Rachel Spitzer MD MPH FRCS(C)

Biography

Dr. Rachel Spitzer grew up in Montreal and Toronto and obtained her BSc at McGill University in Montreal. Subsequently, she attended McMaster University medical school in Hamilton, from where she returned to Toronto to pursue residency training in Obstetrics and Gynecology at the University of Toronto. This was followed by fellowship training at The Hospital for Sick Children in Pediatric and Adolescent Gynecology where her clinical and research interests focus on complex contraception and adolescent pregnancy. Rachel went on to obtain her Master’s in Public Health at Harvard University in 2007/2008 with a concentration in International Health and an interdisciplinary concentration in Women and Gender Health. Rachel returned to Toronto as Assistant Professor in the department of Ob/Gyn at the University of Toronto in the summer of 2008 and was Faculty Lead for Global Health in the Undergraduate Medical Program from 2011-2016 and became Vice Chair of Global Health in the department of ObGyn in 2014. In 2015 she was promoted to Associate Professor in the department. Rachel is cross appointed to the Dalla Lana School of Public Health at U of T. She combines clinical practice of general and pediatric and adolescent Obstetrics and Gynecology with the practice and teaching of global women’s health. In 2017, Rachel successfully began Canada’s first fellowship program in Global Women’s Health and Equity, with a local equity clinic, and has developed resident curriculum in a complementary fashion as well to teach all level of trainees about needs of global populations as well as of locally underserved and global populations.

Quote from the Winner

I am humbled and honoured to receive this award and very grateful to those who thought to nominate me for it. I am thrilled to accept it and the generous funds accompanying it, which have been donated to support our department's ongoing collaboration with the AMPATH program in Eldoret, Kenya. This award further honours the incredible and international team with whom I work and serves to inspire us to continue to work and innovate to improve reproductive care for underserved populations locally and globally.

About the Award

The Robert Sheppard Award for Health Equity and Social Justice was established in 2016 in honour of Dr. Robert Sheppard who served as Associate Dean, Postgraduate Medicine. Dr. Sheppard was deeply committed to volunteering initiatives in his community after retiring from medicine. This award recognizes the outstanding contributions of faculty members and postgraduate trainees in the development and/or implementation of activities, programs or research related to social justice and health equity in faculty development or postgraduate medical education.