About the Sun Life Osler Global Health Program

Established in 2014, the Sun Life Osler Global Health Program (Global Health Program) supports Osler’s Vision - patient-inspired health care without boundaries, and brand promise to Go Beyond for patients and families. Each year, two teams of Osler physicians and staff travel to India and Pakistan where they collaborate with partner hospitals and organizations through knowledge exchange to improve health care services here at Osler and abroad. The focus of the Global Health Program is on diabetes in India and paediatric emergency medicine and diabetes in Pakistan.

The Global Health Program aligns with Osler’s 2019-24 Strategic Plan - Health System Leadership Direction to create the environmental conditions that change the way our patients and community access and engage with their health care.

Watch a video from our Global Health Program Tour Coordinators.

Sun Life Global Health Program: Goals and Objectives

Meet the 2019 team members

Team India

	Kim Bellissimo VP, People and Organizational Development (Senior Leadership Team Lead) Kim is responsible for all aspects of Human Resources (HR) and Organizational Development at Osler. These include Talent Management/Development, Succession Planning, Organizational Effectiveness, Leadership Development, Health/Safety/Wellness and Labour Relations. Kim has a wealth of experience in leadership development, change management and the creation of innovative HR programs/services and believes in a proactive and strategic approach to HR. Kim has an excellent track record of building high performing teams.
	Dr. Faiz Daudi Physician Faiz has been with Osler since 1995 as a General Surgeon and Endoscopist and has been Deputy Chief & Chief of Surgery at Osler for 10 years. He has teaching appointments in the Dept. of Surgery at Universities of Toronto & McMaster; he enjoys observing the development of new physicians. Faiz enjoys practicing in the ethnically diverse GTA and is conversant in French, Italian, Hindi & Urdu. The challenges of such a diverse population has converted Faiz into an advocate for greater cultural sensitivity and understanding of our patients. “Outreach initiatives such as Global Health, enhance our ability to care for our patients in a comprehensive fashion that will have far-reaching tangible consequences for years to come.”
	Dr. Leili Pede Physician Leili is a comprehensive family medicine physician who is also active in the ER and practicing Obstetrics, and has been with Osler since 1990. She was a hospitalist for 15 years and she was also the lead physician for the Brampton East Medical Group, where she developed a Diabetes Program for the Central Brampton Family Health Team, that was awarded one of 6 Patients First awards in Canada. Leili has been awarded the Gerry Cohen Award for ‘Excellence in Teaching in Postgraduate Family Medicine,’ is Chair of Osler's Corporate Credentials Committee, and is a member of Osler’s Physician Wellness Committee and the Global Health Steering Committee. Leili has been to India as a Global Health Ambassador and looks forward to contributing her experiences and expertise to the 2019 Tour.
	Dr. Elizabeth Powell Physician Elizabeth has been a part of Osler since 1982 as the first Respirologist after leaving Montreal - McGill and Royal Victoria Hospital. Past experiences include being Head Division of Respirology, Site Chief of Medicine, member CMA Committee on hospitals, board member with CCHSA (now Accreditation Canada), OMA Chair Respirology, co-establishing an Adult Asthma Education Program and COPD Rehab Program and being involved with medevac flights. Elizabeth presently enjoys her first love - patient care. She practices internal medicine in emergency services and consults on Respirology and critical care.
	Babita Sandhu Diabetes Nurse Babita is a Certified Diabetes Nurse Educator since 2006 and has worked with Type 1, Type 2 and Gestational diabetes patients for 16 years. She is currently working in the Centre for Complex Diabetes Centre caring for patients with microvascular and macrovascular complications who struggle to manage their diabetes. She initiated the South Asian Gestational Class in 2008 at Osler, and has been a committee member for the Canadian Diabetes Education Certification Board since 2010 and has just been appointed as a Board member. As part of the Global Health Team, Babita hopes to share her expertise with the teams in India as well as bring back new tools to assist Osler’s patients. She hopes this experience will broaden her perspective on ‘Living with Diabetes’ so she can better understand her patients at Osler.
	Rashmi Ahuja Diabetes Educator Rashmi is a Registered Dietitian and Certified Diabetes Educator working with Complex Medicine Clinic and Diabetes Education Centre. She has extensive experience - over 15 years - providing nutritional care to patients with varied health conditions. Rashmi provides one on one and group nutritional care/education to patients with health conditions such as diabetes, CHF, CKD, and COPD. Rashmi recently facilitated a ‘Food Skills for Families’ Program for a group of patients with diabetes to promote healthy eating. She received formal ‘Train the Trainer’ training from Diabetes Canada. Rashmi will be an asset to Team India by co-delivering education to clinical staff on nutritional management of diabetes.
	Nancy Wangui Social Worker Nancy, a registered Social Worker with a Master’s Degree in Social Work, been with Osler since 2018. She works with a diverse patient population within the Paediatric Clinic from Gastrointestinal, Neonatal Follow-up, Chest, Nephrology, and Endocrinology to Healthy Lifestyle Programs. Nancy has extensive education and work experience in supporting children and their families who have emotional and social challenges. She provides counselling, coping strategies and access to community resources.
	Hina Marsonia Pharmacist Hina has worked as a clinical pharmacist at Osler for over 18 years in various clinical areas including critical care, coronary care, medicine and, most recently, the Outpatient Complex Medicine Clinic. She has been involved in various committees, projects and initiatives to improve best practice guidelines, patient safety and delivery of pharmacy services. Hina established the first community pharmacy residency at Osler as a Pharmacy Coordinator and continues to provide preceptorship to pharmacy students and pharmacists. She is committed to life long-learning.
	Ashneet Singh Tour Coordinator Ashneet, Project Manager, has been with Osler for 2.5 years. He is responsible for implementing projects with components of a technology integration and with improvements in clinical workflow. Ashneet has leveraged his skills and his Masters in eHealth to build stronger stakeholder relationships and thoroughly understand clinical workflow. He is excited to be part of the Global Health tour as the Tour Coordinator.

