COUNCIL AWARD
Hamilton FP recognized
with Council Award
Dr. Keyna Bracken, who works in the fields of family medicine and obstetrics, is the newest recipient of the Council
Award.
Dr. Bracken did her medical degree at McMaster University,
graduating in 1989. After a brief stint in internal medicine,
she went on to obtain her certification in family medicine
from the College of Family Physicians of Canada in 2006.
Dr. Keyna Bracken
She is the medical director of the Maternity Centre in Hamilton, a collaborative group of nurse practitioners, family
physicians, and a social worker who provide antepartum and postpartum care to pregnant women.
Dr. Bracken is a mentor and role model for family medicine residents during their maternal child rotation at St.
Joseph’s Healthcare Hamilton.
Last year, she completed a decade-long tenure at the CPSO where she served on various committees, including
Patient Relations, Discipline and Fitness to Practise.
Dr. Bracken is deeply committed to issues of social justice and supporting immigrant and refugee health and has
extensive medical experience in the developing world, having worked in Jamaica, Haiti and Tanzania.
Dr. Farhan Asrar, who completed his family medicine residency training at McMaster’s Stonechurch Family Health
Centre under the supervision of Dr. Bracken, nominated her for the award.
“She’s an excellent mentor. She made me want to be a better doctor and also provided me with the guidance and
knowledge to reach [higher],” he says.
“She’s also a really fun person. She has a love of rock music and in the breaks, we would talk about the merits of
bands like Metallica. “
A Q&A with Dr. Keyna Bracken
Q: Tell us about your childhood and how a family
crisis impacted your life.
Canada. We ended up in Toronto when I was about five
and then moved to Oakville, where I grew up.
A: I was born in Hong Kong to British parents. My
mother had come from a very poor coal mining town in
Wales and basically her ticket out was to be a teacher and
they shipped her out at a young age to teach children of
British subjects in Hong Kong. My father went to Hong
Kong as part of his compulsory British military service.
My mother was unhappy with the education system
there and after my brother and I were born, my parents
considered moving to Australia, the United States or
My mother developed a life-threatening bowel illness
and was in hospital for some time when I was about 13.
That had a formative effective on me. We were typically British meat and potatoes people and I decided
we needed more fibre so I seized the reins and decided
to get the family back on track by changing what we
ate. Her illness cemented leadership and organizational
skills in me because I had to do a fair bit of taking care
of the family.
DIALOGUE • Issue 1, 2014
17