Physicians Making an Impact: Meet Dr. Katarina Lakovic

To Dr. Katarina Lakovic, pairing the wisdom of age with the energy of youth is a powerful force. A specialist in the care of older adults, she believes this combination might just be the key to reshaping healthcare to better serve Canada's aging population.

The need is urgent. As of July 2024, about 7.8 million Canadians were 65 and over. Fast‑forward to 2030, and seniors will make up 23 per cent of Canada’s population. And yet, many new doctors aren’t trained to meet the complex needs of older patients.

“During my own Care of the Elderly (COE) training, I worked on a project assessing where in the curriculum geriatric competencies were covered in undergraduate medical education,” said Dr. Lakovic. “Geriatric topics were extremely sparse. Traditionally, there's been very little focus on providing education and clinical experiences related to older adults, which is counterintuitive and counterproductive given our aging population.”

Dr. Lakovic currently splits her time between Malton Village Long-Term Care Centre in Mississauga and Etobicoke General Hospital, where she works as an acute care hospitalist. She also previously served as Medical Director of Humber Valley Terrace Long-Term Care during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Her experience on the front lines has shaped her understanding of the ongoing challenges in long-term care—and the health inequities that impact frail seniors living in underserved areas like north Etobicoke. These realities have deepened her commitment to improving care for older adults and have led to her active involvement with Ontario Long Term Care Clinicians (OLTCC), a not-for-profit focused on clinician education and quality improvement in the sector.

Now, with the opening of TMU’s School of Medicine — where specialized care for seniors is a guiding principle — Dr. Lakovic sees a meaningful opportunity to transform how future doctors are trained. As Program Director for the Care of the Elderly program, she’s building a curriculum that not only teaches clinical skills but also emphasizes advocacy, equity, and social accountability. She hopes all of it builds towards a rewarding and sustainable career path for Ontario’s future doctors.

“Working with the elderly is very rewarding. I find older patients and their families are incredibly grateful, and that appreciation goes a long way,” Dr. Lakovic said. “They're very medically complex, which makes the clinical work intellectually rigorous. But what really defines this type of care is the vulnerability and individuality of each patient. When we approach our elderly patients with the right skills and framework, we can make a profound difference in their lives, and the lives of their loved ones.”

That sense of purpose is what keeps her going — and what she hopes to pass on to the next generation of physicians. A key mentor early in her own career helped shape her path, and now she’s focused on paying it forward.

“If we want to meet our society’s future needs, we need more physicians who have the requisite skills to care for this complex population,” Dr. Lakovic said. “This is why I’m passionate about sharing how rewarding this field of Care of the Elderly is — I hope it inspires more young physicians to consider a career in this meaningful area of medicine.”