Our Team
The Board of Directors have come together from across the region to incorporate the East Toronto Family Practice Network (EasT-FPN) as a non-profit corporation, as of September 2019.
Sharleen Ahmed - Board Chair - Sr. Clinical Program Director, Unity Health, EasT-FPN Governance Committee Co-Lead
Sharleen Ahmed is passionate about governance, holding the ICD.D designation. She actively volunteers and serves on several boards, including the Governing Council for the University of Toronto, as Vice Chair of the Board for Exhibition Place City of Toronto, and the East Toronto Family Practice Network Board since 2021.
Sharleen is a seasoned healthcare administrator with over 20 years of experience in healthcare and social services. She holds a Master of Social Work and a Master of Health Administration. As a strategic and results-driven leader, she is dedicated to operational excellence, continuous quality improvement, and enhancing both patient care and staff experience. Ms. Ahmed currently works at Unity Health, Sr. Clinical Program Director for Seniors Health and Ambulatory Care.
Deb Keen - Consultant, Cancer Prevention and Care
Deb is an experienced Director with a demonstrated history of working in health care and public health. Most recently, Deb worked at the Canadian Partnership Against Cancer focused on partnering with First Nations, Inuit and Métis governments, organizations and communities across Canada to decrease cancer for indigenous people. In addition, Deb worked with provinces, territories, primary care providers, health care professional associations, researchers and patients across Canada on cancer prevention, research and the patient journey. Past public health experience also includes a focus on local policy development for tobacco control.
Deb has a Degree in Nursing with a Master’s in Public Administration with much experience working in collaboration with others on policy development and healthcare system change in Canada.
Catherine Yu, MSc, MD, FCFP
Chief and Program Medical Director, Family and Community Medicine, Michael Garron Hospital Assistant Professor & Engagement Lead, Office of Health Systems Partnerships, University of Toronto Medical Director, Thorncliffe Park & Flemingdon CHC
Dr. Catherine Yu is a highly accomplished physician leader, educator, and academic with deep expertise in integrated care models and health systems design. She serves as the Chief and Program Medical Director of the Department of Family and Community Medicine at Michael Garron Hospital and is the Medical Director of Health Access Thorncliffe Park and Flemingdon Community Health Centre—two collaborative primary care initiatives serving some of Toronto’s most diverse communities.
Dr. Yu was the founding Chair and now current board member of the East Toronto Family Practice Network, where she helped pioneer innovative primary care networks to better address complex community health needs. She also serves as the Engagement Lead for the University of Toronto’s Office of Health Systems Partnerships. As an Assistant Professor at the University of Toronto Department of Family and Community Medicine, she teaches health systems leadership and family medicine, with her academic work focusing on health equity, collaborative care, and workforce planning.
With extensive experience in comprehensive family and emergency medicine, Dr. Yu has led several major system-level initiatives aimed at improving access and integration across East Toronto. Most recently, she spearheaded the development of the East Toronto Primary Care
Navigation Clinic (ET-PCNC) embedded within Michael Garron Hospital that connects patients without a primary care provider to timely care and longitudinal attachment through community partners. She has also led school-based health programs in high-priority neighborhoods and coordinated community health integration efforts during the COVID-19 pandemic. Her leadership has been recognized with multiple honours, including the University of Toronto Faculty Impact Award and the Ontario College of Family Physicians Award of Excellence.
Dr. Edward Kucharski - Family Physician, Casey House, EasT-FPN Governance Committee Co-Lead
Dr. Edward Kucharski is Chief Medical Officer and Primary Care Lead for Casey House Hospital. He is also an active staff member on Toronto Grace's Palliative Care Unit. Previously, Dr. Kucharski was a Regional Primary Care Lead for Ontario Health-Cancer Care Ontario and the Toronto Central Regional Cancer Program and continues his work as a surveyor for Accreditation Canada. In 2015, Dr. Kucharski was recognized by The Change Foundation as one of Ontario's 20 Faces of Change for innovative and patient-centred initiatives to improve cancer screening for 2SLGBTQIA+, newcomer, and homeless communities. And more recently in 2024, he received the DFCM Award of Excellence for Social Responsibility. Dr. Kucharski holds his MD degree from the University of Ottawa and completed his residency in Family Medicine at the University of Toronto
Dr. Karen Chu - Family Physician, Bridgepoint FHO/FHT, EasT-FPN President
Dr. Karen Chu is a family physician who has practiced in East Toronto for more than 25 years. Beginning with a rural residency in New Brunswick, she experienced how cradle‑to‑grave care can anchor a community. She is the Medical Director of the Bridgepoint Family Health Team, an interdisciplinary primary care model built on values of Integrity, Collaboration, Respect, Innovation, and Fun!
