Page 23 - UHN Centre for Mental Health Impact Report 2023

EDUCATION

In the Spotlight The Centre for Mental Health is a hub of activity providing clinical placements

Discover a Few of Our Standouts in the Education Sphere. and training for an array of learners. More than a quarter of the University
of Toronto’s post-graduate psychiatry residents receive training here.

THE RESIDENT INTERNATIONAL FELLOW

Dr. Hamad Alkhenaini is a fourth-year resident at the Dr. Rami Ahmad is the Centre for Mental Health’s first
Centre for Mental Health driven by an interest in the in- international fellow since program operations restarted
tricate connection between mental and physical health. after a COVID-related hiatus.

Initially torn between pursuing emergency medicine or Trained in Saudi Arabia, he chose UHN for its renowned
emergency psychiatry, his career path took a definitive Consultation-Liaison (C-L) program, which focuses on the
turn when he encountered a patient whose stroke-like assessment and treatment of psychiatric disorders in
symptoms defied the expected brain imaging results, medically ill patients.
leading to a surprising diagnosis.
He arrived in 2022 for a two-year term, and is supervised
“It was a remarkable realization of the complexity that by Dr. Noha Abdel Gawad with the opportunity of working
psychiatrists confront and the captivating nature of the with different experts in the field.
human brain.”
His ambition is to establish a C-L clinic and a fellowship
His career goal is to work with medically complex training program back in Saudi Arabia. He notes, “there is
populations, prioritizing a comprehensive understand- high interest in C-L among Saudi learners, but a shortage
ing of each individual’s story and lived experiences. of people to train them.”

MEDICAL SCHOOL GRADUATE TEACHING LEADERS

During her fourth year of medical school, Dr. Keziah Medical students at the University of Toronto’s Temerty
Magor had the opportunity to complete an elective at Faculty of Medicine recognized Drs. Christian Schulz-Quach
UHN in Consultation-Liaison psychiatry. It was a new and Michelle Sukhu for the quality of their teaching. Both
and challenging experience. It was also crucial in her received the MD Program Teaching Award for Excellence,
decision to pursue psychiatry during her residency, which recognizes those that earned Teaching Evaluation
which starts this summer at the University of Toronto. Scores in the top 10%.

“Senior residents and staff psychiatrists provided me “To win this award a second year in a row is still just as
with valuable one-on-one feedback and were open humbling, and to know that I am continuing to have a
about their experiences in psychiatry,” she says, citing meaningful impact on their educational experience here at
the mentorship experience at UHN as pivotal in her UHN,” says Dr. Sukhu.
choice.
“Receiving recognition from our learners during this time of
During her residency, Dr. Magor will focus on caring enormous challenges is deeply meaningful,” says Dr. Schulz-
for patients in the most acute stages of mental illness, Quach, who also received the Robin Hunter Postgraduate
concentrating on inpatient or emergency psychiatry. Teaching Award and Allen B. Tennen Award.
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