Guest Speaker: Dr. Najma Ahmed, Friday, January 31, 2020
Location: The Albany Club, 91 King Street East
Topic: Doctors as Health Advocates - Politics
and Challenges of Gun control and Advocacy
Host: Michele Guy
Dr. Ahmed completed Medical School and General Surgery Residency at McGill University. She holds a PhD in Surgical Infections and Sepsis which was completed during her surgical residency. Following her residency she pursued fellowship training in Trauma Surgery and Critical Care at the University of Michigan and the University of Toronto.
Najma was recruited to St. Michael’s Hospital in the Division of General Surgery in 2001. Her clinical focus and practice is in Acute Care Surgery, Trauma and Critical Care. She has been committed to clinical training processes and outcomes since the beginning of her career. From 2008 until 2018, Najma was the Residency Program Director for General Surgery, responsible for the largest and arguably most complex surgical training program in North America. Under her leadership the program became recognized as a highly functional, cohesive program focused on providing excellent learning opportunities for all learners.
Najma holds the positions of Vice Chair of education, Department of Surgery at U of T and Professor of Surgery. In this role, she provides visionary leadership for training success for medical students, residents and fellows, as well as career success of surgeon-teachers within the Department of Surgery. Her contributions to post graduate surgical education have been recognized by numerous awards, including the prestigious Royal College AMS/Donald Richards Wilson Award in 2016.
Her current scholarly activities relate to Resident duty hours, Resident wellness and the application of a competency based framework to surgical training. Recently she has become an advocate for safer gun legislation in Canada. Dr. Ahmed’s daughter Izza is 14 years of age and attends Branksome Hall School.
She is a member of the Executive Team of Canadian Doctors for Protection from Guns (CDPG) which is a grassroots organization concerned about the increasing public health impact of firearms. The goal of this organization to make communities safer by reducing or eliminating access to handgun and assault weapons.