Dr Woollard: Relationship Matters

This webinar is the initial in a series of webinars devoted to developing selfcare and mutual support skills for UBC Medicine students, staff, residents, and faculty in the face of our attempts to respond healthfully to the challenges and adjustments imposed by our collective response to the Covid-19 pandemic. Relationships are foundational to both our individual health and our ability to respond positively and care for one another. The first webinar will demonstrate some skill development and a relationship based context in which to practice those skills.

Dr Woollard is Professor of Family Practice at UBC. He has extensive national and international experience in the fields of medical education, the social accountability of medical schools, ecosystem approaches to health, and sustainable development. He is actively involved in Nepal with a new national medical school, school of public health, and nursing school founded on the principles of social accountability, and also works in East Africa on matters of social accountability, primary care, and accreditation systems. He co-chairs the Global Consensus on Social Accountability for Medical Schools (GCSA) and does extensive work in this area with many international bodies. He was a lead organizer for the World Summit on Social Accountability that led to the Tunis Declaration < https://thenetworktufh.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/Tunis-Declaration-FINAL-2.pdf>

His primary research focus is the study of complex adaptive systems as they apply to the intersection between human and environmental health. His book, “Fatal Consumption: Rethinking Sustainable Development” details some of his work in this regard. He is Associate Director of Rural Coordination Centre of BC (RCCbc). He also provides central leadership in the development of a Canadian national strategy for addressing educational and service needs for surgical and obstetrical services in rural Canada—in particular Aboriginal service access for birthing. He was instrumental in establishing a mobile clinic for agricultural workers. Above all, he is a husband, father and grandfather.