The health-care system “doesn’t operate the same for everyone,” says Dr. Bondzi-Simpson (BSc ’13), a Brock graduate and General Surgery resident in the University of Toronto’s Surgeon Scientist Training Program.

Bondzi-Simpson will discuss critical gaps at the intersection of equity and quality in health-care delivery during the seventh annual Yosif Al-Hasnawi Memorial Lecture: Promoting Racial Justice in Health Care, a free public event hosted by the Department of Health Sciences.

His talk, “Without Equity, There is No Quality: Exploring Population-level Disparities in Surgical Outcomes for Cancer and Trauma Patients in Ontario — A Call to Action,” takes place Wednesday, March 19 from 7 to 9 p.m. in the Goodman Atrium. Registration is not required.

Bondzi-Simpson says he is “excited to come back home” to speak at the event.

“Brock raised me,” he adds.

After graduating with a BSc in Medical Sciences from Brock in 2013, he completed a joint MD/MSc through the Leaders in Medicine Program at the University of Calgary before returning to Ontario for his surgical training.

During his talk, Bondzi-Simpson will use population-based analysis of surgical outcomes in Ontario to explore actionable frameworks that future health-care leaders can use to advance equity in health care, including research, policy initiatives and grassroots advocacy strategies.

The annual Yosif Al-Hasnawi Memorial Lecture — founded by Zanab Jafry (BSc ’19) in partnership with Yosif Al-Hasnawi’s mother, Amal Alzurufi — honours its namesake while also encouraging advocacy for justice.

On Dec. 2, 2017, the first-year Brock Medical Sciences student was fatally shot while intervening on behalf of a stranger being accosted on the street outside of the mosque in Hamilton where he was volunteering.

Paramedics attending the scene were later found guilty of failing to provide necessaries of life when treating Al-Hasnawi.

Dean of the Faculty of Applied Health Sciences Peter Tiidus will posthumously honour Al-Hasnawi with a Certificate of Courage at the lecture. The Certificate, which will hang in the Department of Health Sciences, acknowledges that Al-Hasnawi’s story has inspired the community and sparked conversations promoting racial justice and equity across campus.

As well as delivering his lecture, Bondzi-Simpson and his wife Cereise Ross, an employment lawyer at Price Waterhouse Cooper in Toronto, will also spend time on campus connecting with students the day after the event.

“Our students are deeply appreciative of the opportunity to speak with Dr. Bondzi-Simpson and his wife to discuss professional career pathways in medicine and law, respectively, at the Black Student Success Centre, a safe and inclusive student hub on campus,” says Black Student Success Centre Manager Monique Beauregard.

The Yosif Al-Hasnawi Memorial Lecture has been sponsored by the Faculty of Applied Health Sciences; the President’s Advisory Committee on Human Rights, Equity, and Decolonization; and the Centre for Women’s and Gender Studies.

To learn more about the event, please visit the Faculty of Applied Health Sciences website.