Dr. Amanda MacDonald Green, a family physician based in Windsor, was sworn in as President of Doctors Nova Scotia on June 6.

She received her medical degree from Saba University of Medicine in 2012. As part of her studies, she completed rotations in hospitals and communities across Canada, the United Kingdom and the United States.

Two years later she graduated from the residency program in the first cohort of medical learners at Dalhousie Family Medicine’s Annapolis Valley Teaching Site.

Although she had considered making physical medicine and rehabilitation or surgery her specialty, completing a rotation with a family physician proved that family medicine was her ideal specialty.

“I saw the variety of work and how the physician was able to practise so broadly in all the body systems,” she said. “I also liked the ability to tailor your practice to specific interests.”

She also saw the benefits of the longitudinal relationships that develop between physicians and patients through the years; relationships which turn medicine from science into art.

“When you truly know the patient, you know what’s normal for them and what’s not normal. You also know the broader life and socio-economic factors that affect them and you can use all that knowledge to choose the appropriate diagnostics and treatments for them.”

After completing residency in 2014, she and a colleague opened the Windsor Collaborative Practice. Over the years, they formed an innovative partnership with Nova Scotia Health (NSH), expanding to include two more family physicians and three NSH providers (two family practice nurses and a social worker). All four physicians are also preceptors and assistant professors with Dalhousie Family Medicine’s Annapolis Valley Teaching Site.

“We’ve been able to increase comprehensive primary care access for the community in a way that allows us to better address lifestyles and socioeconomic determinants of health for our patients,” she said.

Women’s health is one of Dr. MacDonald Green’s areas of interest. “Access to women-specific healthcare, such as a mammogram or pelvic ultrasound, obtaining a consultation or explaining to a patient the knowledge gaps and limited treatment options, due to lack of research is difficult to accept,” she said.

“The pace of work is really intense, and I couldn’t do it without the ‘bucket filling’ moments I have daily with my patients. Especially when I see patients benefitting from the lifestyle interventions that we collaborate on. When patients feel that they are empowered rather than judged it is a lot easier to implement small changes that can have big health impacts.”

In addition to building her practice over the past years, Dr. MacDonald Green has also been building her leadership skills through training and hands-on experience. She has completed leadership courses through the Canadian Medical Association (CMA) and Health Excellence Canada. She has been the NSH Network Lead for West Hants Primary Care Network, and has served two terms on the DNS Board of Directors. Her presidency comes at a time when she feels ready to leverage her knowledge and experience by taking on more leadership responsibilities.

“I look forward to being a voice for our profession as we strive to improve physician wellness while impacting the broader health system within which we live and work.”

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