Keynote Speaker
Keynote
James MacKillop, PhD, CPsych, FCAHS
Session Title - Coming Soon
Session bio?
Dr. James MacKillop holds the Peter Boris Chair in Addictions Research and a Canada Research Chair in Translational Addiction Research, and he directs both the Peter Boris Centre for Addictions Research and the DeGroote Centre for Medicinal Cannabis Research at McMaster University and St. Joseph’s Healthcare Hamilton. Dr. MacKillop trained as a clinical psychologist at Binghamton University and Brown University, and has spent his career investigating the causes of and best treatments for drug addiction and related conditions. Using a multidisciplinary approach to gain unique insights, his research integrates perspectives and methods from psychology, economics, cognitive neuroscience, and behavioral genetics. An organizing principle in his work is using a translational framework that integrates basic research and clinical research together. Dr. MacKillop has authored more than 400 peer-reviewed publications and other works, and is supported by grants from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, and Health Canada. Dr. MacKillop’s work has been recognized by awards from the Research Society on Alcoholism and the American Psychological Association, and by the Royal-Mach-Gaensslen Prize for Mental Health Research, and he is a fellow of the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences.
Keynote
Dr. Mark Sherman
Rediscovering Meaning in Medicine: On Burnout, Mindfulness and Joy
The ‘elephant in the room’ of our collective culture of medicine is that burnout affects over half of all physicians in Canada. Working within a paradigm of patient centered care, we sacrifice ourselves, our feelings and, at times, the very resources that offer us a sense of connection and meaning in the bigger container of our lives. Burnout carries us to a precipice of numbness, and deprives us of the privilege and blessing that abounds in our work. Healing from burnout requires us to compassionately attend to the suffering that is here, and begin to wake up into our common humanity and understand, once again, the deeper meaning that brought us into this profession. Once we can begin to accept our own suffering, strength and wholeness, so we can better attend to these in others — our patients, our colleagues, our families. This is how we heal.
In this plenary we will explore burnout, and understand its development in ourselves and our culture. We will describe stress reactivity and response, and introduce the practices of mindfulness and self-compassion as accessible human tools of healing and awakening, in order to uncover the meaning, joy and sense of connection that we seek.
Mark Sherman is a proud father and husband who lives in Saanichton, BC. He is a Family Physician, medical leader, clinical instructor at UBC, Director of the South Island Division of Family Practice, and a meditation teacher. He is the former Executive Director and founder of the BC Association for Living Mindfully, and the current Executive Director of Living This Moment.
Mark has been facilitating Mindfulness Based Stress Management workshops and courses to patients, physicians, health care professionals, educators, and community groups for over 15 years throughout Canada and is currently working on his first book on Mindfulness in Medicine. Mark believes that mindfulness and meditation offer powerful tools in healing our minds and bodies, and are necessary human skills in fully living our potential.