Regional Advisory Committee (RAC) 3 Members

Roy Kirkpatrick, MD, FRCSC (Huntsville, ON)
Chair of Regional Advisory Committee (RAC) 3

Email: rac3chair@royalcollege.ca
RAC Chair email inboxes are monitored by Royal College staff

Dr. Roy Kirkpatrick graduated from Queen’s University in 1977 followed by a one year internship in Internal Medicine at the University of Manitoba. He subsequently completed a residency in General Surgery at the University of Ottawa in 1983.After completing postgraduate training, he enjoyed an eclectic career. This included work as a doctor on a drilling ship in the North Atlantic, surgical locums in a number of small communities, and as an emergency room physician at The Ottawa Hospital’s General Campus. More

Emmanuel O. Abara, MD, FRCSC (Richmond, ON)
Dr. Emmanuel O. Abara graduated in 1976 from the University of Ibadan as a Gold medallist in community health and received the Blair-Aitken Prize in Surgery. He completed General Surgery training at the Universities of Benin and Port Harcourt, and a Urology residency at the University of Toronto, with Fellowship in General Urology, Urodynamics, Pediatric urology and Extracorporeal Shock Wave Lithotripsy.

He is currently a Director at the Richmond Hill Urology Practice and Prostate Institute, and works as a Consultant Urologist for Notre Dame Hospital, Hearst; The General Hospital, Smooth Rock Falls and Sensenbrenner Hospital, Kapuskasing. He is an Associate Professor, Division of Clinical Sciences, Northern Ontario School of Medicine with a special interest in rural and global health and use of technology in health services e.g. telemedicine.

Dr. Abara has served in many professional leadership capacities at the local and provincial levels, including serving as Secretary and Chair for Ontario Medical Association (OMA) District 5, as a member of the OMA Nominating Committee and Audit Committee, and as delegate and alternate to OMA and CMA Council. He currently serves on the CEPD/Faculty Development, and Education Advisory Board, Academic Council of the Northern Ontario School of Medicine (NOSM), and continues to serve as a reviewer and contributor to various medical journals e.g. the CUAJ.

Yvonne Chan, MD, FRCSC (Mississauga, ON)
Dr. Yvonne Chan is an Associate Professor and the Continuing Professional Development Director in the Department of Otolaryngology-Head & Neck Surgery at the University of Toronto. She finished her Otolaryngology residency training at the University of Toronto and subsequently completed a Rhinology fellowship at the Georgia Nasal and Sinus Institute. She is now Otolaryngologist-in-Chief at St. Michael’s Hospital, Unity Health.

Dr. Chan obtained her medical degree and a Master’s of Science degree in molecular genetics and molecular biology from the University of Toronto. At the Mississauga Academy of Medicine, she is the undergraduate medical lead for Otolaryngology. Her clinical practice at Trillium Health Partners has a focus in advanced Rhinology and Endocrine Surgery. Since 2015, she has been the co-editor of the world renowned Otolaryngology textbook, K. J. Lee's Essential Otolaryngology 11th edition. Given her interests in education, she has co-authored a number of textbooks in the past few years in different areas of Otolaryngology – Head & Neck Surgery.

Alice S. H. Kam, MD, MScCH (HTPE), FRCPC (Toronto, ON)
Dr. Alice S. H. Kam is a Clinician Teacher, Department of Medicine, Division of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation at the University of Toronto (U of T). She completed her MD at the University of Manitoba and her residency at University of Toronto. To further develop her expertise in medical education, she obtained her Master of Science in Community Health (Health Practitioner Teacher Education) at the University of Toronto in December 2021, following her completion of the Master Teacher Certificate, U of T, in 2018. In May 2022, she completed Vernissage Health- A Health Leaders Dialogue Series, Institute of Health Policy, Management and Evaluation, University of Toronto.

Dr. Kam has a strong interest in medical education curriculum development and implementation. To deepen her understanding of curriculum development, she initially completed a physiatry residents’ perception study on blended learning and received the Canadian Association of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation (CAPMR) first place education abstract award in 2020. Following her blended learning research study, she is currently leading a concussion educational scholarship on an innovative competency-based curriculum. This scholarship has received the U of T Student Leadership Award.

Joanna Lazier, MD, FRCPC (Ottawa, ON)
Dr. Joanna Lazier attended medical school at the University of Toronto, followed by residency in Medical Genetics at the University of Calgary. She worked at the Edmonton Medical Genetics clinic for a number of years, where she founded and directed the Prenatal Genetics Clinic.
She has now moved to Ottawa where she is a Medical Geneticist at in the regional Genetics Program at CHEO and an assistant professor at the University of Ottawa. She is also serving as program director of the Medical Genetics and Genomics residency program in Ottawa. Her clinical interests are in prenatal genetics, skeletal dysplasias and disorders of sexual development. In her role as program director, she is assisting with the implementation of the Competence by Design (CBD) curriculum for Genetics, as well as for CHEO.
Dr. Lazier first became involved with the Royal College as a resident, with involvement in the planning of multiple International Residency Leadership Summits. She has served as a resident representative on the Fellowship Affairs Committee, and is currently a Fellow member of Regional Advisory Committee (RAC) 3.

