Dr. Audrey Durrant turns adversity into advocacy in healthcare
March 19, 2026
In recent years, a growing number of Canadians who pursued higher education and built professional careers in the United States are rethinking their long-term futures. Among them are highly skilled professionals, including medical doctors, who once viewed the U.S. as a land of opportunity but are now weighing the benefits of returning home.
Shifts in the social and political climate, evolving workplace environments and a renewed appreciation for Canada’s public systems, particularly in healthcare, are influencing that decision. For many, returning is not just about career prospects, but also about quality of life and stability.
For Dr. Audrey Durrant, that decision has already been made. After 32 years living and working south of the border, the double-board-certified pediatric and general surgeon has returned to Canada.
“The climate and culture of the United States are undergoing a dramatic change from the country I initially wanted to be part of,” she said. “I went there with these grand ideas that I was going to change the world. But over time, it felt like the world was pushing back. As I experienced this again and again, and after becoming a mother, I began to think about what kind of environment my child would grow up in. I wanted him to be raised in a place with less fear.”
As Durrant explored opportunities back home, she interviewed for a position with the Saskatchewan Health Authority and was successful. At the same time, she recognized that a technological solution she had already developed in the United States could help address challenges within the Canadian healthcare system.
While navigating the healthcare system on behalf of her mother, Durrant encountered unexpected barriers in finding a primary care physician. This experience reinforced the relevance of a platform she had already created.
“My mom was looking for a primary care physician, and I thought the process would not be difficult,” she said. “She hit a wall that I did not anticipate. It made me realize that the app I had already developed in the United States also had an important application in Canada.”
That AI-powered platform, Inclusive Health Match, is designed to connect patients with physicians who understand their cultural backgrounds and lived experiences. In many ways, both her return to Canada and the expansion of her work reflect a continued commitment to improving access and equity in healthcare.
Long before her career took shape, Durrant’s sense of purpose was rooted in a childhood experience that would quietly define her path.
At just three years old in Jamaica, she was watching her father play soccer when she accidentally stepped into the ball's path. Instead of striking it, a player kicked her, breaking her leg. The injury affected her growth, leaving one leg longer than the other. For years, she was closely monitored by an orthopedic surgeon, and around the age of 12 or 13, she underwent a procedure to stop the longer leg from growing so the shorter one could catch up.
That surgeon became a constant presence and a source of inspiration.
“I said, ‘I want to be a surgeon’,” Durrant recalled. “I was drawn to a field where I could work with my hands.”
Reading Dr. Ben Carson’s Gifted Hands further reinforced her interest, while the loss of a high school classmate to a brain tumour led her to consider pediatric neurosurgery.
Still, Durrant’s path was not always clear.
“I didn’t know what to do at that point,” she said. “But once I did that rotation, I knew exactly what I wanted to do.”
Durrant speaks candidly about the emotional weight of operating on children, a responsibility that extends far beyond the operating room.
“I don’t think people fully appreciate that these are our children,” she said. “We carry them with us. There is nothing you do in that operating room that you don’t feel responsible for, from the beginning through to the end.”
For Durrant, the impact of that work often reveals itself years later.
“I still receive pictures of babies I cared for who are now grown, and I am happy to see them living full, healthy lives,” she added. “Many of them don’t remember me, and that’s actually a sign that I did my job well.”
Durrant previously worked as a pediatric surgeon at Carle Foundation Hospital in Illinois, a role she left after experiencing what she has described as a toxic workplace environment. She has since spoken publicly about those experiences, using them to highlight broader systemic issues within healthcare.
“The most difficult part is witnessing racism in action,” she said. “You experience it firsthand and find yourself wondering if anyone else sees what is happening. There are very few avenues to seek justice or even find solidarity. Hospitals hold significant power, and physicians are far more vulnerable than people realize. There is a common assumption that surgeons and doctors are wealthy, operate with a sense of superiority and control much of what happens in a hospital. In reality, we are employees, subject to the decisions and expectations of our employers.”
Durrant’s concerns also extend to how hospitals handle internal disputes.
“There is a strong desire to ensure that everyone has an equal voice, but that can sometimes create a lot of noise,” she said. “There needs to be a way to filter out what is not important. Personal preferences, like how someone dresses or their sense of humour, have nothing to do with their competence as a professional. While those things may influence workplace culture, the priority must always be patient care. I have worked in hospitals where even something as simple as when you smile was mandated. To me, that is excessive micromanagement.”
While many professionals remain silent to protect their careers, Durrant made a conscious decision to speak out.
