Ontario Health has welcomed four new clinical leads to the Population Health and Value Based Health Systems portfolio. Drs. Rajesh Girdhari, Cody Jackson, Neil Naik and Stephen Pomedli will provide guidance and expertise to support the Patients Before Paperwork (Pb4P) initiative .
The Pb4P initiative is a collaborative effort between the Government of Ontario and Ontario Health. It is focused on leveraging digital health solutions to modernize inter-system communications, reducing the administrative burden felt by health care providers and enhancing health system coordination across the province.
The new clinical leads will work closely with Dr. Clare Liddy, who is also supporting the Pb4P initiative as the digital clinical lead for primary care at Ontario Health.
Dr. Rajesh Girdhari
Dr. Rajesh (Raj) Girdhari is a family physician in Toronto. He practices comprehensive primary care and addiction medicine at St. Michael’s Hospital. Additionally, he is an assistant professor in the Department of Family and Community Medicine at the University of Toronto.
Dr. Girdhari completed a Bachelor of Science at the University of Wisconsin-Madison before attending McGill University for his medical school studies. He continued his medical training at the University of Toronto where he completed his residency in family medicine. Dr. Girdhari also holds a Master of Business Administration from York University’s Schulich School of Business.
Throughout his career, Dr. Girdhari has held several leadership roles, including serving as the digital health lead for the St. Michael's Hospital Family Health Team and for the University of Toronto’s Department of Family and Community Medicine. He has also worked as the clinical lead for a Toronto-based digital health startup company, Healthcare Made Simple.
Dr. Cody Jackson
Dr. Cody Jackson is a family physician in London. He primarily practices comprehensive family medicine, along with both student health and procedure clinic. Dr. Jackson is a faculty member at the Schulich School of Medicine and Dentistry at Western University and has a passion for digital health education, medical device development and medical innovation. With expertise in physician recruitment, Dr. Jackson is a consultant in this space and manages the largest family physician job opportunity group in Ontario.
After completing his Doctor of Medicine studies at the University of Ottawa, Dr. Jackson continued his studies at the university, undertaking a Master of Education specializing in Health Professions Education. He has also participated as a Fellow in Western University’s Medical Innovation Fellowship program. Dr. Jackson is currently supporting the development of a provincial digital health undergraduate medical education curriculum and holds a role with OntarioMD as a peer leader. Additionally, he works with the Ontario Medical Association as a speaker for transition to practice and has sat on multiple committees.
Dr. Neil Naik
Dr. Neil Naik is a family physician in Waterloo. He is an assistant clinical professor at McMaster University and the University of Waterloo, where he teaches family medicine and office management to medical students and is the Chair for the Clinical Council for the Centre for Bioengineering and Biotechnology.
Dr. Naik serves as a physician advisor with the eHealth Centre of Excellence and is a regional primary care lead for Ontario Health West. Additionally, he works with the Waterloo Wellington Region as a primary care lead for the prevention and treatment of cancer. He also holds a position as a member of the Grand River Hospital Foundation’s board of governors, where he chairs the Jupiter Lab subcommittee. This committee focuses on bringing innovation into hospital care through novel investment streams and opportunities.
Furthermore, Dr. Naik is actively engaged with various advisory boards, including the regional renal and endoscopy boards, the Ontario Medical Laboratories Network for Connect Care board, the Waterloo Medtech Innovation working group and the Leadership Action Committee for the KW4 Ontario Health Team (OHT).
Dr. Naik’s efforts extend beyond local borders; as a board director for the Canada-Africa Community Health Alliance, he focuses on bringing innovative medical products to clinics in remote villages in Tanzania while providing medical care.
Dr. Stephen Pomedli
Dr. Stephen (Steve) Pomedli is a family physician in Toronto. He currently serves as the digital navigation physician lead for the East Toronto Family Practice Network and holds the position of Health Innovation fellow at Women's College Hospital's Institute for Health System Solutions and Virtual Care. He has also worked as a consultant and medical director for several organizations in the health care sector.
After completing medical school, Dr. Pomedli pursued a master’s degree in international health policy at the London School of Economics. He completed his residency in family medicine at St. Michael’s Hospital. Dr. Pomedli later undertook a fellowship in Global Health at the University of Toronto where he examined best practices in novel primary care systems in Brazil and the United States.