Health Equity Community of Practice for Ontario Family Physicians

About this Community of Practice

The Health Equity Community of Practice (CoP) is offered four to six times per year to enhance the ability of family physicians to provide high-quality care to patients facing marginalization and adverse social determinants of health, such as refugee newcomers, people living in poverty and people experiencing homelessness.

Content focuses on practical strategies that primary care providers can implement to advance trauma-informed, quality care responsive to patient needs. Sessions are designed to be highly interactive and create a space to learn from others providing care to marginalized populations.

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Meet our Program Advisors

Dr. Doug Gruner

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Dr. Doug Gruner completed both his undergraduate studies and medical school at McMaster University in Hamilton and selected McGill University for his residency program. Additionally, in 2008, he became a fellow of the College of Family Physicians of Canada. With more than 25 years of clinical work to his credit, Dr. Gruner began his career as an emergency room physician and lent his services to several communities in Northern Ontario, prior to permanently setting roots in the Ottawa area. In Eastern Ontario, he has continued to work in emergency medicine and has split his time with family medicine and teaching at the University of Ottawa. Dr. Gruner has published nearly a dozen research papers, contributed to a number of textbooks, made regular conference presentations and been the recipient of tens of thousands of dollars in grants while dedicating significant time to important international health work. Over the course of his career, Dr. Gruner has given back to his community through leadership and advocacy efforts, largely dedicated to ensuring the health of newcomers and refugees, including his three-year term as Director of Global Health at the University of Ottawa. Today, Dr. Gruner continues in his academic post as an Associate Professor in the University of Ottawa’s Department of Family Medicine while seeing patients at his practice at Bruyère Family Medicine Centre in Ottawa.

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Dr. Vanessa Redditt

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Dr. Vanessa Redditt is a family physician at the Crossroads Refugee Clinic, a specialized primary care clinic for refugees at Women’s College Hospital, and a lecturer at the University of Toronto’s Department of Community and Family Medicine and Dalla Lana School of Public Health. She is passionate about advancing health equity and tackling social determinants of health. Vanessa’s clinical care, research, teaching and advocacy focus on enhancing the health of marginalized communities, particularly refugee newcomers and migrants. She has also contributed to education, policy, and programmatic work on primary care systems strengthening — from local community health worker programs to health worker training in Rwanda with the Ministry of Health and Partners in Health. Dr. Redditt completed her undergraduate education at McGill University, her medical studies at Harvard Medical School and her family medicine residency and Global Health and Vulnerable Populations fellowship training at the University of Toronto.

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Dr. Ritika Goel

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Dr. Ritika Goel is a family physician and Assistant Professor in the Department of Family and Community Medicine at University of Toronto based at the St. Michael’s Hospital Family Health Team. Dr. Goel’s clinical work focuses on serving various marginalized communities, including unhoused people, people who use drugs, refugees and uninsured migrants, as well as trans and non-binary folks. She has worked in a variety of settings including community health centres, shelters and drop-in centres. Dr. Goel has been engaged in health-related activism, speaking and writing on issues at the intersection of health and social justice throughout her career. She has served as the Social Justice, Anti-Oppression and Advocacy Theme Lead for the MD program and PGME at University of Toronto, and the Chair of the Social Accountability Working Group at the College of Family Physicians of Canada. She currently serves at the Health Equity Lead for St. Michael’s Hospital Family Health Team. Dr. Goel is passionate about bringing lenses of anti-oppression and social justice into medicine, including medical education, clinical care and systemic change.

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Dr. Sarah Funnell

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Our Partners

The Ontario College of Family Physicians has partnered with the Department of Family and Community Medicine to deliver this community of practice.

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This Community of Practice has been certified by the College of Family Physicians of Canada and the Ontario Chapter for Mainpro+Ⓡcredits.

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