Transforming Health for Everyone: Strengthening Medical Curriculum in an era of Truth, Reconciliation and Inclusion 

Derek K Thompson – Čaabať Bookwilla | Suhiltun is from the diitiidʔaaʔtx̣ – Ditidaht First Nation, one of fourteen Nuuchahnulth communities along the west coast of Vancouver Island. 

Derek is the Director, Indigenous Engagement for the UBC Faculty of Medicine, and he brings over 30 years of experience working with First Nations organizations and communities across the province and country to achieve wellness through health and related services. 

His mission is to foster trust and mutual respect amongst students, staff and faculty in an effort to create an understanding of the commitments made by the Faculty of Medicine to strengthen the relationship with Indigenous peoples and communities. 

Dr. Nadine Caron is a trailblazing surgeon, scholar, and advocate whose transformative leadership has reshaped the landscape of Indigenous health in Canada. A member of the Sagamok Anishnawbek First Nation, Dr. Caron made history as the first female First Nations graduate of the UBC Faculty of Medicine and the first female Indigenous general surgeon in Canada.

As co-director of the UBC Centre for Excellence in Indigenous Health and a professor in the Department of Surgery and Northern Medical Program (delivered in partnership with the University of Northern British Columbia), Dr. Caron is dedicated to advancing culturally safe and equitable care across rural, remote, and Indigenous communities. Her work as a surgical oncologist in northern British Columbia has driven groundbreaking initiatives in cancer research, personalized medicine, and health-care delivery that address systemic health inequities.

In 2020, she was appointed the inaugural First Nations Health Authority Chair in Cancer and Wellness at UBC, where she is developing strategies to understand, prevent, and address cancer among Indigenous peoples. A co-founder of the UBC Centre for Excellence in Indigenous Health and a leader in establishing the UBC Indigenous Public Health Program—Canada’s first Indigenous-focused graduate certificate in public health—Dr. Caron continues to shape national models for culturally informed medical education and practice.

She also directs the Northern BC BioBank Initiative, expanding opportunities for northern and Indigenous communities to participate in clinical and genomic research. Her affiliations include the Michael Smith Genome Sciences Centre at BC Cancer and the Bloomberg School of Public Health at Johns Hopkins University.

In 2025, Dr. Caron was inducted into the Canadian Medical Hall of Fame in recognition of her outstanding leadership and contributions to medicine and the health sciences—honouring a career devoted to equity, reconciliation, and improving health outcomes for Indigenous peoples and communities across Canada.

Lauren is Haida and Cree-Metis. Their paternal family is registered with Skidegate of the Haida Nation, of the Juus Clan from the Youngs and Collinsons and their maternal family are of mixed settler and Red River Metis descent. Family names include Desmarais, Clermont, and Delorme. Lauren’s involvement in the MMIWG movement has forged deep connections with urban Indigenous community particularly in the DTES where they continue to volunteer. Lauren is a strong advocate for liberatory justice that centers harm reduction, intersectional feminism and abolitionist teachings.

Lauren has over a decade of experience in public relations, not-for-profit governance, and front-line response specializing in sexual and gender-based violence response and prevention education. They grew up on the lands of the Katzie, Kwantlen, Stz’uminus, and Stolo, then moved to shared Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh territory to attend UBC in 2008 and have been a guest on these lands ever since and continue to build relationships with the host nations. Their studies included gender, race and social justice theory, and focused on psychology and creative writing. Lauren continues to volunteer within community, including their role as Chair of the Board of Directors of WISH Drop-In Centre, a not-for-profit in the DTES that offers support and advocacy for street-based sex workers grounded in the values of choice, dignity and respect. Additionally, they are the elected President of the Association of Administrative and Professional Staff (AAPS), representing 6,500 staff across both campuses of UBC. Lauren has worked at UBC for almost 8 years, previously at the Sauder School of Business and the Sexual Violence Prevention and Response Office (SVPRO).

Lauren has been with CTLT for almost 3 years, bringing an intersectional lens to curriculum design, professional development and conversations about classroom climate.

Dr. Rose Hatala is a general internist at St. Paul’s Hospital and a Professor in the Department of Medicine at UBC. She completed her clinical training, as well as her MSc focused on educational research, at McMaster University and was clerkship director for internal medicine.

Dr. Hatala came to UBC in 2003 and was the Associate Program Director for the UBC Internal Medicine Residency Program from 2005-2015. She is currently the co-chair of the RCPSC oral examination in internal medicine. Since September 2015, Dr. Hatala is the Director of the Centre for Health Education Scholarship’s (CHES’) Clinical Educator Fellowship. She has extensive front-line experience as a clinical educator for undergraduate and postgraduate learners, in addition to her experience with both in-training and high-stakes assessment methods.

Shannon Field (MSc.) is Red River Métis and mixed European. Shannon grew up on the beautiful ancestral, unceded lands of the hən̓q̓əmin̓əm̓ speaking Musqueam people in Richmond, BC. Professionally, she has worked as a kinesiologist, group fitness leader, and worked in various government and health authority offices in the area of Indigenous health. She currently works as the Indigenous Initiatives Manager for the UBC Department of Physical Therapy, where she supports current and prospective Indigenous students, promotes education on anti-racism and Indigenous cultural safety, and advocates for the program to be more inclusive of Indigenous knowledges, histories, and experiences.

Dr. Maï is the Associate Director of the Office of Respectful Environments, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (REDI) in the Faculty of Medicine. She provides leadership to the REDI team in the development and delivery of our education and training programming. She collaborates with leaders in departments, centres, and administration units, and staff, and faculty to identify institutional and individual barriers to inclusion and to foster long-term socio-cultural change towards justice, equity, decolonization, indigenization, and inclusion (JEDII). Previously, she worked at the Equity & Inclusion Office at UBC, where she led initiatives such as the JEDII STEM Series and the IBPOC STEM Network and supported the integration of the JEDII principles into teaching, research, and faculty and staff recruitment. Prior to her work at UBC, she was a faculty member at Quest University Canada for over a decade, teaching interdisciplinary courses in conservation and geography and advocating for transparency, equity, and inclusion through various leadership roles.

Maï, a second-generation immigrant from Japan, holds an MSc in Zoology from the University of Oxford and a PhD in Geography from the University of Victoria. As an interdisciplinary scholar, she has published over 40 articles in academic fields such as conservation, geography, zoology, education, behavioral ecology, economics, and psychology. She is grateful for having spent most of her life on the traditional, ancestral, and unceded territories of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh Úxwumixw (Squamish), səlilwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh), and Stó:lō Nations.

Madison Tardif is an Equity Advisor at the Office of Respectful Environments, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (REDI) within the Faculty of Medicine. In her capacity at REDI, she offers strategic guidance and supports capacity-building for department heads, faculty, staff, and students who are dedicated to implementing decolonization, anti-racism, and inclusive practices.