Poised for president

When Dr. Andrew Park decided to run for president of the Ontario Medical Association, he knew he needed to carve out space in his personal and professional life so he could deliver all the energy and enthusiasm the role would require.

In 16 years practising medicine, he’d never had more than a few weeks off at a time. But he prepared for the role by seeking a year’s sabbatical from his job as an emergency physician in London, Ont. He secured the support of his wife in caring for their three young daughters on her own on the days he would be in Toronto. He leaned on the many other supports made available to him by the OMA to make his new job hybrid.

“To try to do four full-time jobs – of being a professional physician, of being the president, of being a husband and a father – something’s got to give because you only have a certain number of hours in a day,” Dr. Park said.

“There are going to be sacrifices made, and my family has made an incredible sacrifice for me to be able to do this... It really is about what supports you have around you.”

“I’m not going to be the same doctor I was in the first 20 years of my practice. I now have the tools and skills and a network and a vision, really, for my role as a doctor leader that I wouldn’t have had had I not come forward as OMA president” – Dr. Rose Zacharias

Dr. Dominik Nowak, a family physician at Toronto’s Women’s College Hospital who will take over from Dr. Park next spring, will continue his clinical practice with locum support while he is OMA president. During his 12 months preparing as president-elect, he’s investing fully in his personal relationships and his practice group of doctors.

“Next year, I expect that I’ll have to lean on colleagues and people close to me. And that’s ok, because I would have built on the relationships and set up the supports this year,” he said.

Dr. Rose Zacharias stepped away from emergency medicine during her tenure as OMA president in 2022-23, and scaled back her work as a hospitalist. She says her three children, teenagers at the time, grew into the independence required of them as she spent more time away from their Orillia home. The stipend that comes with the OMA president position replaced her lost income.

The experience she gained through professional development and new connections was life-changing, and after two decades of clinical work, she looks forward to making a shift from clinical medicine to health-care leadership.

“It was definitely a transition. The spark that’s lit up in me for health-care leadership means medical politics is here to stay and I’m exploring where that will go,” she said.

“I’m not going to be the same doctor I was in the first 20 years of my practice. I now have the tools and skills and a network and a vision, really, for my role as a doctor leader that I wouldn’t have had had I not come forward as OMA president.”

Making the transition from clinical leadership to leading reform for the broader health system is something Dr. Nowak is focused on now.

“When I think about preparing for the next year, I think of it in terms of three main buckets. The first bucket is preparing myself; what do I need personally? The second bucket is understanding the organization the OMA its history and its people. The third bucket is understanding the health system.”

Part of his preparation for the job is thinking through how he can apply the problem-solving skills he learned as a physician to advocacy.

“We’re used to identifying problems but then also offering solutions,” Dr. Nowak said. “When it comes to advocacy, it’s important not just to think about the problems; the problems have been 30 years in the making. How do we come together with government, with other organizations, with the collective voice of doctors… to bring forward solutions to making the future better?”

Past presidents discuss balancing the personal and professional demands of the job

Dr. Park said the job of physician leaders is to assert their voice, prioritize the problems at all levels of health-system delivery and focus on solutions, including those that can be achieved in partnership with other stakeholders.

“There are going to be sacrifices made, and my family has made an incredible sacrifice for me to be able to do this...It really is about what supports you have around you” – Dr. Andrew Park

“If we’re not bringing solutions forward, then we lose the trust of our stakeholders and we’re not really helping push the system forward for the benefit of members and our patients. So I think that’s really critical.”

The collaboration piece is key. If physician leaders collaborate with internal and external stakeholders to achieve system change, all physicians will benefit in the end, Dr. Park said. They will have the space to focus on delivering high-quality care in a well-resourced system.

“Stakeholder relationships are extraordinarily important in driving system change. We didn’t get here alone. We’re not going to get out of this by being alone, or being siloed, even within our membership,” he said.

Dr. Zacharias said her time as OMA president showed her that doctors hold the public trust.

“We are a trusted profession; that is what we have. We can walk into any room where health-care decisions are being made with our heads held high, with credibility that has been hard won and earned. From the bedside to the boardroom, to the political arena. And we can speak to the issues.”

But she said it’s also important for doctors to listen to others in the system because physicians can’t and shouldn’t carry the weight of improving health care alone.

“We have to come forward with answers, but with a listening posture too, because we’re not the only stakeholder in the system. How does this affect our allied health-care providers? How does this affect the population at large, and all the other priorities that a ministry official or politician balances?” said the immediate past president.

Taking a broader view of the health-care system requires a mind shift, added Dr. Park.

“As physicians, we have such translatable skills, amongst the most important of which is leadership. It’s a skill we practise every day with our patients, in our practice settings and in the communities. There is a shift in mindset when you go from leading at a local to provincial level. However, physicians are so well-equipped to do this and therefore should be encouraged to do so.”

Dr. Nowak says no two OMA presidents bring the same perspective. At 31, he will bring the voice of a young leader with long-term “skin in the game” because of the decades still ahead in his career. Others will trailblaze in their own way.

“Next year, I expect that I’ll have to lean on colleagues and people close to me. And that’s OK, because I would have built on the relationships and set up the supports this year” – Dr. Dominik Nowak

At present, he’s spending time with Dr. Park, watching first-hand how his predecessor handles the job of president. Briefings will follow on the issues at hand with training in advocacy and media as part of the preparation provided by the OMA.

Dr. Nowak said he’s learning more about the health system and where in the OMA he can go to get the supports he needs to do the job well. “So, understanding who are the hard-working, talented people who are doing the things behind the scenes at the OMA.”

As he prepares, he hopes the platform will allow him to help other future leaders see how their particular experience can make a difference.

“That’s one of the things that I’m thinking of in terms of preparing. How do I contribute to developing future leaders who are going to raise their hand and say, ‘Yes, I could do this job and I could make a difference?’”

Wendy McCann is a North Bay-based writer.