Speakers

Keynote Address: Dr. Javeed Sukhera 
Title: Bias in the Mirror

Dr. Javeed Sukhera is the Chair of Psychiatry at the Institute of Living and Chief of Psychiatry at Hartford Hospital in Hartford, Connecticut. He is also an Associate Clinical Professor at the Yale University School of Medicine. In his role as Chair/Chief, Dr. Sukhera is responsible for advancing the IOL's clinical, research, and educational missions including training programs in psychiatry, psychology, social work, and nursing, as well as several endowed research centers. He is an internationally recognized health professions education researcher and thought leader. His research program explores novel approaches to addressing stigma and bias among health professionals and he has also been involved in advocacy and cross-sectoral work in education, policing, and community services.

Dr. Modupe Tunde-Byass

Dr. Modupe Tunde-Byass is a Fellow of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists of the UK and The Royal College of Surgeons of Canada. She completed her OBGYN training in the UK and Canada. She has been an active staff at North York General Hospital since 2004. Dr. Tunde-Byass is the President of the Black Physicians of Canada (BPC). A national, not-for-profit organization established in July 2020 after the death of Mr. George Floyd. She is a member of Equity, Diversity, and Inclusivity (EDI) committees at the North York General Hospital and at the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, University of Toronto.
Dr. Tunde-Byass is involved in key quality initiatives like increasing access to Vaginal Birth After Cesarean section and improving the care of women undergoing Early pregnancy complications and losses. She has presented some of her research at international conferences and has publications in peer review journals.
As the President of the Black Physicians of Canada, Dr. Tunde-Byass collaborates with National organizations like the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada, Canadian Medical Protection Association, Canadian Medical Association, Society of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (to mention a few) in reviewing internal practices and policies related to Equity, Diversity, and Inclusivity; additionally, she is involved with research around COVID -19 hesitancy and COVID-19 online mis/disinformation in Black communities.  She is a co-author on healthcare management publication on IDEA as a leadership competency.
Dr. Tunde-Byass is the co-founder of Women’s Health Education Made Simple (WHEMS), an initiative that started in the pandemic to promote health literacy through online educational resources. 

Dr. Saroo Sharda

Dr Saroo Sharda MBChB, MMEd, FRCPC  is an anesthesiologist, medical educator, writer and trained creative writing coach. She identifies as a woman of colour of North Indian descent, who has the privilege of being cis-gender, straight, able-bodied and economically privileged.

She is an advocate for physician wellness, equity and antiracism, and has written and spoken widely about these topics, including publications in the Canadian Medical Association Journal, British Medical Journal, Anesthesiology, The Canadian Journal of Anesthesia, The Globe and Mail and Today’s Parent. 
 
Dr Sharda is the Associate Dean of Equity and Inclusion for the Faculty of Health Sciences at McMaster University and the inaugural Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Lead at the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario, where she has led cross-organizational work to embed an EDI and anti-racist lens into complaints processes, policy work and ongoing education of committee and Council.  Dr Sharda is also the Chair of the Physician Wellness Committee at the Canadian Anesthesiologists’ Society 
 
She holds a Masters and Fellowship in Medical Education.  Her work is rooted in theories of power, hierarchy and identity formation.. 
 
Dr Sharda has presented and taught on EDI and antiracism in the context of healthcare at a variety of national and international organisations and conferences. She has been described as a “gifted”, “insightful” and “excellent” facilitator, and is able to guide groups through challenging and brave conversations.  She was recently awarded the Pauline Alakija trailblazer award for her EDI work. 
 
When not writing or working she works hard to avoid stepping on lego pieces strewn around the house by her 6 year old and 9 year old sons.

Dr. Jerry Maniate

Jerry Maniate and his family, including 2 young girls, reside in Ottawa, which is the unceded and traditional lands of the Algonquin people.  He is a physician at The Ottawa Hospital, an educator at the University of Ottawa and a researcher at the Bruyere Research Institute and the uOttawa Music and Health Research Institute.  He is the Founding Director of the Equity in Health Systems Lab (www.eqhslab.com), a transdisciplinary team of researchers, frontline health care professionals, and learners who are seeking to make an impact on our community and health system with the work we are engaged with. He is the former Vice President of Diversity, Inclusion and Education at The Ottawa Hospital. Dr. Maniate has extensive leadership experience in higher education in the health professions and health systems and also with national medical organizations.  His work is focused on understanding and addressing inequities, racism and injustice in our health systems through collaborative partnerships using a scholarly lens.  He is actively engaged and recognized nationally and internationally for furthering the dialogue on these important topics.  Dr. Maniate moved from Toronto where he was a community-based clinician educator (General Internal Medicine) and the inaugural Chief of Medical Education, Research & Scholarship at St. Joseph’s Health Centre (Toronto).  He is currently pursuing his Executive MBA through Quantic School of Business and Technology and has been enjoying being a student again.

Dr. Lisa Richardson

Dr. Lisa Richardson is a mixed blood Anishinaabe physician and clinician-educator in the Temerty Faculty of Medicine at the University of Toronto. She practices General Internal Medicine at the University Health Network and is a Centre Researcher at the Wilson Centre with a scholarly focus on the integration of Indigenous and critical perspectives from the social sciences into medical education.  Dr. Richardson is the Associate Dean, Inclusion and Diversity at Temerty Medicine and is the Strategic Lead in Indigenous Health for Women’s College Hospital where she founded the Centre for Wise Practices in Indigenous Health. Dr. Richardson is a powerful advocate for Indigenous health equity at both the local and the national level and her contributions have been recognized through numerous local, national, and international awards. 

Dr. Arno Kumagal

Dr. Arno Kumagai is Professor and Vice Chair for Education, Department of Medicine at the University of Toronto. He also holds the F.M. Hill Chair in Humanism Education at Women’s College Hospital, University of Toronto, where he has a clinical practice focused on working with individuals with type 1 diabetes mellitus.  Dr. Kumagai received his BA in Comparative Literature from U.C. Berkeley, and his MD from UCLA.  He finished his Internal Medicine Residency, Endocrine Fellowship and postdoctoral training in the UCLA system and was on faculty at the University of Michigan Medical School from 1996 to 2016.  He joined the University of Toronto’s Department of Medicine in 2016.  Dr. Kumagai has an international reputation in medical education scholarship with a focus on health humanities, humanism, and teaching for social justice in medicine.  He is also Assistant Editor for the journal Academic Medicine.