Miriam Rossi

Early Career

Miriam Rossi was born in Boston, Massachusetts, in 1937. She developed an interest in medicine early on and volunteered at local hospitals during high school. In Boston, she completed an undergraduate degree, and then obtained an undergraduate degree in dietetics and a master’s degree in biological sciences and nutrition from lowa State University. Rossi relocated to New York City and worked as a nutritionist in the city’s public health department in Harlem. Rossi attended what is today the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York. In 1970, she graduated from the school's first class and was the only Black student.

Work at The Hospital for Sick Children

Miriam Rossi moved to Toronto, and by 1977, she was a resident in the Department of Paediatrics in the Chest Division at The Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids). In 1978–79, Rossi was chief resident, and by 1981, she was a pediatrician in the Out-Patient Department. (See also Pediatrics.) In addition to her work in the Chest Division and Gastroenterology Division, Rossi was involved with committees at SickKids, including the Multicultural Initiative Committee and the Facilities Planning Committee. She was also assistant director of the Medical Education Department.

Work at the University of Toronto

In 1981, Dr. Rossi joined the University of Toronto. From 1981 to 2018, she was a professor at the Department of Paediatrics at the Faculty of Medicine (as of 2020, the Temerty Faculty of Medicine). She also acted as associate dean of student affairs and admissions, Faculty of Medicine from 1988 to 2001. Rossi advised students on academics, careers, personal concerns and finances.

In 1993, Rossi came together with doctors, chiropractors, dentists, nurses and others to establish the Association for the Advancement of Blacks in the Health Sciences (AABHS). Located at the Faculty of Medicine, the association's goal was to provide outreach to Black and other disadvantaged high school students and encourage them that “…there was a way that they could move ahead, and they didn’t have to be afraid, or didn’t have to be intimidated or didn’t have to think that they weren’t worth it.”

Summer Mentorship Program

In 1994, following the success of AABHS, Miriam Rossi and others from the Faculty of Medicine (and the Toronto District School Board) started a new summer mentorship program. For several weeks each the summer, grade 10–11 students from Ontario who self-Identify as Black or Indigenous learn about several professions, including medicine, dentistry, kinesiology, nursing, pharmacy, public health and social work. Since the beginning, most alumni have continued studies at college or university, and most have entered health sciences or healthcare professions. The Summer Mentorship Program was one of the earliest programs of its kind in Canada.

Camp Jumoke

In 1994, Miriam Rossi and the AABHS played a role in the founding of Camp Jumoke, a summer camp for children affected by sickle cell disease located in Bracebridge, Ontario. Sickle cell disease, an inherited red blood cell disorder, largely affects Black populations. As an adolescent pediatrician at SickKids, Rossi facilitated connections with the Sickle Cell clinic to develop the program.

The Black Physicians' Association of Ontario

In 2007, The Black Physicians’ Association of Ontario (BPAO) was co-founded by Miriam Rossi. Anchored at the University of Toronto, the BPAO was created to eliminate racial inequity and encourage an increase of Black physicians in medicine. (See also Anti-Black Racism in Canada.)

TAIBU

In 2008, Miriam Rossi also assisted in the establishment of TAIBU Community Health Care Centre. Located in Scarborough, the centre was created to provide primary health-care and health programs and services to the Black community in the Greater Toronto Area.

Political Work

From 1990 to 1993, Miriam Rossi served on the Presidential Advisor Committee on Race Relations and Anti-racism Initiatives of the University of Toronto. She also served on the Ontario Premier’s Council for Health Strategy (1991–98) and at the Trillium Gift of Life Network from 2004 to 2010.

Legacy

Dr. Miriam Rossi passed away at age 81. An obituary in the U of T News noted that “she was so driven by a sense of equity and justice.” The Miriam Rossi Award for Health Equity in Undergraduate Medical Education at the University of Toronto honours Dr. Rossi’s legacy of work.

Awards

• Community Service Award, Ontario Psychological Foundation (1991)
• Professional Excellence, Harry Jerome Award, Black Business and Professional Association (1997)
• Vision Award for Excellence in Ongoing Community Education (1999)
• The African Canadian Achievement Award in Health Science, Pride News Magazine (2002)
• The Keeper of the Flame Award for continuing support of culturally sensitive health science education for Black Youth (2005)
• Honoree, 100 Accomplished Black Canadian Women, 100 ABC Women (2016)