In the Spotlight

NOSM blazes trail for first Canadian medical school virtual accreditation

The Northern Ontario School of Medicine (NOSM) is the first medical school in Canada to experience a new virtual accreditation of its MD program. The traditional accreditation, originally scheduled for spring, was postponed to October 2020 due to the pandemic. Dr. Brian Ross, NOSM’s Associate Dean, Undergraduate Medical Education, says this is a new, peer review model of accreditation, with more question-focused meetings planned. “We are piloting a new virtual accreditation process, which could potentially be the new normal moving forward,” says Dr. Ross. “NOSM is a leader in distributed learning, so working virtually comes na...

NOSM-acquired Skills Help Fill a Gap in Care for Underserved Populations

Dr. Andrea Haner (MD Class of 2010) is applying the skills she learned at NOSM to treat diverse, underserved populations. She is the only GP Oncologist treating gynecological cancer in the Southwest Alberta region. “The population I work with is very underserved. If I didn’t do this work, women would have to commute to Calgary—a two-and-a-half-hour drive into the cancer centre for most,” says Dr. Haner. “Instead, they can come to Lethbridge for chemotherapy treatment.” The skills Dr. Haner learned at NOSM, with a focus on the personal side of medicine, helped prepare her for the subspecialties she’s taken on, includin...

Striving for Inclusion

As the active anti-racism movement continues to ripple across multiple professions and communities in Canada, medical schools are among those taking a closer look at their institutional systemic practices to make active improvements in diversity and inclusion. Joby Quiambao is a Registered Dietitian, alumna of the Northern Ontario Dietetic Internship Program (NODIP) at NOSM, and works full-time with the Maamwesying North Shore Community Health Service. She’s also a member of the inaugural Canadian chapter of Diversify Dietetics— a group working to increase ethnic and racial diversity in the dietetic profession. “With the ampl...