Session Chairs
Dr. Douglas A. (Gus) Grant is the current President (2015-2016) of the
Federation of Medical Regulatory Authorities of Canada and Chair of FMRAC's
2016 educational conference. He is the Registrar and CEO of the College of
Physicians and Surgeons of Nova Scotia.
He is a graduate of Dalhousie Medical School (1997) and completed his residency
at Dalhousie in Family Medicine before entering practice. He is a graduate of
McGill Law School and practiced law in Nova Scotia, largely in the field of medical
malpractice. He has a degree in literature from Harvard and has maintained an
active interest in the arts, in the interaction of law and medicine. He lives in
Halifax with his wife and 5 children.
Dr. Linda Inkpen has been Registrar of the College of Physicians and
Surgeons of Newfoundland and Labrador since September 2014. She has been
a practising physician since 1974. She has served as member and chair of
numerous commissions, committees, and inquiries at both the provincial and
federal levels in science, technology, medicine, education, and business.
Dr. Inkpen has been the recipient of many awards and honours, most notably the
Order of Canada and honourary degrees from Mount Saint Vincent University
and Memorial University.
Dr. Trevor Theman is the immediate Past President (2014-2015) of the
Federation of Medical Regulatory Authorities of Canada and is the Registrar of the
College of Physicians & Surgeons of Alberta. Trevor received his MD from the
University of Alberta in 1974. He completed his internship in Victoria, BC, and
trained in general surgery at the Royal Victoria Hospital in Montreal and the
University of Alberta, before setting up a general surgery practice in Edmonton.
While still in practice, Trevor was elected to the Council of the College of
Physicians & Surgeons of Alberta and served two terms as Council President prior
to accepting a position as an assistant registrar for the College’s complaints
department. This position sensitized Trevor to the systems of care in which physicians and other
healthcare workers practice, and led to his interest in patient safety. Trevor assumed the position of
Registrar in 2005, and continues to be very interested in the role healthcare professionals can play in
creating a culture of safety.
Trevor is a keen advocate of quality and measurement in medical practice, and believes that the future of
medical regulation is the use of databases to proactively monitor processes and outcomes around quality
patient care.
Speaker/Panelists Profiles
Dr. Hakique Virani is a Royal College specialist in Public Health and Preventive
Medicine and a Diplomate of the American Board of Addiction Medicine. Both his
public health and clinical work has been focused on special populations, including
aboriginal communities, marginalized inner city patients, and incarcerated
individuals. He was recognized for his leadership in managing the 2009 influenza
pandemic emergency response across Alberta’s First Nations reserves, and also
championed the first naloxone distribution program on reserve in Canada in
response to the opioid crisis in Southern Alberta in 2015, which was the impetus for
a province-wide program.
Dr. Virani served as a member of Alberta’s Coalition on Prescription Drug Misuse from its inception, and
remains involved with the CPSA in physician education on opioid use disorder, and the development of
Standards and Guidelines for opioid dependency treatment. He is currently a Clinical Assistant Professor
at the University of Alberta Faculty of Medicine and Medical Director of Metro City Medical Clinic.
Hakique is a vocal advocate for public health, and has written in the Huffington Post, the Calgary Herald,
and Globe and Mail. Prior to a career in medicine, Hakique worked briefly as a TV news reporter, as well
as with the Calgary Police Service in cultural education. For his work in public health, addiction medicine,
and global development, Avenue Magazine named Hakique one of Alberta’s Top 40 Under 40.
Ms. Susan Pierce is a graduate of Dalhousie University with a degree in
Pharmacy.
She has worked for many years in formulary; both in a hospital setting and in the
public drug plan setting.
She is currently employed as the Manager of the Pharmacy at the Non-Insured
Health Benefits Program, which is part of the First Nations and Inuit Health Branch of
Health Canada.
Detective Collin Harris has been a member of the Calgary Police Service for
close to 27 years, serving as a front line emergency responder and supervisor, but
has spent the majority of his career working in the covert field specializing in
undercover drug trafficking investigations as well as supervising Major Crimes
Undercover Operations.
