Board of Directors

Debbie Fischer is an Executive in Residence at the Rotman School of Business and has taught at the Rotman Executive Leadership Development Program at the University of Toronto. She consults in organizational change and system and digital transformation in health care and public sectors as an Executive Associate with KPMG. Debbie has a BSc (Neurobiology and Comparative Physiology) from McGill University and MHA from the University of Ottawa. She also holds CHRE and ICD.D designations.

Debbie was an Executive Vice-President, Strategy and Organizational Development at Mount Sinai Hospital in Toronto. In this role, she spearheaded strategic partnership initiatives and programs that led to the hospital's national recognition for organizational quality and wellness, diversity, and corporate culture.

While continuing to maintain an active role at Mount Sinai, she took a three-year secondment to Ontario's Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care as Assistant Deputy Minister, Transition to lead a major transformation initiative of the entire ministry.

Previously, Debbie held a number of senior consulting and management positions in international professional services firms. She has extensive experience in strategy, organizational development and leadership, restructuring and integration, and change management. She has led innovative transformations in both the health care and corporate sectors.

Debbie has served or serves on several boards including the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), Joule, the Ontario Education Collaborative Marketplace (OECM), North York General Hospital, OMERS, NAPRA, Prodemnity and the Ontario Centres of Excellence. She has been recognized with a number of awards, including the Telfer Medal from the University of Ottawa, Arbor award from the University of Toronto and a public sector leadership award from the Institute of Public Administration.

Stephen Goldsmith brings a wealth of business development and growth experience, both in the health care sector and in other industries. His years of progressive experience leading the business development function at Sinai Health and his current role as VP, Business Development and Strategic Partnerships at EHN Canada, demonstrate his ability to assess business opportunities, engage business and clinical partners, and lead the implementation of business development plans. He understands the importance of engaging private and public sector stakeholders. He has held other board governance roles that position him to be a strong contributor to the OMD Board.

Dr. Zainab Abdurrahman (she/her) is the Past President of the Ontario Medical Association and a practicing allergist and clinical immunologist in the Greater Toronto Area. She serves as an Assistant Clinical Professor of the School of Medicine at the Toronto Metropolitan University, and an adjunct Assistant Clinical Professor in Pediatrics at McMaster University.

Dr. Abdurrahman earned her Doctor of Medicine from the University of Toronto and completed her pediatrics residency and subspecialty training in Allergy and Clinical Immunology at McMaster University. She also holds a Master's degree in Statistics with a specialization in Biostatistics.

Deeply committed to advancing health equity, she has been a key contributor to the Black Scientists Taskforce on COVID-19 Vaccination Equity and the Black Health & Vaccine Initiative, in partnership with the Black Physicians' Association of Ontario (BPAO).

Beyond equity work, Dr. Abdurrahman is passionate about the intersection of technology and medicine. She is dedicated to leveraging innovation to enhance patient care and is a strong advocate for advancing the medical profession through inclusive leadership and systemic change.

Dr. Khalid Azzam is a physician leader with over two decades of experience driving transformative changes across academic institutions and healthcare systems. He currently holds the position of the physician-in-chief at Hamilton Health Sciences. Dr. Azzam is dedicated to enhancing physician engagement, operational efficiency, system performance, health equity and patient outcomes.

As a professor of medicine at McMaster University, he actively contributes to medical education, with interests in change leadership, quality improvement, patient safety, and diagnostic excellence. Dr. Azzam earned his MBBS in medicine and surgery from the University of Rajasthan and completed his internal medicine training at the University at Buffalo. He also holds an MSc in Healthcare Quality and Safety Management from the Jefferson College of Population Health. Dr. Azzam is a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians of Canada in both internal medicine and general internal medicine. Additionally, he is a fellow of the American College of Physicians and serves as the governor of its Ontario Chapter. He also holds the Certified Physician Executive designation from the American Association for Physician Leadership. Since 2007, Dr. Azzam has maintained an active clinical practice in general internal medicine, providing both inpatient and outpatient care to patients in the Greater Hamilton Area.

