About the Global Health and Social Accountability Program

The Department of Family and Community Medicine (DFCM) at the University of Toronto, and in particular its Global Health and Social Accountability Program, aims to leverage the widely recognized depth and richness of family medicine in Canada to help achieve equity and improve health of those, in Canada and abroad, made vulnerable by adverse social determinants of health and their inequitable structural underpinnings.

The Global Health portfolio spans education, research, quality improvement, clinical innovation, leadership and advocacy in areas including social accountability, Indigenous health, climate change and more both in Canada and globally. 

For learners committed to family medicine and primary care, from students to faculty and practicing physicians and allied health colleagues, we offer a range of educational experiences designed to strengthen the discipline of family medicine and the delivery of primary care globally, and to improve the capacity of family physicians (locally and internationally) to address the needs of individuals and populations impacted by adverse social determinants of health. 

The Global Health and Social Accountability Program has extensive experience in collaborative partnerships with academic institutions, organizations and colleagues in low- and middle-income countries. We anchor our work in a collective commitment to respectful collaboration, mutual learning, partner-centered support and innovative learner-responsive education. Our activities bring together the vast expertise of our faculty in clinical practice, scholarship and research, knowledge support, education and health systems management.

Committed to social justice and equity, the program contributes to the development of sustainable health systems anchored in quality primary care.

Definitions

The terms global health, social accountability, health equity, social determinants of health and structural determinants of health are often used together, and sometimes interchangeably, to refer to activities carried out to address the health and social needs of individuals and communities subject to unfair and oppressive social, economic and political structures. However, each is imbued with a particular meaning. Learn more about the definition of each term here. 

Program Faculty, Staff & Collaborators

Faculty

Dr. Katherine Rouleau, Vice-Chair, Global Health and Social Accountability Program, DFCM, University of Toronto

Dr. Katherine Rouleau is a family physician at St-Michael's Hospital in Toronto. Her clinical and academic interests include primary care in the global health context, global health education, the scholarship-leadership continuum, the care of marginalized populations and HIV primary care. Read a message from the Vice-Chair.

Dr. Praseedha Janakiram, Faculty Lead, Toronto Addis Ababa Academic Collaboration in Family Medicine, DFCM, University of Toronto 

Dr. Janakiram is a family physician at the Crossroads Refugee Clinic at Women's College Hospital in Toronto. She has a passion for refugee health care, women's health, HIV primary care, marginalized populations engagement and global health collaboration, leadership, and education.

Dr. Leila Makhani, PGY3 Enhanced Skills Program Director for Global Health and Vulnerable Populations; Associate Lead, Toronto Addis Ababa Academic Collaboration in Family Medicine, DFCM, Toronto

Dr. Leila Makhani is a family physician with the Inner City Health Associates (ICHA) in Toronto. Her clinical and academic interests include migrant and refugee health, tropical medicine, the care of underserved populations, and global health in the context of primary care and building collaborative academic partnerships. 

Dr. Suzanne Shoush, Lead, Indigenous Health, DFCM, University of Toronto

Dr. Janet Smylie, MD MPH FCFP, Indigenous Health Research Lead, DFCM; Research Scientist, Centre for Urban Health Solutions; Director, Well Living House Action Research Centre for Indigenous Infant Child and Family Health and Wellbeing, St. Michael's Hospital; Professor, Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto; Tier 1 Canada Research Chair in Indigenous Health

Dr. Smylie is the Director of the Well Living House Action Research Centre for Indigenous Infant, Child, and Family Health and Wellbeing, Tier 1 Canada Research Chair in Advancing Generative Health Services for Indigenous Populations in Canada, and Professor at the Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto. Dr. Smylie’s research focuses on addressing Indigenous health inequities in partnership with Indigenous communities. She is particularly focused on ensuring all First Nations, Inuit, and Métis peoples are counted into health policy and planning wherever they live in ways that make sense to them; addressing anti-Indigenous racism in health services; and advancing community-rooted innovations in health services for Indigenous populations. She maintains a part-time clinical practice at Seventh Generation Midwives Toronto and has practiced and taught family medicine in a variety of Indigenous communities both urban and rural. A Métis woman, Dr. Smylie acknowledges her family, traditional teachers, and ceremonial lodge.

Dr. Samantha Green, Lead, Climate Change, DFCM, University of Toronto

Dr. Samantha Green is a family physician at St. Michael's Hospital in Toronto and with Inner City Health Associates. She also teaches in the DFCM's graduate program. Her clinical and academic interests include environmental sustainability, social accountability and advocacy, and care of people experiencing homelessness.Dr. Samantha Green is a family physician at St. Michael's Hospital in Toronto and with Inner City Health Associates. She also teaches in the DFCM's graduate program. Her clinical and academic interests include environmental sustainability, social accountability and advocacy, and care of people experiencing homelessness.

Dr. Danyaal Raza, Faculty Lead in Social Accountability

An Assistant Professor in DFCM and a clinician-leader with St. Michael’s Hospital, Unity Health Toronto, Dr. Raza joined the department in 2015. Since then, his work on social accountability has included service as past Chair of Canadian Doctors for Medicare, founding physician lead of St. Michael’s Sumac Creek Health Centre in Toronto’s Regent Park, as well as ongoing efforts as a member of the Decent Work & Health Network and a Broadbent Institute Public Policy Fellow. Read more about Dr. Raza's appointment to the position. 

Staff

Jamie Rodas,  Program Coordinator, Global Health and Social Accountability, DFCM, University of Toronto

Contact Us

DFCM Global Health Program
dfcm.globalhealth@utoronto.ca
(416) 978-3763

Mailing address:
500 University Ave
5th Floor
Toronto, ON
M5G 1V7

(Please include the 5th floor in the address to ensure delivery)