Board of Directors

Dr. El-Hadi is a resident of University of British Columbia's Public Health and Preventative Medicine Residency Program. She strongly believes in the importance of educating and motivating people into taking notice of injustices and working as a team to improve the lives of those around us. One of the biggest reasons she pursued medicine as a career was because she wanted to be part of a collective that helps children and adults in Canada and globally have a fighting chance to be happy. She recognizes, that given the history and nature of anti-Black racism in Canada and around the world, eradication would be very difficult to achieve. Her hopes for this organization is to have the best interest of Black Canadians at heart and as a fundamental priority create changes to the current system where she can and provide safety nets where she can't. 

 Dr. Semalulu is a rheumatology fellow at McMaster University. Her ultimate goal is to become a clinician researcher. She completed her undergraduate studies at the University at Buffalo in Biomedical Sciences with a Minor in African-American Studies. She then finished her Master of Public Health in the Department of Community Health and Health Behaviour at the University at Buffalo. This is where she developed a passion for health disparities research, which she pursued while working at a Primary Care Research Institute. She subsequently completed her medical school training in Thunder Bay at the Northern Ontario School of Medicine. Teresa has an interest in reducing health disparities, improving the experience of minorities in medicine and global health. 

Dr. Tunde-Byass is a Fellow of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists of Canada and the UK. She obtained her medical degree from the University of Ibadan in 1987. She completed her OBGYN training in the UK and Canada. She received special interest training in Maternal and Fetal Medicine at King’s College, London. UK, and has been an active staff at NYGH since 2004. Dr. Tunde-Byass has held major administrative positions like Residency site coordinator and Interim Chief of OBGYN at NYGH. She is involved in key quality initiatives at the Local and Provincial levels. She was the Co-chair for the Quality Standard on Increasing access to Vaginal Birth After Cesarean section and an expert panel member for Early pregnancy complications and loss (Joint projects of PCMCH and HQO). She has received numerous teachings and innovation awards. She is involved in medical education. Her research interest is in Early pregnancy complications and Quality improvement and patient safety initiatives like decreasing CS rate by increasing access to trial of labour after Caesarean section. She has presented some of her research at international conferences and has publications in peer review journals.

Dr. Ndubuka currently works as a medical health officer with the Northern Inter-Tribal Health Authority, Prince Albert, Saskatchewan. He is an Associate Professor with the Department of Community Health and Epidemiology, College of Medicine, University of Saskatchewan with a cross appointment at the School of Public Health, University of Saskatchewan. 

As a researcher and public health expert, Dr. Ndubuka is particularly interested in the contribution of social determinants of health to infectious disease epidemiology including TB, HIV- and HCV-related risk behaviors and public health practices. Over the past decade, Dr. Ndubuka has worked collaboratively with policy makers, academia, Indigenous communities, and people with lived experience on several community-based studies concentrating on the social construct of communicable disease-related risks.

His continuous involvement on regional, provincial and national programming and policy-making advisory bodies ensures that Indigenous communities are engaged and contributes directly to decision-making priorities for the purpose of policy reformulation.

Dr. Ibezi is a community-based Family Physician in Saskatoon. She obtained her medical degree from the University of Port Harcourt in 2006. She completed her Family Medicine training in the UK.  Dr. Ibezi is passionate about dismantling health disparity and working towards health equity. The privilege of having lived and practised Medicine in 3 continents has afforded her a wealth of experience and myriad perspectives on the issue and the impact of racism in Medicine and in our everyday lives. She is a volunteer with the immigrants community in Saskatoon, and she stills makes out time to enjoy reading, dancing, nature walks and visiting new places.

Dr. Akinola is an Internationally educated Academic Family Physician, originally from Nigeria. She completed her Family Medicine residency training at the University of Calgary, triple licensed in her home country, the United Kingdom and Canada with a master’s in public health from the University of North Carolina, United States.

A Clinical Assistant professor with the Department of Family Medicine, Cummings School of Medicine, University of Calgary, who has a special interest in Vulnerable and Underserved populations with a passion for teaching, mentorship and advocacy. Her practice is split between the Sunridge Family Medicine Teaching Clinic and the Mosaic Refugee Health Clinic, Calgary and she also serves as an assessor with the Alberta International Medical Graduate Program.

