This award recognizes a resident who has demonstrated outstanding advocacy for medical students and resident colleagues through individual mentorship and exemplary role-modelling of the CanMEDS roles. The Resident Mentor can be recognized for his/her support and advocacy for the education and well-being of trainees in the clinical setting, supervision of research projects, exemplary teaching and coaching that promotes learning in a safe and positive learning environment. Maximum of three awards will be given annually.

Meredith Austin-Appleton, Pediatrics

“Meredith is one of those residents who is always looking out for her colleagues. She is always approachable and open, but beyond that, she makes an effort to seek out any resident who she knows has had a tough case or encounter to check in. There have been multiple times over my years of residency when Meredith has come to find me, knowing that I’ve had a patient death, tough case, or exam result that I’m not happy with, to check in and make sure that I have the supports I need and that I’m doing ok. She has advocated for residents, individually and as a group, and single-handedly worked to create a debriefing program for peds residents which started earlier this year. Meredith is the kind of person who, no matter how busy her life is, will take the time to connect with her co-residents and talk about residency, life, and anything in between. When I think of the senior residents in the program who I could go to if I ever needed help, she’s always on that list”

Michael Livingston, Pediatric Surgery

“Mike is the strongest team leader I have worked with during medical school. He has the daunting task of taking care of some of the sickest and most delicate patients in medicine. Despite the complexity of the patients he is trusting and allows all team members regardless of their level of training to take on challenging tasks to help them learn and grow. Working on a team with Mike, you are made to feel valuable. He celebrates your successes and works with you through difficult situations. You never feel micromanaged, but you always know he is available for advice when needed. When medical students and residents rotate through his team, Mike purposefully finds out their learning goals and tailors their schedule and teaching sessions to fit those unique goals. Mike is always aware of the status and plan of every patient on the team, but beyond that, he knows their parent’s names, their favourite colour, and what they want to be when they grow up. Mike embodies patient and family-centred care, and always makes time to meet with families, and understand his patients on a holistic level. Mike’s friendly demeanor paired with his strong communication and collaboration skills makes him universally respected by his allied health colleagues. He regularly consults his colleagues across all disciplines to achieve the highest quality of care for his patients.”

Julianna Sienna, Radiation Oncology

“Dr. Sienna is a passionate advocate for medical students and her resident colleagues. On numerous occasions, Dr. Sienna has advocated on behalf of students like myself to improve our education and aid our career development. When I notified her that first-year medical students were having difficulty obtaining observerships and pre-clerkship electives in Radiation Oncology, Dr. Sienna took the initiative to contact the program administrator and help improve access to these opportunities. Dr. Sienna willingly seeks out opportunities to contribute to medical student education at McMaster. She has presented noon-hour teaching to internal medicine core clerks on spinal cord compression and Radiation Oncology. Dr. Sienna was instrumental in making the inaugural McMaster Breast Cancer Conference for Medical Students a reality, volunteering to lead workshops on breast cancer workup and staging and advising me with regards to seeking out staff support for this event.  As Chief Resident, Dr. Sienna has advocated for her fellow residents by serving as a liaison to program administration. Furthermore, she has been involved in preparing the Radiation Oncology residency program for CBD, most prominently through our collaboration on a departmental pilot of CBD. Dr. Sienna has made it a priority to obtain the perspectives of residents through focus groups and optimizing the transition for incoming Radiation Oncology residents.”

This award recognizes a resident who has demonstrated outstanding contributions to residency education in their own program, or provincially and/or nationally. The Resident-Leader has had a positive impact through exemplary teaching skills, development of educational curricula in teaching and assessment, advocacy of residency education, and any other efforts that have enhanced the educational experience, and/or contributed to innovation in residency education.

