New chief of family medicine at Mount Sinai

TORONTO – Dr. Erin Bearss (pictured) has been appointed chief of the Ray D. Wolfe Department of Family Medicine at Mount Sinai Hospital. Dr. Bearss has practiced comprehensive family medicine including emergency medicine for almost two decades at Mount Sinai Hospital.

She is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Family & Community Medicine at the University of Toronto and earned her medical degree at McMaster University. She completed her Family Medicine residency training at Mount Sinai Hospital and completed an Emergency Medicine Fellowship at the University of Toronto.

With an active clinical practice with Mount Sinai’s Academic Family Health Team in the Granovsky Gluskin Family Medicine Centre, Dr. Bearss was most recently associate chief of Family Medicine responsible for Academic and Special Programs. She introduced two Faculty Lead roles: Social Accountability, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion, and Digital Health and Innovation to better integrate these important perspectives into the Family Health Team’s clinical and academic work.

Dr. Bearss played a key role in the COVID-19 response serving as medical director of the COVID-19 Assessment Centre at Mount Sinai and championed numerous vaccination initiatives across Sinai Health and the University of Toronto.

Her success in her clinical roles has provided her with strong skills in leadership, scholarship, medical education, advocacy, wellness and program innovation. This will inform her vision for continued patient care and academic excellence in the Department of Family Medicine at Sinai Health, which includes the hospitalist team, palliative care, primary care obstetrics and community family physicians.

As COVID-19 continues to decrease in the community, Dr. Bearss will lead the navigation of digital and virtual care to assess aspects that will both enhance patient care and maintain vital interpersonal connections between patients and health care providers. Working closely with the Mid-West Toronto Ontario Health Team partners, she will collaborate for greater outreach to marginalized individuals, families and populations.