Past Fellows
The G. Raymond Chang Clinician-Scholar Fellowship program supports future clinician-scholars in General Internal Medicine to pursue advanced training and to promote implementation of practice-oriented initiatives, and supports the development and dissemination of educational scholarship
Maya Stein, MD MEd(c) FRCPC
2025-2026
Dr Maya Stein is currently completing the General Internal Medicine training program, Dept Medicine, UofT. Maya is a Masters of Education candidate, University of Ottawa.
Her Clinician-Scholar Fellowship's medical education research includes a qualitative study exploring the impact of patient volume and complexity on perceptions of preparedness in Internal Medicine practice.
Maya also undertook a second project aimed at enhancing hypertension education in the G. RaymondChang Complex Medicine Teaching Clinic, through the design, implementation, and evaluation of a novel ambulatory blood pressure monitor education tool forclinical use. This work has been disseminated through presentation and publication.
Zoe Lau, MD MSc FRCPC
2024 - 2025
Dr Zoe Lau is Assistant Professor, Dept of Medicine, UofT, and Staff Physician, Division of GIM, Toronto Western Hospital-UHN. She is a core staff in the G. Raymond Chang Complex Medicine Teaching Clinic, and a recipient of the 2025-27 Chang/Ho Ping Kong Clinic Scholar Award. Zoe holds a Masters of Quality Improvement and Patient Safety, UofT.
Dr. Lau has established herself as an emerging leader in thehypertension realm, having focused her scholarship around improving screening rates for Primary Aldosteronism in the Clinic. Dr. Lau's work, which was the focus of her Clinician-Scholar Fellowship, has been disseminated broadly through presentation at local and national conferences.
Jeremy Cygler, MD MPH FRCPC
2023 - 2025
Dr Jeremy Cygler is Assistant Professor, Dept of Medicine, UofT, and staff physician, Division of GIM, based at St Michael's Hospital-Unity Health. Jeremy holds a Masters of Public Health, Harvard School of Public Health.
Dr Jeremy Cygler's scholarly interests lie in evidence-based curriculum design and instruction, with a focus on management of inpatients with substance use disorders.
His Clinician-Scholar Fellowship research aimed to characterize the landscape of postgraduate medical education in addictions medicine in Canada.
Alexander Kumachev, MD MSc FRCPC
2022 - 2023
Dr Alex Kumachev is Assistant Professor, Dept of Medicine, UofT, and staff physician, Division of GIM, based at Toronto General Hospital-UHN. Alex holds a Masters in Quality Improvement and Patient Safety, UofT.
Dr. Kumachev's Clinician-Scholar Fellowship focused on the development of a perioperative medical consultation pathway using a quality improvement lens. Dr. Kumachev collaborated with both Internal Medicine and Anesthesia with the aim of improving the perioperative experience for patients at UHN.
William (Billy) Silverstein, MD MSc FRCPC
2022 - 2023
Dr Billy Silverstein is Assistant Professor, Dept of Medicine and the Institute of Health Policy, Management, and Evaluation, UofT, and staff physician, Division of GIM, based at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre. Billy holds a Masters in Quality Improvement and Patient Safety, UofT.
His Clinician-Scholar Fellowship focused on the design and pilot of a post-discharge outpatient care pathway for patients admitted to hospital with congestive heart failure, in collaboration with the Division of Cardiology.
This work was disseminated broadly through presentation and publication, and was awarded a UHN Local Impact Award.
Dr. Brandon Tang, MD MSc FRCPC
2022 - 2023
Dr Brandon Tang is Assistant Professor, Dept of Medicine, UofT and staff physician, Division of GIM, based at St Michael's Hospital-Unity Health. He currently leads the GEMINI MedED initiative which aims to leverage "big data" from electronic health records for the purposes of resident feedback, learning, and assessment. Brandon holds a Masters of Science in System Leadership and Administration, UofT.
His Clinician-Scholar Fellowship focused on curriculum development in the area of communication and advocacy skills for healthcare providers. Additionally, he was awarded the Robert Maudsley Fellowship for Studies in Medical Education, RCPSC, and completed the Harvard Macy Institute Program for Educators in Health Professions.
Leora Branfield Day, MD MEd FRCPC
2021 -2022
Dr Leora Branfield Day is Assistant Professor, Dept of Medicine, UofT, and staff physician, Division of GIM, based at Women’s College Hospital. She is the Simulation-based Medical Education lead for the Core Internal Medicine program, Dept of Medicime, UofT. Leora holds a Masters of Education from the University of Dundee.
