Meet the Social Accountability Lead

Welcome to the Social Accountability Unit webpage!  We are thrilled that you have found this site. Please join us on our journey to weave social accountability into everything that we do at the Faculty of Medicine & Dentistry.

In 1995, the World Health Organization called upon medical schools to:

“direct their education, research and service activities towards addressing the priority health concerns of the community, region and/or nation they have a mandate to serve. The priority health concerns are to be identified jointly by governments, healthcare organizations, health professionals, and the public.” 

Boelen, C., & Heck, J. E. (1995). Defining and measuring the social accountability of medical school. Retrieved April 2022, from World Health Organization: https://apps.who.int/iris/handle/10665/59441

It is only by working directly with communities and listening to community members that we can understand how we can best serve as health care professionals. Working together to address the most pressing health concerns of our patients can lead to transformative change and impact health at the population level.

First as an emergency physician, and then as an addiction medicine physician. I have seen the impact on people when we ignore the social determinants of health or implement programs and services that don’t meet the needs of the community. I have also seen entire hospitals change and redefine the standard of care when we sit down together with patients and community representatives to understand their priorities and vision.

As the Social Accountability Lead for the Faculty of Medicine & Dentistry, my goal is to work with a variety of different community members and groups to understand how we can achieve more equitable health outcomes. This will involve listening to understand priority health concerns, bringing different perspectives to decision making tables, and critically examining how our education, research and service activities need to be changed to have greater impact.

As part of being accountable, we commit to sharing our progress with you on this webpage. Some things we may be doing well, others will need considerable improvement. Changing large complex systems can be difficult - it will require all of us working together to reimagine a healthier future. I hope you will join us on this journey.