Faculty Retreat
Welcome
A warm welcome from the Chair

Welcome to the Department of Family Medicine 2020 Annual Retreat! Thank you for joining us at this year’s event as we discover and celebrate our many successes. As a vibrant and diverse Department, with over 400 dedicated faculty members across the Ottawa region and beyond, I am grateful for this opportunity to come together, collaborate and build stronger relationships with one another. I hope you all have time to rest, recharge your batteries and have fun at the Montebello winter wonderland!
As I take on this new role as Interim Chair of the Department, I reflect on the great privilege it is to be a family doctor in Canada and am honoured to be taking on the challenges of leading the Faculty of Medicine's largest clinical department. As family doctors, we can have a tremendous impact by caring, curing and connecting with our patients, their families, and the community. To sustain this type of work and be effective clinicians, teachers and researchers in family medicine, we must remember to embrace the joy in our work and look for ways to continuously recharge our batteries.
I hope that you enjoy our accredited workshops taught by our Department’s best teachers, reconnect with friends, and reflect on the inspiring words of our keynote speaker, Dr. Nancy Fowler. I attach a great importance to this gathering, as it is a priority to strengthen our bonds across our various sites. Over the course of the next two days, I encourage you to peruse the ten sessions, and join us to acquire new skills and tools to enhance your teaching, clinical practice and scholarship. We will also recognize the achievements of several faculty members at dinner on Friday evening. And don’t forget to wear your dancing shoes for our ballroom dancing tips for people with two left feet!
I look forward to partnering with you on 'bringing joy to work' and recognizing the value of our work as family doctors in our community. I am grateful for your many contributions and look forward to spending time with each of you at our retreat!
A big thank you to faculty and staff involved in organizing this wonderful event! Our talented team worked hard to prepare an event to excite, inspire and encourage you to actively participate in our Department's vision and direction.
Kind regards from a proud member of the uOttawa DFM,
Dr. Clare Liddy
Chair, Department of Family Medicine
Welcome to Montebello on behalf of the Director of Faculty Development
Dear Faculty Member,

Welcome to this year's Department of Family Medicine Retreat. Our theme, "Recharge!", was inspired by the messages we received from you the faculty. I am very thankful to the Faculty Development Advisory Group including Dr. Douglas Archibald, Dr. Terry Brennan, Dr. Alison Eyre, Dr. Ed Seale, Dr. Shauna Bassel, Dr. Denice Lewis, Dr. Madeleine Montpetit, Dr. Lyne Pitre, Dr. Marjorie Pomerleau, Dr. David Tobin, Dr. Martha Holt and Dr. Lina Shoppoff and others who guided the content and format of the event. We are thankful to our Interim Chair Dr. Clare Liddy for her leadership and support to allow us to return to the beautiful Montebello resort. Finally, a big thank you to all the speakers who are contributing to making this event happen!
Our retreat is a time to kick back, celebrate our accomplishments, and be inspired by gifted speakers, panelists, presenters and innovators. Thank you for all that you do year-round to support and grow our Department. Now let's recharge!
Dr. Eric Wooltorton
Director of Faculty Development, Department of Family Medicine
Agenda
DFM Annual Faculty Retreat Agenda
Friday, January 10 to Saturday January 11, 2020
Château Montebello
Workshops
Tools to spark (and teach!) quality improvement in your office!
