Meet Your Newest Board Members

Dr. Anila Ramaliu, MD MSc CCFP
Director-at-Large (Term ending AMM 2021)

Dr. Anila Ramaliu is a practicing Family Physician in Calgary and a graduate of training programs in Family Medicine and Public Health and Preventive Medicine from the University of Calgary. She holds a Master of Sciences in Health Research and has been involved both in applied research and teaching, with the University of Calgary and Alberta Health Services.

Her prior experiences include work with international, national and local government and non-government organizations, leading various health and social programs for women and children, marginalized and immigrant populations while building inter-sectorial and inter-disciplinary collaborations to advance the health of populations. Her professional interests also include quality improvement, evaluation, organizational performance, and governance, alongside preventive health in primary care, mental health, and chronic disease management.

She currently serves as a Director of the Board of Directors of the Calgary West Center PCN.

Why did you decide to join the ACFP board?

Behind my motivation to join the ACFP board, it was a sense of personal and collective responsibility that I felt. We are at a point of change and transformation being demanded from our health care system; and the best outcomes in a system and organizational change are achieved when its players, at all levels, are involved, engaged, and contributing. We have a collective responsibility as physicians, on behalf of the patients we serve and along with them, to provide our input into shaping the health care and, specifically, the primary health care system of the future.

If you had the power to fix one thing in the health system today, what would you fix?

I am not sure that fixing one thing can do the trick because of the complexities inherent in a system, and specifically the health system. So, I guess, I am suggesting that we move away from trying to fix one thing and hope for every other component of the health system to fall into place. Whatever “the fixing,” it should consider each integral part of the system; and indeed be considered at all times a fluid and dynamic system. However, to satisfy your question, transforming primary care with a focus on population health outcomes, and improving integration of services within health system are much needed “fixes” in our health system today.

Dr. Vishal Singh Bhella, MD CCFP
President-Elect (Term ending AMM 2021)

Dr. Vishal Bhella completed a PGY 3 Academic Fellowship in Family Medicine at Western following his residency. He worked in Ontario in various capacities including clinic, hospitalist, and ER work during early practice.

Dr. Bhella relocated to Alberta to join the University of Calgary Department of Family Medicine as a Clinical Assistant Professor and Lead Preceptor at the South Health Campus Family Medicine Teaching Clinic in 2013.

He has previously served as an active member on the ACFP’s First Five Years in Family Practice Committee.

What are you most proud of as an ACFP Board member?

As an ACFP Board member I am proud of the commitment to Family Medicine shown by members of our board, staff, committees, and membership. It is important to have a strong Family Medicine voice and there are many initiatives that the ACFP is involved in and many people behind the scenes to move these initiatives forward and it is inspiring to see the hard work and dedication of so many members in supporting and promoting the role of primary care in our health care system.

What do you want to accomplish in the next year as an ACFP Board member?

Over the next year as an ACFP Board member, I hope to see continued engagement of our organization in important issues facing health care today. Over the last year, the ACFP’s leadership in creating an Opioid Task Force was instrumental in developing a set of key recommendations in the opioid crisis response as well as in securing a significant provincial grant in supporting the primary care response to the opioid crisis. It is just one example of how the commitment of our staff and members can impact an important system and societal issue and I hope to see continued examples in the year to come.