Cornelia Wieman

Cornelia Wieman

Medicine (1998)

When Dr. Cornelia Wieman finishes her residency requirements later this year, she will be the only practicing Aboriginal woman psychiatrist in Canada.  The 1993 graduate of McMaster University is at the advent of her career, but has already made a positive and indelible mark on the Canadian medical establishment.  During her 5-year post graduate residency, she was elected the President of the Resident’s Association at McMaster University in 1996, where she acted as an informal councilor to residents in distress as well as a mentor for the junior residents.  She was instrumental in developing the Chief Resident position in Emergency Psychiatry at McMaster University.  She was then elected the Chair of the Native Mental Health Section of the Canadian Psychiatric Association in 1997.

Dr. Wieman is currently developing the Six Nations Mental Health Services in Ohsweken, Ontario, on the Six Nations of the Grand River.  There, she has developed emergency psychiatric services, consultation service, and case management for Aboriginal people with psychiatric disorders.  Her academic achievements are equally impressive.  She wrote and defended her Master of Science thesis in Biomechanics in just eight weeks.  She was on the Dean’s Honours List for the last three years of her Bachelor of Science Degree Honours program at the University of Waterloo, and was awarded the Medical Research Council of Canada Farquharson Scholarship, and the Medical Services Branch Indian/Inuit Health Careers Scholarship while completing medical school.