Kathleen O’Malley, MD’08
Caring for Prince George with Compassion and Commitment — Dr. Kathleen O’Malley blends family medicine, advocacy, and mentorship to serve her community.
Kathleen O’Malley (she/her) is a family physician who has been practicing in Prince George since 2010. After completing her residency in Nanaimo, she returned to Prince George and joined a group practice with a strong focus on obstetrics, a part of her work she finds especially rewarding. Kathleen has also provided care through the SCAN (Suspected Child Abuse and Neglect) Clinic and adult sexual assault services at UHNBC. She has served as the Electives Director for the Northern Medical Program for several years and more recently has contributed to an RCMP review committee focused on sexual assault investigations.
What is a favourite memory or biggest takeway from your time in the NMP?
It will never cease to amaze me how many people came together to form and support the NMP. The community of physicians and allied health that took on all the extra work on to teach and mentor the students was amazing.
Where do you find inspiration?
I am always inspired by my colleagues in Prince George and surrounding rural communities that are willing to work with fewer resources and less access to specialized services. I am also inspired by how many NMP graduates we have working in the North.
What is one thing you hope to accomplish?
I would like to see the continued success of the NMP and it’s graduates and I hope we continue to have doctors returning to the North to work.
What do you hope to accomplish in your professional life?
My goal with respect to my work is to continue to provide a variety of services to the people of Prince George and continue to foster healthy lifelong relationships with the people in my practice.
What do you enjoy doing outside of work?
I enjoy time with my family; we take advantage of the lakes and rivers in and around Prince George year-round.
Thomsen D’Hont, MD’20
Rooted in the North, Driven by Purpose — Dr. Thomsen D’Hont, MD’20, brings care, advocacy, and heart to the communities that shaped him.
Thomsen D’Hont graduated from UBC’s Northern Medical Program in 2020 and completed his family medicine residency training in 2022 with the University of Alberta’s program in Yellowknife. Thomsen is Métis and was born and raised in Yellowknife, Northwest Territories where he has returned to work and to have a family. In his spare time he enjoys cross country skiing, cycling, hunting, camping and spending time with his partner, Dr. Kajsa Heyes, MD’20, and their two young kids.
What is a favourite memory or biggest takeway from your time in the NMP?
Clerkship in Prince George was my biggest takeaway with NMP. It taught me so much and shaped me as a doctor. It was a rigorous, rich, difficult year. I wouldn’t have endured it without having close, supportive classmates by my side. Other favourite memories are of course the hundreds of hours spent enjoying the world-class mountain biking and cross country skiing of Otway and Pidherny!
What is your current role and what do you find most interesting about your career?
I am currently employed as a salaried staff physician with the Northwest Territories Health and Social Services Authority. My work includes hospitalist and ER in Yellowknife and primary care in Behchoko and the rest of the Tlicho region. I have wanted to give back to these communities since before I got into medicine and I find it very rewarding to now be able to give back, especially in some of the underserved areas that I work in.
Where do you find inspiration?
Professionally, I am always inspired by the Indigenous physicians who have come before me and paved the path for the next generation of Indigenous physicians. They faced many hurdles that my generation of Indigenous physicians didn’t have to face and showed my generation that achieving a career as a doctor is possible.
I also draw inspiration from endurance athletes, especially in the sport of cross country skiing (a sport I used to compete in at a fairly high level), who inspire me to find time to get out the door and to stay active. Staying active is crucial for my overall wellness and ability to balance the rigors of work while also raising young kids.
What is one thing you hope to accomplish?
At this point in my early career, my immediate professional goals are to continue to improve my acute care skills while also providing continuity of care in underserved communities that often don’t have a consistent healthcare provider. Beyond that, I also hope to change the fact that many of these communities are underserved, and advocate for improving resource allocation to ensure they are “well-served” from a physician standpoint in the future.
Sonny Thiara, MD’14
From Northern Roots to Global Impact — Dr. Sonny Thiara, MD’14, is redefining critical care through research, leadership, and heart.
Sonny Thiara graduated from the NMP in 2014 and went on to complete an Internal Medicine residency (UBC), fellowship in Critical Care Medicine (UBC), fellowship in Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation (Melbourne) and an MPH in Clinical Epidemiology (Harvard). He currently works as a clinician-scientist at Vancouver General Hospital and as an Intensivist in Nanaimo. He continues to work with Northern Health as the Medical Lead for Critical Care for Northern Health. Sonny has a research grant from the Heart and Stroke Association exploring the association of neurological injury with ECMO.
What is a favourite memory or biggest takeway from your time in the NMP?
My favourite memories is the intimate class sizes and the time spent joking with classmates in between sessions in the hallways of UNBC.
What is your current role and what do you find most interesting about your career?
I currently have 5 jobs (Nanaimo ICU, Vancouver General ICU, Northern Health Medical Lead, VCHRI Clinician Scientist and international fellow program director) and what I find most interesting is working alongside motivated colleagues and that feeling of being part of exceptional team experiences.
Where do you find inspiration?
I find the most inspiration from my family. Knowing the great lengths my family took to put me in a position to have the life I have inspires me to be a similar role model to my family.
What is one thing you hope to accomplish?
I hope I can love my job and feel grateful to be in a position of service for my whole career. I hope the passion I have to be a physician never diminishes and that I will be forced to retire because I want to keep working.
What do you enjoy doing outside of work?
I spend time with my son Raf playing sports and I am currently training for the Toronto Marathon.