Dr. Cherniak is an emergency physician with training in family medicine and global public health. Over the last 15 years, he has worked in a variety of clinical settings and held leadership roles in organizations around the world, learning about structural avenues for building and designing health systems, the technologies that can underpin rapid change to improve physician practices, and novel innovations to enhance access to care.

Bill is extremely knowledgeable about the potential of future-oriented technology to contribute to better health system and patient outcomes. Since 2012, he has been the Board Chair of Bridge to Health Medical and Dental, a charity that he co-founded and for which he served as the voluntary Executive Director for seven years. Over this period of time, he led the team to empower over 200 volunteers from around the world to train over 800 healthcare workers from low- and middle-income countries, while also providing free healthcare services to over 50,000 people across Uganda and Kenya. In parallel, the charity conducted advanced research into point-of-care ultrasound, built a cloud-based teleradiology program that became the focus of an in-depth New York Times article, and helped partners implement cervical cancer screen and treat programs, leveraging advanced cryotherapy devices still in use today.

More recently, he founded a digital health company called Rocket Doctor. Over the last 4 years, the company has empowered more than 300 doctors across Canada to provide care to more than 300,000 patients. Rocket Doctor moved quickly, and adjusted with the changing dynamics of care, empowering clinicians with a novel model and cloud-based technology to make the practice of medicine smoother and more efficient, while in parallel helping patients connect. The company is on the cutting edge of AI/machine learning and large language models, working on a number of different greenfield initiatives around triage for appropriateness for virtual care, best matching of patient and provider, data summarization, interoperability, automation and search.

Between his experience in managing and serving on boards, practicing as a clinician and remaining at the cutting edge of digital health technology, Bill works effectively with teams to position their organizations into digital health innovation leaders.

Mamta Gautam, MD, MBA, FRCPC, CPDC, CCPE, CPE is an internationally renowned psychiatrist, consultant, certified coach, author and speaker. Focused on Professional Health and Well-being since 1990, she is a trailblazer in this field and is known as the “The Doctor’s Doctor”. She holds leadership roles in several national medical organizations to advise on issues related to Physician Wellbeing. In the past 2 decades, she has expanded her work to include Leadership Development, to better address system-level factors that impact the wellbeing of healthcare workers. She has created podcasts and videos on these topics, and authored articles, book chapters, and 2 international best-selling books. She brings this knowledge and expertise to PEAK MD, through which she delivers keynote presentations and workshops, consults with healthcare organizations and coaches senior medical leaders internationally.

Dr. Gautam is committed to advancing diversity in medicine and facilitates leadership development for women in medicine. She has developed and co-leads Momentum, a 6-day retreat for women in medicine; and recently founded The Raft, an accredited online platform for leadership development, peer support and community for women physicians.

Excited by the increased use of technology in healthcare, she is driven to ensure that this transformation fulfills the promise of positive change. While technology has been cited in the past as a leading cause of burnout for healthcare providers, she hopes to focus on how technology can be leveraged to better support physicians in their workday, reduce burnout, drive meaningful change and improve patient health outcomes.

Dr. Gautam is the recipient of numerous prestigious awards for her innovative work to support and mentor her healthcare colleagues. She is the inaugural recipient of both the 2011 CMA Physician Misericordia Award, as well as the 2023 AFMC Wellness Award. She has been awarded Distinguished Fellowships in both the Canadian and American Psychiatric Associations.

Dr. Rosemarie Lall is a respected family physician, health system leader, and digital health advocate with over two decades of clinical and governance experience in Scarborough. She is the Medical Lead at the Platinum Medical Family Health Organization and a Peer Leader with OntarioMD, where she contributes to advancing digital innovation in primary care. She also serves as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Family and Community Medicine at the University of Toronto, where she mentors postgraduate learners and leads research initiatives as the Research Site Director at Scarborough Hospital.

