Alumni and Student Profiles

Dr. Makoto Kaneko

Dr. Makoto Kaneko
"I am a family physician in Japan. In Japan, Family Medicine is a relatively young discipline. So, I would like to foster family physicians and family medicine researchers for Japanese primary care." (Read More)

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Dr. Nisanthini (Nisha) Ravichandiran
"I practice Family Medicine in Scarborough, as part of a multidisciplinary family health team. My research interests include access to healthcare for immigrants and the role of technology in patient care." (Read More)

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Dr. Melad Marbeen
Melad Marbeen is a family physician and an adjunct faculty member in the Department of Family Medicine. She moved to Canada from Northern Iraq after finishing medical school. Her greatest experience so far was conducting a mixed methods research study and completing her thesis with the guidance of enthusiastic role models for research in family medicine. (Read More)
 
Dr. Tesshu Kusaba
Dr. Tesshu Kusaba
Dr. Tesshu Kusaba is a family doctor working in Hokkaido, Japan. He is the CEO of the Hokkaido Centre for Family Medicine (HCFM) and the President of Japan Primary Care Association (JPCA). "My career as a family doctor was derived from learning in HCFM under Dr. Kassai who obtained his roots in Canada in his learnings through Dr. Ian McWhinney." (Read More)
 
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    Dr. Jennifer Johnson
    As an alumna of the MClSc in Family Medicine program, Dr. Jennifer Johnson learned the patient-centred clinical method and applyed it to her patients of 20 years, observing how positively they responded to being more deely known and understood. (Read More)

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    Dr. Helena Piccinini-Vallis
    PhD alumna Dr. Helena Piccinini-Vallis is an associate professor in family medicine at Dalhousie University. Her research interests pertain mostly to weight-related issues during pregnancy. (Read More)

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    Dr. Les Lee
    Dr. Les Lee, PhD '19, is a senior consultant in Family Medicine at the National Healthcare Group Polyclinics (NHGP) in Singapore. He is also the deputy head of the Clinical Research Unit in NHGP, and an adjunct assistant Professor at the Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine. (Read More)

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    Dr. Amanda Pendergast
    Dr. Amanda Pendergast, MClSc '19, is an academic family physician and Assistant Professor at Memorial University. She lives in St. John’s, NL with her husband Shawn and their three children. "Dr. McWhinney has helped me understand my patients for who they are, not from an illness that may try to define them. I am often surprised at how the same disease will present differently in different patients." (Read More)

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    Dr. Kath Stringer
    "Our patients are the focus of our care and hence it is highly appropriate that they should be at the centre of education in health care. While family medicine is the leader of this approach and family physicians are specialists in patient-centred care, we need to ensure that we continue to seek input on, reflect and improve upon this approach within our own discipline whilst simultaneously working on its adoption by all involved in health care and health care education..." (Read More)

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    Dr. Joshua Shadd
    “What inspires me in my work is the ability to help people and family at a moment of need in a practical way,” said Dr. Shadd. “The MCISc has been a key to both giving the tools and opening the doors to making this work possible. It helped me to reflect on and understand my patient’s journey and my role in my patient’s journey in a different and deeper way.” (Read More)

  • Dr. Sofia Cuba
    Dr. Sofia Cuba
    Dr. Sofia Cuba chose the MClSc program in the Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry at Western University because she wanted to learn the tools necessary to improve training in Family Medicine in Peru, and also to influence the development of a better health system based on primary health care. (Read More)

  • Dr. Carmen Nadal
    Dr. Carmen Nadal
    Dr. Carmen Nadal recently completed the Department of Family Medicine’s Master of Clinical Science program and graduated from Western at the Spring Convocation on June 11, 2015. While in London to celebrate her achievement, she sat down with us to talk about her experience in the program. (Read More)

  • Dr. Lemmese Al Watban
    Dr. Lemmese Al Watban
    Dr. Lemmese Al Watban’s education has spanned over 15 years and two countries. Armed with a MClSc in family medicine, she looks to the future and aspires to have a strong role in teaching and in faculty development. (Read More)

  • Dr. Gustavo Gusso
    Dr. Gustavo Gusso
    Parallel to setting up the Family Medicine residency program at USP, Dr. Gusso enrolled in the MClSc program, Department of Family Medicine, Schulich School of Medicine and Dentistry, Western University. He believed it was important to grow Family Medicine in Brazil from both an epistemological and empirical base. (Read More)

  • Dr. Sudha Koppula
    Dr. Sudha Koppula (BSc, MD, MClSc, CCFP)
    Since completing her Bachelor of Science in Biochemistry in 1998, Dr. Sudha Koppula (BSc, MD, MClSc, CCFP) has traveled the world, earned multiple degrees, built a family practice, contributed to numerous publications, and taught and mentored residents. But, most rewarding for her, so far, has been her work in the delivery room of the same Edmonton hospital where she was first welcomed into the world.

  • Dr. Peter Mackean
    Dr. Peter Mackean (BSc, MD, CCFP, FCFP, MClSc)
    When Dr. Peter Mackean (BSc, MD, CCFP, FCFP, MCISc) crossed the stage and received his Master of Clinical Science (MClSc) degree in Family Medicine at Western University’s Convocation on June 12, he celebrated a milestone in his journey toward satisfying his interest in research. “I was always interested in practicing, but I was also interested in better understanding many scientific elements of family medicine” he says. “One researcher called me a ‘researcher in a family doctor’s clothing’. With a busy practice I didn’t have time to carry out research so that piece has always been missing for me.” 

  • Dr. Helena Piccinini-Vallis
    Dr. Helena Piccinini-Vallis (MD, MSc, CCFP)
    When Dr. Helena Piccinini-Vallis (MD, MSc, CCFP) began pursuing her PhD in Family Medicine in 2012, she had a very specific idea of what she wanted to focus on in her research. Now, two years into the program, she credits her coursework with helping her to discover a deeper connection to her work.“I realized that I needed to back up a bit and take a look at the bigger picture,” she says. “I entered the program being very focused on the management of obesity, particularly as it relates to pregnancy, but I became very interested in patient-centered care and how that relates to managing obesity in patients. My key interest has now shifted to patient-centered care.”

  • Dr. Sharon Hatcher
    Dr. Sharon Hatcher (MD, FCMF)
    A few years ago, after more than 20 years into her career as a physician, Dr. Sharon Hatcher (MD, FCMF) reached a point where she knew it was time to make a change.“I started asking myself, ‘What do I really want to do with the time I have left to practice?’ I’m very idealistic and I saw a lot that could be changed in medicine,” she says. “Although there has been a focus on patient-centeredness in medical practice, there is still a big lag in what people experience in hospitals.”