Doctors Nova Scotia welcomes new President and President-Elect

Dartmouth, NS – Valley family physician, Dr. Manoj Vohra, was installed as President of Doctors Nova Scotia at the association’s annual conference on Saturday, June 3 in Halifax, N.S.

Since graduating from Dalhousie Medical School in 1988, Dr. Vohra has practised in both urban and rural practices, from Halifax to Sherbrooke. He spent several years as a family physician in Westville, and has also worked at the collaborative emergency centre in Tatamagouche and in primary care in Pugwash.

In the early 2000s, Dr. Vohra held leadership positions at the Aberdeen Hospital in New Glasgow, N.S., including president and vice-president of medical staff and head of family practice. From there, it was off to Queen’s University, from which he graduated with an Masters in Business Administration in 2011. On returning to Nova Scotia, Dr. Vohra moved to Truro, N.S., becoming the vice-president of medicine and chief of staff at Colchester East Hants Health Authority. Dr. Vohra now provides primary care services to underserved communities through a collaborative practice in Kennetcook, walk-in clinics and locums.

Dr. Vohra sees his presidency as an opportunity to repair stakeholder relationships, increase physician leadership and foster physician engagement in system change. 

“One of the challenges of my presidency will be to address the strained relationships between physicians, the health authority and the government,” he said. “Rebuilding these relationships will be paramount to our ability to help with physician resource planning and developing frameworks for collaborative practices, clinical service planning, and physician recruitment and retention.” 

Dr. Vohra’s presidency follows several years of involvement with Doctors Nova Scotia. Prior to his term as President-Elect, he served one-year term on the association’s Board of Directors and was also a member of the Policy and Health Issues Committee in 2015–16. 

Also on Saturday, Dr. Tim Holland was approved as President-Elect for 2017-18. He practises family medicine at the Speken’kaitk Health Centre in Indianbrook, N.S., and the Transitional Health Clinic for Refugees in Halifax, and practises emergency medicine at the Colchester Regional Hospital. As co-chair of the Policy and Health Issues Committee, Dr. Holland was involved in shaping the association’s primary care renewal position paper. He will become President in 2018-19.

Note to editors: photo of Dr. Vohra is available online.