Dr. Branfield Day’s scholarly interests include workplace-based assessment and feedback in the context of Competency-based Medical Education, as well as virtual teaching methods. Her Clinician-Scholar Fellowship research explored system strategies to improve teaching in the internal medicine outpatient care setting.
Sherif Youssef, MD MHPE FRCPC
2021 - 2022
Dr Sherif Youssef is Assistant Professor, Dept of Medicine, UofT, and staff physician, Division of GIM, based at Toronto Western Hospital-UHN. He is Site Lead, Point-of-Care Ultrasound training for the Core Internal Medicine program, Dept of Medicine, UofT, having completed a Critical Care Ultrasound Fellowship at Western University. Sherif holds a Masters of Health Professions Education, Queen's University.
Dr. Youssef's Clinician-Scholar Fellowship research examined the use of Simulation-based Medical Education in core Internal Medicine training programs across the country, as well as exploring residents’ perceptions of the adequacy and effectiveness of their simulation training in residency.
Vanessa Zannella, MD MSc FRCPC
2021 - 2022
Dr Vanessa Zannella is Assistant Professor, Dept of Medicine, UofT, and staff physician, Division of GIM, based at Toronto Western Hospital-UHN. She is a core staff in the G. Raymond Chang Complex Medicine Teaching Clinic, and one of two inaugural recipients of the Chang/Ho Ping Kong Clinic Scholar Award. She is the inaugural Faculty Lead, Hypertension Program, Division of GIM and the HoPingKong Centre, UHN. She holds a Masters of Science in Systems Leadership, Innovation, and Quality Improvement, UofT.
Her Clinician-Scholar Fellowship focused on the development and implementation of a novel rapid outpatient care pathway for patients with severe asymptomatic hypertension who visit the Emergency Department. Her work was widely disseminated and was recognized by Hypertension Canada with the receipt of the 2025 Hypertension Innovations Award, along with the project’s co-lead and supervisor Dr Tom MacMillan.
Alicia Strand, MD MHPE FRCPC
2020 - 2022
Dr Alicia Strand is Assistant Professor, Dept of Medicine, University of Alberta, and staff physician, Division of GIM, University of Alberta Hospital. Alicia holds a Masters of Health Professions Education, University of Illinois at Chicago.
Her Clinician-Scholar Fellowship focused on exploring therole of residents as assessors in the Competency-based Medical Education context, and its impact on the postgraduate curriculum. This was unique in that Alicia was the first from outside Ontario and UofT to complete our Clinician-Scholar Fellowship program.
Alison Lai, MD MHPE FRCPC
2019 - 2021
Dr Alison Lai is Assistant Professor, Dept of Medicine, UofT, and staff physician, Division of GIM, based at Toronto Western Hospital-UHN. Dr. Lai is a core staff and Education Lead for the G. Raymond Chang Complex Medicine Teaching Clinic, and one of two inaugural recipients of the Chang/Ho Ping Kong Clinic Scholar Award. Alison holds a Masters of Health Professions Education from Maastricht University.
Her Clinician-Scholar Fellowship focused on exploring Internal Medicine residents’ goals of care conversations during the COVID-19 pandemic. She has a keen interest in digital education and developing innovative learning methods, and is the creator and executive producer of “The Intern at Work,” a national learner-generated podcast and the creator of the Toronto COVID Collective website.
James Rassos, MD MHPE FRCPC
2019 - 2020
Dr James Rassos is Assistant Professor, Dept of Medicine, UofT, and staff physician, Division of GIM, based at St Michael’s Hospital. He serves as Site co-Director for the Internal Medicine Clinical Clerkship and is the Core Internal Medicine program OSCE Lead, Dept of Medicine, UofT. He is also Competence Committee Chair for the GIM subspecialty training program. James holds a Masters of Health Professions Education from Maastricht University.
James’ Clinician-Scholar Fellowship focused on exploring both faculty and trainee perceptions of feedback in Internal Medicine. His work was disseminated widely through presenation at national and international conferences, and through publication.
Kevin Venus, MD PGDip FRCPC
2018 - 2020
Dr Kevin Venus is Assistant Professor, Dept of Medicine, UofT, and staff physician, Division of GIM, based at Toronto Western Hospital-UHN. He serves as Site co-Director for the Internal Medicine Clinical Clerkship, Dept of Medicine, UofT. He is the inaugural Faculty Lead, Perioperative Medicine Program, Division of GIM and the HoPingKong Centre, UHN. Kevin holds a Postgradute Diploma in Medical Education from the University of Dundee.
