2020-2021 RDoC Outstanding Volunteers of the Year
Two RDoC volunteers were announced as RDoC Outstanding Volunteers of the Year at the virtual Annual General Meeting held on June 13, 2021. Through their efforts, each of these exemplary individuals has played a key role in advancing RDoC’s work on behalf of our members. Congratulations Drs Manning and Neferu!
Dr. Alexandra Manning
Dr. Manning graduated from Dalhousie University with a Medical Degree and completed her post-graduate medical education at Dalhousie, in psychiatry and then went on to subspecialize in child and adolescent psychiatry. Prior to medicine, she completed a Bachelor of Science and a Bachelor of Education at Mount Saint Vincent University, in Halifax. 
Now, Dr. Manning is working as an outpatient child and adolescent psychiatrist and continues to pursue her academic interest in medical education and physician wellness.
Dr. Manning started working with RDoC two years ago. She has always had a strong interest in medical education and has been involved in education-related activities within her undergraduate and post-graduate education programs. When she joined RDoC, she was interested in fostering opportunities that would engage residents in the process of accreditation, as a continuous quality improvement method, to promote the ongoing high-quality of medical education in Canada. She joined the accreditation team and that was just the beginning. She went on to participate in external reviews, both on-site and virtually, and later assumed the role of accreditation team lead, this past year, where they transitioned educational workshops to a virtual platform and included interactive activities that participants could then draw on when working with their co-residents. The team also created a concise go-to library of resources accessible to all residents outlining the purpose and process of accreditation, what to expect during a review, and the Role of Residency Program Questionnaire.
Dr. Manning’s work for RDoC includes:
- Team Lead, Accreditation Team: Jan 2021 – June 2021
- Resident Representative, Continuing Professional Development, RCPSC, April 2021 – September 2021.(Resident participant, RC CPD MOC Program Development)
- Resident Representative, Accreditation Team, RCPSC 2019/20 term
- Resident Surveyor: McMaster program reviews, UBC and U of T full accreditation surveys
- Resident Doctors of Canada representative member, RC Professional Learning and Development Committee
- Accepted for presentation: Leadership in Education: Engaging residents in the process of accreditation (ICRE, Fall 2021)
Dr. Manning says that there were many highlights during her time volunteering with RDoC:
“The biggest has to be working with colleagues who shared an interest in resident lives and medical education, including co-residents, in my own institution and across the country, the RDoC staff and PHO staff. I think the other part is that RDoC held a clear and unwavering message that resident experiences matter – and, it felt both important and meaningful to be able to contribute to that.”
Dr. Manning has the following advice for RDoC’s incoming volunteers:
“Go for it! Residency is a busy time and asking for one more thing is a big ask, but if you do have time it’s worth it. There are so many initiatives within RDoC. Find a part that is meaningful to you, where you see a purpose that aligns with your values and allows you to build on your strengths.”
Dr. Ramona Neferu
Dr. Neferu is a senior resident physician in Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation at McMaster University. Prior to obtaining her MD from Western University, she studied Engineering Chemistry at Queen’s University. She will be pursuing her Master’s degree in Quality Improvement and Patient Safety at the University of Toronto in 2021-2022, with which she aims to help improve patient access to quality rehabilitation care.
In 2018 she joined RDoC’s Practice Committee, where she helped advance multiple initiatives to improve practice management education for Canadian resident physicians, including introducing profiles of new-in-practice physicians on RDoC’s webpage to help residents with the career decision process, and supporting the expansion of a practice management curriculum for residents co-developed with the Canadian Medical Protective Association. She presented this work at the Canadian Conference on Medical Education in 2019 on behalf of RDoC. 
Since 2019, she has been the Team Lead for the National Resident Survey Team, where she managed the development and implementation of the 2020-2021 National Resident Survey, an online bilingual census-style biennial survey of Canadian resident physicians. The survey’s goal is to support advocacy initiatives addressing Canadian resident physician concerns such as resident education, wellbeing, and transition to practice.
Along with her colleagues, she incorporated feedback to improve the delivery of the National Resident Survey, including obtaining ethics board approval for the first time in the survey’s history, decreasing the survey length from previous iterations, dividing the survey into two parts (November 2020 and April 2021), and introducing incentives for survey completion. These changes contributed to an improved response rate of 12.0% (Nov 2020) and 10.8% (Apr 2021) from 8.3% in prior years. She co-presented the November 2020 survey results at the Canadian Conference on Medical Education in 2021 as part of a pre-conference workshop and discussion and will be presenting the results from April 2021 at the International Conference on Resident Education in October 2021. She is extremely thankful for the opportunity to work with such a passionate team to ensure a validated survey tool is available so RDoC can effectively advocate on behalf of Canada’s resident doctors.
Dr. Neferu’s advice to RDoC’s incoming volunteers is: “always remember RDoC’s mission to champion excellence in medical education, resident wellness, and improvements in patient care and health systems.” It is an honour to be able to help advance these issues and she thanks RDoC for helping provide an avenue for these important advocacy efforts in a supportive team environment.
Previous Residents recognized as Outstanding Volunteers by RDoC
2019-2020
Dr. Tehmina Ahmad
Dr. Meghan Bhatia
Dr. Bernard Ho
Dr. Vivian Tam
2018-2019
Dr. Aditi Amin
Dr. Michael Benusic
Dr. Brandon Tang
