Welcome to Much More than Another Academic Year

I hope everyone had a wonderful and restful summer.

As September begins, I’m delighted to welcome new and returning students, residents and faculty to another academic year. Whether you are joining the NOSM University community for the first time or returning to familiar faces and places, you are an important part of our shared mission.

The beginning of an academic year always brings a renewed sense of possibility. It is time for new relationships, new challenges and new opportunities to learn, teach and grow. Across Northern Ontario, we are united by a commitment to social accountability and to improving health outcomes for the people and communities.

Each year, our learners are welcomed into hospitals, clinics and communities in more than 90 locations across Northern Ontario, including rural, remote, Indigenous and Francophone communities.

Those communities are not simply places where learners complete placements; they are an integral part to the education itself and what makes NOSM University different. You will learn from faculty and preceptors, but also from patients, families, health-care teams, Elders, Indigenous and Francophone partners and the people who call these communities home.

This is the strength of our distributed, community-engaged learning model. NOSM University students learn medicine while developing a deeper understanding of place, people, and the realities of living and delivering care across the North.

My advice to our incoming class is simple, embrace it. Ask questions. Get involved. Build relationships and pursue the opportunities that come your way. Some of the experiences you least expect may ultimately shape the physician you become and the community in which you choose to practise.

And we know this approach works. Approximately 90 per cent of learners who complete both their MD and residency training at NOSM University remain in Northern Ontario to practise.

That is why welcoming learners means much more than beginning another academic year. We are welcoming future health-care professionals into communities across the North, and some of which may eventually become home.

A summer worth celebrating

There were also some great moments to celebrate over the summer.

We marked 20 years of CampMed in Thunder Bay and Sudbury. For two decades, CampMed has been giving young people a chance to explore careers in health care and imagine what their own future might look like. It is always energizing to see that curiosity and enthusiasm firsthand.

In July, we also celebrated six graduates from the 19th cohort of our Dietetic Practicum Program. These graduates are entering a profession that makes a real difference in people’s lives, from chronic disease prevention and food security to public health and healthy communities. Congratulations to all six, and welcome to our alumni community.

And we welcomed visitors from a medical school in South Korea who came to learn about our approach to socially accountable medical education. It is always interesting to see NOSM University through the eyes of others and to be reminded that a model created for Northern Ontario is attracting attention well beyond the North.

Looking ahead

There is much to look forward to this fall. We are putting our 2026-2030 Strategic Plan, Rooted in the North, into action, expanding the number of medical students and residents we train and continuing to strengthen partnerships across Northern Ontario.
One of the pieces I am personally leading is Initiative 13 under Pillar 4, which will look at a new departmental model for NOSM University in partnership with NOAMA.

It may sound a little administrative, but it is really about making sure the way we are organized supports where we are going.
NOSM University was built differently. Instead of concentrating medical education in traditional departments within one large academic centre, we built a distributed network of physicians and clinical faculty across Northern Ontario. That has always been one of our strengths.

Over the next 18 months, we will look at how a made-in-the-North departmental model can strengthen academic leadership, support our faculty, teaching and research, and prepare us for continued growth while keeping our distributed model and Northern communities at the centre.

It is a good example of Rooted in the North moving from a plan into action.

Summer has a way of giving us a little more space to reconnect, recharge and think about what matters. As we enter a busy fall, that clarity of purpose is especially important.

For NOSM University, growth is not simply about becoming larger. It means more learners training in Northern communities, building meaningful relationships and seeing a future for themselves here. Over time, those connections become careers, strengthen the Northern health workforce and improve access to care across the region.

NOSM University was built for the North. That purpose continues to guide where we are going.

Welcome back, everyone. I am looking forward to a great fall.

Warm regards,

Dr. Michael Green
President, Vice-Chancellor, Dean, and CEO
NOSM University

If you have any feedback or comments, please reach out at president@nosm.ca.

Canadian Medical Hall of Fame Honours NOSM University Student

Mohamed Alzahran, NOSM University medical student, has been awarded the prestigious Canadian Medical Hall of Fame (CMHF) Award for 2026. The award recognizes a second-year student from each medical school across Canada who exemplifies perseverance, collaboration, and an entrepreneurial spirit. Recipients have an established track record of community leadership, superior communication skills, and demonstrated interest in advancing knowledge.

NOSM University Researcher to Advance Anishinaabe Brain-Heart Health Research with $1.35M CIHR Grant

NOSM University and Laurentian University are proud to announce a significant research award from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research. Dr. Marion Maar, cross-appointed to Laurentian University and Professor in the Human Sciences Division and Medical Anthropologist at NOSM University, has been awarded $1.354 million to collaborate with Noojmowin Teg Health Centre over four years as the Nominated Principal Applicant for a groundbreaking Indigenous health initiative.

Congratulations to Dr. Emily Groot, who has been named Program Director of the Year by the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada! Dr. Groot is an Associate Professor and Program Director for the Public Health and Preventive Medicine Residency Program at NOSM University.

Learn more about the Royal College award.