She sits on several EDIA committees including the Cumming School of Medicine Education Advisory Group; International Congress on Academic Medicine (ICAM) EDI and AR Advisory Group and serves as an EDIA Mentor, Adaptive Mentorship Network for Team Primary Care, College of Family Physicians of Canada 

Dr Akinola is an investigator with the Equity in Health Systems lab, Ottawa and remains a committed national advocate for the integration of internationally educated physicians in Canada (founder, IMG Chronicles with Dr. Shayee) . She is passionate about racially concordant mentorship for young people from marginalized and underrepresented populations, hence co-created the NGO, Building This Generation (BTG), an organization aimed at promoting literacy and socioeconomic resilience amongst vulnerable teenagers and young adults from extremely disadvantaged backgrounds.

A public speaker, author, blogger, and recipient of the 2019 recipient of the Chirag Shah International Resident award, 2023 International Women's Day, Outstanding Achievement Award by the AB Minister of Trade, Immigration and Multiculturalism for her leadership and continued commitment towards her community in Calgary AB and 2024 Recognition of excellence award by the College of Family Physicians of Canada.

 Dr. McFarlane is a family physician practicing in Shelburne, Nova Scotia. Shelburne is historically one of Canada's well known Black Loyalist communities. She has worked here since the completion of her residency training at Dalhousie University in 2016. She is passionate about advocacy, mentorship and representation in leadership amongst the Black community. She currently serves as an Assistant Professor with the Faculty of Medicine at Dalhousie University and is a mentor for Black medical students through the Sophia B. Jones Mentorship Program. Her best hopes include working with Black Physicians of Canada and her colleagues to highlight the significant impact of social determinants of health and implicit bias, especially on the health outcomes of racialized communities. Essentially working towards equitable access and healthcare for everyone, irrespective of the colour of their skin or otherwise.

Dr. LaFortune is a practicing family physician in Emergency and Hospital Medicine in various locum positions throughout the province of Quebec. He is a graduate of Laval University Faculty of Medicine M.D.-M.Sc. program. He is involved in medical education; as a Clinical Instructor at Laval University and as a Faculty Lecturer at McGill where he teaches Evidence-Based Medicine and Epidemiology. He has a strong interest in advocacy and leadership within the medical profession. He served on the board for the Quebec Medical Association from 2016 to 2020 and is currently serving on the board for the Collège Québécois des Médecins de Famille. He is also a member of the First-Five Years of Practice Committee and the Post-Graduate Education Committee of the College of Family Physicians of Canada. His experiences growing up in Montreal-North, a community rich in multiculturalism yet grossly underserved, fuelled his passion to advocate for equitable treatment and reduce the disparities in health within racialized communities.

Dr. Mutungi is an obstetrician gynecologist, practicing in Durham region. She was born in Uganda and at a young age immigrated to Toronto with her family. She has a very strong interest in global health and underserved populations. During her residency training at the University of Toronto she completed a 2-year Certificate in Global Health Education. She also participated in women’s health overseas with a special interest in pelvic floor dysfunction and obstetrical fistulas. Dr.  Mutungi  is passionate about decreasing the disparities in health within Black and immigrant populations as well as working from an educational standpoint to increase the number of Black applicants in medicine with a focus on obstetrics and gynecology.

Dr. Bullard was born in the Bahamas and moved to Winnipeg with his family when he was young. Dr. Bullard is a product of Manitoba training receiving his medical degree (MD) in 2004 and completing residencies in Pediatrics (2008) and Medical Microbiology (2010) and a fellowship in Infectious Diseases (2009) all through the University of Manitoba. He is the Section Head of Pediatric Infectious Diseases at the Children’s Hospital in Winnipeg and Associate Medical Director of Cadham Provincial Laboratory, the public health laboratory for Manitoba. He is also an Associate Professor in the Departments of Pediatrics & Child Health and Medical Microbiology & Infectious Diseases at the University of Manitoba. Dr. Bullard always looks forward to the smile he receives from Black children in clinic when he walks into the room and appreciates how the disadvantaged are disproportionately affected by many communicable diseases. He looks forward to encouraging young Black people to pursue a career in the medical profession.

Dr. Madzima is a Diagnostic Radiology Resident at the University of Toronto. She came to Canada as an International student from Zimbabwe and completed her undergraduate degree at the University of Toronto Mississauga. She worked in cancer research for a year prior to attending medical school at McGill University. She is passionate about sharing her experiences and helping to break barriers faced by Black learners in pursuing medicine. She is passionate about mentorship, health equity and working with underserved communities. 

Dr. Nicole Johnson is a clinical pediatric rheumatologist practicing at the Alberta Children’s Hospital in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. She is a Clinical Associate Professor at the University of Calgary. 

Dr. Johnson has been a passionate advocate for community awareness for children with rheumatic diseases. In addition, she has a special interest in medical education. She is the Evaluation Coordinator for Pediatric Clerkship for Cumming School of Medicine (CSM) and a member of the Student Academic Review Committee for the CSM.

