Dr. Vincent Piguet, Department Division Director, Dermatology
I hope everyone is holding up well as we mark six months into the COVID-19 pandemic and enter a second wave. Although we are adjusting to the ‘new normal’, these times are challenging and I would like to express gratitude to all members of the Division of Dermatology, faculty, trainees and administrators, for their perseverance and commitment to our patients, our learners, and to supporting the program in general.
On a much more positive note, we are fortunate to welcome Dr. Yvette Miller-Monthrope back to the Division after completing her pathology residency – a remarkable achievement, congratulations Yvette and welcome back!
With many of us having complex personal situations, either having sent our children back to school, or facilitating their online learning from home, or having to care for elderly or high risk relatives, I know you are faced with additional challenges as a result of COVID-19. I see many of our faculty and trainees balancing caregiving and child educational pressures with work duties, a difficult task at the best of times and one I have experienced firsthand, and I commend you for your continued dedication to your clinical teaching, research, and patient care.
Something I do not have firsthand experience with as a white physician, are the racial injustices that people of colour, including medical students, residents, fellows and faculty in these communities experience every day. Although not a new phenomenon, this crisis has emerged as a global issue amidst the pandemic with ongoing protests against anti-Black racism around the world. Canada, although often compared favorably to the United States, is not immune to systemic racism and the Toronto Board of Health recently voted unanimously to declare anti-Black racism a public health crisis. The anti-Black and anti-Indigenous racism that persists is unacceptable, and the Division of Dermatology is committed to supporting policies and programs that reduce racism and inequality within the healthcare system, with an emphasis on our own medical dermatology community. We are fortunate to have a very diverse dermatology faculty who have been critically reflecting on our delivery of health care and advocating for increased diversity in medical education since long before these issues gathered widespread attention – thank you for your enduring efforts to establish an environment of inclusion and equity.
Finally, I would like to acknowledge our faculty members who have received an academic promotion from the University of Toronto, as well as those whose research has earned them grants or other recognition. Congratulations as well to our faculty and residents who received the annual Division of Dermatology awards for administrative and teaching excellence – well done all!