Robin Mackin, Pediatrics

“Robin defines what it means to be a leader.  Robin stepped into her role of chief resident without hesitation. She has excelled in this role and has been instrumental in developing countless initiatives to improve medical education and resident advocacy. Robin developed the “Resident Affairs Committee” – a novel avenue for residents to constructively and collaboratively work through challenges within our training program. Several positive resident-led initiatives have resulted from the work of this committee which have helped to alleviate the degree of resident burnout within our program. She has worked to introduce and develop more formal opportunities for mentorship between residents and faculty, something that previously lacked attention within the pediatrics program. Robin has also advocated on our behalf with provincial stakeholders to ensure that education remains prioritized over service demands within the hospital system.  We have both had the privilege of having Robin as our senior resident. Her supportive attitude, coaching spirit, and phenomenal mentorship is second to none and is something that has allowed us to grow in confidence, skill, and knowledge. She goes above and beyond in her role as a senior resident in ways we did not think possible. What is the most remarkable about working with Robin is her ability to inspire positive change and solution-based, forward thinking in those around her. Her pride is in watching those she teaches succeed, and as a junior resident there is nothing more comforting than knowing that someone you look up to is so invested in your development as a physician and person.”

Thomas Piggott, Public Health & Preventive Medicine

“Simulation can play an important role in public health training. With this in mind, Dr. Piggott has founded a non-governmental organization named “Global Health Sim”, through which he has organized global health simulations for conferences and student groups, nationally and internationally. He has held several simulation sessions for the PHPM program’s academic half-days, which some have found so helpful that they have attended even when on vacation. These simulated experiences maximize understanding of PHPM assessment and interventions. Beyond simulation, Dr. Piggott has a passion for creative, experiential forms of learning. At academic half-days, he often teaches complex statistical concepts with props and games, which makes the topic more salient and memorable. He has exemplary teaching skills and a clear understanding of PHPM. In addition, he has a huge passion for transfer of his knowledge for collective success in our program which makes him a leader in teaching in our program. He targets his teaching to residents and learners of all levels, ensuring key take-away points from each session. This is a particularly challenging skill given the complex structure of our residency program which combines teaching in family medicine and public health. He is well aware of the learning resources in our field and shares them with the whole group. Furthermore, he advocates for the whole group of residents learning and opportunities to enhance the overall learning of the group.”

Amanda Ritsma, Psychiatry

“As a strong advocate for resident and physician health, Amanda helped develop a resident-focused wellness curriculum which will be incorporated into the PGME psychiatry curriculum in the Fall of 2019. At the national level, Amanda has worked as the co-chair of the resiliency working group with Resident Doctors of Canada and developed a resiliency curriculum to educate residents about burnout. She has presented on the topic of resident wellness at several conferences across Canada. Amanda is a strong advocate for the education of residents around burnout and wellness, exemplified by her involvement in ongoing research endeavors exploring the barriers which prevent residents from accessing care during training. Moreover, Amanda is actively involved in McMust, an innovative resident-driven collaborative partnership in postgraduate psychiatry training between McMaster and Mbarara University aimed at developing psychiatry education in Uganda. In 2018, Amanda travelled to Uganda to exchange knowledge and ideas with other postgraduate psychiatry residents studying at Mbarara University. This experience not only altered her personal identity within psychiatry, but also shifted her professional perspective towards working with often overlooked individuals with serious and persistent mental illnesses and concomitant addictions issues. Building on this, Amanda has been able to share her unique experience with other learners and faculty as the resident lead on several local small group learning sessions centered around this topic. Notably, Amanda’s passion and persistence in this area has led to the publication of “Methamphetamine Induced Psychosis: To Treat or Not to Treat?” in the first psychiatric edition of McMaster’s Evidence-Based Medicine Case Report Journal.”

The Program Administrator is a key individual for the success of a residency program, working in partnership with the Program Director and faculty in ensuring a positive learning environment for residents. Program Administrators are essential for moving residency programs forward in implementing new initiatives in residency education. This award recognizes a Program Administrator who has demonstrated outstanding advocacy for residents and excellence in supporting all aspects of residency education.

Heidi Hallman, Family Medicine

“Having Heidi as one of our site associates is definitely one of the reasons the KW program is so highly sought after. Heidi works tirelessly to make our residents feel well supported and at home. Her personal contributions to improving our daily happiness start with small gestures like always having candy on her desk and giving out homemade treats at Christmas. If anyone is having a hard day, she is quick to pick up on it and will offer a hug or an understanding sounding board to talk through our troubles. As a mother of seven, she has been perfectly suited in creating a warm, familial culture in our program. Heidi has even opened up her own home to residents on countless occasions, hosting our annual spring retreat, a holiday dinner (so that all residents could be with “family” for a home-cooked meal), and an alumni BBQ to bring old cohorts back together. Saying that Heidi goes above and beyond her job description is an understatement. She not only hosts these events for us, she also creates scavenger hunts for fun on the drive to the party, encourages residents to camp overnight, and hosts breakfast the next day.”

