Michael Anderson

MD, MSc, FRCSC

Dr. Michael Anderson is part of the urban Indigenous community in Tkaronto/Toronto. He is Mohawk (Bear Clan) and mixed European with family roots in Tyendinaga Mohawk Territory. He practices surgical oncology and palliative care medicine and is the Strategic Lead for Indigenous Health at the University Health Network. He previously served as an Indigenous Cancer Lead and a Surgical Oncology Lead at Cancer Care Ontario. At the Waakebiness Institute for Indigenous Health in the Dalla Lana School of Public Health (U of T), he is a PhD candidate and senior researcher with interests in Indigenous epistemologies, Indigenous approaches to implementation science, ethical Indigenous community-healthcare research partnerships, and Indigenous conceptualizations of death and dying. Dr. Anderson obtained his medical degree from Queen’s University and pursued a Master of Science in medical sciences at the University of Toronto. He is certified by the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada in both the clinician investigator program and FRCSC, and is an ICHA physician, presently working as part of the Indigenous Health Program team and the UHN Stabilization Centre

Sophie Soklaridis

PhD

Dr. Sophie Soklaridis is a Senior Scientist and Scientific Director at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH). She is the inaugural Research Chair of Recovery and Equity-Focused Mental Health Education Research. She is an Associate Professor at the Department of Psychiatry and Department of Family & Community Medicine at the Temerty Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto, and the Vice-Chair of Mental Health Equity and EDIIA at the Department of Psychiatry. She is a Scientist at Wilson Centre for Research in Education as well as the Canadian Lead and a core faculty member for the Master of Health Sciences Education in Ethiopia through the Toronto Addis Ababa Academic Collaboration (TAAAC). Her research takes a critical sociological approach on the issues of power, identity and relationships. Her scholarly foci include patient/clients as partners in research and mental health education and the influence of power and privilege on academic medicine. She is a widely published and well-funded scientist who has received multiple awards for her research.

Gemma Woticky

PhD candidate

University of Toronto

Gemma Woticky is a PhD candidate in the Social & Behavioural Health Sciences Division at the University of Toronto’s Dalla Lana School of Public Health, and a recipient in 2020 of a three-year Frederick Banting and Charles Best Graduate Scholarship from Canadian Institutes for Health Research. She holds a master’s of public health (MPH) and has experience working in community organizations that support people with disabilities. Her current research interests are chronic disability and workplace accommodation, meaningful employment and its impact on health outcomes. She is using mixed methods research to explore the lived experiences of employees with a disability and their co-workers for a better understanding of communication and behavioral strategies related to disability support and accommodation in the workplace.