Meet our Resident Leaders
Dr. Moaz Chohan, Chief Resident, Department of Family Medicine
Where were you born and raised?
I was born and raised in Karachi, Pakistan which is the 6th biggest country in the world by population, and Karachi is the heart of Pakistan; the financial and cultural capital with a population of 25 million. It is like the GTA on steroids. Karachi is a coastal city along the warm Arabian sea. A metropolis known for its exquisite cuisine, multiculturism and beautiful coastal breeze in the evening.
I went to some of the best schools for primary and secondary education which has produced leaders in every field across Pakistan including prime ministers and presidents. And I finished my education in Pakistan in Dow Medical College which is the best medical school in the country.
I grew up in a multi-generation household surrounded by family in Pakistan. A part of me was also raised in Canada after I moved to Calgary. I spent seven years in that beautiful city by the Rockies. From there I moved to London to pursue a master’s in surgery at Western and then a master’s in medicine at Queen’s.
Where do you practice medicine and in what scope?
I am a resident in the London Regional West program in Strathroy. I am super grateful I matched there since the experience has been second to none. I see the breadth of primary care pathologies along with longitudinal hospitalist rounding, emergency medicine shifts, obstetrics, and geriatrics exposure.
I am in my second year of training and the elected Rural/Regional Chief Resident.
Why did you choose to pursue Postgraduate education in the Department of Family Medicine at Schulich Medicine & Dentistry?
Because Western is home.
Before my residency, I had worked with Dr. Justin Mall in Petrolia. I think that was the moment I realized the variety of practice available to Western residents and the rest is history.
Objectively, because Western is a tertiary care referral site for southwest Ontario. Evaluating patients in primary care and then following complex pathologies in tertiary care centers during off service blocks has given me a ton of clinical confidence.
Subjectively, London is amazing. I can enjoy the hustle and bustle of a big city but avoid the traffic. The houses are affordable, it has great parks and trails, and the food scene in London has grown by leaps and bounds since I moved here in 2017. Plus, the lakes! I have access to Huron and Eerie whenever I want, and international flights at the airport. I wouldn’t be exaggerating if I said that everything I need is right here.
Can you tell me about your experience in the program?
Exceptional experience! As a trainee, I have had rural exposure to clinical pathologies while living in the city. I have worked as a true generalist. I have participated in codes, performed gynecological procedures independently, intubated patients, put in advanced lines. My preceptor allows me to make decisions and gives me freedom to practice. I have my own schedule, and this gives me the opportunity to follow patients longitudinally. The hospitalist experience is a great clinical skill to posses which feels like working in internal medicine so why do CTU?
As a chief resident I get to sit on committee meetings discussing the program, proposing changes to the program. I can say that I have actively contributed to the development of the future of family medicine.
What has been your greatest experience to date in your study?
When we diagnosed a patient with a AAA very close to rupture and transferred him to London.
What has been your greatest challenge?
My wife is training at Queen’s, so her, our two kids and my parents all live in Kingston. I think being away from family has been my biggest challenge without a doubt. Residency is tough and challenging at times since we are growing as people and developing our knowledge base and having an excellent social support system is very important which I have, but just a few hundred kilometers away.
What inspires you in your work?
Making a difference in people’s lives and their gratitude.
Where do you see yourself in 10 years?
I love teaching, research, and sports. I want to have an academic practice where I can continue my research in musculoskeletal health, teach residents and medical students. I actually just matched to the sports medicine program in Ottawa today, so that is definitely in the works in the next 10 years.
What special interests or hobbies do you have?
On a professional level, I am very passionate about musculoskeletal health. I want to help athletes develop themselves which is why I am interested in Sports and Exercise medicine. Plus, I like acuity so also Emergency Medicine.
On a peronsal level, I love motorsports, cars, cricket, tennis and exercising. I love spending time with my wife and kids, and inviting friends over to make the “the best BBQ in the world” (Zara-My daughter). I am also a history buff as I feel we as human’s repeat the same mistakes every few hundred years.
What three words best describe you?
Grit, Compassion, Leadership.
Dr. Julia Petta, Chief Resident, Department of Family Medicine
Where were you born and raised?
I was born and raised in LaSalle which a town just outside of Windsor, Ontario.
Where do you practice medicine and in what scope?
I practice clinic-based comprehensive Family Medicine in Windsor, Ontario.
Why did you choose to pursue Postgraduate education in the Department of Family Medicine at Schulich Medicine & Dentistry?
I choose to pursue my Family Medicine training at Schulich in the Windsor program for many reasons. Firstly, there is a 1:1 resident to preceptor ratio for most rotations which I felt would be beneficial to my learning. Additionally, since only Psychiatry and Family Medicine are the fulltime residency programs in Windsor (during my training anyways) there are lots of learning opportunities and rotations can be tailored to your interests. The program directors and administrative team are all very supportive, care about your success and always open to feedback. Our academic half-days are resident led and we cover the 105 key topics that you need to know for the CFPC exam which the residents find very relevant and helpful. Finally, I am close to my family and am training in the location that I plan on practicing.
Can you tell me about your experience in the program?
It has been a great experience for all of the reasons listed in #3. My primary preceptors are keen teachers and my co-residents are a great support system. Outside of clinical duties, I have also been able to take on many leadership roles some of which include being the Chief Resident in Windsor and the Western Representative on the Section of Residents. These experiences allow me to connect with residents at Western and nationally.
What has been your greatest experience to date in your study?
