Age: 38
Occupation: Physician and Clinical Assistant Professor, Cumming School of Medicine, University of Calgary
Every Indigenous person in Canada should have access to excellent, culturally safe health care. It’s highlighted in the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s Calls to Action and internal medicine physician Kelle Hurd is intent on making it a reality. “When I went into medicine, I knew I wanted to take the gift I’ve been given and share that with my community,” Hurd says. She is inspired by her maternal grandmother, who was Indigenous of Luiseño heritage and worked as high school guidance counsellor on the north side of San Diego Country, the traditional and present-day territories of the Luiseño people. “I carry her memory and purpose in every role that I have as a physician,” Hurd says.
A member of the Métis Nation of Alberta on her paternal side, in 2023, Hurd became vice-chair for Indigenous health in the department of medicine at the University of Calgary — it’s estimated she is one of fewer than 10 self-identified Indigenous doctors working in the department. She trains and mentors fellows, residents and medical students to deliver quality care that respects Indigenous ways of knowing and being. Hurd has also developed novel medical education curricula for future internal medicine physicians.
She runs an internal medicine practice and, as a busy clinician, cares for patients at Foothills Medical Centre, the Elbow River Healing Lodge (an urban Indigenous health clinic) and the Stoney Health Centre in Morley, which serves people from the Stoney Nakoda Nations. Hurd works to reduce health-care inequities by respecting Indigenous knowledge, science and healing practices, including in the areas of pregnancy and women’s health. With specialized training in obstetric medicine, she helps provide care in a shared medical practice that looks after approximately 800 high-risk pregnant patients a year.
“I am very honoured that I get to work with such resilient and amazing patients that teach me so much,” she says.
Thank yous
“My husband Jessie for his unwavering support; my two boys, Ari and Zander, who are the lights of my life; my parents, who supported every wild dream I chose to pursue; my extended family and friends who believed in me from day one; and a heavenly thank you to my grandmother for being my daily inspiration in the work that I do.”
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