Dr. Samir Grover

Scarborough is the most interesting place to be right now.

I'm a gastroenterologist. In 15 years of practicing downtown, I had encountered only three cases of intestinal tuberculosis, a form of TB that affects the digestive system. But in my first week in Scarborough, I saw three people with the condition.  

That experience reminded me that what we consider rare depends upon the community we serve. Our responsibility is to train clinicians who are equipped to meet those challenges. This is also why our community is such an incredible place to learn. You see the impact of diversity, socioeconomic status, and access to care directly through the patients you serve. You encounter things you may never see anywhere else. For a learner, that's incredibly valuable.

What makes Scarborough different isn’t just what you see. It’s how you learn. It's easy to be anonymous in a large teaching hospital. Here your opinions matter. You get to know your teachers and mentors, and they get to know you. You're not just coming here to learn. You're helping us build.
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That opportunity to build is what brought me to SHN. One of the areas I’m most excited about is research that is designed around the needs of people in Scarborough.

In the past, Scarborough patients could participate in research, but it often meant travelling downtown, sometimes an hour and a half each way. For someone who is sick and has already exhausted their treatment options, that’s a significant barrier. We're changing that. We're bringing clinical trials into Scarborough for the first time by building the research infrastructure here in Scarborough. Making that opportunity available closer to home is about equity. There should still be hope at the end of the journey.

And we’re building for the next generation too.

The new Scarborough Health Centre of Excellence will be the home of our education programs, simulation centre, classrooms, and innovation hub. Some of what we're building isn't just new for Scarborough. It's brand new for the world.

We’re exploring how artificial intelligence can create new ways for learners to train and develop their skills, including technology that can give learners feedback on patient interactions, procedures and clinical skills. Even when a teacher can’t be beside them every moment, learners can continue to practice, receive feedback and improve.  

But technology can’t replace the humanity of being a physician. That's something I care about deeply. As we build the future, we can’t lose our identity, our soul or our purpose. Scarborough’s diversity has to be part of how we educate the next generation of healthcare professionals. They need to understand that people have individual needs, that community matters, and that you can't look at people simply as an aggregate.

Donor support is an important part of making that possible. Many of the things that make education and research special, including simulation labs, learning spaces and research chairs, need support from donors. That support is already helping advance research that will shape our new spaces and education programs.

What matters to me is what this makes possible for our people in Scarborough: more care, more research opportunities close to home, and the chance to train, build a career and contribute to one’s own community. I want Scarborough to become a powerhouse in teaching and education, and research while holding on to what makes this community special.

I hope that in 10 years, people don't say we aspire to world-class training in Scarborough. It should just be true.