Our 2023 Conference embraces the theme “Toward Justice: Leading with Lived Experience.” Growing inequities and criminalization of homelessness are diminishing our society and threatening the lives of people experiencing homelessness. In 2023, we are celebrating the 20th anniversary of the National Consumer Advisory Board and the people with lived expertise of homelessness who have been leaders in the movement to end homelessness. We know that people closest to the problems are those closest to the solutions.
The National Health Care for the Homeless Council is privileged each year to host the largest gathering of practitioners of homeless health care and medical respite care, advocates, people with lived experience of homelessness, and researchers about homelessness in the country.
Speaker: Dr. Naheed Dosani, Founder, Palliative Education and Care for the Homeless Program
As a palliative care physician and health justice activist, Dr. Naheed Dosani is dedicated to advancing equitable access to healthcare for people experiencing structural vulnerabilities like poverty and homelessness. These efforts include founding the Palliative Education and Care for the Homeless (PEACH) Program at the Inner City Health Associates, serving as the Medical Director of Kensington Hospice in downtown Toronto, a Health Equity Expert Advisor at the Canadian Partnership Against Cancer and as a palliative care physician at St. Michael’s Hospital at Unity Health Toronto. Dr. Dosani shares his passion for palliative care and health equity with learners as an Assistant Professor with the Department of Family and Community Medicine at the University of Toronto. His research interests include improving care models for people experiencing structural vulnerabilities and access to palliative care for culturally diverse communities. Dr. Dosani has received many prestigious honours for his trailblazing work, including the Meritorious Service Cross for Humanitarianism from Canada’s Governor General in 2018, a humanitarian award from the Canadian Society of Palliative Care Physicians in May 2019, and the Early Career Leader award from the Canadian Medical Association in 2020. He received an Honorary Degree (Doctor of Laws) from Ontario Tech University in 2022.
Note: The National Health Care for the Homeless Conference and Policy Symposium 2023 is presented by the National Health Care for the Homeless Council with grant support from the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The views expressed are not necessarily those of HRSA.
