Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Committee

Purpose

The committee is advisory to the Chief Diversity Officer and is expected to support the Chief in all aspects of the role, including but not limited to:

  • Management of the program, associated events, leadership and development (faculty networking, women in academic medicine, support for leadership training). Facilitation of mentorship across the faculty member lifecycle.
  • Faculty equity and diversity (accreditation standard; recruitment and promotion).
  • Quality of life (e.g. civility and professionalism).
  • Developing and implementing meaningful benchmarks to measure the success of the overall portfolio; specifically focusing on equity and mentorship.

Membership

The committee will reflect the diversity of the University of Toronto, Department of Medicine (DoM), faculty with an expectation of gender balance, representation of all job descriptions, divisions, hospitals, and equal membership from junior, intermediate, and senior level faculty members, as well as trainees.

Mandate and Role

The committee will meet monthly. All committee members are expected to:

  • Attend a minimum of four meetings each year. Attendance by teleconference is acceptable.
  • Participate in meetings with a focus on developing, implementing and evaluating strategies to optimize mentorship, equity and diversity.
  • Provide input into completion of these tasks.
  • Participate in dissemination of results of initiatives.

Commitee Members

Dr. Gianni R. Lorello

Gianni R. Lorello is a staff anesthesiologist at Toronto Western Hospital, University Health Network who completed his residency in Anesthesiology – Clinician Investigator Program at the University of Toronto. He completed his MSc under Dr. Ryan Brydges’ at The Wilson Centre through the Institute of Medical Sciences at the University of Toronto. He is an Assistant Professor at the University of Toronto, Vice-Chair for the Section on Education and Simulation in Anesthesia at the Canadian Anesthesiologists’ Society (CAS), a Selected Member for the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Working Group at the CAS, and the departmental representative at the Faculty of Medicine Diversity Advisory Committee. He is embarking on a Health Professions Education Research PhD through the Institute of Health Policy, Management, and Evaluation under Dr. Ayelet Kuper’s supervision, learning about critical social theory.

Dr. John Peel

Dr. Peel completed his BHSc (Honours) (Biomedical Sciences Specialization) at McMaster and his Doctor of Medicine at UBC. He is currently completing a residency in Anesthesiology at the University of Toronto in the Clinician Investigator Program. His clinical interests include thoracic, cardiac, and critical care anesthesia. Dr. Peel's research interest is in the evaluation of health technologies applied to the management of critically ill and perioperative patients. Dr. Peel has previously worked with LGBTQ+ professional groups, and has studied the effect of gender on medical training. Dr. Peel is pleased to join the EDI Committee and support the university’s mission to promote equity and inclusion.

Dr. Maha Al Mandhari

Dr. Al Mandhari is currently in her PGY5 year of training in anesthesia at the University of Toronto. She has an avid interest in global health, equity in medicine, and quality improvement. She remains interested specifically in fostering education, mentorship, and representation in clinical practice and in medical education.

Dr. Filipe Caparica Santos

Dr. Filipe Nadir Caparica Santos is an Assistant Professor at the Department of Anesthesia, St Michael’s Hospital. His teaching and research activities mainly focus on feedback and coaching, debriefing frameworks, clinical fellowship education and neuromuscular blockers.

Dr. Caparica Santos completed medical school and residency at the State University of Campinas (Sao Paulo, Brazil). He later obtained a PhD in Pharmacology at the same institution, with a focus on the neuromuscular blockers and postoperative residual curarization. From 2017-2019, he completed a clinical fellowship in Simulation & Medical Education at St. Michael's Hospital, where he was also Chief Clinical Fellow. He is currently a candidate at the Master of Science in Community Health – Health Practitioner Teacher Education program at the Dalla Lana School of Public Health, which he looks forward to completing in the current academic year.

Dr. Tara Der

Dr. Der has been at Sickkids for 13 years and is primarily interested in pediatric neurosurgical and craniofacial anesthesia. She works part-time, loves organizing social events at the hospital, enjoys hip hop dance, and is a mom to a 7-year-old daughter.

Dr. Salima Ladak

Bio will be updated soon.