She has been actively engaged in anti-Black racism advocacy work. She holds the positions of Co-Curriculum Lead for Post Graduate Medical Education for Racial Equity in Healthcare at the Cumming School of Medicine, Chair for the Diversity and Inclusion Task Force for the Canadian Rheumatology Association and Board Executive and Physician Lead for the student mentor program for the Black Physicians’ Association of Alberta. 

Her research interests include national investigator and international industry-led clinical trials in juvenile arthritis and pediatric rheumatology. More recently, she has been engaging in research related to health equity and anti-racism within medical education. 

Dr. Edem is a Canadian-trained neurosurgeon. She graduated from the University of Toronto with an Honours BSc in Neuroscience with double minors in Psychiatry and African Studies. She attended medical school at Queen’s University and completed her neurosurgery residency at The University of Ottawa. During her residency, she also earned an MSc in Global Health and Global Surgery from King’s College London, UK while performing research in South Africa. Following residency, she completed a Neurosurgical Oncology/Skull Base fellowship at the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center. 

She has conducted research and published manuscripts related to general neurosurgery and skull base neurosurgery, especially regarding minimal-access approaches and quality of life. She has avid clinical and research interests in the provision of neurosurgical care in low and middle income countries (LMICs) and the policy changes needed to improve access to surgical care worldwide. She serves on various committees in Canada and the US, to see that the diversity of medical professionals better reflects the diversity of the communities served, in order to improve access to and delivery of care. 

Dr. Edem is an Assistant Professor at Michigan State University. She serves as Director of Skull base and Neurosurgical Oncology at the Insight Institute of Neurosurgery and Neuroscience, which she joined in October 2020. 

 Dr. Mireille Norris is an Internist and Geriatrician at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre in Toronto, Assistant Professor of Medicine at the University of Toronto. She is the Education Director for the Sunnybrook Hospitalist Training program which she created and implemented at Sunnybrook in 2005. She was appointed Faculty Lead for Black and Indigenous medical learners in 2019 by the department of medicine and is also the site lead for postgraduate geriatric medicine at Sunnybrook. Dr. Norris has a focus of interest in dementia care, fall prevention, quality improvement and medical education. Her interest in under represented physician education has been enhanced by the experience of recruiting and mentoring International Medical Graduates for the Hospitalist Training Program. Her own experience as a Black female French speaking physician was instrumental in empowering her trainees which are now successful in many provinces, the United States and Europe. Dr Norris is eager to bring this experience to her new role as Black Health Theme Lead for the TFOM. Her passion for Equity, Inclusion and Diversity is also reflected in numbers initiatives. They include, participation on the Sunnybrook President Anti-Racist Task force, launching of SPARK (Sunnybrook Program Accessing Research Knowledge) with co-founders and accomplices (Drs Jill Tinmouth, Nick Daneman and Csilla Kalocsai), mentoring membership with the Black Physicians Association of Canada, collaboration with the Network for the Advancement of Black Learners and successful changes to the CaRMS application for core internal medicine which lead to increased inclusivity. She also brings her commitment to service to the Black community at TAIBU and at the Centre Francophone de Toronto. 

Dr. Ibezi is a community-based Family Physician in Saskatoon. She obtained her medical degree from the University of Port Harcourt in 2006. She completed her Family Medicine training in the UK.  Dr. Ibezi is passionate about dismantling health disparity and working towards health equity. The privilege of having lived and practised Medicine in 3 continents has afforded her a wealth of experience and myriad perspectives on the issue and the impact of racism in Medicine and in our everyday lives. She is a volunteer with the immigrants community in Saskatoon, and she stills makes out time to enjoy reading, dancing, nature walks and visiting new places.

Ika Washington's credentials include a Master’s Degree in Social Science, a Bachelor’s Degree in Biological Sciences (Ecosystem Health), a Minor Degree in Gender Studies, a progressive Change Management and Project Management Certification, and 8+ years of direct professional social equity instruction advocacy experience. As the Founder and Social/Health research lead of DiversityTalk, a platform to engage and educate the public about minority health and alternative treatments through culturally competent education, events, and policy research. She has successfully worked on Social and Healthcare Policy reforms with Ontario Health, piloted legal Cannabis Diversity projects, developed awareness campaigns for health issues affecting African Canadians (such as Sickle Cell Disease), worked on sustainable social and environmental justice for the United Nations and compiled countless reports on the social determinants of health of Black/African Canadians. Recently contributed as a researcher and writer on a feasibility study for a Canadian Institute for People of African Descent. An institute that will provide national leadership for African Canadians in research applied research and community engagement and development.