- Date: Friday, January 10, 2020 from 9:05 AM to 10:25 AM
- Speakers:
Simone Dahrouge, PhD, Senior Scientist, Department of Family Medicine
Dr. Kheira Jolin-Dahel, QI Director, Department of Family Medicine - Slides
- Credits: 1.25
- CanMEDS-FM Role addressed: Scholar, Health Advocate, Collaborator
- Identified knowledge, skill or attitude gap: FMRSP and QI improvement teaching tips
Learning Outcome/Objective:
Participants will:
- Identify and articulate “quality” gaps in their own clinical or teaching contexts
- Build teams (including with learners) to successfully plan interventions in your context
- Select outcomes including data collection strategies to know that change has happened
Innovation Symposium: Poster (Hot chocolate) Sip and Share (Interactive poster presentation session)
- Date: Friday, January 10, 2020 from 2:15 PM to 3:15 PM
- Credits: 1
- CanMEDS-FM Role addressed: Scholar, Leader, FM Expert
- Identified knowledge, skill or attitude gap: Outline approaches to use and teach evidence-based medicine (and quality improvement) including critical appraisal, and presentation of ideas and build personal scholarship as a faculty member
Learning Outcome/Objective:
Participants will:
- Summarize and communicate scholarly work and change ideas in a concise, clear and focused fashion using an academic poster presentation augmented with brief oral explanation
- Seek, deliver and respond to feedback on how to improve or further develop the work or idea
- Identify factors to help learners present their own material in an organized and effective format
What would a national 3 year FM residency look like? Promoting generalist approaches in a world of increasing specialization
- Date: Friday, January 10, 2020 from 6:00 PM to 7:00 PM
- Keynote Speaker: Dr. Nancy Fowler, Executive Director of Family Medicine, CFPC
- Slides
- Credits: 1
- CanMEDS-FM Role addressed: Health advocate, Leader, FM Expert, Professional
- Identified knowledge, skill or attitude gap: Describe department of family medicine (and College of Family Physicians of Canada) expectations of faculty members
Learning Outcome/Objective:
Participants will:
- Describe the College of Family Physicians of Canada’s “Family Medicine Professional Profile” and its requirements to prepare learners to respond to the needs of all people, ages, life stages, and presentations of illness
- Challenge our current notions of how family medicine residents are trained, in order to better meet the needs of communities all over Canada
Address by our Interim Chair, and Canada’s FM Researcher of the Year, Dr Clare Liddy “Lessons learned from building an iceberg”
- Date: Friday, January 10, 2020 from 8:00 PM to 8:30 PM
- Speaker: Dr. Clare Liddy, Interim Chair
- Credits: 0.5
- CanMEDS-FM Role addressed: Leader, Scholar, Collaborator
- Identified knowledge, skill or attitude gap: Build personal scholarship as a faculty member
Learning Outcome/Objective:
Participants will:
- Discuss lessons learned, issues to balance and factors leading to a success as a scholar
- Describe the seen and unseen challenges facing clinician-investigators
How will Ontario Health Teams change Family Medicine Practice in our Region? (panel discussion)
- Date: Saturday, January 11, 2020 from 9:00 AM to 10:00 AM
- Speakers:
Dr. Claire Kendall, Bruyère Family Medicine Centre, Bruyère Research Institute
Dr. Alison Eyre, Centretown Community Health Centre
Dr. Jolanda Turley, Primrose Family Medicine Centre
Dr. Marie-Josée Klett, Équipe de santé familiale communautaire de l'Est d'Ottawa
Dr. John Brewer, Director, The Ottawa Hospital Department of Family Practice - Credits: 1
- CanMEDS-FM Role addressed: Collaborator, Leader, Health Advocate
- Identified knowledge, skill or attitude gap: Identify practical ways for local leaders to accomplish social accountability goals and teach the care of vulnerable populations
Learning Outcome/Objective:
Participants will:
- Describe the science behind “Ontario Health Team” reforms including using population health approaches and integration of diverse parts of our health care system
- Compare and contrast three similar but different models for system integration and collaboration to provide comprehensive care for patients within our geographic region
- Articulate the potential concerns (and solutions) for family physicians facing the coming changes
Dragon’s Den! How to get buy-in for your innovations or change ideas (Workshop and panel discussion)
- Date: Saturday, January 11, 2020 from 10:00 AM – 11:15 AM
- Speakers:
Dr. Eric Wooltorton, Director of Faculty Development
