Jamaican wins Constance Hamilton Award

Award winner Dr. Rosemary Moodie is congratulated by Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne.
Award winner Dr. Rosemary Moodie is congratulated by Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne.

Jamaican-born health-care practitioner Dr. Rosemary Moodie is a recipient of Canada’s 2014 Constance Hamilton Award.

Established in 1979 by Toronto City Council in honour of its first female member, elected in 1920, the award commemorates the 1929 Privy Council decision which requires the federal government to recognise women as “persons”.

As president and board chair of the Young Women’s Christian Association (YWCA) Toronto since 2011, Moodie has expanded the organisation’s affordable and supportive housing options for young women living with mental health and addiction issues, as well as low-income single women and those fleeing domestic violence.

A graduate of St. Hugh’s High School in Kingston and the University of the West Indies, Moodie came to Canada nearly three decades ago to complete her paediatrics training at the Hospital for Sick Children (HSC).

She successfully pursued an Executive Master’s in Business Administration at the University of Toronto’s Rotman School and is completing her Master’s in Public Policy and Administration at Queen’s University.

Moodie, who has provided medical care for critically ill newborn infants and children while working to improve medical service delivery needs in the field of obstetrics, gynaecology and paediatrics, sits on Food For the Poor’s advisory board and is a director of the Project for the Advancement of Childhood Education.

The Sick Kids paediatrician and neonatologist was honoured with a Harry Jerome Award last April.