Congratulations to the recipients of the 2019 BCCFP awards!
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BC Family Physician of the Year - Dr. Catherine Textor (Prince George)
“Dr. Textor has worked diligently in her 10 years of practice in Prince George to preserve and improve full-service family medicine in the north. Through her work in the Division (Prince George Division of Family Practice) she has led a number of projects in a pursuit to improve medicine in the north. One such project is geared at improving access to psychiatric care in Northern BC… She has also spearheaded the development of a Family Medicine Teaching Unit at the University Hospital of Northern BC.”
Dr. Catherine Textor grew up on Vancouver Island and completed her undergraduate degree the University of Victoria before heading to medical school at UBC. Inspired by the teaching she received at the Prince George site of the Family Medicine Residency Training Program, she has been a full-service family doctor in Prince George since 2003. She provides all aspects of family medicine including emergency room, obstetrical, long term, and palliative care. Dr. Texter has taught in the Northern Medical Program since its inception. She was also a preceptor in the Family Medicine Residency Program from 2003 to 2009. In addition, she is the Physician Lead at the Prince George Division of Family Practice.
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My Family Doctor Award - Dr. Elizabeth Payne (Fraser Health/Port Coquitlam)
"Dr. Beth Payne is an incredible physician. She treated me first as a human-being and then as a patient… her patience, compassion and understanding went far beyond what I had come to expect from a physician."
Dr. Elizabeth Payne has had the joy of practising family medicine for 40 years since graduating from medical school at McMaster University. During that time, she has cared for generations of families in Port Coquitlam, while raising her own family in the community. Dr. Payne has provided everything from maternity to elder care. She is now in part-time practice, focusing on hospitalist work, occasional locums in family practice and participation in the College of Physicians and Surgeons of BC’s Physician Practice Enhancement Program. Dr. Payne believes that “the greatest part of family medicine is the longitudinal care we get to share with our patients – growing together through good and difficult times. There is no other career I could imagine bringing such fun and fulfillment.”
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My Family Doctor Award - Dr. Steven Broadbent (Interior Health/Kamloops)
"I feel like I have developed a great relationship with him, and I truly trust his medical opinion. He is well connected with the available resources in the community and he values his fellow professionals’ opinions. He is not too proud to ask a specialist for advice."
Dr. Steven Broadbent graduated from Leicester University and completed his family medicine and basic surgical training in the United Kingdom. On relocating to Canada, he spent more than three years practicing in Clearwater, followed by a move to Kamloops two years ago. Dr. Broadbent describes family practice as “challenging, with constantly shifting evidence; no two days are ever the same especially with my complex care practice. Over two thirds of health care occurs in our (family medicine) domain meaning we can make real differences in conjunction with working with our patients.”
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My Family Doctor Award - Dr. Christopher Collins (Island Health/Nanaimo)
“His active listening skills are impeccable and makes sure he pays attention to your needs while documenting and utilizing the electronic health record. You feel and know that he is in your court and wants to ensure best patient outcomes. Dr. Collins stays current on all of the latest research and best practice methodologies. I am comforted in knowing that his recommendations are based in evidence-based practice.”
Dr. Christopher Collins is a graduate of St. Bartholomew’s and the Royal London in England. He has been a family physician in Nanaimo for 11 years and is raising four young children in the community. A founding board member of the Nanaimo Division of Family Practice, he has also served as a faculty member for the Nanaimo residency program. In addition to his family practice, he is the medical lead for Snuneymuxw physician services (an indigenous community based primary care group) and provides care for patients at Options for Sexual Health. Dr. Collins passion is “learning from my patients, understanding and advocating for their beliefs and wishes.”
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My Family Doctor Award - Dr. Marlowe Haskins (Northern Health/Smithers)
“Dr. Haskins feels strongly about the physical, mental, and emotional health of mothers. He started a pre- and post-natal nursing support program through his clinic which provides additional care as well as emotional and physical support to all mothers. They even do house-calls, which is an incredible service when you have a newborn at home! I think it is a wonderful program and the nurses have been kind, lovely, and caring to work with.”