Dr. Edward Seale, Director of Postgraduate Education
Dr. Douglas Archibald, Director of Research
Dr. Clare Liddy, Interim Chair - Slides
- Credits: 1.25
- CanMEDS-FM Role addressed: Scholar, Communicator
- Identified knowledge, skill or attitude gap: Manage change in academic environments
Learning Outcome/Objective:
Participants will:
- Describe outcomes-based change management proposals
- Anticipate who needs to be consulted to get ‘buy in’, and help your project move ahead
- Write a simple ‘elevator pitch’ and frame your work and ideas in the context of the existing literature
- Describe the difference between ideas that will be funded (and not)
Tips for staying human as a #modern faculty member
- Date: Saturday, January 11, 2020 from 11:30 AM to 12:30 PM
- Credits: 1
- CanMEDS-FM Role addressed: Professional
- Identified knowledge, skill or attitude gap: Use strategies to assess wellness and resilience in ourselves and our learners
Learning Outcome/Objective:
Participants will:
- Outline common challenges facing faculty including challenges inherent to working as a modern faculty member
- Discuss strategies to prevent burnout, and build resilience among teachers, researchers, clinicians and administrators
Mentorship Myth Busting: Getting Family Medicine faculty the mentorship they WANT and NEED (Panel discussion)
- Date: Friday, January 10, 2020 from 10:35 AM to 12:00 PM
- Speakers:
Dr. Stefan de Laplante, Montfort Academic Health Team
Dr. Caitlin Schwartz, Community-based family physician, organizer of the Canadian Women in Medicine mentorship program
Dr. Arun Radhakrishnan, Addiction Medicine, Clinical Lead of the Collaborative Mentoring Networks with the Ontario College of Family Physicians
Dr. William Hogg, Academic Physician, Former lead of mentorship for new Family Physician Clinician Investigators (FP-CIs)
Dr. Douglas Gruner, Bruyère Family Medicine Centre - Credits: 1
- CanMEDS-FM Role addressed: Professional
- Identified knowledge, skill or attitude gap: Form effective mentorship relationships
Learning Outcome/Objective:
Participants will:
- Describe what faculty need from mentors in different roles, career stages, and with specific tasks.
- List characteristics of good faculty mentors and challenges faculty have with being mentors to other faculty, and learners.
- Identify the role the Department of Family Medicine should play in building and supporting formal and informal faculty mentorship activitie
“No-Nonsense ‘Medical Improv’ techniques to electrify the teaching of patient-centred communication skills” (Workshop)
- Date: Friday, January 10, 2020 from 12:55 PM to 2:15 PM
- Speakers:
Dr. Ian MacPhee - Credits: 1.5
- CanMEDS-FM Role addressed: Communicator, Medical Expert
- Identified knowledge, skill or attitude gap: Use humanities in teaching and identify effective teaching/learning strategies for medical education contexts
Learning Outcome/Objective:
Participants will:
- Explain how the 'Medical Improv' teaching strategy that can promote communication, teamwork and leadership skills in physicians and educators.
- Construct scenarios which make participants feel heard, validated, and awareness of impulses to interrupt others.
- Internalize communication strategies to reduce problems in communicating with patients, reduce medical errors and improve patient safety effort.
Speakers
Dr. Nancy Fowler
Dr. Nancy Fowler is the Executive Director of Academic Family Medicine at the College of Family Physicians of Canada. This is the division that oversees the development and implementation of the standards of training and certification for family physicians as well as working to advance family medicine education and research with universities and other partner organizations. She is a family physician and Associate Professor with 30 years of clinical and educational experience based in Hamilton Ontario affiliated with McMaster University Department of Family Medicine. She has a long history of leadership in the areas of medical education and refugee health. Currently she lives in Hamilton with her husband and spends most of her free time enjoying the company of her five children and six grandchildren.
Dr. Alison Eyre
Alison is a bilingual family doctor at Centretown Community Health Centre, Ottawa, Ontario. She cares for a full scope practice with a focus on frail, home bound elderly and new Canadians. Centretown uses a team approach to the most vulnerable in our community. Alison is also involved in multidisciplinary research into aspects of services to vulnerable populations. She has worked in community health centers for over 25 years.
