Lesbian Doctor Is New Canadian Medical Association President

Canada's largest physicians' association got a new president this month -- Anna Reid, MD, the first openly gay person to hold that post.

Reid was officially introduced as the 76,000-member Canadian Medical Association's president August 15 at the group's national convention in Yellowknife, the city in Canada's Northwest Territories where she practices as an emergency room doctor. She will serve as president for a year.

In her inaugural address to the CMA, she emphasized the need for patient-centric care, for better service to the nation's aboriginal people, and for doctors to work collaboratively, radio station CJCD reports.

In a subsequent interview with Toronto's Globe and Mail newspaper, she elaborated on the need to address health care inequalities that exist even in Canada, which has national coverage. "Our public system is covering just part of what needs to be covered," she said. Also, services vary around the nation, she said. She noted that she treats many aboriginal patients, adding, "I want to advocate for the marginalized."

Reid is the CMA's first president from the Northwest Territories and is only the sixth woman to head the group. "Being a woman has never stood in the way of my doing anything and neither has being lesbian," she told the Globe and Mail.