Meet the CBMC Team: Featuring Dr. Arlene Kelly-Wiggins

After serving as a high school teacher for 16 years, Dr. Kelly-Wiggins embarked on a medical career in 2011. She earned her MD from the Dalhousie Faculty of Medicine in 2015 and was subsequently matched to the Cape Breton site for the Dalhousie Family Medicine program. Dr. Kelly-Wiggins completed the Care of Elderly program at Dalhousie before entering practice in Sydney in 2018. She has since led the revitalization and growth of the geriatrics program at the Cape Breton Regional Hospital to help serve the health needs of seniors in the Cape Breton region. Dr. Kelly-Wiggins practices as a Care of the Elderly Physician and Physician Lead at the Geriatric Clinic in Sydney, Nova Scotia.  

As Assistant Dean, Pre-Clerkship for the Cape Breton Medical Campus, Dr. Kelly-Wiggin’s role includes the joint responsibility of integrating, coordinating, implementing and evaluating the pre-clerkship curriculum at the Cape Breton Medical Campus – working closely with her counterparts at Dalhousie’s Halifax and Saint John campuses. Along with her background as an educator, Dr. Kelly-Wiggins has been a strong advocate for medical education and increasing opportunities for Cape Breton students to train on the Island.  

Following the CBMC’s inaugural year, Dr. Kelly-Wiggins looks forward to seeing the students’ enthusiasm and respect for family and remote medicine, as well as the excitement toward entering their second year. Her confidence in the upcoming program continues to grow as she works with the small, but expanding, CBMC team that she says has accomplished so much due to its cohesiveness and collegiality. 

“It’s going to be hard work,” says Dr. Kelly-Wiggins to prospective medical students. “It requires dedication and perseverance, but the outcome is worth the effort.”  

Often recalling advice that was given to her by Dr. Andrew Lynk, Dr. Kelly-Wiggins emphasizes the belief that medicine is only as good as the follow-up. Keeping the patient at the center of their care plan is critical to achieving successful outcomes.