Shawn Whatley, MD, is the past President of the Ontario Medical Association and a physician leader with experience in emergency medicine and primary care. He served as Interim Medical Director and then Physician Leader at Southlake Hospital's Emergency Services Program from 2008 to 2014. There he helped transform an average emergency department that had trouble attracting physicians into one that became the provincial leader other hospitals were encouraged to emulate. Southlake received special recognition from the Ontario Minister of Health in June 2013 for its province leading improvements to wait times. Dr. Whatley contributes articles regularly to "The Medical Post" and serves on the Post's Physician Advisory Committee. Dr. Whatley has served on the board of the Ontario Medical Association, and more recently on the board of the Canadian Medical Association, as well as on numerous hospital and provincial planning committees. He is a Lecturer for the University of Toronto, Department of Family and Community Medicine, and an Assistant Clinical Professor (Adjunct) in McMaster University's department of Family Medicine, Hamilton, Ontario.