CanMEDS 2025 Steering Committee

Nancy Fowler, MD, CCFP, FCFP
 The College of Family Physicians of Canada  
Dr. Nancy Fowler is the Executive Director of Academic Family Medicine at the College of Family Physicians of Canada (CFPC).  This CFPC division oversees the development and implementation of the standards of training and certification for family physicians in Canada, 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 academic experience based in Hamilton, Ont., affiliated with the McMaster University Department of Family Medicine.  She has a long history of leadership in medical education and refugee health and believes strongly in family medicine as a force for good in the world. She lives in Hamilton, Ont., with her husband and spends most of her free time enjoying the company of her children and grandchildren. 

Anna Karwowska, MD, FRCPC  
The Association of Faculties of Medicine of Canada   
Dr. Anna Karwowska is the Vice-President, Education at the Association of Faculties of Medicine of Canada (AFMC). In this role she has the privilege of being involved in medical education across the continuum, at the national level.  

Dr. Karwowska received her medical degree from McGill University. She completed her training in Pediatrics and a fellowship in Pediatric Emergency Medicine at the University of Calgary. Her clinical practice is in Child Maltreatment Pediatrics at the Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario and she is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Pediatrics, Faculty of Medicine, University of Ottawa.  

Dr. Karwowska has extensive experience as a leader and collaborator in the academic medicine setting, with medical education and community partners. She is a strong advocate for learners, teachers and educators along the medical education continuum.

Thomas Maniatis, MDCM, MSc, FRCPC 
Collège des médecins du Québec    
Dr. Thomas Maniatis has been a physician consultant for the Medical Education Division at the Collège des médecins du Québec since January 2022. Trained in internal medicine at McGill University, Dr. Maniatis has practised at the McGill University Health Centre (MUHC), Royal Victoria Hospital since 2001. From 2016 to 2020, he was the Chief of the MUHC General Internal Medicine Service. Dr. Maniatis is actively involved in training the next generation of medical professionals, having served as the director of the internal medicine residency program at McGill University for over 13 years. Dr. Maniatis has also been very active with the Royal College, as a member of the Council and the Ethics Committee, as well as Chair for the Specialty Committee in Internal Medicine. Dr. Maniatis has made a name for himself through his numerous contributions to his field within Quebec, across Canada, and even around the world. 

Kannin Osei-Tutu, MD, MSc, CCFP
 Strategic Advisor, Equity, Diversity, Inclusion and Accessibility     
Dr. Kannin Osei-Tutu is a University of Toronto trained family physician who specializes in acute care inpatient medicine and has spent the past 11 years of his professional career on the front lines caring for patients with diseases related to socio-political inequity and marginalization.  He is a Clinical Assistant Professor and Associate Director of Student Advising and Wellness at the Cumming School of Medicine, University of Calgary. 

At the provincial level, he is the founder and President of the Black Physicians’ Association (BPAA) and also serves on the CPSA Anti-racism Anti-discrimination Action Committee.   His national leadership roles include: Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Strategic Advisor for the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada, Chair of the Accreditation Work Group to Address Anti-Black Racism, Steering Committee member of the CanMEDS 2025 project, and Board Member of the Black Physicians of Canada (BPC).  

Saleem Razack, MD, FRCPC 
Strategic Advisor, Equity, Diversity, Inclusion and Accessibility  
Dr. Saleem Razack is the director of the Office of Social Accountability and Community Engagement for the Faculty of Medicine, Associate Professor of Pediatrics, and Core Faculty at the Centre for Medical Education at McGill University. He practices as a pediatric critical care medicine physician. His major interests in medical education include assessment, equity issues, and social accountability in health professions education. 

Lisa Richardson, MD, MA, FRCP  
Strategic Advisor, Equity, Diversity, Inclusion and Accessibility  
Dr. Lisa Richardson is a physician in 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. 

