Isabelle Côté

Candidature — Chief Residents/résidents-coordonnateurs Douglas Hospital

Dear colleagues,

My name is Isabelle Côté. I am a PGY-4 psychiatry resident entering my Child and Adolescent Psychiatry subspecialty, and I am applying for the position of Chief Resident at the Douglas Hospital.

The Douglas has been a home base throughout my residency. I completed the majority of my core training here, held the Chief Resident role during PGY-3, and will return as one of the three McGill sites for my child psychiatry subspecialty. It still feels like home, and that familiarity, combined with the institutional relationships already in place, is precisely what I would bring to this mandate.

During my previous term, I worked to ensure the Collective Agreement was applied in practice: meeting with the DPS, advocating on call conditions, facilities, and parking, collaborating with Assistant Chief Residents, keeping residents informed on FMRQ negotiations, and sitting on the Morbidity and Mortality Committee as resident representative. I also prioritized a structured transition to the incoming Chief Resident, knowing how much continuity matters.

Beyond the administrative dimensions of the role, advocacy is something I carry in my background and in my values. Prior to medicine, I studied International Law and Human Rights and practiced as a lawyer, including at the United Nations. Throughout my career — in student organizations, in clinical settings, and in life — I have consistently shown up to defend the interests of peers and push back against systemic barriers. As a Resident Sentinelle, as the MPRA's Moms and Dads representative, and as a mother of two young children, I also understand deeply that wellbeing is not peripheral to our work — it is foundational to it.

I would be honoured to serve the Douglas residents once more.

Isabelle Côté, MD, JD, LLM

Psychiatry Resident – PGY-4

isabelle.cote9@mail.mcgill.ca | 438-824-9151