Jun 24, 2019

2019 Senior Promotions: Full and Associate Professors

Faculty

Every year, our faculty make exceptional contributions to the University of Toronto Department of Family and Community Medicine (DFCM), their communities, their patients, and the discipline of family medicine both locally and around the world. This year is no different. The following are faculty members from DFCM who have been promoted to Full Professor and Associate Professor at the University of Toronto.

Professor

Dr. Jeff Kwong’s research focuses on epidemiology in the area of infectious diseases, especially influenza and other vaccine-preventable diseases. His research lies at the interface between primary care and public health, and he has established an international reputation for using linkable databases for conducting high-quality policy-relevant epidemiologic research in the area of infectious diseases. He currently divides his time between research for the Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences (ICES) and Public Health Ontario (HPO), and clinical and teaching activities at the Toronto Western Family Health Team (TWFHT).

Dr. Cynthia Whitehead is an education scientist: her primary academic motivation has been to promote high quality medical/health professions education as an essential foundation for a skilled, efficient, and compassionate health professions workforce to meet the complex and changing needs of patients and society. Through her various roles in leadership, she has participated in educational and curriculum development, contributed to the field of health professions education, and education scholarship leadership, bringing her research findings into practice and contributing to local, national, and international discussions of key educational issues.

Associate Professor

	Dr. Allan Grill has always been motivated to improve the health care system. He is committed to life-long learning through teaching, research, and continuing professional development to enhance the effectiveness of family medicine as a discipline. He has served in leadership roles focusing on chronic kidney disease management, appropriate prescribing, public health issues affecting primary care, and government drug policy in an effort to make an impact on practice standards, continuing professional development, and family medicine.
	Dr. Noah Ivers’ research focuses on leveraging data to support primary care teams to reliably deliver both patient-centred and evidence-based care. He hopes to further his reputation as an international leader in the design and evaluation of primary care-based initiatives that aim to improve patient outcomes and health system performance. Recently he was named a Canada Research Chair, which supports his continued research in implementation science that will design, test and evaluate evidence-based, patient-centred interventions that improve quality of patient care.
	Dr. Tara Kiran’s academic career is driven by her passion to improve the quality of primary care in Canada and internationally, and her role as the Vice-Chair of Quality and Innovation at DFCM puts her in a good position to accomplish just that. Her research is focused on evaluating the impact of primary care reforms on quality of care using administrative data, and advancing primary care quality improvement by better understanding problems and designing and testing related interventions. She currently splits her time between research, clinical and teaching activities, and administrative and leadership roles at the St. Michael’s Hospital Academic Family Health Team (SMHAFHT) and at the local health region.
	Dr. Aisha Lofters is passionate for research that addresses health equity and that highlights the importance of preventive care, particularly cancer screening and prevention. She is an expert in the field of cancer screening, and her research has led to new understanding about cancer screening inequalities in the Canadian context. She was recently named Provincial Primary Care Lead for Cancer Care Ontario’s Cancer Screening Portfolio, where she provides guidance on the design and implementation of Ontario’s organized cancer screening programs from the primary care perspective, advises on gaps in care and issues of concern to primary care physicians as they relate to cancer screening, and provides strategic leadership to the evolution of the cancer screening program.
	Dr. Don Melady has always had a passion for excellent care of older adults in all settings, and has focused his academic career in the development of the field of geriatric emergency medicine. His mission is to enhance training and education of emergency physicians, and to change the systems in which we work at the local, national, and international levels. His work and accomplishments have allowed him to become Canada’s most prominent expert and opinion leader in the field of emergency care of older adults, and among a small group of international experts in the field.
	Dr. Andrea Moser’s focus is in Care of the Elderly and Long Term Care (LTC), a field where her work has been formally recognized and where she has held a variety of leadership roles. Through these positions, she has been invited to participate in health policy development, guideline development, consensus conference, and expert panels on provincial, national, and international levels. She was also the first Canadian to sit on the committees of the esteemed American Medical Directors Association (AMDA), and her nomination and appointment to the American Board of Post-Acute and Long Term Care Medicine demonstrates international recognition of the sustained quality and impact of her academic work.
	Dr. Thuy-Nga (Tia) Pham’s modus operandi is “think globally, but act locally”. She is a vocal advocate for more integrated care for patients who are too frail or ill to get to a doctor’s office, and to support the family members caring for them. She has led the way in integrating the principles of interprofessional team-based primary care, digital health innovations, and quality improvement into program design, development, and evaluation of programs that improve care for homebound patients - both while at home and as they transition back and forth between hospital, home, and community with advancing illness.
	Dr. Nav Persaud’s academic goal is to help inform public policies that promote health, especially the health of the most disadvantaged people. An important theme is to this goal is to ensure that people have access to the tangible goods needed for good health such as essential medicines. He also leads international initiatives related to medication access in partnership with the World Health Organization, and has presented his research findings to the Canadian Government’s Advisory Council on the Implementation of National Pharmacare. His research has the potential to improve public pharmaceutical policy and improve health equality by promoting universal access to highly effective treatments around the world. Dr. Persaud was also recently named a Canada Research Chair.