• Montfort update
• Civic update
• Pembroke update
• Riverside update

Dr. Stefan de Laplante, Assistant Professor, and Dr. Marjorie Pomerleau, Assistant Professor, Co-Directors of our Montfort site, provided the following update on what is happening at Montfort.

Exciting things are happening at Montfort! We've had a busy year. From renovations to curriculum updates and learning opportunities, there is always something happening here.

Clinic Expansions and Updates

The doctors and administrative staff at the Montfort Academic Family Health Team (MAFHT), as well as those at the St-Isidore Medical Center, have been very busy. Both clinics are expanding and modernizing their facilities to better serve the community and enhance their teaching capabilities.

The St-Isidore team moved into their new space in mid-July 2024, and the MAFHT team will have access to an additional 3,000 square feet of space adjacent to their current site in September 2024.

MAFHT remains committed to education, continuing to support the minor procedures clinic. Under the leadership of Dr. Dominique Miron, Lecturer, this clinic celebrates its 10th anniversary this year. Several residents have gained valuable skills and clinical experience through this initiative. Congratulations to all!

MAFHT plans to establish a gender diversity clinic in October 2024, led by Dr. Stefan de Laplante. We would like to thank the Centertown Community Centre and the Riverside-Civic academic team for their support and guidance in developing this program. Finally, the MAFHT’s contraceptive clinic, headed by Dr. Kay-Anne Haykal, Associate Professor, now offers contraceptive implant insertion as part of its services. 

The Montfort Hospital teaching site will organize its annual half-day wellness initiative for residents in the fall of 2024. Dr. Steve Truong and Dr. Justin Kahalé will lead this outdoor activity. It remains to be determined whether the mountain bike activity will be part of programming this year. 

New Preceptors

We also welcome Dr. Alain Rémi Lajeunesse, Lecturer, and Dr. Mélanie Lalonde to the family medicine residency preceptor team. These highly motivated preceptors bring years of experience and a passion for family medicine. Welcome to both of you!!

Curriculum Update

From a curriculum standpoint, we will continue to offer once again this year the Point of Care Ultrasonography (POCUS) training. Thank you to Dr. Nicolas Chagnon, Dr. Mélanie Le May, and Dr. Hétoum Misirliyan from Montfort Hospital, who have mastered this technology. The curriculum, entirely in French, spans over two half-days and is now in its second iteration. This initiative, launched in 2023, has been greatly appreciated by residents. The results of this initiative were presented during the ICAM conference in Vancouver in April 2024, the Journées Montfort in April 2024, and the Family Medicine Ground Rounds in May 2024.

Publication of Research Article

Dr. Kay-Anne Haykal, Associate Professor and Assistant Dean of Student Services had a very busy 2024! She completed her MBA with the Australian Institute of Business and published an article in a scientific journal. We invite you to read the article: Haykal, K.-A., Zombre, I., Laprade, S., Duquet, M., & Joseph, J. (2024). A Quantitative Analysis of Mandatory Wellness Assessments for 1st and 3rd Year Medical Students at the University of Ottawa.

On-Call Schedule Changes

Residents have noticed the changes made to the on-call schedule of family medicine residents. With the help of Montfort Hospital, we made some changes to increase in-practice exposure and reduce on-call duties. Furthermore, first-year residents will now have a residency block with no on-call duties, allowing them to fully immerse themselves in the family practice environment.

We are truly privileged to work with such a dedicated team of coordinators and preceptors. We look forward to the upcoming academic year and can’t wait to witness the changes and successes at the Montfort teaching site.

The Civic Academic Family Health Team is excited to highlight some developments at our site in the last year! As of April 1, 2025, Dr. Michael Malek, Assistant Professor, stepped down as the Unit Postgraduate Director after leading the residents and team for 6 years. Dr. Leah Smith, Assistant Professor, has taken the position and is looking forward to working more with the postgraduate team!

Our team has had numerous presentations at different events in recent months. Several of our physicians presented at the DFM Facutly Retreat that took place from April 25-27, 2025. Dr. Anna Wilkinson presented on Transitioning to HPV-Based Screening. Dr. Cummings, Assistant Professor, spoke on Showcasing the Future: Emerging Voices panel. Dr. Taunia Rifai, spoke with colleagues Dr. Justine Callahan, Assistant Professor, and Dr. Stefan de Laplante,Assistant Professor, on Gender Affirming Care. Dr. Laura Visentin, Assistant Professor, and Dr. Taunia Rifai were on a panel for Climate Change and Planetary Health.

Dr. Taunia Rifai, Dr. Leah Smith and Dr. Justine Callahan presented their “Addressing the Gap – Collaborative Efforts to Expand Gender Affirming Care in Ottawa, Ontario” at Meridith Marks Day on May 3, 2025! This group has also been holding quarterly events to help connect with physicians in their practices. The group had a large launch at NEST back on February 12, 2025.