Alison was the Postgraduate Program Director of the Department of Family Medicine at the University of Ottawa from 2011- 2017 and the IMG director from 2006-2011. She continues to work with the University of Ottawa in medical education. She is currently the primary care lead for eConsult in Ontario and actively involved in the Ontario Health Teams, Kids Come First and the Ottawa OHT. Alison has worked internationally with the Red Cross in Sri Lanka and Haiti doing disaster relieve and program development. She is a mother of 3 and thinking about being a more and more of a craft person as she ages.
Alison Eyre, MDCM, CCFP, FCFP
Associate Professor, University of Ottawa
Faculty of MedicineDr. Arun Radhakrishnan
Arun Radhakrishnan is a family physician with a focused clinical practice in chronic non-cancer pain and a teaching affiliation with the University of Toronto and The Ottawa Hospital. His research interests are in knowledge translation, mentoring and information and communication technologies in healthcare. Currently he is the Clinical Lead for the Collaborative Mentoring Networks at the Ontario College of Family Physicians, a Clinical Lead for the Academic Detailing Service at the Centre for Effective Practice and is an AMS Phoenix Fellow.
Arun Radhakrishnan, MD, CM, MSc, CCFP
Dr. Caitlin Schwartz
is a family physician and community preceptor at Greenbelt Family Health Team in Ottawa, ON. She completed medical school at the University of British Columbia and residency at the University of Ottawa and has been practicing since 2009. She is the co-founder and current President of the Canadian Women in Medicine Organization, a not-for-profit that supports and connects women physicians across Canada, and also runs the affiliated Canadian Women in Medicine Annual Conference, She is also the mom of three young boys who keep her on her toes outside of medicine.
Dr. Claire Kendall
Dr. Claire Kendall is an Associate Professor with the Department of Family Medicine, University of Ottawa; Clinician Investigator at the C.T. Lamont Primary Health Care Research Centre, Bruyère Research Institute; and a practicing family physician with the Bruyère Family Health Team. She is an Adjunct Scientist at the Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences and in the Clinical Epidemiology Program at The Ottawa Hospital Research Institute. Dr. Kendall holds a Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) – Ontario HIV Treatment Network New Investigator Award in the Area of Health Services/Population Health HIV/AIDS Health Services Research.
Dr. Clare Liddy
Dr. Clare Liddy is the Interim Chair and an Associate Professor at the University of Ottawa’s Department of Family Medicine with a Tier 2 Chair in Brain-Mind Research, a Clinical Investigator at the C.T. Lamont Primary Health Care Research Centre, a Senior Researcher at the Bruyère Research Institute, and a practicing family physician at the Ottawa Hospital Academic Family Health Team. She is the Primary Care Lead for the award-winning Champlain BASE™ eConsult service and the Co-Executive Director of the Ontario eConsult Centre of Excellence, which is managing the expansion of eConsult across Ontario.
Dr. Doug Archibald
Doug is the Director of Research and Innovation and an Assistant Professor in the Department of Family Medicine with a cross-appointment to the Department of Innovation in Medical Education and the Faculty of Education. He is the lead for the Program for Research Innovation and Medical Education (PRIME) and works to support research development, evaluation of research projects designed to enhance undergraduate and postgraduate medical education as well as faculty development in the Department of Family Medicine. He is also a faculty instructor for NAPCRG’s Grant Generation Project.
Dr. Doug Gruner
Dr. Doug Gruner is a Family Physician and Associate Professor at the University of Ottawa and works at the Bruyere Academic Family Health Center as a clinician, educator and researcher. His area of research involves innovative approaches to introduce Global Health and Refugee Medicine into the medical curriculum. His passion for refugee health began while working in East Timor with the International Committee of the Red Cross in 1999. He is a founding member of the Canadian Doctors for Refugee Care (CDRC). And was the lead physician for Refugee613 which coordinated the health resettlement of the Syrian refugees to the city of Ottawa in 2016.
Dr. Ed Seale
Dr. Seale graduated from the McGill University Medical School in 1992. He then did a 3-year residency in family medicine and emergency medicine at the University of Ottawa. From 2005-2017 he was the Director of Community of Rural practices, from 2017-2018 Enhances Skills Director and since 2018 has been the Postgraduate Program with the department of family medicine at the University of Ottawa. Dr. Seale is a father to three and enjoys attempting to play hockey in his spare time.
