Bio
Deniece O’Leary is an American trained Physician Assistant (PA) with a Master’s Degree in Physician Assistant Studies. After graduating, Deniece worked in California in a medically underserved family practice. Deniece moved her family from California to Ontario in 2009 to accept a position as an assistant professor at McMaster University’s Physician Assistant Program. At McMaster, she taught clinical skills and problem based learning for five years. Deniece is currently on faculty at the University of Toronto’s PA Program. She is also works as a clinical PA in the Hamilton Family Health Team and as an orthopedic PA in a private office. Deniece has served as both the President and Vice President of the Canadian Physician Assistant Education Association (CPAEA). She is currently serving on the Physician Assistant Integration Working Group through the Ministry of Health and as an external reviewer for the Conference Board of Canada’s Physician Assistant publications. Deniece enjoys teaching others about the value of Physician Assistants and has presented at various medical conferences in Ontario including: the Annual Scientific Conference; the AFHTO conference; and, annual CAPA conferences. Over the past two years as the Ontario Chapter President, she has attended LHIN meetings, organized outreach efforts with MPPs, and helped to establish PA advocacy projects. Throughout her career, Deniece has been fortunate to teach and mentor many PA students and clinicians. In the last two years, her passion projects have centered around creating stable funding for PAs, networking local PAs in communities to increase their value, and networking PAs in medical specialty groups. In her free time she enjoys traveling, spending time with her family, and mentoring other healthcare professionals. With over 10 years in practice, many of those in Ontario, she has valuable knowledge concerning the struggles facing Ontario PAs and is committed to working hard to build a better future for PAs in the province.