Welcome to the Department of Emergency Medicine at The Ottawa Hospital and the University of Ottawa.
Every day, our teams care for patients and families at critical and often vulnerable moments. Across our emergency departments, we are committed to delivering timely, compassionate, and evidence-informed care to a diverse and growing population in Ottawa and the surrounding region.
We are proud to be one of Canada’s leading academic emergency medicine programs, working across multiple sites. The Ottawa Hospital’s two adult tertiary care emergency departments see over 170,000 visits annually, while the Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario provides dedicated paediatric emergency care to more than 75,000 patients each year. L’Hôpital Montfort, our regional francophone academic partner, cares for over 60,000 patients annually and plays a vital role in training learners in a bilingual environment. Our department’s reach extends beyond these academic sites through a strong network of community and rural hospitals across the region, where department faculty provide high-quality emergency care. Many of these sites also contribute meaningfully to emergency medicine teaching and mentorship. These partnerships are essential to meeting the needs of our diverse population and strengthening emergency care throughout Eastern Ontario.
In partnership with The Ottawa Hospital and the University of Ottawa, we integrate clinical excellence with education and research. We train the next generation of physicians and advance emergency care through innovative research that improves outcomes locally and globally.
What defines us most is our people—a collaborative and inclusive community of clinicians, educators, researchers, and staff committed to patient-centred care and continuous improvement. We are equally committed to fostering an environment grounded in equity, diversity, inclusion, and reconciliation, while supporting the wellbeing of both our patients and our teams.
As healthcare continues to evolve, our department remains focused on innovation, collaboration, and leadership—working to improve the care we deliver today while shaping the future of emergency medicine.
Michael Woo, MD, CCFP(EM), DRCPSC, CHE
Head, Department of Emergency Medicine – The Ottawa Hospital
Chair, Department of Emergency Medicine – University of Ottawa
Professor, Faculty of Medicine – University of Ottawa
Clinician Investigator, Acute Care Research – Ottawa Hospital Research Institute
Emergency Physician and Trauma Team Leader, Department of Emergency Medicine – The Ottawa Hospital
