Brightshores Health System is celebrating the growth of healthcare availability with the region, after welcoming twelve new doctors so far this year.
Two more doctors are set to join the health system in the coming months.
President and CEO of Brightshores, Ann Ford, spoke with Bayshore News about the success of their intensive recruitment program.
The new physicians will be spread across Brightshores’ six hospital sites, to help make healthcare, both general and specialist care, more accessible to everyone in Grey and Bruce.
“We’re really excited about this. They’re brining some expertise in areas that are really important for hospital operations, but more so for our patients. For example, medical oncology, a couple emergency medicine docs, internal medicine, critical care, and lots of different specialties that are going to support us a lot.”
To find 12 medical professionals who were willing to move to the region took several months’ worth of work.
“Sometimes it will take more than a year to get a physician contract out and have them sign on,” said Ford. “Our Medical Affairs team does a great job helping support this, along with some leadership in our physician groups.”
The first step of recruiting new staff begins with a consultation of the existing physician groups, to find out what additional positions should be filled.
Brightshores then contacts recruiters within the region to work directly with the Medical Affairs team to attend events and meetings not only within Ontario, but nationally and internationally in order to find potential candidates.
The interested professionals then come for an on-site visit to meet with potential colleagues.
“It’s constant work for us. We’re always recruiting,” Ford added.
With the physicians hired on this year, four work in family medicine, but will also be helping in local emergency departments. There are also two who practice psychiatry, two who practice internal medicine, one neurologist, and one anesthesiologist.
With Brightshores having added four new critical care beds over the past year, they were happy to secure specialists for in-patient units.
Looking ahead, Ford said that they’re always looking for more physicians in the future.
In particular, Ford shared that they’re focusing on eventually hiring for more specialists, including in surgery, orthopedics, ophthalmology, and someone who specializes ear, nose, and throat ailments.
The physicians who have joined Brightshores in 2026:
Dr. Wael Ahmed (Internal Medicine and Critical Care – regional program)
Dr. Nasrin Alavi (Family Medicine, Emergency and Inpatient Care in Wiarton)
Dr. Marwan Altikriti (Family Medicine, Emergency and Inpatient Care in Meaford)
Dr. Adnan Amin (Emergency Medicine in Southampton)
Dr. Farin Rashid Farohki (Internal Medicine – regional program)
Dr. Victoria Reedman (Neurology – regional program)
Dr. Badar Saleem (Psychiatry – regional program)
Dr. Sydney Selznick (General Surgery – Owen Sound)
Dr. Fawad Shamsher (Psychiatry – regional program)
Dr. Kathleen Walsh (Hospital Medicine – Owen Sound)
Dr. Shima Bagherzadeh (Family Medicine, Emergency and Inpatient Care in Lion’s Head)
Dr. Maed Osili (Medical Oncology at the regional Brightshores Cancer Centre)
Physicians joining Brightshores early Fall 2026 are:
Dr. Harpreet Grover (Family Medicine, Surgery in Owen Sound)
Dr. Theunis Van Zyl (Anesthesiology – Owen Sound)