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Transforming Women's Health: Conversations for Change

When

October 16, 2024
5:30 PM - 7:00 PM

Where

OCADU - 49 McCaul St.

A meaningful discussion to address the challenges and opportunities within women's health, focusing on the transformative power of design in healthcare. We'll delve into how design can foster inclusivity and empowerment through research, policy, and care delivery that caters specifically to women's needs, including those of LGBTQIA+ individuals.

Celebrating advancements to improve accessibility and equity, we'll also critically examine the barriers that persist due to design oversights. From highlighting the significance of involving women in decision-making roles to understanding patient experiences, this discussion will uncover how design is integral to creating healthcare systems that genuinely listen to and empower all patients.

Join this conversation to explore the intersection of design and healthcare and contribute to shaping a more inclusive and responsive healthcare environment for every woman at every stage of life.

Event Moderator

Colleen Young

Community Director, Mayo Clinic Connect

Colleen Young (@colleen_young) is a social innovator and online community strategist. She is internationally recognized for her expertise in building online health communities that thrive. Clients include Mayo Clinic, College of Family Physicians Canada, Canadian Virtual Hospice, Heart & Stroke Foundation of Canada, Dartmouth-Hitchcock Health, Hjernerystelsesforeningen Denmark, EURODIS, and more. Using strategic community management approaches, Colleen has developed a proven framework to help non-profit, especially health and patient organizations build online communities that work.

Colleen believes online connectivity is arguably the most exciting innovation of the patient-led health era. As a tenacious connector of patients, Colleen demonstrates how an active community, strategically managed, can re-imagine health care and improve health outcomes.

Panelists

Dr. Simone Vigod, MD, MSc, FRCPC

Professor, Department of Psychiatry, Temerty Faculty of Medicine and Institute for Health Policy, Management and Evaluation, University of Toronto | Head, Department of Psychiatry, Senior Scientist and Shirley A. Brown Memorial Chair in Women’s Mental Health Research, Women’s College Hospital | Senior Adjunct Scientist, ICES, Toronto, Ontario

Dr. Simone Vigod (MD 2003, FRCPC 2009) is a Professor in the Department of Psychiatry, Temerty Faculty of Medicine at the University of Toronto, and Head of the Department of Psychiatry at Women’s College Hospital, one of the University of Toronto’s nine fully-affiliated academic health sciences centres. Dr. Vigod is a leading expert in perinatal mood disorders and has conducted some of the largest studies worldwide on maternal mental illness around the time of pregnancy. 

Mental illness at this life stage poses unique risks to mothers and their children at a critical juncture in both of their lives. Her research is helping raise awareness about gaps in access to specialized perinatal mental healthcare, as well as identifying vulnerable populations where these gaps are most prominent. She also designs and evaluates novel health system interventions to improve access to and uptake of care for affected women. Her background includes an Honours BSc in Psychology from McGill University (1999), followed by an MD (2003), residency in psychiatry (2003-2009) and MSc in Clinical Epidemiology (2011) from the University of Toronto. She leads a clinical research program at Women’s College Hospital as a Senior Scientist and the Shirley A. Brown Memorial Chair in Women’s Mental Health Research in the Women’s College Research Institute, and is a Senior Adjunct Scientist at ICES in Toronto, Ontario where population-level health administrative data for her epidemiological studies are securely held.

Dr. Sheila O'Keefe-McCarthy, RN, BScN, MN, PhD

Associate Professor, Brock University Department of Nursing

Dr. Sheila O’Keefe-McCarthy is an Associate Professor in the Faculty of Applied Health Sciences, in the Department of Nursing at Brock University. She is a Nationally Certified Expert in Cardiovascular Critical Care and holds the National Research Director for the Canadian Council of Cardiovascular Nurses. Sheila is a Cardiovascular and Pain Scientist at the Social Justice Research Institute, the Centre for Research Across the Life Span, and the Brock Functional Inclusive Training (Bfit) Centre.

Her Heart Innovation Research Program includes, i) patient-centered, clinical research focusing on women’s and men’s cardio/vascular health, ii) the education of patients, healthcare providers, trainees, and the public iii) and extending reach to create awareness, and mobilize knowledge, to improve health equity in the prevention, treatment and understanding of the human health care experience. Her evolving research program, contains three related areas of focus: 1) to examine and describe cardiovascular disease (CVD) related pain and associated symptoms: [early cardiac prodromal symptoms and acute/chronic symptom presentations], 2) with the use of digital health technology design, develop and evaluate interventions to screen for and/or manage pain and other symptoms, and 3) create meaningful knowledge mobilization through an arts-based platform for dissemination.

Dr. Mireille Norris, BSc, MD, MHsc, FRCPC

Internist and Geriatrician, Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre | Associate Professor of Medicine, University of Toronto

Dr. Mireille Norris is an Internist and Geriatrician at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre in Toronto, Associate Professor of Medicine at the University of Toronto. She was appointed Faculty Lead for Black and Indigenous medical learners by the department of medicine. Dr. Norris has a focus on dementia care, fall prevention, quality improvement and medical education. Her interest in underrepresented physician education has been enhanced by the experience of recruiting and mentoring International Medical Graduates for the Hospitalist Training Program. Her own experience as a Black female French speaking physician was instrumental in empowering her trainees who are now successful in many provinces, the United States and Europe.

Dr Norris is eager to bring this experience to her new role as Black Health Theme Lead for the TFOM. Her passion for Equity, Inclusion and Diversity is also reflected in several initiatives. They include mentoring committee membership of the Black Physicians Association of Canada and collaboration with the Network for the Advancement of Black Learners and successful changes to the CaRMS application for core internal medicine which lead to increased inclusivity. She also brings her commitment to service to the Black community at TAIBU and at the Centre Francophone du Grand Toronto.