Profile

Dr. Franco Rizzuti is a Public Health and Preventive Medicine specialist, as well as a Medical Officer of Health for Alberta Health Services. After studying molecular biology and neuroscience, he started to understand that “our patient is the population” — and as a result sought public health as a way to focus on system issues and help solve bigger, more vexing problems.

His experiences, both in the field and as an educator, closely involve the role of social determinants in patient health. “Patients will present with one condition, but you have to look at other factors: social support, housing, income, lifestyle,” he says. “If we don’t make progress there, we will just see the patient come back. If we’re not having these conversations, we can’t holistically help our patients.”

For Dr. Rizzuti, helping to make the system more patient-friendly is a key motivation: “While it takes time and consistent effort to move the needle, it’s so rewarding when you can see a policy evolve that supports those who have been either marginalized or discriminated [against] or racialized.”

In early 2020 as Dr. Rizzuti was finishing his training in public health, COVID-19 struck. In response, he co-created a new Alberta COVID-19 Exposure Response Team responsible for early contact tracing in the province.

The pandemic was “an incredibly immersive experience” and reinforced Dr. Rizzuti’s focus on improving health policies. While systemic problems can interfere with a patient’s access to care, they also impact medical practitioners’ ability to manage the demands of their work.

“Not only does our system need better readiness, it is also running often well beyond maximum capacity,” he says, adding that the level of burnout is at crisis level. “Doctors face high stress, a high workload and emotional turmoil. While we function every day, if one thing goes off — whether it’s a pandemic or an unexpected life event or a sick family member — you are in a crisis.”

He says that through new strategies, we can remove systemic barriers and create positive change. While equity, diversity, inclusion and accessibility (EDI-A) are becoming prime areas of focus across the financial industry, they have long been considered in public health. He has seen how public health has helped generate a more comprehensive approach to supporting Canadians with addiction and empowering underserved populations, as well as its role in encouraging reconciliation with First Nations.

“We need to be more explicit with how we approach EDI-A, about how fragile and marginalized many people in the country are,” he says. “There are such meaningful opportunities, programs and more that we can create with the power of public health.”

Dr. Rizzuti has been engaged with MD Financial Management (MD) since medical school, and says the company has a role to play as a reliable source of information and support. He sees financial literacy and wellness as foundational for physicians.

“There are so many subjects that aren’t part of the curriculum, including various compensation and practice models, becoming a small business owner, billing … and as a result, doctors figure it out as they go.”

He joined the MD Physician Council to share his experiences and insights to help make positive change, similar to his passion for public health. “I am also well connected, particularly to early career physicians, so I can share perspectives from the field and co- create solutions for physicians,” he says.