Meet recent MSc graduate Dr. David Ortiz-Paredes
Dr. David Ortiz-Paredes, general physician and member of the Family Medicine Education Research Group, obtained his Master’s degree from McGill University’s Department of Family Medicine in 2019. Dr. Ortiz-Paredes was born and raised in Bogotá, Colombia, where he completed his medical education at Universidad Javeriana. His experience as a primary care physician in a small town in Colombia sparked his yearning for further knowledge in the doctor-patient relationship, role modelling, communication skills, medical professional identity and continuing professional development. “At that point in my early career, I was happy as a clinician, but I felt that primary care was a complex milieu and that I still had a lot to learn to become a better doctor,” shares Dr. Ortiz-Paredes. This is one of the reasons why he started his MSc in the Department of Family Medicine in 2017, selecting the Medical Education option.
After his medical training, Dr. Ortiz-Paredes became very aware that every health professional needs to develop the communication skills that allow them to explain and teach, not merely to colleagues but also to patients, for the latter to be able to understand a procedure, a diagnosis, or a treatment. “What I love about Family Medicine is that it is a discipline that is close to patients’ reality,” shares Dr. Ortiz-Paredes. “It is a field that recognizes the patient as an element of a society, whose health is influenced not only by physical aspects but also by societal, cultural, and psychological variables.”
When he joined the Department of Family Medicine in 2017, Dr. Ortiz-Paredes wanted to conduct high-quality research in Family Medicine Education. “The program emphasizes the interdisciplinary nature of health research and offers rigorous training in qualitative, quantitative, mixed methods, knowledge synthesis, participatory research and theoretical foundations of teaching and learning,” he explains. He conducted a qualitative study that took place in a Blended Education program for Faculty Development, which was implemented in a Brazilian Faculty of Medicine. The program was developed by the Family Medicine Innovation in Learning Initiative and the division of Faculty Development in the Department of Family Medicine.
As a graduate student, Dr. Ortiz-Paredes joined the Family Medicine Education Research Group (FMER), which is led by Dr. Charo Rodriguez. “I consider myself the researcher I am today thanks to my MSc supervisor, Dr. Charo Rodriguez,” he notes. His role was to support present and upcoming research projects in any of the five axes of research presented by the FMER. “What is exciting about my involvement with the FMER is that it offers me a perfect milieu to keep developing my research skills after my MSc while contributing to the advancement of the field of Family Medicine Education Research,” Dr. Ortiz-Paredes explains.
Dr. Ortiz-Paredes has won many awards associated with his MSc work. In 2017, he won McGill University’s Grad Excellence Award in Family Medicine. The following year, he obtained an academic travel award, the GREAT Award-Family Medicine from McGill University. In 2020, he received the Research Paper Award at the Association for Medical Education in Europe (AMEE) Virtual Conference as a recognition of his MSc thesis. “As a former international student, I loved that I always felt welcomed and supported at the Department. It is an intercultural context where you can learn from everyone around you,” he shares. “During my MSc, I really appreciated the support from the Family Medicine Graduate Student Society and the academic and social events they organized, which gave a unique taste to my graduate experience.”
Dr. Ortiz-Paredes has a bright future ahead of him. In the short term, he wants to be exposed to as many research projects and methodologies as possible to keep growing as a researcher. He is currently working on a project with the FMER, under the supervision of Dr. Charo Rodriguez and with the collaboration of Dr. Martin Desseilles. In the medium to long term, his career projects involve undertaking a PhD in Medical Education as well as a residency program in Family Medicine. “My ambition is to become a multifaceted family physician whose professional identity coherently involves the roles of clinician, educator and researcher,” he notes.