Constellation of Shining Stars

A constellation is a group of stars that form an easily recognizable pattern to help people navigate using the night sky. Constellation is a symbolic reference not only for NOSM students and faculty, but the many people and communities of Northern Ontario that play a role in NOSM’s achievements and success.

If you ask anyone involved in advocating for the creation of NOSM—and there were many—they will tell you it was their idea. And they would be right. The School was created in the North, by the North, for the North by all who advocated for a solution to health-care disparities and to address the severe doctor shortage in Northern Ontario.

Lately, there have been concerns raised about the proposed legislation to make NOSM a stand-alone degree granting institution. I assure you, and them, that if NOSM becomes a University, then a broad consultation and engagement process aligned to our strategic plan will be held. Your voices, the people of Northern Ontario will be sought, heard and heeded. There is no reason to believe the misleading comments and no reason to suggest that education, the curriculum and research will be harmed. There is nothing in the proposed legislation that would prevent NOSM and its partners from continuing their relationships. In fact, we think that the legislation provides opportunities to collaborate and strengthen these relationships.

NOSM is a small and agile, but complex, organization. As the first medical school established by government directive, NOSM was set up like No Other School of Medicine:

• No other Canadian medical school is registered as a stand-alone, not-for-profit corporation. Unlike professional faculties at other Canadian universities, which are simply deemed to be different subdivisions within their own institutions, NOSM exists as an entirely separate legal entity.
• No other Canadian medical school can expand as quickly and make significant advances in Indigenous, Francophone and rural health care as NOSM.
• No other Canadian medical school educates their learners “all over the map,” with education taking place in more than 90 communities across a geographic expanse of 800,000 square kilometres.
• And no other medical school has a social accountability mandate with award-winning outcomes of physician recruitment and retention.

Since it was established, NOSM has expanded beyond the delivery of MD education. The School also educates resident doctors, registered dietitians, and medical physicists. Through affiliation agreements with universities in southern Ontario, NOSM supports health sciences learners in physiotherapy, occupational therapy, speech language pathology, audiology, and physician assistants. NOSM was born out of this grassroots movement and Northerners feel a great sense of pride and ownership in what was created.

Today, NOSM is evolving to meet the health needs in a real way, in real time and in real places. The pandemic has transformed the way health care is delivered and thus, health education must be proactive, not weighed down by ‘conventionalism’. The future of medical and other health professional training is in digital, patient centered and innovative realms, outside the academic classroom and into community, in health institutions like clinics, hospitals and access centers.

NOSM belongs to a constellation of shining stars—the people of Northern Ontario. I am hopeful and optimistic for the future. Let’s get on with it.

Northern Constellations

NOSM’s premier faculty development conference Northern Constellations was held over the weekend and I witnessed an excellent example of collaboration, team solidarity and amazing togetherness which was manifested by the superb success of the tenth anniversary event. Congratulations to Dr. James Goertzen, Associate Dean of Continuing Education and Professional Development (CEPD), Dr. Sarah McIsaac, Medical Director of Faculty Development, and the entire CEPD team for a fantastic conference with hundreds of attendees and amazing keynotes.

During the event, NOSM presented the Awards of Education and Scholarship to individual faculty members who enhance the quality of medical education and research.

Congratulations to: Dr. Zacharias Suntres, a NOSM Assistant Dean and Acting Director of Assessment and Program Evaluation who received the Academic Leader Award. Dr. Radu Alexandru Moise, a NOSM faculty member researching the roles of nutrition in health and disease, received the Scholar Award. Dr. Chi Cheng, a leader in developing educational standards in the NOSM Psychiatry Program who received the Clinical Scholar Award. Donna Newhouse, a medical educator who led the development of the NOSM anatomy labs, on receiving the Medical Educator Award.

I would also like to acknowledge and congratulate the following doctors on the bestowment of the title Associate Professor Honorarius: Dr. Lois Hutchinson, a psychiatry clinician, teacher and mentor; Dr. Janice Willett, a practising gynaecologist for over 25 years in Sault Ste. Marie and former NOSM Associate Dean; and, Dr. Malcolm Wilson, an active clinician, mentor, and teacher to residents and faculty in the North.

A perfect match

The 2021 CaRMS match was a very successful one for NOSM students. All 66 fourth-year medical students matched to a residency program in the 2021 CaRMS match. NOSM was the only medical school in Canada to achieve a 100% match rate.

Overall, 37 NOSM medical students (56%) matched to family medicine programs across the country. The other 29 (44%) matched to various specialty programs across Canada, including: anesthesia, internal medicine, ENT, psychiatry, dermatology, pediatrics, radiation oncology, emergency medicine, orthopedic surgery, urology, anatomical pathology, and obstetrics and gynecology.

Thirty medical students from the NOSM Class of 2021 (45%) will be doing their residency training at NOSM. Nationally, despite the effect of the pandemic, the results were similar to previous years with an overall match rate of 94.2% (vs 94.9% in 2020). Overall, we saw a significant improvement for matches to NOSM’s residency programs, with only 10 positions being unfilled this year, compared to last year’s 20 unfilled positions going to the second round.

Shining stars

Finally, NOSM was honoured by the Society of Rural Physicians of Canada(SRPC) with the Rural Medical Education Award on April 13, 2021. This was the tenth time that NOSM has been recognized with this award.  Each year, the Rural Medical Education Award is presented to a Canadian medical school that encourages students to pursue further training in rural medicine. It is awarded to the MD program that has matched the most graduates to rural family medicine programs as reported by the Canadian Resident Matching Service (CaRMS) process. According to CaRMS data for 2020, 78% of NOSM’s graduating MD class matched to a rural family medicine residency program.

The SRPC also honoured three NOSM faculty members with distinguished awards. Congratulations to: Dr. Roy Kirkpatrick on receiving the Rural Specialist Merit Award, Dr. Stephen Viherjoki on receiving the Rural Service Award, and Dr. Barb Zelek on receiving the Rural Mentorship Award.

Get ready to go and make a difference! Join us at NOSM’s virtual job fair on May 26-27. There are three streams: undergrad, postgrad & supporters/families. Learn about practice in Northern Ontario. Community presenters will provide an overview of their respective communities and job opportunities for current and future physicians.    Register.