A message from Mieke Koehoorn, Dean pro tem, Faculty of Medicine.
I am pleased to announce that Dr. Cecilia Jevitt and Dr. Wendy V. Norman have been appointed interim Co-Heads, Department of Family Practice effective to September 1, 2026. Drs. Jevitt and Norman will take on this role while Dr. Robert Petrella is on a one-year administrative leave.
Dr. Cecilia Jevitt is a professor in the Department of Family Practice, and interim Director of the Department’s Midwifery Program. She previously served as the program’s Director from 2018 to 2023.
Dr. Jevitt has extensive experience in midwifery practice, teaching and leadership in both Canada and the United States, and has conducted capacity-building teaching and curriculum consultations around the world, including in Switzerland, Laos, China, Indonesia and Ghana. Dr. Jevitt is also an elected Fellow of the American College of Nurse-Midwives, and has been recognized for her contributions through numerous awards, including Reviewer of the Year for the Journal of Midwifery & Women’s Health, the Distinguished Alumni Award from the University of South Florida’s Department of Anthropology, and the Connecticut Nightingale Excellence in Nursing Award.
Dr. Wendy V. Norman is a professor and Tier 1 Canada Research Chair in Family Planning Innovation in the Department of Family Practice. She is also an associate member in the School of Population and Public Health and the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology. Dr. Norman’s research has informed provincial and federal contraception and abortion policies in Canada and around the globe.
Dr. Norman joined the Department of Family Practice in 1999, and has held a number of leadership positions, including Director of the Clinician Scholar Program and Co-Director of the Women’s Health training within the Enhanced Skills Program. Dr. Norman currently serves as a UBC Vancouver senator and chairs the Senate Research & Scholarship Committee. She is a former chair of the Section of Researchers of the College of Family Physicians of Canada, and has been recognized as a Woman of Impact by the Government of Canada. Dr. Norman was recently awarded the King Charles III Coronation Medal for service to Canada.
Please join me in thanking Dr. Jevitt and Dr. Norman for their interim leadership.
