Gigi Osler


Flordeliz "Gigi" Osler is a Canadian physician and Assistant Professor at the University of Manitoba. She is the President of the Canadian Medical Association.

Early life and education

Osler was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba. Her mother was a nurse from the Philippines and her father was an Indian physician. As a child she lived on-site in the Riverview Health Centre. She is the great-great-grand niece of William Osler.
She studied medicine at the University of Manitoba and graduated in 1992. She remained there to specialise in head and neck surgery and graduated from residency in 1997. Thereafter, she completed a rhinology position at St. Paul's Hospital Vancouver, specialising in endoscopic sinus surgery. Osler later recounted that in the 1990s "surgery was still very much a male-dominated field. I was told, ‘Surgery’s too tough. You should look at pediatrics.’"

Career

Osler is the current Head of the Section of Otolaryngology- Head and Neck Surgery at St. Boniface Hospital and is an Assistant Professor with the Department of Otolaryngology at the University of Manitoba College of Medicine.
In October 2018 Osler was announced as the President of the Canadian Medical Association. She is a member of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada Regional Advisory Committee. In 2011 she volunteered with the Canadian Helping Kids in Vietnam's medical mission to Long Xuyên, which focused on delivering medical equipment and educating Vietnamese doctors and nurses. She has also been part of several missions to train surgeons in Africa and has spent several years in Mbarara. She is an invited faculty member at the Mbarara University of Science and Technology.

Physician health

Osler believes that maintaining the health and wellness of oneself should be incorporated into medical training. In 2015 Osler co-chaired the Canadian Conference on Physician Health.

Personal life

Osler is married and has two children.