LEADERSHIP
Executive October 2024 - September 2025
President: Dr. Richard Owen
Dr. Owen initially worked in Wales within many areas of medicine including GIM, emergency medicine, OBGYN and orthopedics before training in radiology and specifically interventional radiology. He moved back to Canada in 2000. Previously he has held many administrative roles including treasurer for the Canadian Association of Interventional Radiology, executive member for Medical Imaging, site lead for Radiology at the UofA and member of the fees committee for the Alberta Medical Association (AMA). As a radiologist with MIC primarily based at the UofA, he has had the privilege of seeing great advances in the specialty and in physician skill and expertise. He also has an associate professor appointment with the UofA.
Medicine has been a great privilege for Dr. Owen. Physicians face many challenges in healthcare at this time, including unprecedented challenges from new and re-emerging viruses, budgetary and ideological challenges as well as an increasingly complex, stressful and difficult healthcare world. He relishes the opportunities to use his experience to help his team and EZMSA membership through these difficult times.
Outside of medicine he enjoys skiing and snowboarding, golf and fishing, as well as spending as much time with his four children and partner as possible.
PAST-President: Dr. manpreet (Mona) gill
Dr. Mona Gill is an Associate Clinical Professor in the Division of General Clinical Medicine at the University of Alberta (UofA) Hospital. Her clinical interests include thrombosis, point of care ultrasound and obstetrical medicine. Dr. Gill’s research interests are primarily in the field of quality improvement. In her spare time, you will find her renovating her house, or travelling somewhere warm.
Vice-President: Dr. Peter Laratta
Dr. Peter Laratta is a family physician, with a full service family practice in central Edmonton. He completed his residency at the UofA, and is an assistant clinical professor with the Department of Family Medicine. He serves as a director of the Edmonton O-day'min PCN and a delegate for the AMA Representative Forum. He practices medicine in both a community clinic and hospital based setting, and believes in improving communication and removing barriers to care between the two. He is passionate about improving efficiencies in delivering quality care, particularly when it comes to medical informatics and electronic medical records. He lives in Edmonton with his wife and two children and enjoys cycling, hockey, cooking and camping.
Member at Large, Specialist: Dr. Prenilla Naidu
Prenilla Naidu, MD, FRCPC, DTM&H is a Medical Microbiologist at Alberta Precision Labs and an Associate Professor in the Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathology, University of Alberta. She has served on many provincial, national and international executive committees including as the Co-chair of the Canadian Public Health Laboratory Network Syphilis Diagnostic Working Group, Co-Chair of the Alberta Medical Microbiology Association, the secretary of the International Union Against Sexually Transmitted Infections, an executive member of the Section for Laboratory Physicians and a member of the Provincial Joint Laboratory Medical Advisory Committee.
She received an MD from Natal University Medical School, in South Africa. She subsequently trained and worked in Paediatrics in South Africa and the United Kingdom. After arrival in Canada, she worked in general practice, as a consultant at the STI Clinic and at the downtown Boyle McCauley Centre in Edmonton caring for HIV patients before completing her Medical Microbiology residency at the University of Alberta. Her research initially focused on STIs when she was the Program Lead at the Provincial Laboratory for Public Health and currently focuses on interesting questions arising from her daily work in the laboratory.
Being a lifelong learner, teaching and learning are important aspects of her life and career; she is actively involved in The Medical Microbiology Residency Program as the Evaluations Coordinator and enjoys teaching residents and undergraduates at the University of Alberta.
In her spare time, she loves to read, tend to her plants and Bonsai trees and travel to warmer destinations.
member at large, community family practitioner: Dr. Lilah rossi
Treasurer: Vacant
Council Members
MEDICAL STAFF ASSOCIATION REPRESENTATIVES
Grey Nuns Hospital: Dr. Pierre-Marc Villeneuve, President (July 31, 2025)
Misericordia Hospital: Dr. Kimberly Watson, President (June 30, 2024)
Leduc Hospital: Dr. Rob Sedlak, President (August 30, 2022)
Alberta Hospital: Dr. Oghogho Manuwa, Immediate Past-President (September 31, 2024)
HOSPITAL SITE REPRESENTATIVES
University of Alberta: Dr. Gord Goplen, President (December 31, 2024)
Sturgeon Hospital and area: vacant
Royal Alex Hospital: Dr. Marilyn Zeman (July 31 2024)
Cross Cancer Institute: Dr. Vladimir Sapon-Cousineau (December 31, 2027)
Stollery Children’s Hospital: vacant
Glenrose Hospital: Dr. Emily Walter (December 31, 2025)
Strathcona Community Hospital: Dr. Colin Muscat (August 30, 2024)
Westview Health Centre: vacant
Fort Saskatchewan Hospital: Dr. Scott Linton (August 30, 2024)
Devon, Calmar, Warburg, Thorsby Hospitals: vacant
Academic Medicine and Health Services Program (AMHSP): Dr. Dilini Vethanayagam (December 31, 2026)
COMMUNITY GENERAL PRACTITIONER REPRESENTATIVES
Rural: Dr. Olajide Durojaye (July 31 2024)
Rural: vacant
Urban: Dr. Tannis Spencer (December 31, 2025)
PCN: Dr. Veronica Tomcej (December 31, 2025)
Long Term Care: vacant
SPEACIALITY SERVICES REPRESENTATIVES
Psychiatrist, Community Mental Health: Dr. Ernie Boffa (December 31, 2025)
Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery: Dr. George Forrest (May 31 2024)
Clinical Laboratory Doctoral Scientists: Dr. Susan Nahirniak (December 31, 2025)
Diagnostic Imaging: vacant
Representative Forum Delegates
To view the list of RF Delegates in the Edmonton Zone, click here.
PAST Executive
2024
President: Dr. Manpreet Gill
Vice-President: Dr. Richard Owen
Past-President: Dr. Ernst Schuster
Treasurer: Dr. Peter Laratta
Member at Large (Specialist): Dr. Prenilla Naidu
Member at Large (Community Family Practitioner): Dr. Patricia Verones
2023
President: Dr. Katherine Kasha
Vice-President: Dr. Manpreet Gill
Past-President: Dr. Cheryl Mack
Treasurer: Dr. Peter Laratta
Member at Large (Specialist): Dr. Neelam Mahil
Member at Large (Community Family Practitioner): Dr. Patricia Verones
2022
President: Dr. Cheryl Mack
Vice-President: Dr. Katherine Kasha
Past-President: Dr. Erika MacIntyre
Treasurer: Dr. Peter Laratta
Member at Large (Specialist): Dr. Richard Owen
Member at Large (Community Family Practitioner): Dr. Patricia Verones
2021
President: Dr. Erika MacIntyre
Vice-President: Dr. Cheryl Mack
Past-President: Dr. Ernst Schuster
Treasurer: Dr. Jennine Wismark
Member at Large (Specialist): Dr. Richard Owen
Member at Large (Community Family Practitioner): Dr. Katherine Kasha
2020
President: Dr. Ernst Schuster
Vice-President: Dr. Erika MacIntyre
Treasurer: Dr. Jennine Wismark
Member at Large: Dr. Paul Greenwood
Member at Large: Dr. Marjan Abbasi