“Silence doesn’t help anybody,” she said. “What it does is give your tormentors power and it weakens others who are in the same position who feel alone. There is no benefit to silence. It lets the culture stay the same and reinforces things that all of us want to change.”
That decision came with risk, particularly in a field where Black pediatric surgeons remain underrepresented in the United States.
“It took me two to three years to find a job,” she said. “I have no malpractice history, I have travelled widely, I bring a lot of experience, and I am innovative. It should have been easier.”
Durrant believes her openness may have influenced how she was perceived.
“By being open, I sometimes feel that it makes people hesitant in ways they might not otherwise be,” she said. “It becomes a factor that others might use to say, ‘I don’t want to take that chance.’ Meanwhile, there are people with malpractice histories who move easily from hospital to hospital, which was not my experience.”
Still, she remains resolute.
“Do I regret it? In dark moments, maybe,” she admitted. “But it is not in my nature to shrink myself or give power to those who try to make others feel small.”
During a period of transition in her career, Durrant ventured into entrepreneurship.
A single parent and health equity advocate, she founded WhiteCoatGreenRoom, a platform and newsletter that amplifies the voices of underrepresented individuals in medicine. She also hosts a podcast of the same name, exploring the real stories behind the white coat.
Durrant’s path to becoming a surgeon was anything but straightforward.
After completing McMaster University’s Biology and Pharmacology program in 1993, she was accepted into New York Medical College. However, she and her mother were unable to raise the funds required for her to attend. She used that setback as an opportunity to backpack solo through Europe before later enrolling at Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, where she earned her MD in 2000.
Even after entering medicine, Durrant’s journey was marked by profound adversity.
During the first month of her research fellowship at Toronto’s Hospital for Sick Children in 2002, she travelled to Florida for a family reunion, where she was struck by a car and left in a coma for three weeks. Her family was told she was unlikely to survive and, if she did, could remain in a persistent vegetative state.
As Durrant’s intracranial pressure rose, her family was asked to make unthinkable decisions about her care. She underwent a tracheostomy and required a feeding tube, her condition hanging in the balance.
Against those odds, Durrant regained consciousness.
What followed was a long and demanding recovery, including months of rehabilitation, a gradual return to eating through a mechanical soft diet and two additional surgeries before she was discharged from the hospital. Determined to continue her path, she returned to her research fellowship and completed her work from a wheelchair, writing her papers despite significant physical limitations.
Durrant’s recovery came with another difficult reality. She had to restart her residency. Undeterred, she chose to begin again at Parkland Hospital in Texas, embracing yet another challenge in a journey defined by perseverance and resilience.
She later completed her internship and residency at SUNY Downstate Medical Center in 2009, followed by a fellowship in pediatric surgery at Oregon Health & Science University. She continued her advanced training upon returning to SUNY in 2012.
Becoming a mother a decade ago marked a profound shift in Durrant’s life.
“Being a parent humbles you in a way that is incredible,” she said. “My son got a fever when he was a baby and you would never have thought I had an MD after my name. I lost my mind. I called every clinical care physician that I knew. He took too long to potty train and I called every pediatric urologist to find out if there were studies I needed to do. Parenting does not come with a book. Each child is different. Though it has been frustrating at times, it has been a wonderful ride.”
Motherhood deepened her empathy, not only as a parent but as a surgeon entrusted with the care of children and the trust of their families.
Through every challenge she has faced, family has remained a constant source of strength.
“My mom is a constant presence,” Durrant, a former assistant professor of pediatric surgery at the University of South Florida, said. “My son, my family and my faith have kept me going. I may not always like the way she helps, but she will always help. She is constant and, without a doubt, always going to be by my side.”
Even for Canadian citizens returning from the United States, obtaining a licence to practise medicine can be a slow process, requiring navigation of provincial regulations and credential verification. That reality became clear for Durrant, who waited nearly six weeks to receive her licence after being hired in Saskatchewan.
“A lot of my classmates are looking to get out of the United States,” she said. “Canada could benefit from their expertise if there were a more streamlined pathway.”
In returning to Canada, Durrant is not simply coming home. She is continuing a lifelong mission shaped by resilience, purpose and an unwavering commitment to care. From a childhood injury that first sparked her interest in medicine to the operating rooms where she has carried the weight of countless young lives, her journey reflects both the challenges and possibilities within healthcare.
Whether through surgery or innovation, she remains focused on creating systems that are more compassionate, more inclusive and more responsive to those they serve. In that sense, her story is not only about where she has been, but about the future she is determined to shape.
