Leadership Lecture Series
Join us for the Leadership Lecture Series:
"Social Innovation in Indigenous Health"
Friday, October 1, 2021, 07:00 - 09:00 AM
A collaboration of the Department of Medicine and Department of Surgery, Faculty of Medicine & Dentistry, and the University of Alberta Hospital Site Leadership.
Who should attend: All University of Alberta and Zone Medical Staff and Operational Leadership
About the Leadership Lecture Series
The premise is to bring physician leadership together in a collaborative model with common goals for patient care and organizational leadership.
University of Alberta Hospital Site Leadership will organize rounds on current relevant topics for the physician members combining the Departments of Surgery and Medicine grand rounds time slots on Friday mornings from 07:00 - 09:00 AM to bring you these rounds.
We would like to partner with all departments and present this as a joint grand round with each department to ensure engagement and credit to FoMD departments and their leadership, in a collaborative model.
Presenters:
Dr. Alika LaFontaine
Canadian Medical Association, President-Elect
Alika Lafontaine, BSc, MD, FRCPC Dr. Alika Lafontaine is an Aboriginal physician of Cree and Anishinaabe heritage, born and raised in Southern Saskatchewan/Treaty 4 territory. After being labeled learning disabled as a child, his parents made the difficult decision to homeschool him and at age 16 became one of the youngest recipients of a prestigious undergraduate NSERC research grant through the University of Regina.
After completing a Bachelor of Science in chemistry, he completed his MD at The University of Saskatchewan followed by a five-year fellowship in anesthesiology. In the midst of his fellowship, Lafontaine became CBC’s "Canada’s Next Great Prime Minister," winning the competition with a platform focused on reconciling the Treaty relationship between Canada’s Indigenous Peoples and Canadians. In addition to other awards and honours, Lafontaine remains the youngest recipient of the Indspire Award -- the highest honour Aboriginal Peoples give their own for the past 20 years -- and in 2015 he was selected as a recipient of the Canadian Medical Association Young Leaders Award (Early Career).
Through story-telling, real patient encounters and his own experience, Lafontaine lectures across Canada on the role bias, discrimination and racism has on patient care and why addressing these issues lies at the core of improving the health of First Nations, Metis and Inuit Peoples.
Lafontaine currently serves on the boards of several non-profits, including the Indigenous Physicians Association of Canada. He is an elected member of the representative forum of the Alberta Medical Association and is Medical Lead for the Aboriginal Health Program - North Zone of Alberta Health Services.
Dr. Esther Tailfeathers
Senior Medical Director,
Indigenous Wellness Core, Alberta Health Services
Dr. Esther Tailfeathers, born and raised on the Blood Reserve in Southern Alberta, graduated from the University of North Dakota, School of Medicine and completed her Family Medicine Residency in Edmonton at the University of Alberta. Esther has worked in many First Nation communities including The Blackfeet Reservation in the Emergency Room, the Blood Reserve for almost 20 years, and has served the Northern Alberta community of Fort Chipewyan. Esther is most proud of organizing a relief mission to Haiti after the earthquake in 2010, leading a team made up of Blood Tribe paramedics, nurses and health care workers who took care of more than 2000 patients during their relief efforts. Most recently, Dr. Tailfeathers worked with her community in response to the Fentanyl Crisis which started in the Fall of 2014. The Opioid Crisis and community strategies for Harm Reduction, Treatment and addressing upstream determinants of health in her home community has been the primary concentration of her work over the last 7 years. Dr. Tailfeathers is currently the Senior Medical Director, Provincial Indigenous Wellness Core, at Alberta Health Services.
Dr. Nadine Caron
Founding Chair,
First Nations Health Authority in Cancer and Wellness at UBC
Dr. Nadine Caron, member of the Sagamok Anishnawbek First Nation, is a practising surgical oncologist in northern British Columbia providing cancer screening, diagnosis and surgical care for individuals in rural, remote, and Indigenous communities. Dr. Caron is the sole Indigenous physician within BC Cancer, the only Indigenous academic faculty member within the University of BC’s Faculty of Medicine, a Professor at UBC Northern Medical Program and Department of Surgery as well as a Senior Scientist at Canada's Michael Smith Genome Sciences Centre at BC Cancer. Dr. Caron is the inaugural First Nations Health Authority Chair in Cancer and Wellness at UBC. She is a founding co-Director of the UBC Centre for Excellence in Indigenous Health and Consultant in development of BC’s first-ever Indigenous Cancer Strategy to improve Indigenous cancer outcomes and experiences in BC.