Laura Klyne, Pediatrics

“Laura truly has the best interests of the residents at heart. While her main responsibilities are related to resident education, she also is greatly invested in resident wellness and the overall resident experience. Laura is constantly coming up with new and innovative ways to improve the resident experience, and is an active member of our Resident Program Committee. She has supported resident initiatives, advocating for funding and resources to make them possible, including the re-design of the resident lounge to make it more appealing and functional. Laura is also a leader across the country, being recognized at the International Conference of Residency Education for her work ensuring that McMaster Pediatrics is ready from an administrative perspective to make the jump to Competency Based Medical Education.”

Heather Shiskoski, Oncology

“Heather goes above and beyond for residents. Her initiative allows residents to focus on learning the intricacies of our specialties and providing the most comprehensive patient care. She’s the kind of person you can go to with any problem (I forgot to register for x, what forms do I need for y, we need z) and she can find a solution. She is respected and appreciated by residents for every deed. We have had several residents who have suffered personal losses during residency, myself included. Heather has helped us each to navigate this. She has taken the pressure off of meeting service and educational requirements in those stressful times. She is one of those people who knows exactly what to do without being asked and that skill has made her indispensable to our program.  More than all of this, Heather has shown she cares about us as people, as people who are at a phase of our lives that involves endless change and growth, as physicians who are developing our skills and learning to balance our lives while trying to improve those of our patients. She has shown us time and time again that she is willing to go the distance to make our lives easier because she cares for us as people.”

This award recognizes a faculty member who has demonstrated outstanding advocacy for residents through individual mentorship and exemplary role-modelling of the CanMEDS roles. Mentors can be recognized for their support for resident research, contribution to a positive learning environment, advancing resident wellness and/or professional and personal support.

Hanif Jamal, Family Medicine

“Three days before that elective rotation was over, a very close aunt passed away after a long battle with breast cancer. As a medical student, hoping to impress him, and get a letter of reference for applications, I really wanted to give it my all. I felt guilty about asking for days off from the rotation to help with funeral arrangements. I nervously told him on Tuesday morning when I arrived and I clearly remember his response: “As far as I’m concerned you have already excelled at the objectives of this rotation, if you need to end the rotation today even, I would be totally fine. You take whatever time you need, because that is far more important, and it is time you can never get back.” His unwavering support during this time was empowering. It made me feel relieved to know I could be with my family without feeling guilty, and my final days on my rotation helped to provide a necessary diversion from tragedy at home. We are all taught in medical school that we must practice self-care and place importance on our personal lives just as much as our professional lives. Then we are thrown into working environments that portray a dissonant view of this principle. Dr. Jamal exemplified its importance, and I will never forget how much that meant to me.”

Ameen Patel, General Internal Medicine

“Firstly, Dr. Patel would be considered the definition of a medical expert. He has a nuanced approach to seemingly every condition in internal medicine. More importantly, he is able to disseminate his medical knowledge to learners at all levels, providing high quality teaching and clinical pearls, regardless of who he is teaching. It is not uncommon to see more junior faculty approach Dr. Patel for his opinion on a difficult case or condition encountered on the CTU. Dr. Patel is also unique in that he takes time every day he is on service to teach, even when the days are busy and long. He employs a wide variety of teaching strategies, including bedside rounds, didactic teaching sessions, case-based learning sessions and approach to the JAMA rational clinical exam series.”

Zena Samaan

“From the very beginning, Dr. Samaan made me feel part of the team and invested significant effort into teaching me the fundamentals of research. Though initially I was tasked basic roles such as data entry, I have reached the stage that I am now leading my own projects and have over 10 first author peer-reviewed publications, multiple conference presentations and have received numerous research awards. In fact, I have reached the stage that I am coaching her beginner graduate students in conducting their own studies. The fact that Dr. Samaan has encouraged me to do so truly highlights the collegial atmosphere Dr. Samaan strives to promote within her team. I could not have achieved this level of research independence without her dedication as a mentor – regardless where she is in the world or what time in the day I email her, she always manages to reply to me within 24 hours. Dr. Samaan takes our work very seriously and is always available to offer guidance, support and feedback. It is impressive to see her manage her clinical and research roles the way she does, and to see that she takes students like myself (who are not formally her ‘research/graduate students’) as seriously as she does.”

