Rheumatologist draws on her lived experience to advance inclusion for physicians with disabilities

When multiple sclerosis (MS) reshaped her career, Dr. Erin Norris redefined what it means to thrive in medicine.

Dr. Norris is a rheumatologist at St. Michael’s Hospital, a clinician-teacher, and an assistant professor in the Department of Medicine at the University of Toronto (U of T). She earned her MD from the University of Western Ontario in 2003 and completed her postgraduate training in general internal medicine and rheumatology at U of T. Her academic work focuses on advancing inclusion for physicians with disabilities, with a particular interest in peer support and professional identity development.

Less than a year after starting a full-time position at St. Michael’s, Dr. Norris was diagnosed with relapsing remitting MS. Soon after, a debilitating relapse forced her to take a four-month medical leave.

“At that time, my physiatrist made it clear that if I wanted longevity in my career, I needed to move to part-time (full-time equivalent) practice,” she says. “While my division was supportive of the transition, I struggled with internalized ableism. I worried that my peers would resent me for not contributing equally, that somehow having MS was unprofessional because I couldn’t put my patients’ or the healthcare system’s needs above my own.”

Over the next decade, Dr. Norris continued adapting her clinical practice to sustain her health as her disease progressed. Another turning point came in 2021, when she was hospitalized with severe COVID-19.

During her subsequent medical leave to recover from both the infection itself and a COVID-induced MS exacerbation, her clinic was closed and patients dispersed. Ultimately, in response to ongoing disease progression, she underwent an autologous stem cell transplant in June 2022 to stabilize her MS.

“The period of recovery that followed became a space for me to re-envision my professional life, as I realized for the first time that my lived experience was actually a professional asset,” she says. “Instead of trying to fit myself back into a mold that no longer worked, I decided to self-accommodate and lean into my strengths.”

While Dr. Norris’s practice today looks different from the one she first envisioned, it remains deeply fulfilling. She supports patients in St. Michael’s Hospital’s Fracture Clinic with osteoporosis e-consults, teaches Portfolio (a longitudinal MD student course on reflective practice and professional identity development), and mentors students in the Temerty Faculty of Medicine’s Diversity Mentorship Program. She is actively engaged in research, community development, peer mentorship, and advocacy at local, provincial, and national levels to advance equity for physicians with disabilities across Canada.

This month, Dr. Norris received the Canadian Medical Association’s Dr. Ashok Muzumdar Memorial Award for Physicians with Disabilities.

“I have come to realize how critical it is for physicians with disabilities to stay in medicine,” she says. “Many of us are afraid to speak up due to stigma and very real discrimination, yet disability is common among physicians.”

In fact, 21% of respondents to the 2025 National Physician Health Survey self-identify as having a disability, impairment, or chronic health condition.

“When we stay silent, it’s not surprising that so many of us feel alone,” says Dr. Norris. “Speaking up is not only about advocacy or making sure people understand that human rights laws also apply to physicians working in hospitals. It’s also about normalizing disability and recognizing it as part of human diversity.”

In her work, Dr. Norris aims to increase disability awareness to foster more inclusive healthcare workplaces.

“Whether it’s improving workplace accommodation policies and pathways, creating sustainable on-call schedules, or fostering leadership to address universal design in healthcare, these changes do more than just help physicians with disabilities,” she says. “They shift our culture toward one where we are all supported through every season and transition of our professional lives.”

Dr. Norris’s experiences have helped her realize there is incredible diversity and flexibility in the practice of medicine, and many ways to be a physician. During her darkest days in 2021, she never could have envisioned just how broad and meaningful the scope of her career could still be.

“This journey has helped me to understand the importance of seeing my own worth,” she says. “Because of this, I believe I am better able to foster that same sense of self-worth in my students, mentees, and peers. It has shown me that we, as physicians, must value each other, treat one another with the same compassion we give our patients, and stand up for each other to ensure our collective well-being.”