During my first year of residency, I had the privilege of doing an elective in Shelter Health in Windsor. This rotation involved providing care for vulnerable and disadvantaged patients including those that experience homelessness or are of lower SES. We provided primary care at the CMHA and shelters. This was a unique and rewarding experience due to the weight of social factors. For example, in typical practice if I wanted a patient to get an xray I would just give them a requestion. However, for this patient population I had to take a step-back and consider if they even had access to their health card to get the xray covered, if they had the means to get transportation to the imaging facility, and how we would be able to contact them about their results afterwards. I will take the soft-skills that I learned from this experience into my future career.
What has been your greatest challenge?
My greatest challenge has been becoming comfortable with the gray in family medicine. I want to make the correct decisions for my patients. However, in many circumstances there are multiple reasonable approaches to the same situation without one necessarily being better than another. This is especially true since medicine is constantly evolving. Throughout my training, I’ve realized that this challenge will always exist but that it improves with experience.
What inspires you in your work?
I’m inspired by my ability to make a meaningful impact in the lives of others and my desire to learn. In family medicine, you are able to develop lifelong relationships with patients and provide them with care and support through a variety of life stages and diseases which is very rewarding. Additionally, every day is different in family practice. Even if you see the same diagnosis, it presents differently because of patients’ illness experiences which keeps things interesting. Because of the wide breadth of Family Medicine, there is always something new to learn which I also really enjoy.
Where do you see yourself in 10 years?
I hope to have an established Family Medicine practice in the Windsor area where I provide comprehensive clinic-based primary care.
What special interests or hobbies do you have?
Outside of work, I enjoy exercising (yoga/ pilates/ hiking), coffee, cooking, and reading or listening to books.
What three words best describe you?
Organized, reliable, and supportive.
Dr. David Zheng, Chief Resident, Department of Family Medicine
Where were you born and raised?
I was born and raised in London, Ontario. I did study in Ottawa for my undergraduate degree but otherwise I’ve been a “London Lifer”.
Where do you practice medicine and in what scope?
I’m currently a second year Family Medicine resident in the London Urban Stream and my home site is the Victoria Family Medical Centre (VFMC). At VFMC, I have the privilege of serving a patient population that is predominately of low socioeconomic status, and engaging in long-term care and palliative care, infant and prenatal care, as well as extra longitudinal emergency medicine shifts.
Why did you choose to pursue Postgraduate education in the Department of Family Medicine at Schulich Medicine & Dentistry?
Schulich Medicine is where I attended medical school and where I first connected with mentors in the field of Family Medicine and learned about the specialty. I appreciated the clinical skill and leadership displayed by faculty and residents of the program and saw it as a testament to the strength of the program. In addition, I favored the block-based Family Medicine rotations in allowing me to be immersed in the specialty when on-service, while also having the flexibility to add on self-directed longitudinal horizontal electives and be an advocate for my own learning tailored to my knowledge gaps. Outside of the program itself, it was a no-brainer for me to train in the city that I lived and grew up in among my social supports.
Can you tell me about your experience in the program?
I have enjoyed my experience in Western Family Medicine’s London Urban stream in helping me achieve my career goals and learning to provide comprehensive primary care. With its associated large academic hospitals, I felt well-supported in seeking out opportunities to see a broad range of acuity and pathology as well as getting involved in the rewarding experience of teaching more junior learners. Beyond clinical experiences, I have appreciated the attentiveness and investment that my preceptors have had in ensuring that I meet my own personal learning goals, and that I learn all that I need to know about achieving a sustainable Family Medicine career. Western’s Family Medicine preceptors are undoubtedly the greatest strength of the program.
What has been your greatest experience to date in your study?
During the COVID-19 pandemic, I had played piano over video call for elderly residents of long-term care homes across Canada to reduce social isolation. Over a year later while rounding on inpatients, I ran into a patient who recognized and thanked me for playing piano for her, and I felt very touched that even under all my PPE that they had remembered that fleeting interaction we shared. In general, I have always most enjoyed the opportunities to have a positive impact, both in fleeting interactions like that, and through the many longitudinal relationships that I have developed in my Family Medicine rotations.
As well, I find the greatest experiences during my studies to be all the little moments of self-reflection where I realize that I have managed a problem or performed a procedure that a month ago I would not have been able to, and the gradual process of becoming increasingly independent throughout residency.
What has been your greatest challenge?
In Family Medicine, you are at the frontlines and “quarterbacking” the patient’s overarching and comprehensive care in navigating through the healthcare system. As a result, patients can often come with insurmountable expectations about what can be achieved and look to you to solve problems spanning several years and involving multiple specialists in a single visit. At times, it can be demoralizing to not always be able to provide the immediate solution or relief that I so badly wish I could. However, cases like these are the challenges that make the field of medicine ultimately rewarding, and I have found benefit in debriefing with colleagues/staff and in being transparent about the difficulties of cases like this with patients.
What inspires you in your work?
Like many others, I am inspired everyday by the patients that I see. When I an encounter a problem that my patient is facing that I am unfamiliar with or that is not yet diagnosed, I am always directly motivated to equip myself with the knowledge and skills to better address it now and so that I can better serve the patients in my community in the future. I try to uphold values of initiative, empathy and clear communication that I would myself want to receive. I am also inspired by my parents who have themselves served the local community in their local dental practice through their hardwork.
Where do you see yourself in 10 years?
I see myself working in an academic setting in both fields of Family Medicine and Emergency Medicine.
What special interests or hobbies do you have?
I love listening to music with friends, attending concerts, and playing piano. I also enjoy watching movies, particularly horror. Outside of that, I love hiking outdoors and am always looking for hiking recommendations
What three words best describe you?
Considerate, hardworking, calm.
