Cardiologists receive funding for Diversity and Inclusion in Cardiology Education program

According to the 2016 Statistics Canada Census, of the 93,985 medical specialists and general practitioners in Canada, less than 1% identify as Indigenous, yet Indigenous people make up more than 4.5% of our population. Additionally, Black people make up about 4.7% of Ontario’s population, yet only 2.3% of the province’s physician population identify as Black.

The Diversity and Inclusion in Cardiology Education (DICE) program was founded by University of Toronto (U of T) cardiology fellows Dr. Mena Gewarges and Dr. Tahira Redwood in 2020 out of a desire to increase representation within cardiology, particularly among learners who identify as Black or Indigenous. Now, their program has received funding from the university’s Access Programs University Fund (APUF) until May 31, 2024.

Dr. Mena Gewarges is currently completing a cardiac critical care fellowship at Toronto General Hospital (TGH). She previously completed an advanced heart failure/transplant and mechanical circulatory support fellowship at TGH, as well as her cardiology and internal medicine residencies at U of T.

She first met Dr. Heather Ross, Head of the Division of Cardiology at University Health Network’s Peter Munk Cardiac Centre (PMCC) and Professor of Medicine, in a fourth-year undergraduate class at U of T in 2009. Since then, Dr. Ross has become an influential mentor to her over the past 15 years.

“Being at U of T gave me an opportunity to seek outstanding mentors who helped me along my career path, and to participate in research and teaching endeavors that have shaped my future career as a clinician,” she says.

This coming July, Dr. Gewarges will begin working as a cardiac intensivist and heart failure clinician at the PMCC.

Dr. Tahira Redwood completed her internal medicine training at the University of the West Indies in Kingston, Jamaica in 2017, and went on to earn a Master of Public Health with distinction from the same institution in 2018. She also holds a Master of Science in Sports Medicine and a Bachelor of Science in Medicine and Surgery, both from the University of the West Indies. Dr. Redwood has completed specialized training in adult cardiology, interventional cardiology and congenital/structural intervention at Toronto General Hospital, and has held various positions at University Health Network, including chief fellow in the Cardiology Department. Since completing her fellowship with U of T in 2023, she has returned to Kingston where she works as an interventional cardiologist at the University Hospital of the West Indies.

“Within the cardiology workforce, Black and Indigenous populations are significantly underrepresented,” says Dr. Gewarges. “Additionally, cardiovascular disease risk factors such as obesity, hypertension, hyperlipidemia and diabetes are more prevalent in Black Canadians, and according to the Heart and Stroke Foundation, Indigenous people in Canada have a significantly higher likelihood of developing heart disease and stroke.”

The long-term goal of DICE is to improve outcomes for Black and Indigenous patients by diversifying the cardiovascular workforce to reflect the population served. To do so, the cardiology resident-led mentorship group introduces Black and Indigenous high school students, post-secondary students and medical students from the Greater Toronto Area to the field of cardiology.

In its early days, the program hosted primarily virtual sessions, such as working with Dr. Douglas Ing, an interventional cardiologist at TGH, to take students on a virtual catheterization lab experience with a livestreamed patient case, and eventually evolved into hybrid virtual and in-person sessions.

Currently, DICE’s main activities include organizing research and shadowing opportunities, preparing students for clerkship rotations, annual interview prep sessions to prepare trainees for the Canadian Resident Matching Service (CaRMS) R1-residency match and workshops in collaboration with colleagues in surgery, as well as like-minded organizations focused on the mentorship of underrepresented learners.

Through the APUF grant, Drs. Gewarges and Redwood have been able to host in-person workshops involving simulation of common cardiac procedures like bedside echocardiography, pericardiocentesis, central and arterial line access and deployment of transcather aortic valves, as well as atrial-septal closure devices. They have also been able to support students in attending conferences like the Black Medical Student Association of Canada’s Annual General Meeting and offset financial costs for those attending mentorship activities.

“This grant has been an extraordinary help for growing our program successfully,” says Dr. Gewarges. “Our hope is in the coming years, we can expand our collaborations with additional university groups, and eventually across university campuses and institutions to expand access for learners regardless of their location.”

“We’re always looking for new collaborations, faculty and resident mentors, and ideas for programming. If there are any programs interested in working with us and sharing our mission, we would love to work with you!”