She has been teaching medical students and residents, as well as nursing, pharmacy, and nurse practitioner learners since 1999, and is a lecturer in the Department of Family and Community Medicine at the University of Toronto.
Her career has spanned rural and urban Ontario, from Sioux Lookout to downtown Toronto, and included emergency departments, solo practice, fee‑for‑service, and salaried team‑based models of care. These experiences with vastly differing resources fuel her commitment to integrated, team‑based primary care for both East Toronto residents and clinicians—so care is seamless, equitable, and rooted in connection.
A founding board member, she is the current President of the East Toronto Family Practice Network and Vice‑Chair of the Ontario Primary Care Council. Dr. Chu champions inclusive dialogue and collaboration across diverse models of care. She is dedicated to engaging clinicians to work together as one team while feeling valued. Her goal is to amplify provider voices to identify barriers, drive system change, and build an equity‑focused primary care system for all.
Dr. Katherine Gibson - Family Physician, Access Alliance Multicultural Health and Community Services
Dr. Katherine Gibson is a family physician at Access Alliance Multicultural Health and Community Services. Prior to her medical training, she obtained a Masters in Public Health from the University of Toronto. She subsequently completed her medical school at the University of Calgary, and family medicine residency at Queen’s University. She then served as a Medical Officer with the Canadian Armed Forces, during which time she had the opportunity to work across Canada as well as in Panama, El Salvador, Lebanon, Iraq and the Netherlands.
Upon completion of her military service, she began working as a family physician in the CHC sector and continues to work with a primarily newcomer patient population in her current practice. She is a mother to two energetic young boys and her hobbies include traveling and being outdoors. She is looking forward to the opportunity to work with the EasT-FPN Board of Directors to address some of the challenges and continue to build initiatives to improve primary care at the community level.
Dr. Kyle Vojdani - Chief and Medical Director of Emergency Department, MGH
Dr. Kyle Vojdani hails from the east coast where he completed his medical training at Memorial University of Newfoundland and Residency and Fellowship training in Emergency Medicine at Dalhousie University. Dr. Vojdani is the Chief and Medical Director of the Emergency Department at Michael Garron Hospital and is an Assistant Professor at the University of Toronto. He has overseen significant growth and innovation in the Emergency Department targeting response to community care gaps and has helped to guide the ED team through the challenges of multiple critical periods. Under Dr. Vojdani’s leadership, the Emergency department has introduced several provincial and national leading innovations and has seen improvement in several key quality, staff/physician engagement and performance metrics, moving the MGH Emergency department into the 5 top provincially in provincial performance metrics in 2023.
Dr. Vojdani has held multiple leadership roles both at MGH and in the private sector for over a decade. He has been the recipient of multiple teaching awards and most recently the Excellence in New Leadership award through DFCM at the University of Toronto in 2021. He is a proud board member with East-FPN, helping bring together the large and vibrant primary care network in East Toronto.
Residing in the east end with his wife and three children, Dr. Vojdani is deeply invested in supporting MGH in its ongoing growth as it works to continue to meet the needs of our vibrant community and partners.
Dr. Marco Lo - Family Physician, Magenta Health FHO, Secretariat & EasT-FPN Vice Chair
Dr. Marco Lo is a family physician and co-founder of Magenta Health. He has been practicing for 15 years and has served on the EasT-FPN board since its inception, proud of its growth and the many community contributions that have shaped it.
Marco has a strong interest in technology as a tool to improve patient and clinician experiences, and in reducing barriers to integrated care. His latest project explores how family doctors can exponentially increase patient attachment by working with interprofessional team members.
Dr. Mary Jane Podnieks - Family Physician, Albany Medical Clinic
Dr. Mary Jane Podnieks is a Family Physician who has been in practice since 2011 at the Albany Medical Clinic. She has 10 years' experience working in Long Term Care at Chester Village and Belmont House before becoming Active Staff at Michael Garron Hospital, Complex Continuing Care Unit and MGH Transitional Care Unit in 2020.
