But where is the net?

When five-time Olympic champion Hayley Wickenheiser retired from hockey after 23 years, holding the record for most assists, points and goals for the Canadian Women’s National Team, she set her sights on another challenge: becoming a doctor.  But while medicine and sports may seem to share certain similarities, they do not share a common culture when it comes to taking care of our bodies or preparing our minds for physical and mental challenges. IN particular, medicine operates under the assumption that physicians can override their physiologic and emotional needs without a safety net – or a supportive team – beneath them. In this, the second talk in our 2020/21 series, we’ll explore some of medicine’s blind spots, and what one of Canada’s most decorated athletes can tell us about the mindset and the cognitive shifts we need to make in order to survive the ordeal of the pandemic – and, ultimately, to change our culture.

With seven World Championships, six Olympic appearances, five Olympic medals and four Olympic Gold medals – Hayley Wickenheiser is a titan of sport and a leader both on and off the ice. Most recently recognized by her peers, she was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame. Her hockey IQ is highly respected in all areas of both the men’s and women’s game. She has played and coached four NHL development camps with the Philadelphia Flyers, Edmonton Oilers and Toronto Maple Leafs, the first woman in history to have done so. She still holds the record for the most assists, points and goals for the Canadian Women’s National team which she joined at just 15 years old, a career spanning 23 years. She retired in 2017 to begin her pursuit of a career in medicine, which she is currently studying at the University of Calgary. She is a member of the Order of Canada, a member of the IOC Athlete’s Commission, founder of The Canadian Tire Wickenheiser World Female Hockey Festival, the Vice Chair of the Calgary 2026 Bid Committee and most importantly, a mom to her grown son Noah. 

JILLIAN HORTON, M.D., is an award-winning medical educator, writer, musician and podcaster. A former Associate Dean at the University of Manitoba, she has cared for thousands of patients in an inner-city hospital, and now works to provide care to people living with addiction.  She is the winner of the prestigious 2020 AFMC–Gold Foundation Humanism award, recognizing her as a national thought leader in medical education and the delivery of compassionate and humane care. As a teacher of mindfulness, she is sought after by doctors at all stages of their careers, and she leads the development of national programming in physician health for Joule, a subsidiary of the Canadian Medical Association. Her writing about medicine has appeared frequently in the LA Times, the Globe and Mail, and the Toronto Star, and her first book, We Are All Perfectly Fine, will be released by HarperCollins Canada in Feb 2021. 

This live performance adheres to the health and safety guidelines of the region in which it was recorded.