Dr. Cristina Popa calls the Emergency Department (ED) at MSH her “home” — and talks about it with an enormous amount of pride and joy.
She arrived in Canada from Romania in 1993 and, upon graduating from Queen’s University, joined the hospital in 2005. “I’m very driven and always loved medicine. I had no doubts, I always wanted to be a doctor.”
When the pandemic hit, Dr. Popa became the physician lead for our COVID-19 Assessment Centre in March 2020. “We needed to develop a structure to do it efficiently and in a safe environment for the patients and for the staff. We went from seeing about 100 to 200 people a day to over 600 a day,” she says.
“When vaccinations started, I was also the physician lead for the COVID-19 Community Vaccination Centre located at Cornell Community Centre. Over 200,000 vaccine doses were administered there. I’m particularly proud of that centre, where everyone just works together. We asked for help and our community partners and providers, and the hospital delivered.”
Being recognized as an MSH Hero means a lot to Dr. Popa. “Of all the awards I’ve received, I think this is the closest to my heart.” Yet she deflects the credit to other staff and colleagues.
“It’s not about me. When you have an amazing team — physicians, nurses, administration, staff — it doesn’t matter what position you are coming from. This is what makes the job so much better. This is what makes Markham Stouffville Hospital so special.”
