The health-care system \u201cdoesn\u2019t operate the same for everyone,\u201d says Dr. Bondzi-Simpson (BSc ’13), a Brock graduate and General Surgery resident in the University of Toronto\u2019s Surgeon Scientist Training Program.<\/p>\n
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>, a free public event hosted by the Department of Health Sciences.<\/p>\n His talk, \u201cWithout Equity, There is No Quality: Exploring Population-level Disparities in Surgical Outcomes for Cancer and Trauma Patients in Ontario \u2014 A Call to Action,\u201d takes place Wednesday, March 19 from 7 to 9 p.m. in the Goodman Atrium. Registration is not required.<\/p>\n Bondzi-Simpson says he is \u201cexcited to come back home\u201d to speak at the event.<\/p>\n \u201cBrock raised me,\u201d he adds.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n The annual Yosif Al-Hasnawi Memorial Lecture \u2014 founded by Zanab Jafry (BSc ’19) in partnership with Yosif Al-Hasnawi\u2019s<\/a> mother, Amal Alzurufi \u2014 honours its namesake\u00a0while also encouraging advocacy for justice.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n