Dr. Lisa Isaac is the new Director of Equity, Diversity and Inclusion

The Department of Anesthesiology & Pain Medicine is excited to announce that Dr. Lisa Isaac is the department's new Director of Equity, Diversity and Inclusion.

Background

Dr. Lisa Isaac is an associate professor at the Department of Anesthesiology & Pain Medicine in the University of Toronto’s Temerty Faculty of Medicine. 

Her research and professional interests focus on the transition from acute to chronic pain in children, implementing bioinformatics in healthcare, and the promotion of equity, diversity and inclusion in healthcare. 

Career Highlights

Dr. Isaac completed her pediatric anesthesia and intensive care fellowship at the Montreal Children’s Hospital and McGill University. Today, she is a pediatric anesthesiologist on staff at the Hospital for Sick Children. 

At SickKids, she is the medical director of the first transitional pain service for children (pTPS) - a role she established. The Department of Anesthesiology & Pain Medicine recognized her for this work in 2021 by giving her the Faculty Clinical Excellence Award. She's a key member of an initiative funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) to co-develop pain services with patients with lived experience, from which she will continue to expand and improve the pTPS. 

Additionally, Dr. Isaac is the pediatric pain fellowship coordinator, allowing her to welcome and support international trainees. Critically, she developed a curriculum to train pediatricians and anesthesiologists, making UofT's Department of Anesthesiology & Pain Medicine to become the first pediatric pain fellowship in Canada to do so.

Outside of teaching, she sits on the executive of the Ontario Chronic Pain Network and is a co-lead of the Clinical Care Committee, where she is a proponent of an initiative to increase access to and equalize pain care across the province. 

Work in EDI

Since 2020, Dr. Isaac has been a champion and trainer of equity, diversity and inclusion (EDI) in Perioperative Services at the Hospital for Sick Children. In 2021, she led the EDI Committee at the Department of Anesthesia and Pain Medicine, Hospital for Sick Children. In that role, she developed workshops and led initiatives to educate healthcare workers about anti-racism at the hospital. She has also collaborated on and delivered several allyship and anti-racism workshops to educate and train colleagues about important EDI concepts and is actively involved in promoting and disseminating knowledge of EDI concepts.

Future Plans

As the incoming director of EDI, Dr. Isaac will provide leadership, vision and advocacy by aligning the department with the Temerty Faculty of Medicine’s Office of Inclusion and Diversity. She is charged with engaging and leading faculty and trainees to promote and successfully implement the EDI strategic planning priorities to fruition. Other plans include undertaking activities to optimize and ensure that faculty, trainees, and support staff can foster a sense of professional well-being and quality of life. Overall, she will work to make the department a place where everyone can thrive in their careers, feel valued and be respected. 

In the coming months, Dr. Isaac will collaborate with all faculty and learners to identify EDI issues affecting clinical and academic practice within the department, and to view all aspects of departmental affairs through an EDI lens. She will also engage with the department to ensure that mentorship programs that support and encourage diversity are readily accessible. Critically, Dr. Isaac plans to benchmark important EDI strategies within the department and to determine best practices to be implemented.