Our Board
Dr. Ojistoh Horn
President
Dr. Ojistoh Horn is Kanienkeha:ka (Mohawk) is from Kahnawake where she lives with her family. Her father is from Akwesasne, where she currently works. She is a family physician taking care of her people through all stages of the lifecycle. Supervising medical students and family medicine residents during their rural rotations in Akwesasne, she emphasizes the complexities of providing primary care to Indigenous peoples and their communities. Drawing on both Western and Traditional paradigms, working with like- minded physicians across the country, with a focus on the effects of the environment and pollution on health, she promotes the inclusion and support of traditional knowledge and ‘ways of being’ into a framework for providing wholistic and primary care to her people.
Dr. Brent Young
Vice-President
Dr. Brent Young is Anishinaabe and a member of Sandy Bay First Nation. His mother is a Sixties Scoop Survivor, and his grandmother was a survivor of Sandy Bay Indian Residential School. He was born and raised in Unama’ki. He is a family physician at Sipekne’katik Health Centre, academic director for Indigenous health at Dalhousie Medical School, and founding clinical lead of Wije’winen Health Centre. He played a key role in supporting the Mi’kmaw Native Friendship Centre in establishing this multidisciplinary primary care service for the urban Indigenous community of Halifax in 2022.
Through his leadership, Dalhousie Medical School has seen a substantial increase in the number of Indigenous medical students being admitted through a new Indigenous Admissions Pathway. This pathway is poised to become a key driver of the Indigenous physician workforce in the region and across Canada. He has also contributed to several national efforts to advance Indigenous health, notably as co-chair of the Anti-Racism Work Group with the National Consortium of Indigenous Medical Education and as a member of the Indigenous Health Committee with the Canadian College of Family Physicians. His primary area of interest is dismantling anti-Indigenous racism in healthcare systems using strengths-based frameworks.
Dr. Jamaica Cass
Secretary
Dr. Jamaica Cass is a member of the Mohawks of the Bay of Quinte, Turtle Clan, and practices Indigenous Health as a primary care physician at Tyendinaga Mohawk Territory. She also has a focused practice in Obesity Medicine, for which she is board-certified. Through her community-focused practice, Dr. Cass advocates to reduce gaps in services and address inequities in care for Indigenous patients.
At Queen’s University, Dr. Cass serves as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Family Medicine, where she is the Program Director for the Indigenous Health Enhanced Skills Program and the Director of Indigenous Health. In 2024, she was recognized with the Principal’s Teaching and Learning Award for Indigenous Education at Queen’s. Dr. Cass is deeply involved in shaping medical education. She is the inaugural Director of the Queen’s-Weeneebayko Health Education Partnership, a groundbreaking program to recruit, train and retain Indigenous Peoples in healthcare professions in remote Indigenous communities. She is committed to creating pathways for Indigenous learners and fostering safe, inclusive spaces for Indigenous patients.
Dr. Cass holds a Medical Doctorate from Tulane University and completed her family medicine residency at the University of Calgary. She also has a PhD in breast cancer molecular biology from Queen’s University, where she received recognition through various institutional and international awards. Throughout her academic and professional journey, Dr. Cass has been actively involved in Indigenous mentorship and advocacy. She dedicates her time to supporting Indigenous learners and ensuring culturally safe healthcare for Indigenous communities.
In her personal life, Dr. Cass enjoys creating beadwork and has recently begun designing textiles with Indigenous themes. She is a mother, wife, auntie, and daughter, residing on the traditional territories of the Haudenosaunee and Anishinaabe.
Dr. Ryan Giroux
Treasurer
Dr. Ryan Giroux is a proud member of the Métis Nation of Alberta. His paternal family is Métis with roots in Fort Chipweyan, Alberta, and he has mixed European heritage on his Mom’s side. He grew up on Treaty 6 and 8 land in Athabasca, Alberta, and now resides in Toronto where he works as General Paediatrician. He works primarily with urban Indigenous families and refugee/newcomer families at St. Michael’s Hospital and the Inner City Health Associates. Ryan is an Indigenous Educator at the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada, is the Temerty Faculty of Medicine’s PGME Indigenous Health Lead, and is the Co-Chair of the First Nations, Inuit, and Métis Health Committee for the Canadian Paediatric Society.
Dr. Ashley Blais
Physician Director
Dr. Ashley Blais, Early Morning Song Woman (Weba Kiesap Nawgamo Pinashi Igwe) is her traditional name. Given the name Ashley by her parents, she is a proud Métis woman with ancestral roots in Sainte Laurent and St. Boniface, Manitoba.
Ashley is married and a mother to three beautiful daughters. In addition, her family has welcomed her nephew into their home over the past year.
For the past 12 years, she has been dedicated to serving as a rural family doctor, providing care through emergency room and hospitalist duties, as well as running clinics in Ste. Rose Du Lac and Ebb and Flow First Nation, Manitoba.
She resides and works on Treaty 2 territory, the original lands of the Anishinaabe, Cree, Oji-Cree, Dakota, and Dene peoples, as well as the homeland of the Métis Nation.
Dr. Tina Nash
Resident Director
Dr. Tina Nash (Creyke) is a member of the Tahltan Nation and the first female from her Nation to earn a medical degree. She is a mother and grandmother currently in her first year of residency through the University of Alberta’s Rural Family Medicine program in Yellowknife. Dr. Nash completed her undergraduate medical training at the Cumming School of Medicine, University of Calgary. Before pursuing medicine, she dedicated 22 years to working with the Indigenous Mental Health Program at Alberta Health Services. She looks forward to serving Indigenous communities in the North and representing Indigenous residents on the 2024/2025 IPAC Board. Meduh for the opportunity to serve.
Shelley Young
Student Director
Shelley Young, a Mi’kmaq from Eskasoni First Nation, N.S., was born and raised in her Mi’kmaw community. She is a medical student and serves as a board member of the Indigenous Physicians Association of Canada (IPAC). Shelley’s background includes work in community health, pediatric pain research, and clinical social work.