Dr. Janette Hurley

Leadership in Integrative Medicine for Underserved Communities

Women Leaders Speaker Series

Presented: Feb 10, 2020


Biography

Dr. Janette Hurley, MD, CCFP, was born and raised in Grenada, West Indies. She immigrated to Canada and earned a B.Sc. (Biology, Honours) and her medical degree from Dalhousie University, 1981 and did her residency at the University of Calgary, Internal/Family Medicine. Janette has been practicing family medicine in Calgary for the past 30 years. She is a graduate of the Fellowship Program in Integrative Medicine, University of Arizona (2006) and is a recipient of the prestigious Bravewell Fellowship Award, 2004 – 2006. In 1999, Janette was the recipient of the TD Insurance Meloche Monnex/ AMA Scholarship which allowed her to pursue further studies at the University of California San Diego School of Medicine, addressing the health care needs of the underserved.

Janette was the lead physician at the Calgary Drop-In & Rehab Centre (DI), the largest homeless shelter in Canada. Janette was responsible for developing an Integrative Medicine program for the underserved. This is a unique societal service model to deliver Integrative Health Care services to the homeless, underserved and marginalized people in Calgary, involving both undergraduate and postgraduate medical students from the Faculty of Medicine at U of C. At the University of Calgary, Faculty of Medicine as an Assistant Clinical Professor in the Department of family medicine, she acquires great joy in teaching undergraduate medical students. Among Janette’s most significant accomplishments has been her leadership in the development and supervision of The Student Run Clinic at the DI. Janette continues to be the lead physician for the Student Run Clinic at the University of Calgary, which now operates out of 3 sites. The first site is The Inn from the Cold Shelter. This is a family homeless shelter in downtown Calgary. Janette actively teaches and encourages her students to practice Integrative medicine with the families especially the children who present with numerous viral illnesses. The second site is Project Homeless Connect Medical Clinic. This medical clinic is under the auspices of Calgary Homeless Foundation and run twice yearly at City Hall. It is staffed with medical students and residents with Janette and colleagues as preceptors. The third site is The Alex Bus, a medical clinic on a bus providing service to marginalized and homeless men.

Janette provides clinical services in addiction medicine at Health Upwardly Mobile (HUM). This team approach care model provides integrative addiction services to the community using an integrative bio-psycho-social-spiritual model. Janette continues to co-chair The Healer’s Art program at University of Calgary for MS1& MS2 students. Janette is forever humbled by the multicultural and socioeconomic diversity of the people whose lives cross her daily path. She recognizes that by serving and advocating for the well-being of her patient population and utilizing an Integrative Medicine approach she can contribute to making Calgary a better city for all.