Message from the Executive Liaison Committee
This has been a year of transition and renewal for SREMI and our International Advisory Board (IAB) as we all emerge from the pandemic and its impact on emergency services and health care more broadly. First, I (Howard) would like to thank Dr. Kevin Katz for his years of service with me as the Executive Liaison for North York General Hospital (NYGH), and welcome an old friend, colleague and trusted partner, Dr. Rick Penciner to the role. We are all delighted to have Rick in a leadership role at SREMI. We both join in welcoming Dr. Kevin Wasko to the role of Director of the ED at NYGH. He’s already proven to be a willing and engaged partner in SREMI.
This year has also seen renewal of our IAB. We thank Dr. Suzanne Mason, Dr. Matthew Cooke and Dr. Simon Mooijaart for their wisdom and engagement and welcome new members Dr. Judy Morris, Dr. Ula Hwang, Dr. Kendall Ho, Dr. Luis Lobón and Dr. Maaret Castrén. We hope you will find the role interesting, rewarding and informative.
On May 30th 2023, SREMI joined with CAEP and the family of Dr. Paul Hannam in presenting the inaugural Dr. Paul Hannam Leadership Awards. Dr. Hannam was the former Chief of NYGH ED and SREMI leader, who died unexpectedly last July. The nominees were so outstanding we had to name two people, Dr. Allie McConnell and Dr. Rob Ohle. It was an emotional event, but everyone agreed it was a fitting tribute to Paul and an impactful way to continue his legacy.
We are proud of SREMI’s continued leadership in public policy development and evaluation in Ontario. Several papers were published this year on the evaluation of virtual urgent care models, and SREMI is gearing up to launch the data acquisition stage of the very important Predictors of Workload in the Emergency Room (POWER) III Study of how emergency physicians spend their time.
This year marks the 10th anniversary of the founding of SREMI. We had planned to celebrate a decade of remarkable growth, along with announcing the completion of funding for the “Dr. Don Melady Sinai 100 Chair” in emergency care of the elderly but have postponed the event in light of world events and will reschedule at a time when we can celebrate with our donors and key stakeholders more enthusiastically. The Dr. Don Melady Chair is an endowed chair established as part of a series of such chairs celebrating the 100th anniversary of Mount Sinai Hospital and will be established with a $3M endowment in perpetuity to celebrate Don’s great career and ensure SREMI always is a leader in this area. Don ended his clinical career in September, but will continue his academic work with SREMI. The chair will be filled on his full retirement (hopefully not for a while yet), but the revenue from the endowment will be available for advancing the Chair’s purpose immediately.
Respectfully submitted,
Howard Ovens MD, FCFP (EM) Rick Penciner MD, MSc, CCFP (EM), FCFP
Mount Sinai Hospital North York General Hospital