
Training for Better Care
Serious illness communication helps clinicians navigate emotionally complex conversations, align treatment with patient values, and support more compassionate, patient-centered care. Clinicians often face difficult

Irene, Caregiver to Aging Parents Irene is a caregiver to both of her elderly parents. She recently navigated the healthcare system with her 88-year-old father who was partially paralyzed from two strokes and had just experienced a hip fracture. He had a brief stint in a rehabilitation facility after strong advocacy from family to transfer […]

Spotlight on: Arielle Berger, MD Dr. Berger is a stellar facilitator who has taught six workshops since our program began in 2022 Speciality: Geriatrics Favourite Movie: Girls Just Want to Have Fun Over the past three years, The Conversation Lab has sent twenty clinicians to complete VitalTalk faculty development training to standardize and scale communication skills […]

Meet Helen James, MBBS, FAChPM Our first Clinical Research Fellow reflects on her time in the Lab. Helen writes: I applied for this fellowship because I trusted it would allow me to work within a team aiming to improve communication skills for healthcare workers across an entire system, and the experience has certainly exceeded my […]

(L to R) Dr. Jillian Gustin (OH), Dr. Warren Lewin (ON), Dr. Tiffany Lee (BC) The Conversation Lab celebrated our first national workshop as part of the Advanced Learning in Palliative Medicine (ALPM) conference at the Westin Harbor Castle Hotel in Toronto on May 29, 2024. Certified VitalTalk facilitators Dr. Jillian Gustin from Ohio State […]

The Conversation Lab’s Dr. Warren Lewin was recently awarded a 2023 Award of Excellence from the College of Family Physicians of Canada recognizing his leadership in creating The Conversation Lab to address system-level gaps in education and that will ultimately lead to higher quality care for patients and families living with serious illness. More locally, he […]

Dr. Mary Elliott speaks with Dr. Warren Lewin, Founding Director of The Conversation Lab. Together, they discuss Warren’s work teaching and learning from clinical trainees and reflect on his path to becoming a physician and educator. He helps us understand how communication tools support clinician / healthcare worker well-being. As a member of the 2SLGBTQIA+ […]

Serious illness communication helps clinicians navigate emotionally complex conversations, align treatment with patient values, and support more compassionate, patient-centered care. Clinicians often face difficult

Dr Max Charles leads a group at TRI-UC The Conversation Lab continues to further the call to put communication skills training at the forefront of

Dr Karen Okrainec Dr Richard Dunbar-Yaffe Karen Okrainec, MD is a General Internal Medicine physician and clinician scientist at UHN, and VitalTalk faculty partnering with The

Jalal Ebrahim, MD Dr. Ebrahim has taught five workshops since our program began in 2022 Speciality: Palliative Care A graduate of our first cohort in 2022, Jalal continously contributes valuable input to refine our teaching tools and workshops.

The Conversation Lab enjoyed the rare opportunity to bring a small group of our community of facilitators together in-person. On November 20, 2024 we held

Sylvia, Caregiver Sylvia was a caregiver to her father who was in and out of the hospital for years related to complications from living with

Irene, Caregiver to Aging Parents Irene is a caregiver to both of her elderly parents. She recently navigated the healthcare system with her 88-year-old father

Spotlight on: Arielle Berger, MD Dr. Berger is a stellar facilitator who has taught six workshops since our program began in 2022 Speciality: Geriatrics Favourite Movie:

Meet Helen James, MBBS, FAChPM Our first Clinical Research Fellow reflects on her time in the Lab. Helen writes: I applied for this fellowship because

(L to R) Dr. Jillian Gustin (OH), Dr. Warren Lewin (ON), Dr. Tiffany Lee (BC) The Conversation Lab celebrated our first national workshop as part

The Conversation Lab’s Dr. Warren Lewin was recently awarded a 2023 Award of Excellence from the College of Family Physicians of Canada recognizing his leadership in

Dr. Mary Elliott speaks with Dr. Warren Lewin, Founding Director of The Conversation Lab. Together, they discuss Warren’s work teaching and learning from clinical trainees

We’re growing! We were just two faculty when we launched and now have 20 certified faculty to help deliver our programming. Our faculty come from

One of our faculty received an Art of the Possible grant from the Department of Family and Community Medicine (DFCM) at the University of Toronto

Serious illness communication helps clinicians navigate emotionally complex conversations, align treatment with patient values, and support more compassionate, patient-centered care. Clinicians often face difficult

Dr Max Charles leads a group at TRI-UC The Conversation Lab continues to further the call to put communication skills training at the forefront of

Dr Karen Okrainec Dr Richard Dunbar-Yaffe Karen Okrainec, MD is a General Internal Medicine physician and clinician scientist at UHN, and VitalTalk faculty partnering with The

Jalal Ebrahim, MD Dr. Ebrahim has taught five workshops since our program began in 2022 Speciality: Palliative Care A graduate of our first cohort in 2022, Jalal continously contributes valuable input to refine our teaching tools and workshops.

The Conversation Lab enjoyed the rare opportunity to bring a small group of our community of facilitators together in-person. On November 20, 2024 we held

Sylvia, Caregiver Sylvia was a caregiver to her father who was in and out of the hospital for years related to complications from living with

Irene, Caregiver to Aging Parents Irene is a caregiver to both of her elderly parents. She recently navigated the healthcare system with her 88-year-old father

Spotlight on: Arielle Berger, MD Dr. Berger is a stellar facilitator who has taught six workshops since our program began in 2022 Speciality: Geriatrics Favourite Movie:

Meet Helen James, MBBS, FAChPM Our first Clinical Research Fellow reflects on her time in the Lab. Helen writes: I applied for this fellowship because

(L to R) Dr. Jillian Gustin (OH), Dr. Warren Lewin (ON), Dr. Tiffany Lee (BC) The Conversation Lab celebrated our first national workshop as part

The Conversation Lab’s Dr. Warren Lewin was recently awarded a 2023 Award of Excellence from the College of Family Physicians of Canada recognizing his leadership in

Dr. Mary Elliott speaks with Dr. Warren Lewin, Founding Director of The Conversation Lab. Together, they discuss Warren’s work teaching and learning from clinical trainees

We’re growing! We were just two faculty when we launched and now have 20 certified faculty to help deliver our programming. Our faculty come from

One of our faculty received an Art of the Possible grant from the Department of Family and Community Medicine (DFCM) at the University of Toronto