Gianni R. Lorello BSc, MD, MSc (Med Ed), CIP, FRCPC
Dr. Gianni R. Lorello is a staff anesthesiologist at Toronto Western Hospital - University Health Network; an Assistant Professor at the University of Toronto; Chair of Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion for the Department of Anesthesiology and Pain Medicine; Chair for the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee at the Canadian Anesthesiologists' Society; selected member of the Civility, Diversity, and Inclusion Committee at the Ontario Medical Association; and a PhD student at the Institute of Health Policy, Management, and Evaluation in critical social theory.

Gaurav Mehta, MBBS DCP DLM MSc (Psych) MSc (Diabetes) FAcadMEd FRCPC FAPA CISAM CCSAM DAM CBE CAACP (Newmarket, ON)
Dr. Gaurav Mehta is a community based Consultant Addiction Psychiatrist. He works as Medical Director Psychiatry at Southlake Regional Health Centre, Ontario. He has a keen interest in Legal Medicine, Addiction Medicine, ECT and Diabetes. He is also the Clinical Director for Assertive Community Treatment Team and the Clinical Lead for ECT (Electroconvulsive Therapy).

He holds an appointment as adjunct Assistant Professor in Psychiatry, University of Toronto.

Omar Selim, MD, FRCSC (Barrie, ON)

Jonathan Smith, MD, FRCPC (Thunder Bay, ON)
Dr. Jonathan Smith attended medical school at the University of Ottawa followed by a residency in Emergency Medicine at McMaster University. Currently he works at the Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre as an Emergency Physician and a Trauma Team Leader. Dr. Smith is also very involved with the Northern Ontario School of Medicine where he is an Assistant Professor. He also serves as the Academic Director and Local Education Group lead for the Thunder Bay Emergency Group as well as the Post Graduate Education ED Director for NOSM’s West Campus.
Dr. Smith has a strong interest in medical education and curriculum development and is an active educator at both the undergraduate and postgraduate levels. He has also been involved in many projects looking to expand the educational platform and most recently completed a distributive learning module and academic learning portal to be used by post graduate learners on rotation in the ED.

Natasha Snelgrove, MD, FRCPC (Hamilton, ON)
Dr. Natasha Snelgrove is a general psychiatrist who graduated from McMaster’s Waterloo Campus psychiatry residency program in 2016. She works as a general psychiatrist in Hamilton doing general hospital outpatient psychiatric care as well as collaborative care. She has a particular interest in QI and measurement-based care in improving care for patients.
In addition to her clinical work, Dr. Snelgrove has a strong interest in postgraduate residency education, and is the current Core Curriculum Coordinator for McMaster’s psychiatry residency program.

James Yan, MD, FRCSC (Hamilton, ON)
Dr. James Yan completed his medical school training at the University of Western Ontario. He followed that with a residency in orthopaedic surgery at McMaster University. He has an interest in orthopaedic trauma and joint reconstruction. He is currently completing a fellowship in Adult Hip and Knee arthroplasty and provides musculoskeletal trauma care in the Hamilton and Niagara regions. He has an interest in improving transition to practice for new graduates and surgical medical education.

Sonja Wakeling, MD (Hamilton, ON)

Aidan Goertzen, Northern Ontario School of Medicine University

Helen Jin, Western University

Tarit K. Saha, MD, FRCPC (Kingston, ON) - Queens University
Dr. Tarit Saha is an Anesthesiologist at the Kingston Health Sciences Centre. He is currently an Assistant Professor & Director Cardiac Anesthesia KHSC at Queen’s University, Director of Research in the Department of Anesthesiology and Perioperative Medicine, and his clinical and academic interests are in Cardiac Anesthesia and Acute Pain. He is also the President of the Clinical Teacher’s Association of Queen’s University. Dr. Saha also has a fellowship in Cardiac Anesthesia from Queen’s University.

Vinita Bindlish, MD, FRCPC (Hamilton, ON)
nove1967@hotmail.com
Dr. Vinita Bindlish graduated from medical school at McMaster University in 1995. She completed her residency in otolaryngology head and neck surgery from the University of Toronto in June 2000. She has been practicing in Kitchener-Waterloo since July 2001. More

Valerie Schulz, MD, FRCPC (London, ON)
cpd-ed3@royalcollege.ca
Dr. Valerie Schulz graduated from Queen’s School of Medicine, completed a Royal College Fellowship in Anesthesiology at Western University, and a Master’s in Public Health at the University of Alberta. She focused her clinical career on advancing palliative medicine, patient care options and learner education programs. More