The 2024 CAPO Award Recipient for Clinical Excellence is Dr. Pamela Mosher

Dr. Pamela Mosher, MD, MDiv, is a staff psychiatrist at Princess Margaret Cancer Centre in Toronto, Ontario, in Psychosocial Oncology, Supportive Care, and the Adolescent Young Adult (AYA) Program.  She co-founded and leads the psychosocial arm of AYA Supportive Care Clinic, an outpatient collaborative clinic between psychosocial oncology and palliative care that supports adolescents and young adults with advanced cancer and/or significant symptom burden. She is passionate about teaching and mentoring trainees of all levels, from a variety of disciplines, within the interdisciplinary model of the clinic. She is additionally a consultant psychiatrist to the Pediatric Palliative Care (PACT) and Oncology teams at Sick Kids Hospital, where she previously worked as a CL psychiatrist.  She is the sole child/adolescent psychiatrist in Canada with pediatric palliative care background and expertise. She is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Toronto. Prior to moving to Toronto, Dr. Mosher worked at the IWK Health Centre in Halifax, Nova Scotia, as both a pediatric palliative care physician and Consultation-Liaison/Emergency Psychiatrist.  

Dr. Mosher’s professional areas of interest and focus include the psychological impact of life-limiting physical illness on children, adolescents, young adults and their families; building collaborations between palliative care and psychosocial oncology clinicians to better understand and reduce the emotional and physical suffering that younger adult/pediatric patients with advanced cancer experience; grief in pediatric and young adult populations, and within families; advocating for grief awareness and education in medical training; and educating trainees from various disciplines about these vital areas of need.

Dr. Mosher is originally from the US, where she obtained a Master of Divinity at Harvard University, a medical degree at Stanford University, and completed a combined residency and fellowship in Pediatrics, Adult Psychiatry, and Child/Adolescent psychiatry at Brown University. She is a 2011 recipient of the Laughlin Fellowship award from the American College of Psychiatrists.

Past Award of Clinical Excellence recipients:

• 2022 Recipient: Dr. Madeline Li (ON)

• 2017 Recipient: Dr. Steven Simpson (BC)

• 2016 Recipient: Sarah Sample (BC)

• 2015 Recipient: Sheila Damore-Petingola (ON)

• 2014 Recipient: Dr. Marc Hamel (QC)

• 2012 Recipient: Dr. Michael Speca (AB)

• 2011 Recipient: Dr. Maru Barrera (ON)

• 2010 Recipient: Dr. John Robinson (AB)

This award shall be made to recognize a CAPO member who, in the opinion of the Awards Committee and the Board of Directors of the association, have made a significant contribution to education and training in psychosocial oncology in Canada. The recipient of this award must meet the following criteria:

1. Whose influence on psychosocial education and training has been exercised through excellence and/or leadership as a teacher;

2. Whose work as a teacher, supervisor and/or administrator has influenced the methods and settings utilised in education and training, in ways of significant benefit to psychosocial oncology;

3. Whose scholarship or accomplishments in education and/or training has brought about changes or enhanced the knowledge base in these areas.

4. Award recipients must register and attend the annual CAPO conference (in person or virtually) in order to be eligible.

In whatever form the individual’s contributions are regarded as distinguished, the impact of the work shall have been on education and training in psychosocial oncology in Canada.

The 2024 CAPO Award Recipient for Education Excellence is Andréa Maria Laizner, RN, PhD

Andréa Maria Laizner, RN, PhD is a Nursing Practice Consultant for Research in the Nursing Directorate of the McGill University Health Centre, Montreal, Quebec, Canada. She is an Assistant Professor (part-time) in the Ingram School of Nursing, McGill University as well as is an Associate Investigator in the Cancer Research Program of the Research Institute of the McGill University Health Centre. Her vast career in nursing, both in academic hospital settings and in the community, sparked a life-long interest in psychosocial oncology, clinical practice, education, administration and research. As a result, she mentors students, nurses and other clinicians in research related activities and knowledge translation. Believing in networks, her collaborations focused on family functioning, comfort and symptom management in vulnerable populations, using different interventions such as providing information and/ or stress reduction strategies either in-person, via information booklets or via web-based applications or the Opal patient-facing app.

Dr. Laizner’s contributions included volunteer work with a support group for parents with cancer and their school-aged children. This led to being a co-author on the Canadian Association for Psychosocial Oncology’s Start the Talk Modules for health care workers and teachers. Subsequently, she ensured that these modules were adapted for patients and their families in English and French. She collaborated with community organizations such as Leucan, and currently with Cedars CanSupport at the McGill University Health Centre, as well as with the Canadian Association of Nurses in Oncology and Canadian Association of Psychosocial Oncology. These endeavors have led to numerous conference presentations and publications.

Past Award of Education Excellence recipients:

• 2022 Recipient: Dr. Linda Carlson (AB)
• 2021 Recipient: Dr.Guy Pelletier (AB)
  

• 2018 Recipient: Andrew G. Matthew (ON)

• 2017 Recipient: Joan Hamilton (NS)

• 2014 Recipient: Dr. Josée Savard (QC)

• 2013 Recipient: Susan Blacker (ON)

• 2012 Recipient: Dr. Doris Howell (ON)

• 2011 Recipient: Dr. Deborah McLeod (NS)

• 2010 Recipient: Dr. Carmen Loiselle (QC)