Cynthia Abbott, MPI
Cynthia Abbott is the Manager of the CanMEDS and Faculty Development Team at the Royal College.  Over the course of her career, she has been involved in major educational innovation projects including CanMEDS and Competence by Design.  She’s heavily involved in faculty development in support of residency programs with a special emphasis on program directors, program administrators and competence committee chairs. 

Glen Bandiera, MD, FRCPC, BASc (Engin.), MEd
Dr. Glen Bandiera is the Executive Director of the Office of Standards and Assessment at the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada. He served for 10 years as a staff emergency physician and trauma team leader at St. Michael’s Hospital in Toronto, and concurrently served as the associate dean, Postgraduate Medical Education with the Temerty Faculty of Medicine at the University of Toronto. Dr. Bandiera completed residency training in Emergency Medicine and Trauma resuscitation at McMaster University, and holds interests in faculty/leadership development, curriculum design, physician leadership and competency/applicant assessment. 

J. Damon Dagnone, MD, FRCPC, MSc, MMEd 
Dr. Damon Dagnone is the director of Standards and Accreditation at the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada. He is an associate professor in the Department of Emergency Medicine at Queen’s University, where he also completed his training in Emergency Medicine, following medical school training at Western University. He is continually immersed in numerous medical education projects with his key interests in the areas of Competency-Based Medical Eduation (CBME), the medical humanities, and simulation-based assessment. When not connecting with colleagues at work, Damon enjoys spending time with his family and trying to keep up with his kids. 

Michelle Mayne, HBSc, BEd, Med    
Michelle Mayne has more than 15 years’ experience commanding complex portfolios in clinical research, medical education, and health administration.  In her current role at the College of Family Physicians of Canada (CFPC) as Manager, Academic Family Medicine Administration and Accreditation, Michelle provides leadership for the strategic priorities, major projects, financial, legal and human resource planning, internal and external engagement, and learning and development for a large division. Her research and professional exploration in recent years has focused on collaborative inquiry, knowledge translation, program evaluation, and organizational learning and leadership with a concentration in Indigenous Education and ways in which Indigenous epistemology enrich Western practices. She invests time in building relationships and partnerships, and believes that deliberate, participatory, and narrative approaches build stronger connections and communities.       

Michelle grew up on beautiful Lake of the Woods and is happiest when she is outside, working with her hands and spending time with her husband and kids.  

Linda Snell, MD, MHPE, FRCPC, MACP, FRCP (London), FCAHS 
Dr. Linda Snell is Professor of Medicine & Health Sciences Education at McGill University and Senior Clinician Educator at the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada. She is active in teaching, education leadership and education research at all levels of medical training and has served in numerous education and clinical leadership roles. In medical education she has presented over 200 invited talks in over 40 countries, and has published over 100 peer-reviewed papers, two dozen invited chapters, editorials, and commissioned reports, and over 120 abstracts and posters. For CanMEDS 2015 she co-authored the Professional Role and co-edited the full competency framework. Her current academic interests include competency-based education; learning, teaching and assessing the CanMEDS competencies, in particular the Roles of Professional, Leader and Scholar (teacher).

Elena Aminkova, M.A., Certified Agile Project Manager, Prosci Certified Change Practitioner  
Elena Aminkova is a project manager in the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada, working on the CanMEDS 2025 update of the framework. Elena’s experience spans the health care, pharmaceutical, software and life-sciences sectors in government, non-for–profit and for-profit settings, including the World Health Organization. Prior to joining the Royal College, she has managed a program of projects aimed at improving the business environment in Canada for clinical trials.

Tammy Hesson   
Tammy Hesson is a Project Coordinator at the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada.  She has an extensive background in administration, customer service and committee support.  She has supported several projects, including CanMEDS 2015, CanMEDS Consortium, the CanMEDS Teaching and Assessment Tools Guide, the new Program Directors Handbook and the work of Dr. Adelle Atkinson and others, on the implementation of Competence by Design. Most recently she has been supporting the CanMEDS 2025 Steering Committee and Secretariat as well as the CanMEDS 2025 National Advisory Board.