Dr. Lall holds a Doctor of Medicine from Queen’s University and a Master of Public Health from the University of Toronto. She has further honed her leadership skills through certificates from the OCFP Leadership Academy and the Rotman School of Management. Her commitment to system improvement and education is evident through her many roles, including serving on the executive committee of the Department of Family and Community Medicine at Scarborough Health Network and participating in numerous digital health working groups and provincial advisory panels.

A strong advocate for digital tools that ease clinician burden and improve patient care, Dr. Lall has played key roles in key digital health initiatives. Dr. Lall serves as Vice Chair of the Ontario Primary Care Collaborative and will assume the role of Chair in October 2025. She is also Co-Chair of the Scarborough Family Physicians Network and a committee member of Patients Before Paperwork, all of which focus on strengthening primary care across the region.

In recognition of her leadership and impact, she was awarded the inaugural Lawrence S. Erlick Award in 2024 for outstanding contributions to family medicine, education, research, and community service. Her collaborative style, system insight, and passion for equitable care have made her a trusted voice in shaping Ontario’s digital health landscape. Additionally, Dr. Lall has recently been presented with the 2024 OMD Luminary Award - Woman Leader in Health Technology.

Dr. Lall brings a blend of clinical excellence, strategic foresight, and a deep commitment to collaborative leadership. Whether guiding future physicians, advising on provincial digital health initiatives, or leading system-wide change, she remains grounded in her belief that better tools and stronger partnerships lead to better patient care.

Lucie Laplante is a CPA, CGA and has many years of experience at the CFO level in large telecommunications and data-driven organizations. She has significant governance experience as an Independent Board Member and Audit Chair. She currently serves as Chair of the Finance, Audit and Risk Committee of OntarioMD, is the Chair of the Audit Committee at Lumine Group, a publicly traded telecommunications company (LMN.V), and is a past Chair of the Audit and Investment Committee of CANARIE, a federally funded organization whose purpose is to design, and drive the adoption of digital infrastructure for Canada’s research and education communities.

Lucie currently serves as the CFO of Beanfield Technologies, a Canadian provider of Business and Residential telecommunications services, delivered over a best-in-class independent fibre network.

Lucie is a digitally savvy financial executive, is fluently bilingual and has led many initiatives around building audit committees and diversity programs at the governance level.

Over the past 36 years, Darren Larsen has been a dedicated comprehensive care family physician and an influential leader in health system transformation and digital health across Canada. His work spans provincial and national initiatives, with significant contributions to digital innovation, physician leadership, primary care reform, and quality improvement.

Darren has advised and contributed to numerous commissions and agencies, including the Ontario Ministry of Health, OntarioMD, Canada Health Infoway, Ontario Health (Quality, Digital Services, and Cancer Care), and the Ontario and Canadian Medical Associations. He is the former Chair of the Cancer Quality Council of Ontario and is Chair of the Board for the Canadian Partnership Against Cancer, (federal cancer prevention and control agency).

In addition to clinical leadership, Darren has held executive roles at Accenture and TELUS Health and now provides strategic guidance as medical advisor to KPMG, PWC, Salesforce, and BlueXblue Consulting. His expertise lies in modernizing primary care, advancing health data and analytics, applying AI in clinical settings, and scaling digital technology adoption.

Darren holds a BSc from the University of Alberta, an MD from the University of Calgary, and completed his residency at the University of Ottawa. He also earned a Master's Certificate in Physician Leadership from the Schulich School of Executive Management at York University.

He continues to practice part-time in urgent care in Collingwood, Ontario, and is a passionate educator with faculty appointments as Adjunct Professor with the Institute for Health Policy, Management and Evaluation, Dalla Lana School of Public Health and Lecturer in the Department of Family and Community Medicine and at the University of Toronto

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Craig MacInnis has 30 years of experience building and advising successful technology ventures in the healthcare, education, and MedTech sectors.  As an entrepreneur and CEO, Craig has led technology startups through growth and expansion, leading to successful exits.  He has also guided software companies in driving recurring revenue growth by developing and implementing effective business development strategies.  Craig chairs the Governance and HR Committee with OntarioMD.