OCFP 2021 Medical Student of the year has Sioux Lookout connection
Tim Brody - Editor
Felicia Lotsios of Ignace has been named the 2021 Medical Student of the Year by the Ontario College of Family Physicians (OCFP).
The College shared that the honour recognizes a medical student who is an emerging leader and advocate for family medicine and has made contributions to family medicine and/or primary care in areas such as patient care, advocacy, community service, peer support, research, and education. Nominators may be peers, faculty, or physicians.
“Ms. Lotsios leadership and advocacy in finding solutions to social and health problems in her community, together with her focus on improving her knowledge to better care for Northern Ontario patients, highlights her commitment to family medicine,” said Dr. Elizabeth Muggah, OCFP President. “I am pleased to recognize her accomplishments with this Award.”
The Award was presented virtually at the OCFP Awards Ceremony on November 10, 2021.
Lotsios said she was honoured and humbled to be recognized among so many amazing medical students in Ontario.
“Growing up in the township of Ignace, Felicia Lotsios always knew rural family medicine was her calling. She credits her work at the Mary Berglund Community Health Centre Hub and the interprofessional team there for spurring her to pursue a career journey in medicine,” a Nov. 12 media release issued by the Ontario College of Family Physicians informed.
“As a third-year medical student at the Northern Ontario School of Medicine (NOSM), she completed an eight-month comprehensive community clerkship in Sioux Lookout. Working with family physician preceptors, she cared for patients in a variety of settings, including in nursing stations, their homes, the fracture clinic, and the emergency department at the Sioux Lookout Meno Ya Win Health Centre, as well as fly-in Indigenous communities such as Muskrat Dam and Bearskin Lake. Now in her fourth year, her electives include cardiology and rural family medicine (travelling North to Summer Beaver and North Spirit Lake) – specialities that will serve her in continuing to care for Northern Ontario patients,” the College added.
Lotsios said her time in Sioux Lookout solidified her path to pursue medical training in rural family medicine, adding that she is thankful every day to all the physicians who inspired her and continue to do so.
She added, “I loved my time in Sioux Lookout and being welcome to so many surrounding communities (specifically to recognize Muskrat Dam, Bearskin Lake, Summer Beaver, and North Spirit Lake) so much that I chose to return on elective rotations in my fourth-year.”
“Felicia is driven by her sense of community, and she enthusiastically takes on leadership roles so she can make a difference,” said fellow NOSM student Alison Lewis. “She always strives to do more for her patients which has led her to advocate for greater change beyond what can be done in the clinic.”
Lotsios is the first medical student to serve on the College of Family Physicians of Canada’s Social Accountability Working Group, which advises family physicians on addressing social accountability in their practices.
The Ontario College of Family Physicians represents more than 15,000 family physicians across the province.