P.A. obstetrician and gynaecologist Joanna Sivertson was chosen this past weekend to take on a new challenge – president of the Saskatchewan Medical Association. (SMA)
Sivertson has been practicing in Prince Albert since 2009, but has experience working across the province.
She is replacing outgoing SMA president Dr. Intheran Pillay, a family doctor from Gravelbourg.
Now the 51st president of the SMA, Sivertson was born in rural Saskatchewan and grew up on a farm in the Hanley area. She was educated and Hanley and Rosthern before going to pre-med at the University of Regina and medical school at the University of Saskatchewan. She did her residency primarily in Saskatoon, with some time in Regina, before moving to Prince Albert.
As site coordinator, she is in charge of medical students and residents who take O&G training in P.A.. She is also O&G director for the enhanced surgical skills program, teaching family doctors how to perform surgeries such as caesarean sections.
In her work, she has cared for many pregnant women with HIV, and has travelled to Ahtahkakoop Cree Nation and Ile-a-la-Crosse and La Loche for outreach services.
She first got involved with the SMA as a student, hoping it would help her network with working nurses. She then found she enjoyed learning about the challenges that exist in health care, and the interplay between different elements of the complex system.
“It all rolls in together,” she said. “I found it fascinating to see how everything is woven together.”
Sivertson believes her experience working across the province will help her in her new role.
For more on this story, please see the May 10 print or e-edition of the Daily Herald