Category: Black Physicians’ Association of Ontario

BPAO Initiatives to Support Black Physicians and Medical Learners

The Black Physicians’ Association of Ontario (BPAO) continues its mission to support Black physicians, improve health outcomes of the Black healthcare community and set students up for success with the goal of increasing the number of much-needed Black physicians working within communities. Since the last Symposium, the BPAO has launched many significant initiatives. We worked with national and regional media outlets to amplify these programs to help drive awareness, registration and attendance:

• Community Health Centre Education (CHCE) program’s national rollout: Read this article in the Globe and Mail – Program to improve health care for marginalized populations puts Black physicians in racialized communities
• Remote hub launch in Sudbury: Read this article in the Sudbury Star – Association seeks to support Sudbury’s Black physicians
• Remote hub launch in London: Read this article in London Free Press – Black physicians’ group expanding to London to support doctors, medical students. Listen to this interview on CBC – London Morning
• In-depth discussions with the Medical Post with three physicians on important health topics explored at this year’s Symposium: breast cancer screening for Black Women, institutionalized sexism and racism in hematology, and skin of colour

Stay tuned for BPAO’s remote hub launch in Kingston and Hamilton in the next few months.

Chenai Kadungure, executive director of Black Physicians’ Association of Ontario (BPAO), took action when a group of asylum seekers slept on the street in Toronto, directly helping support a 35-year-old woman in dire straits. In addition, BPAO provided health kits and health checks at Black Creek Community Health Centre with volunteer assistance from BPAO’s medical residents and international medical graduates.

We reached out to independent journalist Olivia Bowden for her to speak with Chenai and the woman to share her harrowing experience, perhaps helping others in need.

“We’re a community that’s always going to have to stand up for each other,” Kadungure said. “Because one night sleeping on the street is one night too many. We need to do something, now.”

Read the article here on CBC News and Chenai’s post on LinkedIn.

We recently worked with the Black Physicians’ Association of Ontario (BPAO) to raise awareness of their mandate, the work they have done and their Annual Health Symposium in Toronto.

The BPAO works for equitable representation of the Black population in medicine and to ensure racialized health disparities are eliminated.

Read in NOW Toronto why Ontario Black doctors continue to call for more representation in the health-care system. Watch the discussion with BPAO’s president Dr. Andrew Thomas and executive director Chenai Kadungure on The Dr. Vibe Show to find out why it is important to have more Black physicians in the province. Dr. Thomas also talked about the need for more Black Canadians in health care on CP24 Breakfast.