RELEASE – The Regional Family Physician of the Year Award recognizes seven physicians – one from each region of the province – who provide exemplary care to their patients and are passionately involved in activities that contribute to excellence in family medicine.
After completing her rural residency program in Sudbury in 2002, Dr. Sarah Gower locumed throughout rural Ontario before starting her comprehensive family practice in Elora/ Fergus in 2009. She provides cradle-to-grave office care, obstetrics, in-patient care and palliative care.
Dr. Gower has held numerous leadership positions, most recently spearheading a new hospitalist program for unattached patients at Groves Memorial Community Hospital, the new Hospice Wellington, and the development of the Rural Wellington Ontario Health Team. She recently completed a Master’s degree in epidemiology of pregnancy after stillbirth and rural CME at the University of Guelph and is the chair of the Maternal and Newborn Committee for the Society of Rural Physicians of Canada. She is an associate clinical professor with the McMaster Department of Family Medicine.
She is a tireless advocate for all levels of health care from individual patients to the complex system. Sarah’s husband and three children keep her sane and make sure she spends as much time outdoors as possible.
Dr. Sharon Bal of Cambridge and Dr. Andrea Chittle of Guelph are each being honoured with a 2021 Award of Excellence.
