The newly created Office of Health System Partnership (OHSP) is one way the Department of Family & Community Medicine (DFCM) is becoming more engaged in health system leadership. DFCM is partnering with Ontario Health Toronto Region to support its goal of connecting and coordinating our current health system and its many complex parts. Â
Our aim is to advance a vision for high-quality primary health care across local communities and beyond, bringing our expertise in academic family medicine and primary care to serve the needs of the health system.
Goals
To help the people of Ontario receive the best possible care, Ontario Health Toronto Region and DFCM will work with local family medicine leaders to engage primary care providers and advance key health system priorities.
This partnership will support better primary care through quality improvement and health system integration, and promote the engagement and involvement of primary care clinicians across the region. Â
Dr. Danielle Martin
Chair, Department of Family and Community Medicine
Dr. Tara Kiran
Vice-Chair, Quality and Innovation
Fidani Chair in Improvement and InnovationÂ
Department of Family and Community MedicineÂ
Dr. Ryan Banach
Family Medicine Health Human Resources Lead
Dr. Banach is a Lecturer at DFCM who has been practicing comprehensive office-based family medicine in the Jane and Finch neighbourhood of Toronto for 11 years—an experience that has given him insight into the inequality of care patients receive across different neighbourhoods in Toronto. He is an adjunct clinical lecturer at DFCM who has taught both medical students and residents. Dr. Banach is passionate about practice management and frequently delivers presentations to physicians to help them understand better the business side of medicine. He also presents seminars on billing, office efficiency, and career management to Ontario family physicians.
Dr. Rajesh GirdhariÂ
Digital Health Lead
Dr. Girdhari is the Digital Health Lead, a role that will work with Ontario Health-Toronto Region to support the rollout of primary care IT initiatives to serve our patients, communities, and the primary care providers of the region as well as DFCM faculty and learners. Dr. Girdhari is an Assistant Professor at DFCM who provides primary care and addiction medicine services to people in the Regent Park community as a family physician on the St. Michael’s Hospital Academic Family Health Team at Sumac Creek Health Centre. He has been a lead for both IT and quality improvement at St. Michael’s Hospital DFCM since 2015. Prior to these roles, he worked as a partner and clinical lead at a health IT start-up company in Toronto. He also has experience working in community emergency rooms and addiction medicine services across the GTA.
Dr. Noah Ivers
Scientific Lead
Dr. Ivers is the office’s Scientific Lead, a role that will ensure data supports are in place for evidence-informed decision-making, and coordinate the input of DFCM scientists into work done through our partnership with Ontario Health-Toronto Region. Dr. Ivers is an Associate Professor at DFCM and the Institute of Health Policy, Management and Evaluation at U of T. He is a family physician at Women's College Hospital, scientist at Women’s College Research Institute, and innovation fellow at the Women's College Institute for Health System Solutions. He holds the Canada Research Chair in Implementation of Evidence-Based Practice. His research focuses on the use of data to drive evidence-based, patient-centred improvements in health care. He has conducted multiple pragmatic randomized trials, systematic reviews, and qualitative work on health services and quality improvement interventions.Â
Dr. Avnish Mehta
Attachment Lead
Dr. Mehta has had a broad range of practice including in-patient and out-patient, and academic and non-academic. He has had family practices in Ottawa and Toronto. He worked as a hospitalist at Toronto Rehabilitation Centre, Ottawa Heart Institute and Rouge Valley Health System. He also has experience working as a coroner in Ottawa. Dr. Mehta is currently a family physician in Scarborough and is the Medical Lead at the Scarborough Centre for Healthy Communities. He is also Chief of Family Medicine at the Scarborough Health Network.
Dr. Katherine Rouleau
Global Primary Health Care Lead
Dr. Katherine Rouleau is a family physician at Unity Health-St-Michael’s Hospital, and director of the WHO Collaborating Centre on Family Medicine and Primary Care at DFCM. Her clinical and academic interests include health equity, the role of family medicine and primary care in strengthening health systems locally and globally, global health education, the scholarship-leadership continuum and the care of disadvantaged populations in Canada and abroad.
Dr. Karen Weyman
Education Lead
Dr. Weyman is the Education Lead, a role that provides leadership, strategic advice, and advocacy in supporting Ontario Health-Toronto Region and DFCM education programming. Dr. Weyman is an Associate Professor in the Department of Family and Community Medicine at the University of Toronto, and the Family Physician-in-Chief of the Department of Family and Community Medicine at St. Michael’s Hospital. Since joining the St. Michael’s Hospital in 1993, she has been a passionate advocate for underserved populations. From 1993 to 2015, Dr. Weyman was the Medical Director at Covenant House Toronto, the largest youth shelter in Canada. Dr. Weyman has also had a sustained interest in medical education, with a focus on mentorship, creating a positive learning environment and longitudinal learning. She holds a Master of Education from the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, University of Toronto, and is a past program director of undergraduate education at St Michael’s Hospital. In addition to her leadership roles, she continues to provide comprehensive primary care, and teach and mentor medical students and residents.
Dr. Catherine Yu
Engagement Lead
Dr. Yu is the Engagement Lead, a role that will support a coordinated approach to Ontario Health Teams primary care leadership. Dr. Yu is an Assistant Professor at DFCM and a community and family physician. She is Medical Director of Health Access Thorncliffe Park. An emergency physician for more than 10 years, she is now a passionate advocate for her community patients. In 2019, she received the Ontario College of Family Physicians Award of Excellence for her leadership in supporting vulnerable populations. Dr. Yu is also Chair of the Board of Directors for the East Toronto Family Practice Network, a community of family physicians with a mission to create equitable access to inter-professional care for all family practices.