Our RPC Members

Dr. Groot was born and raised in Sault Ste. Marie on the territory of Garden River and Batchewana First Nations. She completed medical school at McMaster University, residency in Public Health and Preventive Medicine at Queen’s University, and a Masters in Public Health at the University of Toronto. She is currently completing a DPhil at the University of Oxford. She lives with her family in Sudbury, where serves as the medical director of Réseau ACCESS Network’s Treatment and Prevention (TAP) Clinic and an associate professor at NOSM University. She also teaches at the University of Global Health Equity in Butaro, Rwanda. She has previously worked as an associate medical officer of health with both Thunder Bay District Health Unit and Niagara Region, as well as the Regional Supervising Coroner for Northeastern Ontario.  Her medical education interests include competency-based public health training and social accountability in medicine. Her clinical interests include harm reduction and communicable disease control with a focus on syndemics, especially in northern, rural, and remote communities. In her spare time, Dr. Groot enjoys hiking, reading and watching sci-fi, and creative writing.

Dr. Reed Morrison is Associate Program Director of the Public Health and Preventive Medicine program and a Public Health Physician at Public Health Ontario. He is a graduate of NOSM’s MD program and completed a residency in Public Health and Preventive Medicine at the University of Ottawa.

Ms. Richard has been in the role of Program Coordinator with the NOSM U PHPM and Family Medicine-Emergency Medicine (FM-EM) programs since 2018. She enjoys working with the engaged teaching faculty, getting to know all the wonderful residents who come through the program each year, and improving the program through her passion for continuous quality improvement and organization. Ms. Richard enjoys checking out the beautiful scenery and great local restaurants in both Sudbury and Thunder Bay through her work travels. She keeps busy after hours and on weekends chauffeuring her kids to hockey and gymnastics and binge-watching excellent TV shows with her husband.

For the past two decades, Mr. Sacha Dubois has taught learners the foundations of research and biostatistics at NOSM, Lakehead, and Queen’s Universities. He holds an MPH from Lakehead University. As the PHPM Research Tutor, Sacha supports scholarly activities by providing methodological, statistical, and dissemination guidance and support. For most of his career, Sacha was a Research Statistician with the Centre for Applied Health Research, St. Joseph’s Care Group (2006-2023). As a Research Statistician, Sacha applied specialized knowledge of both research methodology and advanced statistical principles to research, evaluation, and educational initiatives. Broadly speaking, Sacha’s research falls into two main areas: Injury Prevention and Reduction; and Wellness and Mental Health. His research has included such topics as road safety, immunization and infection control, and efficacy and adverse events of drug therapies. Sacha has also collaborated on research projects that consider novel approaches to address depression and anxiety along with identifying, destigmatizing, and addressing mental health care needs. A life-long learner, Sacha is currently pursuing a PhD in Educational Studies at Lakehead University, with a focus on learner anxiety and its transformative opportunities. Please see his Google Scholar’s Profile for a list of his current publications.

Mrs. Christina Laverdière has lived in Sudbury, Ontario for most of her life. Professionally, she has been with NOSM University since 2007, finding her way to Postgraduate Medical Education in 2011 and growing her passion for education ever since. As a result of that passion, she completed a Master of Education through Lakehead University in Thunder Bay, pursuing higher education with a focus on developing expertise in both educational theory and practical application. Christina is committed to supporting faculty, residents, and coordinators with building and running exceptional education programs. Outside of work, she enjoys spending time with friends and family, walking her dogs in the woods, playing games, and fishing.

Dr. Colin Q-T Lee is a graduate of the University of Toronto, McGill University and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine in England. He is a Royal College certified public health and preventive medicine specialist who has been with the Simco Muskoka District Health Unit since 2003. He is currently an Associate Medical Officer of Health whose primary responsibilities are in the Clinical Service Programs, including communicable disease control, vaccine-preventable diseases and sexual health. He is an assistant professor at the University of Toronto Dalla Lana School of Public Health. He had the opportunity to serve part-time at Public Health Ontario as a public health physician in communicable disease control from 2009 to 2013. He is also a certified emergency medicine physician who practiced at the Royal Victoria Hospital in Barrie from 2003 to 2008. He continues to work part-time at an urgent care clinic. This dual career in public health and clinical medicine provides invaluable opportunities to strengthen links between local doctors and the health unit, and to enhance clinical protocols that impact on public health.

He has a long-standing interest in infectious diseases and is Past Chair of the Provincial Infectious Diseases Advisory Committee (PIDAC) on Communicable Disease, which advises the Chief Medical Officer of Health of Ontario on infectious disease issues. His interest in public health extends beyond Simcoe Muskoka borders, as he has previously provided public health consultancies in malaria, HIV/AIDS and public health policy to developing countries.

