This week, we celebrate International Women’s Day on March 8 and Canadian Women Physicians Day on March 11. In this four-part series, we’re excited to introduce you to four women physicians who are making a difference across Nova Scotia Health’s zones.
Dr. Amanda Caissie, MD, PhD, FRCPC, arrived at Nova Scotia Health at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. Crossing the border with her dog in the passenger seat, the native New Brunswicker wasn’t sure where the journey would take her: happily, she’s found a fulfilling clinical and academic home in Halifax and Cape Breton.
Amanda leads the Department of Radiation Oncology at Nova Scotia Health and Dalhousie University, where she’s also an associate professor. With a primary focus in quality improvement initiatives for radiation oncology, it was the opportunity for academic engagement that drew this MD-PhD powerhouse to Nova Scotia.
“It’s been an exciting past few years getting new technology and supporting the team to implement it – just making sure Nova Scotians get the access to care that they would get anywhere else in the country,” she says.
Amanda was recently part of the launch of a rapid response palliative radiotherapy clinic, the only one of its kind in the Maritimes. Here, a patient experiencing cancer can receive a consult, CAT scan and treatment all in the same day – promoting enhanced access to care that aims to benefit patients across the province.
This passion for equity and quality improvement has taken her around the world, including to the United Nations building as the Canadian representative for the International Atomic Energy Agency’s “Sustainable Unified Network for Radiation medicine Innovation and Scientific Excellence” (SUNRISE) project. “I’m contributing to something bigger and then bringing the benefit home,” she says.
Amanda has benefitted from strong women leaders and role models throughout her career and is committed to paying it forward. “Supporting others to reach their goals is what I’m loving at this stage of my career,” says Amanda, who is actively involved in succession planning and recruiting for Nova Scotia Health.
But no matter which hat she wears, it always comes back to the patients.
“First and foremost, I’m a clinician. For each patient you see…knowing you’re trying to improve their quality of life makes the world of difference.”
Visit https://physicians.nshealth.ca/news to read other profiles in this four-part series.
