practice partner
Assessor
Close-Up:
Dr. Jennifer
Ingram
Name: Dr. Jennifer Ingram
Practice Location: Peterborough is my home
base. I started the Kawartha Regional Memory
Clinic where I do elective consultations but
I also consult to the GAIN Program (Geriatric
Assessment and Intervention Network) at Peterborough Regional Health Centre. And along with
my three colleagues, I offer consultations at Family
Practice locations in Haliburton and Cobourg.
Specialty: Internal Medicine and Geriatric Medicine
Was there somebody who inspired you to go into
medicine?
I am the daughter of Dr. Vera Peters and she was
always the person whose life and work inspired me.
As in the song Wind Beneath my Wings she continues
to be my hero.
photo: D.W. Dorken
“As in the song Wind Beneath my Wings,
she continues to be my hero.”
What attracted you to your specialty?
Geriatric medicine was not a specialty available when
I graduated from internal medicine. I could not find a
specialty that drew me in and so I chose to do general
internal medicine, initially in Oakville.
But clearly my aptitudes were not for ICU work and
were for the kind of holistic family centered care that
geriatric medicine offered.
I also tend to be very interested in program development and changing approaches to care. Geriatric
medicine has seen such growth and development
over my career that it afforded me the opportunity to
be heavily involved in community development.
What is the most effective way for you to participate
in continuous professional development?
I have found that my professional development has
been most strongly impacted by collegial practice interdisciplinary team work and volunteering in systems
processes such as hospital and LHIN activities.
What is one thing you would tell a fellow doctor
about working as an assessor?
My work as a peer assessor for practitioners of geriatric medicine has provided me with an unparalleled
opportunity to intimately savour and appreciate the
enormity of the challenges, the diversity of the practice patterns and impact of our work in the care and
management of a group of patients that have not had
many champions in health care to date. This vantage
point and ability to review practices has given me a
unique perspective and immense pride in our professional commitment to care.
Issue 4, 2014 Dialogue
69