Honored as an expert in pediatric abuse, Patricia A.M. Horsham, MD, has led her career with children at the forefront, serving as a staunch advocate for children’s safety in the medical and legal sectors. Throughout her career, she has served as a medical expert in more than 40 legal cases across Canada and the United States, as well as a prolific author on topics of child abuse and a lecturer across the globe. To this end, Dr. Horsham has lent her expertise as an invited speaker to international meetings on child abuse and neglect, including shaken baby syndrome, and has exhibited a natural passion for caring for the sick and underprivileged, treating newborns and patients up to 16 years old. She authored the 2008 book, “Accused to Acquitted: The Clue is in the Evidence,” and years earlier a clinical book called “The Guidelines to the Medical Assessment of the Sexually Abused Child.”
Well-versed in pediatric medicine, Dr. Horsham has excelled as a pediatrician at the Chadha Medical Clinic in Ottawa, Canada, and the Golden Mile Medical Walk-In Clinic in Toronto, Canada, since 2017. Before her current appointments, she served as a pediatrician in Mississauga, Ontario, Canada, between 2010 and 2012, an emergency pediatrician and lawyer at the Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario between 1985 and 2010, and a medical adviser in the Office of Pediatric Initiations of the Health Products and Food Branch of Health Canada between 2006 and 2007. Furthermore, Dr. Horsham served as a lecturer at the University of Ottawa between 1981 and 2014, having once lectured in the West Indies. Commencing her career in medicine in her early 20s, she worked as a nurse before delving into pediatrics.
To prepare for her career, Dr. Horsham attended Newcastle University in Newcastle upon Tyne in the United Kingdom, receiving a Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery in 1973. Relocating to Canada to specialize in pediatric care, she earned a Doctor of Medicine from the University of Ottawa in 1979. From there, she became a fellow of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons-Canada (in Pediatrics and Child Health), having completed her Pediatric training at the Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario. While working in medicine, she developed a special interest in child abuse and sought to deepen her knowledge of the legalities of child abuse with a Bachelor of Laws from the University of Ottawa in 1991. As such, Dr. Horsham has accrued much expertise in the intersection of medicine, law, and social justice.
Dr. Horsham’s expertise in medicine garnered her an appointment as the University of Ottawa representative to the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario. She also served as a member of the University of Ottawa’s advisory board and was once a delegate to the International Association of Child Abuse and Neglect. For her accomplishments, she was bestowed with the PAIRO Travel Award for Clinical Educators in 1999 and the Harry Jerome Award for Excellence in Community Services from the Black Business and Professional Association in 2004. Turning to the highlight of her personal life, she is particularly proud of adopting her daughter, Alayna, who has grown and begun to follow in Dr. Horsham’s footsteps.