Dr. Eric Wooltorton
Dr. Wooltorton works at the Ottawa Hospital Civic Campus teaching unit, and recently completed a Masters in Education (Health
Professions Education) at uOttawa. He was previously the uOttawa Department of Family Medicine's Director of Curriculum, and is now the Director of Faculty Development. He loves "Dad jokes". Sorry.
Dr. Ian MacPhee
I was born in Northern Ontario but grew up in Prince Edward Island. I completed my Honours BSc in Biology from the University of Prince Edward Island before heading to Western for my Master’s in Anatomy and Cell Biology followed by my PhD in the Department of Neurology and Neurosurgery at the Montreal Neurological Institute. I went back out to the maritimes and finished medical school at Dalhousie University before completing my residency in Family Medicine at Western in 2005.
I have worked in Kirkland Lake, Kitchener, Guelph, and Toronto doing Emergency Medicine and Primary Care. I ran the Procedures clinic in primary care at Sunnybrook Hospital and recently started a primary care skin cancer screening clinic. I am actively involved in teaching undergraduate medical students and residents in my clinical practice in Guelph. I am also CEO of the Chancellors Way Medical Arts Centre, on the advisory board for Bear Health Tech, Lead Physician for the Guelph Wellington FHO, and I am always finding new ways to incorporate Improv into teaching students and treating patients.
Dr. John Brewer
Dr. John Brewer joined the Medical Staff of The Ottawa Hospital in 2008 taking on the role of Medical Director of the Civic Family Health Team and Assistant Professor with the University of Ottawa Department of Family Medicine. This move with his wife Dr. Monica Brewer, was a return to Ottawa where they had completed their medical degrees at the University of Ottawa. Upon graduation, the Brewers had moved and set up practices in Saint John, New Brunswick where John had taken on a number of administrative roles including past Chief of Family Medicine at St. Joseph’s Hospital in Saint John, and Past President of the New Brunswick Chapter of the College of Family Physicians. John was Director of the Family Medicine Teaching Unit in Saint John for 10 years until 2004 and Assistant Professor at both Dalhousie and Memorial Universities. Under his leadership, the Saint John Community Health Centre was established in 2002.
John is currently the Interim Medical Director for The Ottawa Hospital Department of Family Practice. He continues to work tirelessly as well, on several committees at various levels from provincial to hospital-based. He sits on the Advisory Committee on Family Practice for the College of Family Physicians of Canada and as a Board Member for the Ontario College of Family Physicians. He is an active member of the Healthcare Information System Interdisciplinary Clinical Committee helping shape how electronic health records system will advance both at TOH and the LHIN.
John has received the College of Family Physicians of Canada (CFPC) Family Physician of the Year Award (2005) and the TOH Physician Leadership Award (2016).
John and Monica have three children and one grand-daughter.
Dr. Jolanda Turley
Jolanda Turley is an academic family physician at the Primrose Family Medicine Unit. She practices comprehensive family medicine including prenatal and obstetrical care. She is the unit post-graduate director at the Primrose Unit and was recently the co-lead of the Primary Care Sub-Committee of the CHEO OHT working group.
Dr. Elizabeth Muggah
Liz Muggah is a family physician who practices and teaches at the Bruyere Academic FHT. She is the Assistant Dean Wellness at the University of Ottawa Faculty of Medicine.
Dr. Marie-Josée Klett
Dr. Klett is currently practicing a mix of Family Medicine and Sport Medicine in Ottawa. She is co-lead physician at l’Equipe de santé familiale communautaire de l’est d’Ottawa where she provides bilingual care to east end patients. She is actively involved in MSK teaching for both medical students, Family Medicine residents and PGY-3 Sport & Exercise Medicine Fellows. She is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Family Medicine at the University of Ottawa. She is also involved in sporting event coverage including past Pan Am and Paralympic Games. She is currently Team Physician for Canada’s Men’s Volleyball team as well as the University of Ottawa Gee Gees Women’s Hockey team. In whatever spare time she has left she enjoys skiing, softball and spending time with her husband and 6yo daughter.
