Jayna Holroyd-Leduc re-appointed department head, Department of Medicine

Alberta Health Services’ (AHS) Calgary Zone and the University of Calgary’s Cumming School of Medicine (CSM) are pleased to announce the re-appointment of Dr. Jayna Holroyd-Leduc, MD, as combined academic and clinical head of the Department of Medicine (DOM), effective July 1, 2025.

In addition to the department leadership roles, Holroyd-Leduc is a professor in the departments of Medicine and Community Health Sciences, and the holder of the Brenda Strafford Foundation Chair in Geriatric Medicine. She is the academic lead of the Centre on Aging at the university, and a member of the CSM’s Hotchkiss Brain Institute and the O’Brien Institute for Public Health.

Guided by Holroyd-Leduc, the department published a new five-year strategic plan in 2023, renewing emphasis on equitably advancing health and wellness by cultivating a community of diverse physicians who lead through care delivery, discovery, innovation, education and knowledge implementation.

Under her leadership, the DOM educates future generations of physicians in many ways, including through the Internal Medicine Residency Program (IMRP), 10 sub-specialty residency training programs and several Advanced Fellowship training programs. Members of the department also contribute to undergraduate and graduate student education, training and mentorship, as well as continuing medical education and professional development programs.

Holroyd-Leduc advocates for a culture of appreciation, inclusion, greater connection and physician wellness. For example, Medical Grand Rounds now include a segment highlighting an Unsung Hero and are held in-person at each AHS clinical care site at least once per year to help promote citizenship and engagement across the department. The department holds an annual DOM and IMRP celebration dinner, a department-wide healthy heart challenge each February, and launched an annual DOM Day at the Zoo in 2025. All department executive meetings start with an EDI (equity, diversity and inclusion) moment targeted to developing inclusive leadership practices She created an Office of Physician Wellness and EDIA, where a number of initiatives are being led by the vice chair of Physician Wellness & Vitality and vice chair of EDIA. She was recognized for her work in EDIA, recieving the AFMC May Cohen Equity, Diversity and Gender award in 2023. 

She continues to advance the department’s research and scholarship activities, as well as having expanded scholarly work in the areas of medical education and quality improvement (QI). The department recently recruited a PhD medical educator who collaborates with clinician educators on medical education scholarly projects. The department expanded its focus on health analytics, QI and patient safety through the creation of associate vice chair roles in QI and Planetary Health. Other departmental activities have included hiring a QI consultant to support QI and patient safety, launching an annual Health Care Quality Symposium and monthly health quality speaker series, as well as expanding the department’s annual Health Analytic award competition to include support for health care quality improvement initiatives.

Holroyd-Leduc has worked hard to support her members to provide high quality care to Albertans, in a manner that also support physician wellness. In addition to actively recruiting physicians and associate physicians to meet the growing workforce needs, the department created the Nocturnist program which is an innovative way to support the provision of high quality patient care and trainee education. The Nocturnist program has now been replicated at academic hospitals across the country.

The department also expanded to include a new Division of Transplant Medicine, the first of its kind in the country, in recognition of the growing number of Albertan transplant recipients requiring complex medical care before and long after they undergo transplant surgery.  Under the direction of the department’s vice chair for Indigenous Health, the department has expanded clinics within First Nation communities across Southern Alberta, as well as expanding indigenous health content in its residency training programs and Medical Grand rounds. 

Please join us in congratulating Jayna on her re-appointment to this important leadership role.

Sincerely,

Dr. Mark Anselmo, MD                                      Dr. Todd Anderson, MD

Calgary Zone Medical Director                        Dean

Alberta Health Services                                    Cumming School of Medicine