Dr. Sarah Cook
Dr. Sarah Cook
MD, CCFP, FCFP, CCPE, CHE
Secretary-Treasurer
Yellowknife, Northwest Territories
Dr. Sarah Cook is a community-based family physician and physician leader in Yellowknife, Northwest Territories.
After completing medical school at Dalhousie University and her family medicine residency at the University of Ottawa, she was awarded Certification in the College of Family Physicians of Canada in 2008 and Fellowship in the College of Family Physicians of Canada in 2018.
The opportunity to live in Canada’s north and work with and learn from Indigenous communities and practice full-scope family medicine inspired Dr. Cook to move to Yellowknife in 2008. Enhancing access to culturally safe care for patients close to their home communities and helping physicians find innovative solutions to health care challenges are driving forces in her work.
Her clinical work in the Northwest Territories has included primary care in Yellowknife and in remote Indigenous communities, and reproductive health, maternity care, and oncology, working as a general practitioner as part of a cancer care team to help patients in the Northwest Territories receive cancer care closer to home.
Dr. Cook lived and worked in Nova Scotia (November 2022 to July 2023), teaching primary care both at an urban Indigenous health clinic (Wije’winen, part of the Mi'kmaw Native Friendship Centre) and at one of Dalhousie Department of Family Medicine’s teaching clinics.
Over the past decade Dr. Cook has advanced her leadership skills with formal training through the Canadian Medical Association’s Physician Leadership Institute, the University of Toronto, and the University of Alberta. She served as medical director of the Yellowknife Region from 2015 to 2016 and as the inaugural Territorial Medical Director of the Northwest Territories Health and Social Services Authority from July 2016 to November 2020—a tenure that saw her become a key figure in the Northwest Territories’ response to the COVID-19 pandemic. She also holds the roles of Clinical Lead of Choosing Wisely Northwest Territories and MAID in the Northwest Territories.
When not at work, Dr. Cook loves sailing, hiking, running, skiing, traveling, and outdoor adventuring with her husband and three teenage children and, as a certified fitness instructor, teaches community classes to share her love of physical activity.
After completing medical school at Dalhousie University and her family medicine residency at the University of Ottawa, she was awarded Certification in the College of Family Physicians of Canada in 2008 and Fellowship in the College of Family Physicians of Canada in 2018.
The opportunity to live in Canada’s north and work with and learn from Indigenous communities and practice full-scope family medicine inspired Dr. Cook to move to Yellowknife in 2008. Enhancing access to culturally safe care for patients close to their home communities and helping physicians find innovative solutions to health care challenges are driving forces in her work.
Her clinical work in the Northwest Territories has included primary care in Yellowknife and in remote Indigenous communities, and reproductive health, maternity care, and oncology, working as a general practitioner as part of a cancer care team to help patients in the Northwest Territories receive cancer care closer to home.
Dr. Cook lived and worked in Nova Scotia (November 2022 to July 2023), teaching primary care both at an urban Indigenous health clinic (Wije’winen, part of the Mi'kmaw Native Friendship Centre) and at one of Dalhousie Department of Family Medicine’s teaching clinics.
Over the past decade Dr. Cook has advanced her leadership skills with formal training through the Canadian Medical Association’s Physician Leadership Institute, the University of Toronto, and the University of Alberta. She served as medical director of the Yellowknife Region from 2015 to 2016 and as the inaugural Territorial Medical Director of the Northwest Territories Health and Social Services Authority from July 2016 to November 2020—a tenure that saw her become a key figure in the Northwest Territories’ response to the COVID-19 pandemic. She also holds the roles of Clinical Lead of Choosing Wisely Northwest Territories and MAID in the Northwest Territories.
When not at work, Dr. Cook loves sailing, hiking, running, skiing, traveling, and outdoor adventuring with her husband and three teenage children and, as a certified fitness instructor, teaches community classes to share her love of physical activity.