Dr. Cynthia Walsh, CAR member, is an academic abdominal radiologist at the Ottawa Hospital and was recently re-elected as a Board Director for the Ontario Medical Association (OMA).
Dr. Walsh attended medical school at Western University before completing a residency at the University of Ottawa, followed by a fellowship in abdominal imaging at Stanford Hospital in California. She was involved with the OMA at different levels before being elected to the Board of Directors.
“I began my work for the OMA as a representative for the Ottawa region. During that time, a position to Chair the Diagnostic Assembly opened up, so I ran for that position and was shocked to win the election. At that time, the Diagnostic Assembly Chair held a board position. That has since changed, and you now need to run directly for a board position.”
Since her first election to the Diagnostic Assembly, Dr. Walsh has successfully run for the Board Directors twice and is honoured to begin her third term. She says her interests evolved as she gained experience on the OMA board.
“Initially, I was interested in chairing the Diagnostic Assembly which included radiology, neuroradiology, pathology, and nuclear medicine. My interest has expanded over the years to now include systems-based solutions to our whole healthcare system. I really enjoy meeting other physicians from different areas of medicine and finding big picture solutions together.”
While her experience running in elections has been rewarding, Dr. Walsh notes that it is a learning curve, and may force you to step outside of our comfort zone.
“I think most physicians are not used to putting themselves out there. It is intimidating to run in an election, especially at the provincial level, where you need to get your name out to many of those who do not know you. We are not used to campaigning. It took a lot of courage for me to promote myself.”
On top of the mental strain that comes with elections, Dr. Walsh says they are a lot of work.
“It really takes time to put together position statements, publish them wherever you decide to campaign, and take the time to get your name out. In addition, this year we were asked make videos of our position statements and attend a town hall where we were asked questions live. That was time consuming and a foreign experience, but I learned a lot.”
It is important to have radiologists, and representation from all areas of medicine involved in provincial organizations, to be sure all voices are heard, and ensure all parts of an issue are considered.
“I learned as Diagnostic Assembly Chair that we have commonalities with other diagnostic specialties including pathology and nuclear medicine and identifying those similarities is helpful. For example, during COVID, the government added weekend surgical hours and off-hours premium income for surgeons to address surgical backlogs, which I strongly supported. However, they did not consider that increased off hour’s surgery would affect radiology and pathology. I was able to raise that issue and successfully advocated for both specialties. This is why it is critical that we have radiologists involved in these organizations. I learned that by finding these commonalities, in this case, common issues with pathology and nuclear medicine, we are definitely heard more. I was better able to advocate when speaking for multiple sections, than if I was only advocating for my own. I have built a lot of bridges with those specialties for this reason, and I think it has helped.”
Dr. Walsh encourages more radiologists to get involved in provincial and national bodies to amplify the voice of the radiology community and be a part of the important work done by groups like the OMA.
“My advice is: go for it! I would suggest starting at the local level like your region or specialty, get to know how it works, get to know people in the organization, and then decide where in the organization you would like to spend more time. Some people prefer committee work to board work. The former really allows you to get deep into issues and really make changes. Board work is more ‘big picture’ and some like that too.”
Congratulations to Dr. Walsh on her re-election to the OMA Board.