Team Pakistan

	Dr. Frank Martino Corporate Chief of Staff (Senior Leadership Team Lead) Frank is Osler’s Chief of Staff and has been practicing comprehensive Family Medicine in Brampton for over 25 years. He is a graduate of the Family Medicine and Emergency Medicine Residency Program at the University of Toronto. He is still active in obstetrics, in-patient care and the emergency departments at Brampton Civic and Etobicoke General. Frank was instrumental in bringing the Family Medicine Teaching Program to Osler through McMaster University in 2007. He continues to be active in generating and implementing medical practice guidelines and has presented on this topic at local, provincial and national conferences.
	Dr. Asim Masood Physician Asim is the Chief Medical Information Officer at Osler. Asim has also been an emergency department physician at Osler since 2005. He is passionate about improving patient care through the innovative use of technology. Asim is excited to participate in this year’s GH Program – he hopes to better understand the diverse patient population and learn about which technological innovations can be implemented at Osler.
	Dr. Farrukh Hussain Physician Farrukh received his medical degree at the University of Toronto in 1998 and then completed postgraduate internal medicine and cardiology training at the University of Toronto. He completed a clinical fellowship in interventional cardiology at the Toronto General Hospital in 2005. Farrukh has written over 80 peer reviewed publications and abstracts, focusing on complex coronary intervention, cardiogenic shock and cardiac arrest and radiation reduction in the catheterization lab. He is involved in community CPR awareness and anti-smoking education.
	Paula Simpson Nurse (NICU) Paula is a Neonatal Intensive Care Unit Nurse and has been with Osler for over eight years. She has worked in all eight of Osler’s Women’s and Children’s Units (Postpartum, NICU, Labour & Delivery and Paediatrics). Paula is also a Neonatal Resuscitation Provider Instructor and Chair of the Program’s Unit Based Council in the NICU. Her current project, in progress, is the creation of a Peer Parent Support Group for NICU families.
	Patricia Geerlinks Nurse (ED) Trish is the Director of Women, Children’s & Seniors services at Osler and has been a dynamic Nursing Leader with over thirty-three years of progressive experience and a champion for quality care. She has spent her whole career at Osler and has had the great pleasure of leading Osler on a several large scale projects. Most notably, Trish was the corporate lead for Accreditation for three consecutive cycles (2009, 2012 and 2016). Trish is thrilled to be one of Osler’s Global Health ambassadors and deeply values this ‘going beyond’ opportunity, particularly with the focus of this year’s Pakistan trip being on Accreditation readiness and paediatric medicine.
	Winnie Christopher Diabetes Educator Winnie is a certified Diabetes Dietitian Educator and has been with Osler since 2009. She has worked with the pediatric & adult diabetes program where she counsels in English, Hindi/Urdu & Tamil. She has taken part in quality initiatives & served in various Steering Committees for the improvement of diabetes care in the community. Winnie’s role on this Tour will be to support the expansion of the pre-existing Diabetes Outreach Program/Clinic and provide sessions on diabetes prevention & patient education. Winnie will also support the team in conducting mock accreditation tracers for the Pakistan team.
	Marla de Souza Tour Coordinator Marla has worked with the Information Services (IS) portfolio at Osler for over ten years. She is passionate about all things related to data and technology. As a Project Manager, Marla has led the implementation of several innovative technology driven initiatives to support the delivery of quality patient centred care. Inspired by the Global Health Program’s work in previous years, Marla is excited to serve as Tour Coordinator for Team Pakistan this year.