February 25, 2026 (Zoom): Cross-Pollinations panel and reflection
Join the League of Canadian Poets, the Health Arts Research Centre, and the Canadian Association for Health Humanities for the next iteration of the Cross-Pollinations Virtual Rounds Series.
On February 25, Cross-Pollinations will present a panel discussion facilitated by Sarah de Leeuw, one of the original masterminds behind the Cross-Pollinations Virtual Rounds Series. The panel will discuss the impact of Health Humanities programming on practice, research, and communities, as well as reflect on the ways that Cross-Pollinations has sought to create connections between art and medicine.
Have you attended Cross-Pollinations in the past? We'd love to hear from you! Feel free to complete a short survey about your experience.
February 25, 2026
3pm PT/6pm ET
Zamina Aziz
Zamina Aziz (neé Zamina Mithani) (she/her), MD MBE HEC-C is a current resident physician, clinical bioethicist and writer born born on unceded Coast Salish territories (Vancouver, British Columbia), and currently completing her residency in New York. Prior to beginning her Doctor of Medicine training at the University of British Columbia, she completed her Masters of Bioethics at Harvard, where her love for narrative ethics melded with her love for poetry, comedy, and understanding our identities in the world. For Zamina, poetry is both an art and a tool that can be used to navigate medical relationships, geographical attachments, and our connections to spirituality. Zamina has given workshops and lectures on poetry and narrative medicine to physicians, nurses, and ethicists across the US, Canada, and internationally. Her own work can be found in medical journals and crumpled in the pockets of her scrubs.
Rhiannon Ng Cheng Hin
Rhiannon Ng Cheng Hin's poetry and essays have appeared in Brick, The Walrus, Grain, The Malahat Review, Best Canadian Poetry 2024, and elsewhere. Her poetry collection Fire Cider Rain (Coach House Books, 2022) was shortlisted for the Archibald Lampman Award. She is currently a third year medical student at McGill University.
Ronna Bloom
Ronna Bloom is a Toronto-based poet and the author of eight books of poetry. She has led initiatives to bring poetry into health care settings, specifically developing the Poet-in-Residence program at Sinai Health. Her work has appeared several times in Best Canadian Poetry and been nominated for a Pushcart Prize. Her most recent book is In a Riptide (Brick Books, 2025.)
Dr. Jacqueline Hui
Dr. Jacqueline Hui is a Palliative Care physician and medical educator at the University of Calgary, where she leads Teacher Development and Faculty Development. Her clinical work in palliative care deeply informs her passion for helping learners and clinicians navigate difficult conversations with patients and families with compassion.
Sarah de Leeuw
Award-winning scholar and writer (poet, essayist) Sarah de Leeuw explores geography, health humanities, and anti-coloniality. She seeks to understand—and address—why some communities thrive while others face poverty, isolation, violence, discrimination, or poor health.
Maryam Golafshani
Maryam Golafshani (she/her) is a resident physician in psychiatry at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health in Toronto. Prior to medical school, she completed a BA in English literature and MA in critical theory. She has nearly a decade of experience in research and initiatives bridging the arts and humanities with medicine and psychiatry.
Recordings from past events can be viewed on YouTube.