Canadian Medical Association

Dr. Paula Cashin is the first Indigenous radiologist and nuclear medicine physician in Canada. She is a Mi'kmaw physician who works in rural Newfoundland in teleradiology. Dr. Cashin completed medical school and diagnostic imaging at Memorial University of Newfoundland and Labrador. She is a dual FRCPC certified physician with subspecialty training in nuclear medicine at the University of British Columbia and an interventional radiology fellowship at the University of Toronto.

Dr. Cashin serves in national physician leadership roles as vice-chair of the CMA Board of Directors, chair of the CMA Appointments Committee, board director of the CMA Foundation and a council member of the CMPA.

Dr. Cashin is an advocate for equity, diversity and inclusion in medicine. Her advocacy began after a personal experience with systemic discrimination and harassment that prevented her from working as a physician for three years. She openly discusses these challenges and the systemic barriers to focus attention on changing the culture of medicine. Her advocacy work includes roles at multiple national physician organizations, including the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada, the Canadian Association of Radiologists, and Equity in Medicine. She is a mentor with the Indigenous Physicians Association of Canada and faculty lead for Indigenous health at Memorial University of Newfoundland and Labrador.

Dr. Cashin completed a Master of Laws (LLM) at Osgoode Hall Law School in 2021. Her master’s research focused on the development of a national physician dispute resolution process to address the potential career loss and patient safety issues that arise from unresolved workplace conflict and harassment.

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