Department of Family Medicine announces new award

The Department of Family Medicine is pleased to announce the establishment of the Dr. Sally Mahood Award for Advocacy and Mentorship. Dr. Mahood has positively impacted the department and our community.

Dr. Mahood (MD) found her way to medicine after completing a BA in History at the University of Regina in 1971.  Prior to entering medical school, she wrote, directed and produced several historical documentaries for CBC Radio.  She graduated from Medical School in 1978 and completed her family medicine Residency in 1980.  After leaving residency she went to work at the Regina community clinic and was the medical coordinator there from 1980 until 1991 when she became an Assistant professor in the department of family medicine in Regina.  Since that time, she has held a variety of roles that have helped to shape the Department.

She has been a mentor to so many physicians and learners throughout her career – supporting learners in their passions for advocacy, answering questions of residents and colleagues about how to navigate the complex systems around us, and being there when people were faced with difficult decisions about the right path to take.

One of the greatest gifts Sally shares with those around her is her sense of social accountability. She has been an energetic activist throughout her life and does not turn away from addressing any position or act she feels needs to be challenged. 

"The poem Stubborn Ounces was shared at her mother's funeral and I think its message defines Sally’s career and what we have all been privileged to learn from her example," says Dr. Kathy Lawrence (MD), Provincial Head of the Department of Family Medicine. 

Dr. Mahood (MD) has been a role model for how to use your stubborn ounces. 

Sally is a passionate advocate for socially responsible health care, and regularly sparks important discussions about issues facing our community and society as a whole, not just in the medical field but also in the world at large.  She has, just through the conversations she initiates exposed many residents and other learners to perspectives on medicine and the lives of patients that challenged their previously held beliefs. Something Dr. Lawrence (MD) believes has made them better physicians.

While there are examples at the macro level of contributions she has made to women’s health, the true benefactors of her advocacy have been her patients.  She has gone well beyond what others would do to help patients get the care they need, not only from the health system, but from the wider community.  People who would have been lost in the bureaucracy and discontinuity of the system have had their lives changed because Sally saw the critical importance of her role as a family physician to be their advocate. 

In light of her incredible contributions, the department is establishing the Dr. Sally Mahood Award for Advocacy and Mentorship.