Dr. Marlowe Haskins graduated from medicine at the University of Calgary, followed by completion of family practice residency at Memorial University in Newfoundland. He has been working as a GP surgeon in northern BC for 27 years, currently practicing in Smithers. Dr. Haskins enjoys the variety of scope of rural family practice and has a passion for maternity care. He feels fortunate “to have had the opportunity to have work that allows such intimate connections with patients at such important points in their lives.”
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My Family Doctor Award - Dr. Margo Sweeny (Vancouver Coastal Health/Vancouver)
“I am fortunate to have been Dr. Sweeny’s patient for over 20 years, and am continually impressed by her knowledge, commitment to her patients, and caring nature… she is a credit to the medical profession. I can only hope that my oldest son, who is now in medical school, becomes a doctor who is as respected and valued as she is.”
Dr. Margo Sweeny is a UBC graduate, completing medical school and family medicine residency here in BC. She has been in a Family Medicine Group Practice in Vancouver for more than 20 years. She enjoys teaching UBC medical students and family medicine residents as part of her practice. Dr. Sweeny has a special interest in public health and, through her work with the Vancouver Divisions of Family Practice, the optimization of the continuity of care for patients within the medical system. She sees the opportunity to provide ongoing medical care to patients and families in her practice as “a real privilege.”
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First Five Years of Practice Award - Dr. Aryn Khan (Vanderhoof)
“Aryn has been an inspiration since she arrived here three years newly graduated from U of A. She has been instrumental in developing a suboxone protocol from scratch for our ER and clinic in partnership with our local interprofessional team and has been instrumental in the development of the local high school clinic. She has taken on the lead role in facility engagement and is working a number of projects… as a full-service rural physician, she is an amazing example of what can be done to make the system better for patients and her colleagues.”
Dr. Aryn Khan was born in Burns Lake and always dreamed of becoming a rural family doctor. She became a registered dietitian and worked in several other fields before going on to complete her medical degree and family medicine residency in Edmonton.
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Small Changes, Big Difference Award - Opioid Agonist Treatment (OAT) Force – Surrey-North Delta Division of Family Practice
“I have had the privilege of supporting a number of successful committees and initiatives. Of these, the OAT Force stands out for being innovative, physician-led, and extremely valuable to our community's physicians and patients who are at the centre of the ongoing opioid crisis… as a leader in the physician community of Surrey-North Delta I am encouraged by the impact the OAT Force has already had on my community and excited to watch as its reach expands.”
The OAT Force is an initiative of the Surrey-North Delta Division of Family Practice. The goal is to create a community-minded network to enable physicians and MOAs in family practice settings to provide the services necessary to administer Opioid Agonist Training (OAT). OAT Force uses a supportive and collaborative approach to equip physicians to deliver opioid agonist therapy in a holistic, safe and trauma-informed way. The OAT Force faculty include: Dr. Lawrence Yang, Dr. Rajbir Klair, Dr. Kirandeep Minhas, Dr. Gagan Wilkhu, Dr. Sujatha Nilavar, Dr. Shanza Imran, Ms. Victoria Stafford and Ms. Meaghan Ryley (Some team members are missing from the picture.). However, the OAT Force membership is about 30 physicians in total in various stages of OAT provision readiness.
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Resident Leadership Award - Dr. Saima Ali
“Saima has a unique leadership style—she leads by being a friend to us all. Her approachable demeanor and genuine care allow us to share our concerns and have confidence in her words and actions. She focuses on collaboration, taking the time to cultivate trusting relationships with faculty and colleagues to provide a strong foundation for realistic change to which we all aspire. She is committed to transparency, communicating consistently the successes and shortcomings of our work and maintains that honesty with all of her colleagues.”
