📅 When: December 4, 2025, 5:00 – 8:00 PM

📍 Where: Doctors Manitoba, 20 Desjardins Drive 

📢 Who: All BIPOC identifying members (physicians, residents and medical learners) 

💰 Cost: Free

Narrative-based medicine (NBM) is a growing field that seeks to humanize healthcare. Join us for an evening of reflection and storytelling to explore identity, culture and lived experience in medicine. This interactive workshop invites BIPOC members to share their stories, reflect on their journeys, explore the complexities of navigating medicine as BIPOC individuals and connect through writing and dialogue. 

Through guided prompts, close reading and reflective writing exercises, participants will have the opportunity to express how their cultural and personal identities shape their experience in medicine in a supportive and collegial environment. No writing experience necessary, and the sharing of one’s writing is completely optional.

Learning Goals

1. Foster reflection and self-expression among BIPOC physicians through narrative writing rooted in personal and cultural identity.
2. Create a supportive and affirming space where participants can explore and share the complexities of navigating medicine as BIPOC individuals.
3. Build community and connection through shared storytelling, listening, and collective reflection.
4. Acknowledge and validate the identities that many BIPOC physicians carry in both professional and cultural contexts.
5. Empower participants to reclaim their voice and affirm their experiences as vital contributions to medicine and healing.

Objectives

By the end of this session, participants will be able to:

1. Reflect on their lived experience navigating both professional medical culture and their personal/​cultural identities using tools derived from Narrative-based Medicine.
2. Express this experience through a short written narrative using guided prompts.
3. Identify moments where their culture and background have shaped, conflicted with, or enriched their practice of medicine.
4. Engage in a group discussion or paired sharing (optional) to deepen connection and empathy within the group.
5. Leave with at least one piece of written work that honors their identity and invites continued reflection or future sharing (e.g., publication, group anthology, personal journaling, advocacy). 

This event offers 3 hours of certified continuing professional development hours and is certified for credits by Continuing Professional Development, Temerty Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto for Mainpro+ and Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons.

Facilitators

→ Dr Allan Peterkin, MD, FCFP, FCRP (University of Toronto) 

→ Dr. Aashima Gupta, MD, CCFP(EM

Family Physician & Emergency Medicine Specialist
Co-Lead, Hospitalist Department, Brandon Regional Health Centre
Family Medicine Site Lead & Education Director, Brandon Rural Residency Stream (Starting December 1, 2025)

Dr. Aashima Gupta is a dedicated family physician with an added competency in emergency medicine, bringing nine years of specialized experience in high-acuity care. She currently serves as Co-Lead for the Hospitalist Department at Brandon Regional Health Centre and will be assuming the role of Family Medicine Site Lead and Education Director for the Brandon Rural Residency Stream, effective December 1, 2025.

Passionate about advancing health equity and supporting the well-being of historically marginalized communities, Dr. Gupta integrates a trauma-informed and culturally responsive approach in both her clinical work and medical education. Her leadership in rural and community-based healthcare settings reflects her commitment to building supportive, inclusive environments for BIPOC physicians, trainees, and patients alike.
Dr. Gupta believes in the power of collective storytelling and community healing as vital tools for personal and systemic transformation within medicine.

Go to the registration page by clicking here!