Deborah Siegal, Hematology & Thromboembolism

“Dr. Siegal has been the attending physician during on multiple occasions during my Hematology and Thrombosis rotations. She provides exemplary clinical care and excels in communicating with patients and other healthcare providers. She carves out additional time to ensure she understands her patients’ preferences and does her best to incorporate their values into their treatment plans.  She also goes above and beyond to facilitate teaching. She always aims to teach through multiple modalities and her enthusiasm is contagious. She often frames discussions around clinical cases on the wards and follows up on salient teaching points with relevant articles and reviews. I have always admired Dr. Siegal’s teaching style – it is something I have aimed to emulate when I teach others.”

This award recognizes the outstanding contributions made by a faculty member in advancing Residency Education. The individual has demonstrated exemplary teaching of residents and has made significant contributions to any of the following:

• Program development and administration demonstrating leadership and organizational skills
• Innovative approaches to teaching and assessment
• Development of novel curricula promoting intrinsic CanMEDS roles (e.g. Professionalism, Resident wellness)
• Research contributions to teaching and assess mentor other aspects of residency education.

David Callen, Pediatric Neurology

“In terms of innovation, Dr. Callen has implemented a 3-month block of neuroanatomy in the second year of residency which is a novel concept. It has been so successful that our adult neurology resident colleagues have recently joined us in this rotation. Dr. Callen also introduced community pediatric neurology rotations based on suggestions from a former graduate to prepare residents for community practice. He continues to seek input from graduates to improve the program. Two of these graduates are active members of our resident education committee. He continues to adapt and evolve our curriculum based on resident feedback. For example, we recently added a complex care pediatrics block to our first-year rotations based on resident feedback. We also suggested changes in the way residents receive feedback, and not only has Dr. Callen implemented these changes, he has individualized how he gives feedback to each resident based on their learning styles. Overall, Dr. Callen does not do things in a certain manner simply because they were always done that way. He is constantly bringing innovative and positive change to the program and to his interactions with residents in order to create a better learning environment”

Enas El Gouhary, Neonatal-Perinatal Medicine

“Dr. el Gouhary has taken major steps to elevate our educational experience at McMaster Neonatal Program. She has established a new precise curriculum based on Royal College objectives for Neonatal-Perinatal Fellowship, which enhanced the quality of our academic half days significantly. She initiated introducing the Quality Improvement curriculum into our educational goals that is unique in between neonatal fellowship programs. Dr. el Gouhary has always encouraged fellows in achieving practical techniques for “Crucial Conversation”. She introduced this workshop into our academic sessions that has been an amazing educational experience for the fellow’s group.  Dr. el Gouhary has organized very resourceful workshops for the fellow’s groups which has led to extensive learning opportunities. The initial workshops are conducted in multidisciplinary orientation sessions in the first month of fellowship with facilitates a smooth transition for the incoming fellows.”

Ben McCutchen & Robyn Fallen, Psychiatry

“The One-Room Schoolhouse (ORS) is a grassroots initiative that was first developed and implemented at McMaster’s Waterloo Regional Campus. This innovative platform for the postgraduate psychiatry curriculum was founded on the principles of problem-based learning and employs local clinical cases to trigger contextually enriched learning for residents working in the many unique communities distributed within the WRC. More specifically, drawing on the inspiration of one-room schools, residents of all postgraduate levels (PGY2-5) form a cohesive learning group and collaborate to set learning objectives to guide resident-led academic exploration and inquiry across educational sessions. The ORS streamlines components of the postgraduate psychiatry curriculum including case-based learning, evidence-based medicine, diagnostic interviewing and preparation for OSCE exams. To further promote the principles of evidence based medicine concepts in a meaningful fashion, residents are provided the opportunity to publish clinically meaningful literature. Several residents are in process of publishing their manuscripts due to the hard work of Drs. McCutchen and Fallen in developing this framework. Further, they have supported the residents in this process, which is a unique testament to their dedication to creating this curriculum.”