In 2008 he came back to the Drug Unit where he acts a court sworn expert in the
field of drug trafficking and is routinely called to provide evidence in possession for
the purpose of trafficking offenses on all drug related matters.
Det. Harris works alongside many other service providers such as AHS, and other community support
agencies dealing with individuals affected by drug addiction. He has sat as a representative on the
Coalition on Prescription Drug Misuse and has presented to the House of Commons Subcommittee
regarding the harms associated to prescription drug misuse.
Speaker/Panelists Profiles
Ms. Amy Graves founded the non-profit advocacy group Get Prescription Drugs off
the Street Society (GPDOTS) in 2011 after she lost her brother Josh to an accidental
hydromorphone overdose.
As president of GPDOTS Amy has brought together stakeholders across Nova Scotia
and hosted numerous community meetings on the topic of opioid use in collaboration
with the Nova Scotia Minister of Health, Leo Glavine.
Amy has advocated to improve government’s response to the opioid crisis in the fields
of: education, public health, and enforcement.
Dr. Peter MacDougall is a Professor in the Department of Anesthesia, Pain
Management and Peri-Operative Medicine at Dalhousie University. He is a staff
anesthesiologist at Capital Health and cross appointed to the Department of
Computer Science (Health Informatics).
He entered this position with a broad background in science and medicine. After
completion of a PhD in Microbiology and Infectious Diseases at the University of
Calgary in 1990 he obtained his MD from McMaster University in 1993. He
completed a Family Medicine residency in Hamilton, and one year training as a
Family Practice anesthesiologist at the University of Toronto. He practiced Family Medicine and
Anesthesia in rural Ontario and Nova Scotia until 2002.
He completed an FRCPC Anesthesia residency program at Dalhousie in 2005. This was followed by a
combined fellowship in Thoracic Anesthesia and Chronic Pain at the University of Toronto in 2005/06.
His current clinical practice includes anesthesia and chronic pain management at the QEII Health
Sciences Centre in Halifax. He has research interests in development of networks between community
physicians and specialists and understanding the risks and benefits of prescribing controlled substances.
He is founder and director of the Atlantic Mentorship Network – Pain and Addiction. He is a codeveloper of The Prescribing Course: Safe Opioid Prescribing for Chronic Non-Cancer Pain.
In his spare time he can be found at hockey rinks, football fields or dance competitions cheering for
his two children.
Speaker/Panelists Profiles
Ms. Hilary Geller is the Assistant Deputy Minister - Healthy Environments and
Consumer Safety Branch (HECS) Ms. Geller joined Health Canada in 2007, as the
Director of Strategic Policy in the Policy, Planning and Integration Directorate (PPID)
of the Healthy Environments and Consumer Safety Branch (HECSB) of Health
Canada, and became the Director General of PPID in the same year. In May 2011,
Ms. Geller was appointed Assistant Deputy Minister of HECSB.
The Healthy Environments and Consumer Safety Branch, comprising 6 directorates,
works under 10 pieces of legislation to assess, manage and regulate a diverse range
of issues in the areas of tobacco, controlled drugs and substances, environmental
contaminants, consumer products, radiation and workplace chemicals. Ms. Geller has a Bachelor of
Commerce from the University of Toronto, and a Master in Business Administration from York University.
Dr. Norm Buckley is a faculty member since 1988, Dr. Norm Buckley is currently
Professor and Chair of the Department of Anesthesia, Michael G. DeGroote School of
Medicine, McMaster University, in Hamilton. Dr. Buckley’s interests are pain, both
acute and chronic. He led the development and organization of the acute postoperative pain service for adult and pediatric patients, the pediatric sedation services,
and was the Director of the Pain Management Centre at the Hamilton General
Hospital from its opening in 2000 until 2014.