Dr. Venus' Clinician-Scholar Fellowship focused on exploring residents’ perspectives of seminal events during training.
Ryan Luther, MD MHPE FRCPC
2018 - 2020
Dr. Ryan Luther is Assistant Professor, Dept of Medicine, UofT and staff physician, Division of GIM, based at Toronto General Hospital-UHN. He currently serves as Site Director for the Core Internal Medicine program, Dept of Medicine, UofT, and Physician Lead, Physician Assistants and Nurse Practitioners Program, GIM, UHN. Ryan holds a Masters of Health Professions Education from Maastricht University.
His clinician-Scholar Fellowship research examined how competency-based assessment data can be presented in reports to Internal Medicine Programs’ Competence Committees to inform resident entrustment and promotion decisions.
Eric Kaplovitch, MD MSc FRCPC
2018 - 2020
Dr Eric Kaplovitch is Assistant Professor, Dept of Medicine, UofT, and staff physician, Division of GIM, based at Mount Sinai Hospital, where he practices General Medicine and Obstetrics Medicine. Eric is cross appointed Medical Oncology and Hematology, where he has an outpatient vascular medicine and thrombosis practice. Among his many national roles in the field, he currently serves as President, Canadian Society of Vascular Medicine and Prevention. Eric holds a Masters of Health Systems Leadership and Innovation, Institute of Health Policy, Management and Evaluation, UofT.
His Clinician-Scholar Fellowship focused on new models of care with the goal of improving the quality of care and quality of education surrounding vascular diseases within Internal Medicine, and his work was disseminated widely through presentation and publication.
Dr. Rebecca Stovel
2017 - 2018
Dr Rebecca Stovel is Assistant Professor, Dept of Medicine, UofT, and staff physician, Division of GIM, based at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, and previously Women’s College Hospital. Rebecca holds a Masters of Science in Community Health, UofT.
Her scholarly interests include curriculum development and models of virtual care, and her Clinician-Scholar Fellowship focused on medical education competency-based curricula and assessment tools in novel models of care. Her work was disseminated through presentation and publication.
Lindsay Melvin, MD MHPE FRCPC
2015 - 2017
Dr Lindsay Melvin is Assistant Professor, Dept of Medicine, UofT, and staff physician, Division of GIM, based at Toronto Western Hospital-UHN. She currently serves as Site Director, Core Internal Medicine program, Dept of Medicine, UofT. Lindsay holds a Masters of Health Professions Education from Maastricht University.
Her Clinician-Scholar Fellowship explored trainee perceptions of feedback and assessment in Internal Medicine, as well as the development of Entrustable Professional Activities (EPAs) for outpatient GIM. Lindsay's work was widely disseminated through presentation and publication.
Rupal Shah, MD MHPE FRCPC
2015 - 2017
Dr Rupal Shah is Assistant Professor, Dept of Medicine, UofT, and staff physician, Division of GIM, based at Toronto Western Hospital-UHN. She currently serves as Director, Undergraduate Medical Education, and Site Lead, Medical Consultation Service, Dept of Medicine, UofT. Rupal is also Education Lead, UHN/Sinai Health Hospital Medicine Fellowship program. Rupal holds a Masters of Health Professions Education from Maastricht University.
Her Clinician-Scholar Fellowship research project examined mixed versus blocked practice among medical students using online self-study chest X-ray modules. Rupal also worked to develop outpatient GIM EPAs along with Dr Lindsay Melvin. Her work was disseminated through presentation and publication.
Shail Rawal, MD MPH FRCPC
2015 - 2016
Dr Shail Rawal is Assistant Professor, Dept of Medicine, UofT, and staff physician, Division of GIM, based at Toronto Western Hospital-UHN. She serves as Investigator for GEMINI, a Unity Health based not-for-profit big data collaborative supporting Quality Improvement and research projects. Shail holds a Masters of Public Health from the Harvard School of Public Health.
Her Clinician-Scholar Fellowship focused on exploring the intersection of Quality Improvement and health equity. She has a particular interest in the quality of care received by patients with Limited English Proficiency and the use of sociodemographic data and patient-reported outcomes to improve care. Her work has been disseminated through presentation and publication.
