Tam

Staff Physician

  • Bill‘, CJEM
  • Resident Teacher of the Year, CCFP(EM) 2022
  • Resident Research Award, CCFP(EM) 2022
  • EMRA Augustine D’Orta Humanism Award 2022
  • AWAEM Resident Rocks It! Award 2022
Dr. Kaitlin Endres

Dr. Kaitlin Endres

Resident Physician

  • PGME Award in Education for Leadership Competency – 2022
  • PARO General Council Rep
  • Social Media Committee
  • Jr RPC Rep for FRCPC
  • Selected for DIME and PSI Grant for Resident Research Project
  • EMOttawa Handbook Editor
Dr. Kate Holden-Boyd

Dr. Kate Holden-Boyd

Resident Physician

  • All star Iqaluit emerg doc!
Dr. Elena Poliakova

Dr. Elena Poliakova

Staff Physician

  • New physician at TOH
  • Regional Education Lead Waterloo campus
  • McMaster University 2021-2022
  • Director of Education 2015-2017 NOSM, Thunder Bay
Dr. Caitlin Hutchings

Dr. Caitlin Hutchings

Resident Physician

  • Completed her first systematic review
  • Has received multiple patient compliments
  • Best dog mom to Oatmeal
Dr. Julie Ingratta

Dr. Julie Ingratta

Resident Physician

  • Research project “Exploring Gender Influences in the Quality of Workplace-Based Assessments” accepted for publication in CJEM
  • Varsity Hockey and Softball – Wayne State University
Dr. Lucy Karp

Dr. Lucy Karp

Resident Physician

  • Jr Editor EM Ottawa Blog
  • Katherine Klassen Memorial Award 2021 – given to a graduating MD student demonstrating a high-level of patient-centred care and humanism.
  • Medical Student for Choice Executive who advocated and succeeded in obtaining free access to Mifegymiso in Manitoba
Dr. Barb Miller

Dr. Barb Miller

Staff Physician

  • Off- service Resident Teaching Award 2021, nominated 2022.
  • Member Voices Rock Medicine Women Physician Choir
  • Member Canadian Women Physicians Fitness Community
  • Fairly successful parenting of 3 teens (including 2 high school graduations) during the COVID-19 pandemic
  • Active in cycling, skiing and the outdoors.
Dr. Kari Sampsel

Dr. Kari Sampsel

Staff Physician

Dr. Marissa Lai Sa Ukos

Dr. Marissa Lai Sa Ukos

Resident Physician

  • Chief Resident 2022-2023
  • Gratitude award
  • Kindest human being
Dr. Josee Malette

Dr. Josee Malette

Resident Physician

  • Award in Education for Communication Competency – 2021
  • Co-Sr RPC Rep
  • Social Media Committee
  • Taking the resident lead position of the cascading shift committee
  • Sr Blog Editor – EM Ottawa Blog
Dr. Pascale King

Dr. Pascale King

Resident Physician

  • Sr Editor EM Ottawa Blog
  • Successfully trained for her first big race – a half marathon!
  • CAEP Resident Research Poster Presentation
Dr. Tetyana Maniuk

Dr. Tetyana Maniuk

Resident Physician

  • Completing Masters of Health Informatics at University of Waterloo
  • Previous Wellness Rep
Dr. Alena Spacek

Dr. Alena Spacek

Staff Physician

  • Emergency Medicine Rotation Director for the highest-rated clerkship rotation since its inception!
Dr. Isabella Menchetti

Dr. Isabella Menchetti

Resident Physician

  • Published a Cochrane review
  • 1st in beach volleyball doubles and indoor volleyball in Scotland x2 years in a row
  • Previous Wellness Rep
  • Women in Emergency Medicine Committee Resident Section Representative – CAEP
Dr. Sangitha Mensingh

Dr. Sangitha Mensingh

Resident Physician

  • Member Voices Rock Medicine Women Physician Choir, first article publication (Jan 2023)
  • EDI committee member
  • Received a KUDOS
Dr. Marie-Andree Lavoie

Dr. Marie-Andree Lavoie

Staff Physician

  • CMPA Leader
  • Countless book chapters, manuals, awards spanning med ed and patient safety/physician education/leadership.
  • Member Voices Rock Medicine Women Physician Choir
Dr. Sheena Nandalal

Dr. Sheena Nandalal

Resident Physician

  • Mother to a beautiful 3 year old girl, who she coparents with a resident-spouse who is >200 km away, while doing residency in style! 
Dr. Megan Brenkel

Dr. Megan Brenkel

Resident Physician

  • 2019 Research Project Award of Excellence in Evaluative Clinical Sciences at Sunnybrook Research Institute Summer Student Poster Competition
  • 2016 – 2018 Women’s Basketball Team Captain (University of Guelph)
  • 2014 – 2018 U Sports Academic All Canadian Women’s Basketball (University of Guelph)
  • Diagnosis and management of intimate partner violence in the emergency department. CJEM
  • Head of Sports Medicine and Refugee Health Groups at uOttawa Medical school
Dr. Hailey Newton

Dr. Hailey Newton

Resident Physician

  • PARO General Council
  • Gourmet chef during backcountry canoe trips
Dr. Jean Chen

Dr. Jean Chen

Staff Physician

Author

  • Lauren Lacroix

    Dr. Lauren Lacroix is an FRCPC Emergency Medicine Physician in the Department of Emergency Medicine, University of Ottawa. She has a special interest in resuscitation and simulation based medical education.

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