In The Doctors We Need, Dr. Anthony Sanfilippo, a respected cardiologist and former Associate Dean of Medical Education at Queen’s University, confronts a startling reality: in a nation proud of its pledge to universal healthcare, over 6 million Canadians lack a family doctor. This crisis persists despite massive investments in medical education and institutions. We need to think differently.

Drawing on over 40 years of experience in the classroom and at the bedside, Dr. Sanfilippo exposes—with elegance, wit, and empathy—how our legacy processes for recruiting, educating, and promoting hyper-specialization in medicine have failed to adapt to the basic healthcare needs any Canadian should expect. Through compelling real-life accounts, he illustrates:

• The impact of outdated selection and training methods on doctor shortages
• How our complex, siloed medical education system lacks crucial oversight
• Why current approaches fail to produce doctors with the diverse skills needed today

This groundbreaking book doesn’t just diagnose the problem—it prescribes solutions that alter incentives for decision-makers and embrace a new path for aspiring family physicians. Dr. Sanfilippo proposes innovative reforms in three critical areas:

• Doctor selection
• Medical education and training
• Healthcare workplace environments

The Doctors We Need is a call to action, challenging Canadians, medical schools, and our political leaders to embrace urgent, disruptive change in the face of clear and present needs. It offers a practical roadmap for ensuring every Canadian has access to quality primary care. Essential reading for anyone concerned about the future of healthcare in Canada, this book provides the blueprint for transforming our medical system to truly serve all Canadians.

ANTHONY SANFILIPPO has been learning, researching, practicing and teaching medicine over the past five decades. He has held key roles at various levels of medical and educational leadership and, for the past 16 years, directed one of the oldest and most venerable medical schools in Canada as it adapted to dramatically expanding medical knowledge, societal needs, student expectations, financial constraints, and one rather disruptive pandemic. He has published numerous scientific articles, provided hundreds of invited presentations and received recognitions for teaching, leadership and service. More recently, he has taken up writing as a means of exploring opportunities to better align medical education with the needs of contemporary society.

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