Tom O'Dowd | Academic and Social Entrepreneur

A visionary, values-based leader with extensive experience across the education continuum. Dr. Maria Hubinette joined SFU School of Medicine in its early days and is Associate Dean, Partnerships. A family physician, her clinical work focuses on youth facing barriers to care, community-based mental health support, and care for survivors of sexual and gender-based violence. She received her MD from UBC, completed her rural family practice residency there, and earned a Master of Medical Education from the University of Dundee, Scotland. She contributed to the medical school development across Senate approval processes, accreditation, curriculum development, policy frameworks, and admissions. As Associate Dean, Partnerships, Dr. Hubinette established partnerships and local leadership for clinical education across UGME and PGME programs and is responsible for cultivating relationships, clinical faculty networks, distributed education infrastructure and educational capacity that advance the school’s education, research, scholarship and social accountability missions. She has a program of research and education scholarship focused on equity and social accountability in health professions education.

Karl Le Roux was born in Sweden but grew up in South Africa. He qualified from the University of Cape Town in1999, and has postgraduate diplomas in Anaesthetics and Obstetrics and a Masters in International Health from Uppsala University in Sweden. From November 2006, he worked at Zithulele Hospital, a rural facility in the former homeland of the Transkei, now in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa. Karl le Roux was a visiting research fellow at the Center for Health and Wellbeing, Princeton University. He stood as a parliamentary candidate for the Democratic Alliance and was elected to the National Assembly of South Africa in 2024.

Paul is a doctor, writer, film maker and lifelong patient, although not necessarily in that order. He has spent his entire medical career working in rural hospitals. He has developed, written, produced or directed over 40 hours of commercial television, numerous short films and two feature documentaries - Donated to science about human dissection and Behind the Mask about frontline workers during the COVID pandemic.

A dynamic forward-thinking GP, entrepreneur, podcaster, and digital health advocate with extensive experience in medical leadership and healthcare innovation.Dr Sean Stevens is a general practitioner and co-owner of Grove Medical, a two-site practice in Perth, Western Australia. He was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia for service to general practice medicine, recognising his mentoring and supervision of GPs in training – including being named Australian Supervisor of the Year in 2004 and his leadership as Chair of the RACGP WA Faculty from 2019 to 2022, through the COVID-19 pandemic. Sean chairs the RACGP’s Digital Health and Innovation Specific Interest Group (SIG), was Inaugural Chair of the Business of General Practice SIG, founded and co-hosts The Good GP Podcast, and champions GP-led, innovative primary care.

Dr. Sarah Newbery is a family physician who has worked in Marathon for the past 30 years. She has been involved with Northern Ontario School of Medicine (NOSM) in various capacities since its inception in 2002She is currently Associate Dean of Physician Workforce Capacity. In this role she works to create connections across the health care system in Northern Ontario to support efforts to recruit and retain Northern Ontario’s future workforce. Part of her role includes supporting the development of the Rural Generalist Pathway at NOSM U.She is a past president of the Ontario College of Family Physicians, was VP Clinical of the Northwest LHIN for several years before starting her associate dean role with NOSM U, has been involved in numerous Ontario and national committees and has been active with both the CFPC and Society of Rural Physicians of Canada. She has served NOSH as chief of staff for 16 of the past 30 years, handing over the reins to her very skilled colleagues a in 2020. Passionate about community-engaged health care, she works to advance equitable access to care for the people Northern Ontario, with a focus on rural and remote communities. Sarah is the mother of two adult sons who are her heart’s delight and partner to Dr. Eliseo Orrantia, who is also a rural generalist family physician.