From spring through fall, once a week, a group from the clinic heads out for Ice Cream Rounds! It’s a fun tradition where anyone who is interested can join for a sweet treat and a chance to catch up with colleagues outside of our usual work routines. It has been a great way for people to connect and enjoy a little break together.

In June, we will be saying goodbye to one of our long-term physicians, Dr. Tarun Prashar, Lecturer. He has been with us since he was a resident, from 2016-2018 he locumed with us and then joined us full-time in 2020. Tarun is moving back to Manitoba to be with his family. Thank you for everything over the years! We are so excited for you!

Taking over Dr. Prashar’s practice is Dr. Ashley Gerber. Dr. Gerber graduated residency in 2022 from uOttawa. We are looking forward to having her back on our team starting June 2025! 

The Pembroke Family Medicine Teaching Unit (PFMTU) is excited share with you some highlights from the past year. Please enjoy this update provided by Dr. Richard Johnson, recently reclassified to the rank of Assistant Professor with our Department in recognition of his educational achievements, a Family Doctor in Pembroke, Site Director of the Pembroke Residence Program, Chief of Family Practice at the Pembroke Regional Hospital, Clinical Lead of the Ottawa Valley OHT and Co-Chair of the Renfrew County and South Algonquin Primary Care Network. He is 10 years into practice having graduated from the Pembroke Residency Program. His passion is maximizing the health of residents in Renfrew County, and he is supported by his wife and 2 lovely kids who attempt to keep him balanced.

Growth to 6 residents per year: We have doubled down on our strategy to maximize the learner pipeline, given the high percentage of unattached patients, and high rate of retention of our graduates to Renfrew County (60%) 5 years out into practice. A further 95% of our graduates have stayed rural upon graduation. We all breathed a sigh of relief when we went fully matched for 6 residents in CaRMS this year.

Expansion: Our growth necessitated physical space. We are wrapping up an expansion to house further staff physicians and learners at our clinic in PRH, tower D.

Remote pilot: In their first and second year, we allow residents that match to our program to choose to spend 3 months in Deep River or Barry’s Bay with an excellent set of preceptors. This program has been tremendously popular: all residents last year chose to participate. After reviewing feedback, including some continuity of care challenges and how to equitably provide learning opportunities, we have decided to modify the program to 2 months per year with the full support of residents, staff and remote sites. We were excited to welcome additional preceptors in both communities: Dr. Michael Sage, Lecturer, in Deep River, and Dr. Steven Chen, Lecturer, in Barry’s Bay.

Indigenous curriculum: Our residents and some staff physicians participated in the Algonquins of Pikwakanagan locally created Indigenous cultural awareness training in February. It was eye opening and sad to hear just how much language and culture this community has lost, and that a community 30 minutes down the road from us continues to be under a boil water advisory. We thank the department for the funding so our residents could participate. We are also piloting some days where our residents work with Derek Frew, NP, who is the main clinician working at the Pikwakanagan FHT. Initial feedback has been very positive from all parties.

Created a gender affirming care clinic: Doniya Quenneville, R2, came into our program with an interest in this population and saw the gap in Renfrew County. With training and relationship building with the Centretown CHC, Doniya and one of our local preceptors, Dr. Sylvie Cantin, Lecturer, were able to start a small clinic. Doniya has just signed to stay on in Deep River when she graduates, which means this care should be more accessible to local patients. She can also help run the curriculum for our learners.

Evaluation fatigue: Our preceptors commented on some redundant resident evaluations and so we are putting the final touches on optimizing this process prior to rolling it out for the new R1s in July.
 

The Riverside Academic team is happy to highlight some exciting developments at our site in the last year! Since July 2024, we have welcomed three new physicians to our unit: Dr. Osmaan Sheikh, Lecturer, who comes to us from B.C. and has a special interest in Medical Assistance in Dying; Dr. Jason Struyk, Lecturer, (a graduate of our program), whose focus is palliative care and procedures; and Dr. Jennifer Mitchell, Lecturer, (also a uOttawa graduate), who specializes in women's health and has already established a clinic at our site offering various procedures such as endometrial and vulvar biopsies, as well as menopause counselling. 

Our Academic team has made advancements in gender-affirming care over the last year. Dr. Justine Callahan, Lecturer, alongside her Civic colleagues Dr. Leah Smith, Assistant Professor and Dr. Taunia Rifai, Assistant Professor, have launched a Gender Affirming Care Clinic. This clinic has been instrumental in providing hormonal therapy and surgical consultations to our patients as well as patients in the community. Our residents rotate through this clinic every two weeks, gaining valuable exposure and building their competencies.

Cancer screening initiatives over the last year have resulted in over 150 women being screened for their cervical exams through special "Papapalooza" clinics during evening clinics with residents and staff. This has resolved our cervical cancer screening delay post-pandemic!