Dr. Marie-Josée Klett, BSC, MD, FCFP(SEM), Dip. Sport Med.
Dr. Priya Gaba
Priya Gaba completed her family medicine residency from Sandy Hill CHC, University of Ottawa in 2008. She practiced Rural Medicine in Iqaluit, Nunavut before she joined the Bruyere Academic FHT in 2012, where she continues to teach and practice family medicine.
Simone Dahrouge, PhD
Dr. Simone Dahrouge is an Associate Professor in the Department of Family Medicine (University of Ottawa) and Adjunct Scientist with the Institute for Clinical Evaluative Science (ICES). She held a CIHR new investigator salary award (2014-2019) and obtained $19 million of peer reviewed funding as Principal or Nominated Principal Investigator.
Dr. Dahrouge’s program of research is focused on improving access to primary health care for vulnerable populations through organizational changes. She is a graduate of Telfer’s Quality Improvement and Patient Safety Leadership Program, and the director of the Ottawa Practice Enhancement Network (OPEN); a primary care quality improvement initiative. The OPEN team uses a process adapted from IHI’s Collaborative Model for Achieving Breakthrough Improvement to support practices involved in OPEN achieve the quality goals they seek.
Dr. Stefan de Laplante
Dr. Stefan de Laplante obtained his doctorate of medicine from the University of Ottawa and subsequently completed his residency in Family Medicine at the same institution. He has been a member of the College of Family Physicians of Canada since 2013 and is currently a Lecturer with the Department of Family Medicine at the University of Ottawa. He is an active member of Francophone Affairs at the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Ottawa and has a particular interest in medical education. He is the Leader for Unit IV (formerly known as the Integration Unit) for both the Francophone and Anglophone streams. Dr. de Laplante works at the Montfort Academic Family Health Team and is a preceptor for undergraduate and postgraduate family medicine students and residents. Research interests include medical education, particularly the preparation and transition to clerkship, as well the incorporation of novel teaching techniques in medical education. Finally, Dr. de Laplante enjoys singing in a choir, cross country skiing and travelling.
Dr. William Hogg
Dr. William Hogg is a Professor in the Department of Family Medicine at the University of Ottawa and Senior Scientist at the Institut du Savoir at the Montfort Hospital and the ICES Research Institute.
Dr. Hogg’s research is informed by over 35 years of experience as a clinician working in both rural and urban practice settings. His overall grant funding totals $60 million and he has been an author on 270 scientific articles and 760 scientific presentations. Some of his research highlights have been: 1) Development of an outreach facilitation program to improve the performance of primary care practices - a model of quality improvement that has been adopted by many countries and impacted hundreds of millions of people, and 2) demonstrating the inadequacy of the standard laboratory test used in community practice for measuring kidney function and implementing a solution that has become the global standard for earlier detection and better monitoring of kidney disease.
The College of Family Physicians of Canada (CFPC) awarded Dr. Hogg with the Family Medicine Researcher of the Year Award in 2006, the CFPC Award of Excellence in 2009 and the CFPC Lifetime Achievement Award in Family Medicine Research in the fall of 2015. In 2013 he was awarded the Maurice Wood Award Lifetime Contribution to Primary Care Research Award.
WILLIAM HOGG, Hon. B.Sc., M.Sc., M.Cl.Sc., M.D.C.M., C.C.F.P., F.C.F.P.
Dr. Kheira Jolin-Dahel
Dr Kheira Jolin-Dahel is a family physician now working in Winchester Ontario, who recently was working at The Ottawa Hospital Civic Campus Academic Family Health Team. She has a medical degree from uOttawa, has worked in Manitoba, and she passionately teaches intra-partum obstetrics and has obtained many grants and carried out or supervised many research projects related to maternal health. She is the Department of Family Medicine's Director of Quality Improvement.
Evaluation
Overall survey: https://www.surveymonkey.ca/r/OVERALLRETREAT
Accomodation
We are thrilled to announce that we've sold out of DFM rooms. If you would like to attend one of the sessions, please reach out to Asiya Rolston directly.