POLARIS
Connecting North American young doctors and trainees to the global Family Medicine community.
OUR TEAM
CANADA
Meet your Canadian representatives to the Polaris Board!
Mouse over our pictures to learn more about us.
Rohini Pasricha, MD
Rohini Pasricha is an incoming family medicine resident at the University of Toronto. She has been involved with WONCA since medical school and is honoured to serve as the Chair of Polaris. Being an active member of WONCA and the YDM’s, Rohini has had the opportunity to collaborate with colleagues locally and globally to promote family medicine and global health. Her special interests include hospital medicine, preventive care, and medical education. In her free time, she enjoys playing soccer, cycling, and dancing!
Nikita Pasricha, MS1
Nikita Pasricha is a MS1at Queen's University in Canada. She is passionate about family medicine and its diverse scope of practice. She is an active member within the Queen's community, serving as executive of the Family Medicine and Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation groups. Nikita also loves to get involved globally through her involvements with Lift4Life, a non-for-profit that raises funds and awareness to build accessible physical and mental health services in communities in Zimbabwe. She is excited to promote Wonca Polaris and opportunities within family medicine using her role as social media coordinator. Nikita is passionate about sports and personal fitness, and loves to spend time with family and friends!
Natalia Galarza, MD
Dr. Galarza is was born in Durango, Mexico and grew up near Yuma,Az. Dr. Galarza attended medical school at Universidad Autonoma de Baja California, located in Mexicali, Baja California. She graduated with honors and completed her Family Medicine Residency at Yuma Regional Medical Center. She has worked on both sides of the US-Mex border as a physician, which gives her a first-hand understanding of this region’s unique healthcare challenges. Her passions are glocal medicine, advocacy and medical education. She finished an academic fellowship with U of A for Faculty development and the Emergent Leaders fellowship with STFM. She is currently part of the New Scholars program for STFM.
Natali Smiley
Natali Smiley is a medical student at Rush University in Chicago, IL. Before pursuing medicine, she worked in refugee resettlement in the United States and abroad. She's passionate about making healthcare more accessible to those who need it most and is eager to use Family Medicine as a vehicle to reach people around the world. In her free time, she can often be found cuddling her two crazy dogs or making Turkish food.
KIERA HAYES
MSc
SHAKERA R. CARROLL
MD
Shakera is a Family Physician from The Bahamas. She has been a part WONCA Polaris since 2015 and is currently its Caribbean Representative. She is involved in clinical practice and academics, as well as the local and regional branches of WONCA North America. It is her belief that as Family Medicine is a multidisciplinary specialty, family physicians can be not only health care providers, but also advocates with a global reach. When she's not busy with work, she enjoys travel, socializing with friends and family, the internet, stimulating conversation, and the antics of her budgie "Morty".
CARIBBEAN
Meet your Caribbean representative to the Polaris Board!
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AMBER WHEATLEY
Amber is a junior doctor currently training in North Wales, UK. Originally from the British Virgin Islands, Amber has followed her passion for rural family medicine around the world. Her main goal for family medicine in the British Virgin Islands is to change the perception of public health from a poor man's last resort to a service that both citizens and visitors are proud of. A true believer in holistic care, she is a keen yoga practitioner and enjoys being outdoors. Amber is both honoured and humbled to represent the Caribbean region in Polaris and will be joining the family medicine revolution as a resident in August.