Dr. Saima Ali graduated from UBC Medical School in 2017 and is now completing her Family Medicine residency training. She is the UBC Family Medicine Program Chief Resident, collaborating with her colleagues and faculty across the province on developing sustainable improvement initiatives in the program. She has always been drawn to family medicine, as it provides the opportunity to connect with individuals and form meaningful, long-term relationships. She is excited to start her career, advocating for and empowering her patients in their health journey. She is also passionate about medical education, hoping to remain involved with both curriculum development and teaching when she starts to practice.
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Dr. Manoo and Jean Gurjar Award - Dr. Natalie Chan
“Leadership requires the shouldering of responsibility to improve the success of your community. Some ofthe required characteristics for a leader to achieve this role are commitment, accountability, compassion, and certainly work ethic. Natalie demonstrated each of these to a very strong degree in her role as my mentor over three years in the Peer Mentors in Medical Education (PMME) group, and as a member of the organizational committee.”
Dr. Natalie Chan is currently completing her family medicine residency training at the St. Paul’s site. The ability to pursue numerous diverse opportunities within the specialty and her passion for working closely with communities are what drew her to the field. She looks forward to providing broad scope family medicine services in the Lower Mainland in addition to addiction medicine and transgender specialty care. She is also committed to positively impacting health on a population level through her work as the co-founder and president of Be the Change Group Inc., a technical and creative consulting firm that provides services locally and globally in the fields of health, education, and environmental health. Dr. Chan graduated from the University of Calgary Cummings School of Medicine. She also holds an M.H.Sc. from UBC.
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Dr. Manoo and Jean Gurjar Award - Dr. Vincent Wong
“Dr. Wong has demonstrated the ability to help our physicians in some of their daily challenges but has also worked well with others on a system level to better the community with the ultimate goal of improving patient care. I believe Dr. Wong is a person who will continue to constantly evolve his skills and knowledge to care for patients, to lead a community and to push the field of family medicine in a direction that will lead to the advancement of our community’s health overall.”
Medical Student Scholarships
Dr. Vincent Wong completed both his B.Sc. Pharmacy and Doctor of Medicine at UBC. He will be completing his Family Medicine Residency in June 2019. He serves as resident advisor to the Fraser Northwest Division of Family Practice, where he planned a career fair connecting local physicians with residents for locum and partnership opportunities. He also initiated and hosted a Patient-Centered Prescribing education session to practicing physicians to highlight nuances of prescribing and interprofessional collaboration. He looks forward to serving patients as a family physician in the Lower Mainland, in addition to continuing his studies in Master of Health Administration.
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Medical Student Scholarship - Dr. Taran Main
“His enthusiasm and approach to our patients was both thoughtful and empathetic. He always looked for extra opportunities he could spend either in the hospital or the clinic.”
Dr. Taran Main was raised in Spallumcheen, British Columbia. He completed his Bachelor of Science in Chemistry at Thompson Rivers University in 2014, and graduated from UBC Medical School – Southern Medical Program in 2019. He will be continuing his training in Family Medicine in the Rural Okanagan program, and looks forward to continuing to contribute to the local and rural communities throughout British Columbia. He is excited to continue to pursue his passions in Addictions Medicine and serving marginalized populations in Kelowna. He also plans to stay involved in mentoring future residents and medical students when he starts practice.
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Medical Student Scholarship - Dr. Ashandeep Sandhu
“She looked for the need in patient care or in ethnic understanding and she tried to find ways to fill that need and increase the knowledge and meaningful interaction of others with minority groups.”
Dr. Ashandeep Sandhu is a graduate of the UBC Southern Medical Program Class of 2019. She is grateful to be continuing her studies at UBC in the Family Medicine Residency Program in her hometown of Abbotsford. Ashan has special interests in women’s health, adolescent mental health, and palliative care. She is looking forward to developing her skills in these areas during residency.
