Last week I gave my first lecture to medical students. The topic wasn’t on biochemistry or heart disease. It was leadership.

For me the lecture was significant for two reasons:

1. It represents a shift in medical education. Traditionally, medical education has focused on the medical expert role of the physician – and rightly so. However, little thought was given to the other domains where a physician must excel to provide the best patient care, such as communication, advocacy and management. Leadership at an organizational level and a patient level are an important part of ensuring that patients receive the best care possible.

2. It was my first lecture to my colleagues and future physicians. I had the privileged of addressing 230 of the countries brightest students. During these four hours, I shared some of my experiences with leadership, provided them a framework to understand leadership and challenged them to apply their leadership skills in an exercise to forever transform medical education at the University of Toronto.

I hope my lecture has set a precedent at the University of Toronto and opens the door for other medical student leaders to share their experiences. The response from students after the lecture was very positive. More than anything, I hope I have encouraged them to make the most of their potential as leaders to make a difference in their medical school and ultimately in the lives of patients.