Miriam Rossi

Miriam Rossi (born Miriam Frances Senhouse) (31 January 1937 – 11 July 2018) was emeritus professor of pediatrics at the University of Toronto, and a pediatrician in the division of Adolescent Medicine at the Hospital for Sick Children. She was Associate Dean of Student Affairs & Admissions at the University of Toronto's Faculty of Medicine for 13 years. Her mother was from Barbados, and was a designer in the Boston garment industry. The Association engaged in outreach to high schools in the Greater Toronto Area and launched a Summer Mentorship Program in 1994.

As associate dean, Rossi introduced a multi-step strategy to prevent sexual harassment at the University of Toronto in response to first and fourth-year medical students reporting, through volunteer questionnaires, any verbal, emotional, physical or sexual abuse experienced during their medical education.

From 1990 to 1993, Rossi served on the Presidential Advisory Committee on Race Relations and Anti-racial Initiatives of the University of Toronto. In 2017, BPAO collaborated with the University of Toronto to establish the Miriam Rossi Award for Health Equity in Undergraduate Medical Education.

Mentorship Rossi has been recognized repeatedly for her commitment to mentorship and student advocacy through awards, and by her peers.

Upon being recognized as one of 100 accomplished Black Canadian Women, Rossi stated:"I believe the greatest accomplishments during my career in the Health Sciences was (a) to be instrumental in bringing about a change in the admission procedures that allowed a larger number of minority students to enter the field of Health Sciences at the University of Toronto; (b) not second, but equally important, was the founding of the Mentoring Program at the Faculty of Medicine for underachieving minority high school students that allowed more students to gain the confidence to apply and be accepted to programs in Health Sciences at various universities."

Awards

Ontario Psychological Foundation Community Service Award (1991). Harry Jerome Award for Professional Excellence (1997). Recognized as one of the 100 accomplished Black Canadian Women (2016).

Personal life Rossi was married to Renato Rossi, an engineering executive. She died at the age of 81 on 11 July 2018.