VMDAS and VPSA Board Members

Dr. Meneghetti is an Associate Division Head of General Surgery and an Assistant Program Director for the General Surgery Residency Program. He has held several leadership positions at VCH that have helped foster a relationship with health authority leadership as well as positions responsible for promoting physician leadership. Strengthening community and promoting physician involvement in the community have been important priorities in his career.

Dr. Fahreen Dossa currently serves as cochair of both the VA/C Physician Wellness Steering Committee as well as the VCH DEI Meaningful Metrics Working Group. She has a longstanding passion for physician wellness, and her residency research project on physician wellbeing won a top award. She cares deeply about social justice and EDI, and she sits on a number of EDI task groups. She was recently nominated for and received the Larry Collins Award for Committee Service.  

Dr. Dossa completed her medical school at McMaster University in Ontario, and she subsequently trained in the UBC Rural Medicine Residency Program in British Columbia. She has worked in several communities in northern BC, northern Ontario, and the Northwest Territories. After obtaining a Diploma in Tropical Medicine and Hygiene at the Gorgas Course in Peru, she served overseas for a number of years with MSF and other iNGOs in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Liberia, Tanzania, and Nepal. She very much enjoys teaching and is a Clinical Assistant Professor at the Northern Ontario School of Medicine as well as at the University of British Columbia. 

Originally a Maritimer, Dr. Altas settled in Vancouver in 2002 for residency at UBC.  She is a gynaecologist and clinical associate professor at UBC in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology. She is the director of the BC Centre for Vulvar Health at VCH and a sexual medicine physician at BC Cancer.

Within the VPSA, she has served as co-chair of the Leadership Skills & Talent Management Working group and co-chair of the Physician Culture & Environment working group. She currently sits on the VPSA Projects Committee and the VCH Medical Staff Credentialing Committee.

Dr. Poonja is an emergency physician and dedicated advocate for medical staff engagement and well-being. She completed her residency at the University of Alberta and has been practicing at Vancouver General Hospital (VGH) and UBC Hospital since 2019. Dr. Poonja has a strong passion for physician wellness; as a result, she serves as co-chair of the VA/VC Wellness Steering Committee and is also an executive coach. Over the past five years, she has been actively involved in a number of Vancouver Physician Staff Association projects. As a member of the board, Dr. Poonja looks forward to serving the medical staff community by continuing to advocate for members through meaningful VPSA initiatives.

Dr. Ka Wai Cheung is a clinical associate professor of emergency medicine. She joined Vancouver Coastal Health in 2008, working now at Vancouver General Hospital and UBC Hospital. In 2010, she graduated with a Master of Public Health from Johns Hopkins University, and she has an interest in health education and quality improvement. Dr. Cheung believes that high-quality patient care can only occur with a supported professional environment built on strong and healthy relationships.

Over the last several years, she has been a member of the VPSA Engagement Projects Task Group and has developed a deeper appreciation of VPSA’s efforts to engage and empower professionals. She has also enjoyed working with Doctors of BC members to help develop provincial guidelines, and is a member of the newly created Doctors of BC section of emergency medicine’s equity, diversity and inclusion subcommittee.

In partnership with VCH, she had the opportunity to help produce a smoke-free premises policy video that was awarded a VCHA People First Award. Dr. Cheung has collaborated nationally and internationally with other researchers. She is thrilled to be part of the board and to learn from and serve the members.

Dr. Anna Borowska is a psychiatrist working at the Sleep Disorders Program at UBC Hospital.  Her first encounter with VGH was in the emergency department at the age of 12 when she fractured her tibia doing a flip on a trampoline. This was followed by being a “candy striper” at age 15, wheeling the book cart around the hospital at precariously fast speeds. After completing med school at UBC, she did a long stint as a community family physician before completing specialty training in psychiatry at UBC, where she is a clinical instructor.

Dr. Borowska has special interests in psychological well-being, personal growth, emotional intelligence, and social connectedness, which naturally lead to a passion for physician well-being.

When not at work, she likes to sing and swim with a mermaid tail. She has been a member of the VPSA Community Building and Wellness Task Group and the VA/VC Physician Wellness Steering Committee for the past few years.  She is thrilled to be a new member of the VPSA board.

To come.