She has been a lecturer at the University of Toronto Temerty Faculty of Medicine since 2024, actively involved with Medical Students CC3 and CC4 and Family Practice residents.
Dr. Podnieks joined the East FPN Board of Directors in 2022 and continues to be involved with East FPN's various projects.
She splits her time between Toronto and Prince Edward County where she enjoys "County Life," such as food and wine, and services their small community hospital ER in Picton.
Tim Hill - Litigator, Aird and Berlis LLP
Tim Hill is a litigation lawyer with more than 30 years of experience practising at Toronto law firm, Aird & Berlis LLP, where he has been a member of the firm's 5-member Executive Committee for more than 15 years. Tim and his wife of 37 years raised their three children in the east end of Toronto where they have benefitted from the health services provided by the South East Family Health Team and by the health practitioners at Michael Garron Hospital.
Dr. Michael Chu - Family Physician, Scarborough FHO/Scarborough Academic Family Health Team
Dr. Michael Chu is a Family Physician with over 30 years of experience, having practiced across diverse care models. He currently serves as Co-Chair of the Family Physician and Specialist Collaborative in East Toronto and is the Lead Physician of the Scarborough FHO
Dr. Chu has also contributed his leadership as a current or past board member with several organizations, including the EasT-FPN, Scarborough Family Physicians Network, Scarborough Academic Family Health Team, the Collaborative Council of the Scarborough OHT, and OCCMF. Beyond clinical practice and governance, he is a dedicated preceptor for Nurse Practitioner students and has served as a medical missionary in Kenya.
Wanda Morvay - CPA, CA, EasT-FPN Treasurer
Wanda very recently retired on August 1, 2025! For the last 13 years of her career, she loved serving as the General Manager and CFO for the Albany Medical Clinic (in the west end of East Toronto) – a mainly FHO practice of 40 family physicians, 35 specialists and about 100 staff supporting over 50,000 patients in family practice including Diagnostic Imaging and OHIP physiotherapy. As a CPA, CA, Wanda currently serves on the EasT-FPN Board (and has been since almost inception). Wanda has also held the role of EasT-FPN’s Treasurer since inception.
Wanda views the goal of achieving sustainable funding for EasT-FPN as within reach, alongside significant changes to health care in Ontario and the role of EasT-FPN. She is excited to continue to see EasT-FPN evolve and mature over the next few years!
Sarah Downey - President and CEO, Centre for Addiction and Mental Health
Sarah Downey is a senior healthcare leader whose career spans 25+ years across a broad range of hospitals including community, academic, and complex multi-institutional organizations. In 2022, Sarah was appointed President and CEO of the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH), Canada’s largest mental health and addiction teaching hospital and a world leading research centre in this field.
Sarah has held progressive leadership positions at CAMH, University Health Network, The Ottawa Hospital and Michael Garron Hospital. She has made numerous contributions to health care in Ontario through her leadership of cancer and mental health programs, capital and strategic planning, workplace safety and wellness, and community building.
Dr. Shameela Karmali-Rawji - Family Physician, Victoria Medical Group
Dr. Shameela Karmali is a family physician with over 20 years of experience in Ontario and Alberta. She is practicing in East Toronto where she is innovating with models of interprofessional care and community partnerships to improve health outcomes. She has established multiple interdisciplinary medical clinics in other parts of Ontario in the past. In Alberta, Dr. Karmali established an Urgent Care Clinic in Cochrane, in a first public-private partnership in primary care. And in the First Nations community of Tsuu T’ina, she led in the development of a groundbreaking, collaborative health agenda setting up their first medical centre.
Dr. Karmali has also served as a global health consultant in Asia and Africa. She has worked as policy advisor and consultant with WHO, UNICEF, and the AKDN. Dr. Karmali served as a member on the Ismaili Council for Canada where she established its first Women’s Portfolio, and as Chairman of the Aga Khan Health Board for Canada. She co-convened the International Ismaili Women’s Forum in Toronto with Princess Zahra. She was the Vice Chairman of the commissioning Board of Generations Calgary. Dr. Karmali-Rawji obtained her MD at McMaster University and her MS in International Health at Harvard University.