VPSA works to achieve its goals through committees and task groups that represent issues of concern to members. We are grateful to all the members who take part in these groups. We recently recruited six new members to our Community Building & Wellness, Engaging Physicians in Indigenous Cultural (EPIC) Safety, and Substance Use Disorder Patient and Provider Experience task groups.
Community Building & Wellness Task Group
Drs. Seyedmahyar (Mahyar) Mohammadi and Carolina Vidal are the newest member of this committee. They join Drs. Anna Borowska, Fahreen Dossa, Asim Iqbal, Junella Lee, Lesley Wood, and Hanieh Zargham in building our VPSA community both via networking events and through a focus on wellness and resiliency-building activities that are of interest to members.
Family physician Dr. Mohammadi had been looking for an opportunity to get involved with physician wellness.
“I have worked in wide variety of clinical settings (emergency, hospitalist, rural and urban out-patient care), which has given me a broader view of the challenges and concerns physicians face in different settings,” he said. “I hope to contribute to medical staff wellness with my input and ideas, and I look forward to collaborating with other members of committee and our stakeholders.”
Dr. Carolina Vidal
Dr. Vidal is a psychiatrist with a strong clinical interest and passion for physicians’ mental and physical health. She has been the Psychiatry Department’s wellness champion and has also been part of the VCH Medical Staff Equity, Diversity & Inclusion Steering Committee.
“I provide a lens as a female IBPOC physician, first-generation refugee from El Salvador, and an international medical graduate who is the only psychiatrist in Canada from my country,” she said. “I also have a masters in Epidemiology and a PhD in Global Mental Health from UBC that allows me to see where we are in the big picture and how is it extremely important to stay healthy for as long as we can through wellness knowledge and practices that encompass spirituality and neuroscience.”
Engaging Physicians in Indigenous Cultural Safety Task Group
This group’s purpose is to engage medical staff in the co-creation of education resources and learning opportunities around Indigenous cultural safety principles and how these can be effectively implemented. Dr. Derek Chang and Nurse Practitioner Candy Gubbels recently joined Drs. Susan Burgess, Stefan Finke, Kendall Ho, Junella Lee, and Jay Slater in working towards this goal.
Dr. Derek Chang
As an addiction and family physician, Dr. Chang has worked with many Indigenous patients, including in the Downtown Eastside and in remote communities in the North.
“These experiences have motivated me to educate myself about Indigenous cultural safety and I’ve attended several iCON-VCH Indigenous Health Rounds, as well as other training,” he said. “I also recently completed a Master of Health Professions Education, where I acquired knowledge and skills in pedagogy and learning theories. I hope my educational expertise will be an asset to the committee in developing effective and impactful educational rounds and trainings.”
Nurse Practitioner Candy Gubbels
Ms. Gubbels is a nurse practitioner specializing in wounds, ostomy, and continence in VCH’s long-term care homes. She is also a proud Métis Citizen who grew up disconnected from her culture.
“Like many Indigenous people impacted by colonization and assimilation policies, I have lived the experience of cultural loss—of having to rediscover my identity as an adult rather than being raised within it,” she said. “This lived experience gives me a unique and personal perspective on cultural safety. I understand the deep emotional and psychological impacts of being told that ‘you can just go to a museum to learn your culture,’ as was once said to me. That interaction highlighted how easily cultural safety can be unintentionally undermined, even by those who mean well. As someone navigating both professional and personal journeys of reconnection, I can offer insight into what meaningful cultural safety looks like—not just in policy or education, but in everyday clinical practice and human connection. I hope to contribute my voice to this important work, helping others understand the nuance and responsibility of creating spaces where all Indigenous people, including those still reconnecting, feel respected, seen, and safe.”
Substance Use Disorder Patient and Provider Experience Task Group
This committee’s objective is to help empower and support Vancouver Acute and Vancouver Community staff to provide the best possible environment for care for patients with substance use disorder. Its newest members are Drs. Vineet Singh and Christy Sutherland who join Drs. Adam Chodkiewic, Jeffrey Freeman, Diane Fredrikson, Jan Hajek, and Syma Khan in working towards achieving the task group’s goals.
Dr. Vineet Singh
Dr. Singh is a psychiatrist who works at a busy in-patient concurrent disorder unit in the Segal building at VGH.
“Working with the multidisciplinary team, I actively collaborate with a number of stakeholders both in hospital and in the community,” he said. “My responsibilities are in VGH’s tertiary care unit where patients suffer from complex mental health and addictions that require prolonged stability. I am passionate about the patient experience and regularly collect real-time patient feedback from patients admitted to our concurrent disorder inpatient unit.”
Dr. Christy Sutherland
Dr. Sutherland is a family doctor who holds the CFPC additional competency in addiction medicine. She is also a diplomat of the American Board of Addiction Medicine.
“I’ve worked in Vancouver’s Downtown East Side since 2010 providing care to Canada’s most vulnerable population,” she said. “As medical director of the PHS Community Services Society, I lead a team of physicians and nurses who are embedded in low-barrier, harm-reduction projects. I love working on a team with a goal to elevate the standards of care as well as the competency and comfort of clinicians in providing care for this population.”