Dr. Hema Patel Appointed Division Director of General Pediatrics
The Department of Pediatrics is happy to announce, effective September 1, 2020, Dr. Hema Patel will commence her first 5-year mandate as Division Director for General Pediatrics.
General Pediatrics is the largest Division in the Department with almost a quarter of the Department’s full-time staff. The Division is responsible for staffing many essential Departmental functions including the wards and the Medical Day Hospital. It also has under its aegis multiple programs that represent tertiary care mandates including Asthma, Child Protection, Complex Care, Developmental & Behavioural Pediatrics, Multiculturalism, Northern & Native Health, Palliative Care, Pediatric Consultation, Social Pediatrics. It interdigitates extensively with community-based pediatricians and carries the lion share of the Pediatrics PGME program including the Resident Continuity Clinic. Given the transversal reach of Gen Peds and the breadth of services offers, it is critical that it be a source of excellence and innovation.
Dr. Patel is originally from South Western Ontario. A medical graduate of Western, she undertook her pediatric training at Dalhousie followed by training in Academic General Pediatrics at the Hospital for Sick Children. After this she joined the MCH and McGill where she has remained currently at the rank of Associate Professor. Dr. Patel has made her mark in complex care having served as Program Head since 2005. Hema has forged a national and international reputation of excellence and innovation in this increasingly necessary and challenging service line. She is a sought-out speaker, advisor and educator on implementing and improving complex care services that are relevant to the needs of medically vulnerable children and their families that is resolutely family centred in its orientation. She has also been an effective advocate for these services at a health system level forging effective alliances with varied stakeholders. In addition to Complex Care, Hema has led the Medical Day Hospital since 2015 which has emerged as an essential component of integrated medical care for diagnostic assessment and therapeutic intervention. Along her path here at McGill she has received external salary support awards and selection for the Faculty Honor List for Educational Excellence. She is also responsible for the formulation and implementation of newborn hearing screening programs that have had a manifold impact on the outcomes of hearing-impaired infants. For these advocacy efforts she has received national awards.
Congratulations Dr. Patel!