Dr. Jennifer Loo is a public health and preventive medicine specialist who is currently based in Sault Ste. Marie as the Medical Officer of Health & CEO at Algoma Public Health (APH) – a local public health unit serving 113,000 people across 21 municipalities, on the traditional land of eight First Nation communities in northern Ontario.  Dr. Loo is an Assistant Professor with NOSM University’s Public Health and Preventive Medicine Program, and also holds Adjunct Lecturer status at the Dalla Lana School of Public Health at the University of Toronto, her alma mater.  She has a longstanding interest in environment and health, with a Masters of Science in Public Health – Environment & Health from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, and has published several peer-reviewed papers related to the built environment.  At APH, Dr. Loo enjoys championing workforce development, which includes offering learner opportunities that build core public health competencies and equip present and future generations of public health professionals to advance community health and health equity.

In March 2024, Dr. Mustafa Hirji (MD MPH FRCPC) started as the Acting Medical Officer of Health and Chief Executive Officer with Public Health Sudbury & Districts. Dr. Hirji received a Doctor of Medicine from the University of Calgary in 2010, a Master of Public Health (Epidemiology) from the University of Toronto) in 2013, and completed specialty training in Public Health and Preventive Medicine at McMaster University in 2015. Dr. Mustafa Hirji previously served as the Associate Medical Officer of Health for Niagara Region Public Health (between 2015 and 2024) including serving in an acting capacity as the Medical Officer of Health & Commissioner of Public Health & Emergency Services for Niagara Region (from 2018 to 2023). During his time in Niagara, Dr. Hirji led the region’s public health response to the COVID-19 pandemic. He worked with municipalities to embed health impact assessments into their budget decisions, strengthened healthy public policies around smoking and vaping, improved the organization’s capacity to address social determinants of health through developing and implementing a health equity strategic plan, and enhanced the agency’s communications and data analytics capabilities. Dr. Hirji also led an effort to refocus health promotion work to maximize its impact. On the education front, Dr. Hirji regularly gives lectures to public health trainees around the province, and has been a frequent contributor to public health & preventive medicine resident training through academic half-days, rotation supervision, and exam preparation.

Dr. John Tuinema grew up in Northern Ontario in the District of Timiskaming. While working as a paramedic in Greater Sudbury and Algoma, he completed a Bachelor of Arts in social sciences at Laurentian University. Through his studies and paramedic practice, he developed a keen interest in the preventive side of health, particularly at the population level. Wanting to further his knowledge and skills in this area, he later enrolled in the MD program at the Northern Ontario School of Medicine. He then continued his training in the North by completing residency in Public Health and Preventive Medicine at NOSM.

Dr. Tuinema is the Associate Medical Officer of Health for Algoma Public Health and is currently serving as the Acting Medical Officer of Health / CEO. He has also held a number of positions within the organization including Director of Health Protection and the Foundations and Strategic Support Team Lead.

Dr. Kasunka Kankanam Gamage is originally from Sri Lanka and obtained her medical degree from the University of Ruhuna. She also completed a Master’s in Community Health at the University of Toronto. Her experiences of growing up in a village and working in various healthcare settings have inspired her to address social determinants of health and promote health equity. She is particularly interested in mental health and addictions, sexual and reproductive health, rural health services and health policy. Outside of medicine, she enjoys baking, cooking, hiking, and travelling.

Dr. Liane Macdonald is a public health physician in Health Protection at Public Health Ontario (PHO), where she supports communicable disease work including provincial surveillance of invasive Group A streptococcal disease and tuberculosis, as well as medical education. Dr. Macdonald completed her MD at McMaster University, an MSc in Public Health at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, and Public Health and Preventive Medicine residency training at McMaster and the University of Toronto. She is the PHO site representative on the NOSM University Public Health and Preventive Medicine Residency Program Committee, and is an Assistant Professor (Status Only) at the Dalla Lana School of Public Health at the University of Toronto, and a member of the five Ontario universities’ Public Health and Preventive Medicine residency program committees.

Dr. Lyall Pacey is the PHPM program’s chief resident for the 2024-2025 academic year. He grew up in Yorkton, Saskatchewan, worked for several years as a pediatric speech-language pathologist in rural and regional settings, and subsequently completed medical school in Saskatoon. His range of experiences affirmed the importance of community-based care and helping others at a population level, and this drove his interest in both FM and PHPM at NOSM U. He completed his training as a family physician in 2024 and is currently completing his MPH at Brock University; meanwhile he is doing his best to become a trail runner while he lives in Thunder Bay.

Ms. Marie Parkkari is the Education Manger for the Family Medicine, Family Medicine Enhanced Skills, and Public Health and Preventive Medicine residency programs. Marie has been a valuable member of the PGME team since 2011 in the role of PGME Coordinator supporting Family Medicine and PGY3 Enhanced Skills residency programs. Marie has been instrumental in program accreditation preparation, implementation of the Triple C Competency-Based Curriculum, and supporting NOSM University’s Family Medicine Outcomes of Training project through the CFPC.  Marie is the current Chair of the Executive Committee for the Family Medicine Network of Educational Administrators (FMNEA), collaborating with national PG Offices and colleagues. She holds a master’s degree in Experimental Psychology from Lakehead University and has completed Project Management Certification through the University of California, Irvine.