Thomas MacMillan, MD MSc FRCPC
2013 - 2015
Dr Tom MacMillan is Associate Professor, Dept of Medicine, UofT, and staff physician, Division of GIM, based at Toronto Western Hospital-UHN. Tom serves as Physician Lead, G. Raymond Chang Complex Medicine Teaching Clinic, and inaugural G. Raymond Chang Professor in Ambulatory GIM Education. National leadership roles include invited Physician Champion, Ontario’s GIM Quality Improvement Network, and Member, Hypertension Quality Standard Advisory Committee, Ontario Health. Tom holds a Masters of Science in Quality Improvement and Patient Safety, UofT.
During his Clinician-Scholar Fellowship, Tom’s work aimed to reduce low-value healthcare, with a focus on reducing medication overuse and unnecessary laboratory testing. His scholarly interests also include hypertension, hyponatremia, and he has developed new models of GIM outpatient care to reduce adverse events and improve health comes.
Luke Devine, MD MHPE FRCPC
2011-2013
Dr Luke Devine is Associate Professor, Dept of Medicine, UofT, and staff physician, Division of GIM, based at Mount Sinai Hospital where he serves as Site Director. He is also a Teacher, Advanced Assessment Unit, Maastricht University Masters program. Luke holds a Masters of Health Professions Education from Maastricht University.
He acquired advanced simulation teaching skills at the Gordon Center for Research in Medical Education, Miller School of Medicine, University of Miami.
During his Clinician-Scholar Fellowship, his work focused on the mastery learning of cardiac resuscitation and emergency scenarios through simulation. He led the design and implementation of an ACLS skills program which enhanced the training of core Intenal Medicine PGY1s. This curriculum, disseminated widely, led to important research examining instructor led vs self-directed learning.
David Frost, MD FRCPC
2010-2011
Dr David Frost is Associate Professor, Dept of Medicine, UofT, and staff physician, Division of GIM, based at Toronto Western Hospital-UHN where is serves GIM subspecialty training program Site Director. He holds the inaugural Herbert Ho Ping Kong Chair in GIM, and is a core attending in the G. Raymond Chang Complex Medicine Teaching Clinic. David completed the Master Teacher Certificate Program, Dept of Medicine, UofT.
Through the HoPingKong Centre, David was supported in his research exploring high-fidelity simulation to improve physical examination skills.
His academic interests include clinical reasoning and uncertainty in medicine and has been an invited speaker on the topic at national conferences. He established and Chairs the annual HoPingKong Workshop in Complex Medicine. He also established and leads the largest Electronic Consultation group for GIM in Ontario, thorough the Ontario Telehealth Network.
Lisa Richardson, MD MA FRCPC
2009 - 2011
Dr Lisa Richardson is Professor, Dept of Medicine, UofT, and staff physician, Division of GIM, based at Toronto General Hospital-UHN. She was the inaugural Art of Medicine Lead within the HoPingKong Centre, aiming to fostering critical thinking, compassion, and creativity in the clinical environment. Lisa holds a Masters of Science and Technology Studies from York University.
During her Clinician-Scholar Fellowship, she explored the practice of learning cardiac auscultation skills through high fidelity simulation - learning to listen to heart sounds using a cardiopulmonary simulator, while also examining the relationship between physician and patient.
Lisa’s academic interests lie in integrating Indigenous perspectives from the social sciences into medical education, and she currently serves as Vice Dean, Strategy and Governance, Faculty of Medicine, UofT.
Matthew Sibbald, MD MHPE PhD, FRCPC
2009 - 2011
Dr Matthew Sibbald is Associate Professor, Dept of Medicine, McMaster University, and Interventional Cardiologist, Hamilton Health Sciences. His education leaderships roles include Associate Dean, UGME, McMaster University, and Competency Committee Chair in Interventional Cardiology, RCPSC. He holds a Masters and PhD in Health Professions Education from Maastricht University.
Matthew was the HoPingKong Centre’s inaugural fellow and explored extensively on how to optimize teaching and learning through the utilization of an expanded understanding of the concepts of cognitive load and dealing with uncertainty. He was one of the first education researchers to utilize simulation as a methodology to understand clinical reasoning processes, and he made significant contributions to the application of standardized schemas in the teaching of clinical diagnostic skills in cardiology.
"Being appointed at the HoPingKong Center was like joining a
family, focused on how we can connect with patients and truly help
them. It allowed me the opportunity to study how we can be better
doctors, and in the process, made me grow into a better clinician,
teacher, researcher and person" ~ previous Clinician-Scholar Fellow