A Voice for Family Medicine: Dr. Carla Holinaty Recognized for Mentorship and Advocacy

Some of the most meaningful moments in medicine happen quietly. A conversation in a hallway. A mentor who stays a few minutes after their shift. A colleague who asks how you’re doing and means it. For Dr. Carla Holinaty, those moments aren’t incidental to the work. They are the work.

Dr. Holinaty, a family physician with the University of Saskatchewan’s Department of Family Medicine, has been named the 2026 recipient for the Dr. Sally Mahood Award for Mentorship and Advocacy. The award recognizes physicians who invest in the people around them and advocate for better care for their patients and communities. For Dr. Holinaty, it is a well-deserved recognition.

A Legacy Worth Honouring

Dr. Sally Mahood shaped Canadian family medicine in lasting ways. She was a physician, advocate, and mentor whose work touched patients, trainees, and communities alike. Living up to that name is no small thing.

Dr. Holinaty did not take the recognition lightly. “Dr. Mahood was such a powerhouse of a physician in our community,” she said. “To win an award named after her, reflecting on her incredible career and the advocacy she did across so many different areas, and the number of people she served as a mentor, to be compared with that in any small way is such an honour. I mostly feel humbled more than anything else.”

Those who have worked alongside her recognize that quality immediately. Dr. Ginger Ruddy, who nominated Dr. Holinaty for the Dr. Sally Mahood award, has observed her both at the clinic and on SMA committees. “What I see about Carla is that she is absolutely unafraid to speak truth to power, especially when a patient’s wellbeing is on the line,” Dr. Ruddy said.

Dr. Ruddy noted that it is not volume that makes Dr. Holinaty’s advocacy effective. “The calm, respectful, confident approach she brings is effective,” she said. “Dr. Holinaty has started her stint as the president of the SMA, and we are really fortunate as both doctors and patients in Saskatchewan to have her take on that role.”

A New Role with the SMA

Over the past several years, Dr. Holinaty has been deeply involved with the Saskatchewan Medical Association (SMA), advocating on behalf of physicians and, most visibly, for the recognition of family medicine as a specialty. Her work helped advance the implementation of the Innovation Fund, and she has made it a priority to ensure that family medicine is seen and heard in every relevant space.

In May 2026, she was elected the 60th president of the SMA. In accepting the role, she spoke about the weight of representing others and credited the many people who shaped how she listens and leads, often through small but meaningful moments. She has been clear about her priorities: strengthening the connection between physicians and the SMA, advancing anti-racism work, supporting physician well-being, and ensuring the profession remains sustainable for the doctors who choose it.

Teaching as a Daily Practice

Dr. Holinaty trained as a resident with the University of Saskatchewan’s Department of Family Medicine, and she has never really left. Today, the teaching environment is one of the things she loves the most about her work. “It gives me the opportunity to work with students every day at various levels of their training,” she said. “It’s so exciting to see them grow from where they start until when they leave us, and then to get to follow them as they blossom into fully functioning physicians in their careers. It’s sort of like watching your own kids grow up and succeed in the world.”

And the relationship, she is quick to say, runs in both directions. “The students and residents we get to work with remind us every day about the passion that people have for this work, the passion that we came into family medicine with,” she said. “And they teach us new things about ourselves and medicine all the time.”

Advocacy in Quiet Moments

When asked what lesson has stayed with her, Dr. Holinaty offered something worth sitting with. “Advocacy isn’t always done in ways that are loud or visible, but that doesn’t mean it’s not important,” she said. “Sometimes the biggest successes you have, when you are advocating or mentoring, are in those quiet moments where people feel heard, feel valued, and know that you care enough to carry that forward.”

Accepting the award, Dr. Holinaty reflected on what the recognition meant. “I am grateful to win this award, and I will do my best to honour the legacy it represents.”