His clinical practice focuses on chronic pain management at the DeGroote Pain Clinic
at McMaster University Medical Centre. Within the Michael G. DeGroote Pain Institute,
Dr. Buckley established the Michael G. DeGroote National Pain Centre, and is Scientific Director of the
Michael G. DeGroote Institute for Pain Research and Care. The mission of the Institute is to improve the
management of pain through dissemination of best practice information; use persistent post-surgical pain
to explore chronic pain, and provide unique learning opportunities. Prior to his appointment as Chair, Dr.
Buckley also held hospital administrative positions as Operating Room Director, Chief of Anesthesia
(Chedoke McMaster) and Deputy Chief (Hamilton Health Sciences Corporation). Dr. Buckley’s third term
as Chair of the Department of Anesthesia began July 2014.
Dr. Beth Sproule is a Clinician Scientist jointly at the Centre for Addiction and
Mental Health (CAMH) and the Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Toronto
(Associate Professor). She received her Doctor of Pharmacy degree from Wayne
State University, Detroit, USA and her BScPhm degree from the Faculty of Pharmacy,
University of Toronto.
Dr. Sproule completed a clinical residency and a post-doctoral research fellowship at
the Addiction Research Foundation (now part of CAMH). Her clinical research
program focuses on addictions, prescription drug abuse, mental health medications
and pharmacy practice.
Speaker/Panelists Profiles
Dr. Rocco Gerace was appointed Registrar of the College of Physicians and
Surgeons of Ontario in May 2002. Dr. Gerace graduated in medicine from the
University of Western Ontario in 1972, and he is a fellow of the Royal College of
Physicians and Surgeons of Canada in Emergency Medicine.
Prior to his appointment as Registrar, Dr. Gerace was an attending staff physician in
the Department of Emergency Medicine at the London Health Sciences Centre and
a member of the faculty of Medicine at the University of Western Ontario.
Dr. Karen Shaw practiced general medicine for a number of years in private
practice and at the Student Health Clinic on the campus of the University of
Saskatchewan.
She was introduced into the world of medical regulation when she was elected as
Councilor of the College of Physicians and Surgeons in 1994, was re-elected in 1996
and resigned after her term as President in 1999. Dr. Shaw has worked for the
College of Physicians and Surgeons of Saskatchewan in a contract position working
within the complaints process for several years, before being named the Deputy
Registrar in 2001. She held that position until she became Registrar on July 1, 2011.
In addition to being involved in the regulation of Medicine at the provincial level Dr. Shaw has been
involved at the national level in the work of the Federation of Medical Licensing Authorities of Canada
(FMLAC) as member-at-large, President elect as President (2002), and presently as Director of the
Federation of Medical Regulatory Authorities of Canada (formerly known as FMLAC). She currently
serves as the Executive of the Medical Counsel of Canada as President. Dr. Shaw is a member of the
steering committee of National Assessment Collaboration Practice Ready Assessment project for foreign
trained family physicians, internists and psychiatrists.
Dr. Shaw has an interest in physician health issues, and quality improvements practices as they relate to
maintaining competency throughout a physician’s career.
Dr. Karen Mazurek received her MD from the University of Alberta in 1985 and
her certification in family medicine in 1987. She practiced as a family physician for
16 years before joining the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Alberta as a full
time assistant registrar in 2003.
Since 2003 she has been responsible for various functions including registration,
complaints, finance, human resources and information technology. She currently
serves as the deputy registrar and oversees the College's competence programs
including the Physician Achievement Review (PAR) program.
Speaker/Panelists Profiles
Dr. Heidi M. Oetter joined the College of Physicians and Surgeons of BC as a
deputy registrar in May 2004 and was responsible for many portfolios including ethics,
quality assurance and peer review, and the prescription review and methadone
programs.
In 2008, she was appointed to the position of registrar and CEO where she is
accountable for ensuring compliance with statutory obligations, implementing and
monitoring the policies and strategic direction set forth by the Board, and managing
the daily operations and administration. In 2009, she transitioned the College to the
Health Professions Act.
Dr. Oetter has been recognized for her accomplishments as a medical leader provincially and nationally.
In addition to past leadership positions on the Board of the British Columbia Medical Association (now
Doctors of BC) and the Canadian Medical Protective Association Council, she currently sits as a member
of the Board of Directors of the Federation of Medical Regulatory Authorities of Canada, member of the
Executive Board of the Medical Council of Canada, and member of the Executive Committee of the BC
Health Regulators Society.
For 18 years prior to joining the College, Dr. Oetter worked as a family physician in Coquitlam, BC. She
obtained her medical degree from UBC in 1985.
Dr Yves Robert graduated in medicine at the Université de Montréal in 1979. He
obtained a masters’ degree in biomedical sciences (clinical epidemiology) in 1998
from the same university.
For 21 years (1982-2003), he worked in the field of public health in executive, as well
as expert, functions in the Department of Community Health at l’Hôpital Saint-Luc in
Montréal, at the Direction of Public Health of the Laurentides region, north of
Montréal, at the Québec Public Health Laboratory, and finally, at the Public Health
Protection branch of the Ministry of Health and Social Services of Québec.
Since 1986, he has taught at the Department of Social and Preventive Medicine of the Faculty of
Medicine of l’Université de Montréal. He developed a master class in Public Health Crisis Management
that he gave for 12 years.
He chaired and was a member of several committees and working groups in infectious diseases, both at
the provincial level (Québec immunization committee, tuberculosis, influenza, pneumococci,
meningococci, vaccine safety, varicella) and at the federal level (National advisory committee on
immunization, tuberculosis, pandemic influenza).
Since 2003, he joined the executive team of the Collège des médecins du Québec, first as deputy
secretary and, since 2005, as secretary of the Order. He is a past president and current Director of the
Federation of Medical Regulatory Authorities of Canada (FMRAC).
Speaker/Panelists Profiles
Mr. Bryan Salte has been the Associate Registrar and Legal Counsel for the
College of Physicians and Surgeons of Saskatchewan since 1999.
His primary responsibilities include general counsel work for the College of
Physicians and Surgeons, preparing and presenting discipline cases to the discipline
committee of the College of Physicians and Surgeons, drafting bylaws for
consideration by the Council of the College of Physicians and Surgeons and
representing the College of Physicians and Surgeons in court matters.
He received his B.Ed. in 1975 and LL.B. 1978 both from the University of
Saskatchewan. He was a sessional lecturer in Administrative Law at the Law School, University of
Saskatchewan for the year 2003 and as sessional lecturer in Law and Ethics M.B.A. program in Health
Administration for the years 2004, 2005, 2006 and 2008. He was appointed a Queen’s Counsel in 2009.
His publications include the book The Law of Professional Regulation and a number of articles and
papers on administrative law, especially in relation to professional discipline, the impact of The Canadian
Charter of Rights and Freedoms on administrative tribunals and medico-legal issues.
Before joining the College, Bryan practiced with Robertson Stromberg and its predecessor firms from
1979 to 1999.
Dr. Alain Naud is a family physician who has been involved in palliative care for 30
years and is a fellow of the College of Family Physicians of Canada.
Dr. Naud is past president and current vice president of the Council of Physicians,
Dentists and Pharmacists (CPDP) at University Hospital Centre, CHU de Québec –
Université Laval. He is also a full clinical professor at Laval University, Québec City,
and a full time teacher in family medicine in the Family Medicine Unit at Hôpital
Saint-François d’Assise, Québec City.
Andréa Foti is Manager of the Policy Department at the College of Physicians and
Surgeons of Ontario. She oversees the development and review of all formal
policies of the CPSO, along with formal CPSO positions on a range of issues in the
health regulatory landscape.
She holds a law degree from Dalhousie University where she earned a
specialization in health law and policy from Dalhousie’s Health Law Institute. She
also holds a master’s degree in Medical Ethics and Law from King’s College,
University of London, UK and is a member in good standing with the Law Society of
Upper Canada.