Members Hear Medical Student Experiences and Say Farewell to Ken Adams, Departing CAO 

The Board of Directors of the Northern Ontario School of Medicine (NOSM) held a face-to-face meeting in Sudbury on November 28 and 29, 2014.

On the first day of the two-day meeting, Board members heard presentations from NOSM Associate Deans on the topics of faculty engagement, research ethics, patient safety and simulation in health care, and community engagement.

In the afternoon, two NOSM medical students relayed their experiences to the Board. Reflecting on her upbringing in Sault Ste. Marie and medical school learning placements, fourth-year medical student Kendra Komsa spoke about the various influences that have led her to want to be a rural physician in Northern Ontario. Next, third-year medical student Nicole Ranger, via WebEx from the community of Hearst, spoke about the rich cultural and linguistic dimensions of her Comprehensive Community Clerkship (CCC) placement in that community. Both students agreed that NOSM’s distinctive, distributed community-engaged model is preparing students well for practice in rural settings.

Before dinner, Board members were provided a tour of Laurentian University’s Laurentian Architecture Laurentienne (LAL). Opening in September 2013, LAL is the first new school of architecture in Canada in over 40 years, and the first outside of the province of Québec to offer French programming. The Bachelor of Architectural Studies (BAS) undergraduate program focuses on design, culture, technology and professional practice, highlighting design and culture for the North.

After dinner, Board members said farewell to NOSM’s departing Chief Administrative Officer, Ken Adams. The Board congratulated Ken on his new appointment to the position of Vice President, College Services at Confederation College in early January 2015, and thanked him for his significant contributions to the administration of the School over the last six and a half years of service at NOSM.

To begin the second day of meetings, the Board toured the Northern Ontario School of Medicine at Laurentian University.

After a presentation on finance led by Ben Petersen, Treasurer and Chair of the Finance Audit and Risk Management Committee, Ken Adams, NOSM’s CAO, and Joe Lipinski, NOSM’s Director of Finance, Board members participated in a workshop to consider implementation planning for NOSM’s 2015-2020 Strategic Plan. This session, led by Dr. Roger Strasser, NOSM Dean, Dr. David Marsh, NOSM’s Associate Dean of Community Engagement, and Grace Vita, NOSM’s Director of Planning and Risk, asked Board members to reflect on how, during the implementation phase, NOSM can learn from, and build upon, the strong community engagement that occurred during the development of the plan. From May to September 2014, senior leaders and staff travelled to more than 50 Northern, rural, remote, Francophone, and Aboriginal communities across the North to meet with individuals, organizations, health-care professionals, and faculty to discuss Northern Ontarians’ ongoing health-related needs. The input received has provided important guidance to setting the priorities of NOSM’s 2015-2020 Strategic Plan.

At the formal Board meeting in the afternoon, members received reports from the Finance, Audit and Risk Management, Governance, and Executive committees, and the Nominations and Community Relations sub-committees. The Board also received reports from the School’s Francophone and Aboriginal Reference Groups. In addition, Board members received a copy of The Scope, a new biannual publication that highlights research by faculty members in the School’s Human, Medical, and Clinical Sciences Divisions, residents, medical students, a broad range of health-professional learners, and collaborators-all with a view to improving the health of Northern Ontarians and beyond. The Scope is now available at  nosm.ca/thescope .

The Board of Directors approved Financial Statements from the Finance, Audit and Risk Committee for the five-month period ending September 30, 2014.

Dr. Brian Stevenson, Chair of the Northern Ontario School of Medicine’s Board of Directors and President of Lakehead University, noted that the two-day meeting in Sudbury was a great success. “I am always inspired by the rich discussions and collaboration that occurs when NOSM Board members meet,” he said. “The Board takes such pride in what the medical school is accomplishing, and the incredible contribution NOSM’s staff, faculty, learners, and alumni are making to improve the health of people and communities across Northern Ontario.”

The Northern Ontario School of Medicine’s next Board of Directors meeting is scheduled to occur on March 18, 2015.

For a complete list of Board members, please visit our website at nosm.ca .

Contact:

news@nosm.ca

Earlier this month, the Northern Ontario School of Medicine (NOSM) and the University of Waterloo School of Pharmacy signed a Collaboration Agreement that will allow the two schools to work together towards improving health in Northern Ontario’s communities.

Both organizations share a commitment to expanding educational opportunities for students in the Doctor of Pharmacy (PharmD) program to train in Northern Ontario. Students with a strong desire to pursue pharmacy practice in Northern communities will benefit from enhanced experiences while on their Northern co-op experiences during the first three years of the program. In addition, students in their final year of studies will undertake 24 weeks of patient care rotations that include variety of NOSM’s distributed teaching sites. Starting in January 2015, selected Waterloo students will complete their last term of studies in Northern Ontario at one of three regional sites – Sudbury, Sault Ste. Marie, or Thunder Bay.

The agreement between NOSM and the University of Waterloo lists a number of additional areas of potential collaboration, including integrating pharmacy students in interprofessional learning experiences, and continuing professional development opportunities during their training in Northern Ontario. Faculty from the two schools will also explore collaborative educational and research initiatives related to improving the health of Northern populations.

“We believe that the partnership with NOSM will provide pharmacy students from the University of Waterloo with expanded opportunities for interprofessional education and experiential learning,” says David Edwards, Hallman Director, School of Pharmacy and Associate Dean, Faculty of Science. “This will help us to produce outstanding health care professionals who are able to meet the unique needs of patients in Northern and rural Ontario.”

“We are excited that as a result of this collaboration these pharmacy students will experience the rewarding opportunities that come from living, working, and learning in Northern Ontario,” said Dr. Roger Strasser, NOSM Dean. “Our hope is that one day they will join the dedicated health professionals already delivering exceptional care across the North.”

About the University of Waterloo
In just half a century, the University of Waterloo, located at the heart of Canada’s technology hub, has become one of Canada’s leading comprehensive universities with 35,000 full- and part-time students in undergraduate and graduate programs. Waterloo, as home to the world’s largest post-secondary co-operative education program, embraces its connections to the world and encourages enterprising partnerships in learning, research and discovery. In the next decade, the university is committed to building a better future for Canada and the world by championing innovation and collaboration to create solutions relevant to the needs of today and tomorrow. For more information about Waterloo, please visit www.uwaterloo.ca.

For further information, please contact:  

Nick Manning
Director of Media Relations and Issues Management
University of Waterloo
Phone:     519-888-4451
Cell:         226-929-7627
Email:      nmanning@uwaterloo.ca

The Northern Ontario School of Medicine (NOSM) hosted Muster 2014, a conference on socially accountable, community-engaged medical education. Co-hosted with Flinders University School of Medicine, Muster 2014 brought delegates together in Uluru, Northern Territory, Australia (known commonly as Ayers Rock) to share, learn, develop, and explore best practices in medical education and research.

Muster 2014 was the fourth medical education conference hosted by the two schools of medicine, who share a commitment to educating health professionals to address underserved areas. Muster 2014 was preceded by two conferences in Northern Ontario, Canada (ICEMEN 2008 and Rendez-Vous 2012), and The Muster 2010 in South Australia.

With participation of delegates from every continent of the world (with the exception of the Antarctic), delegates came together to explore issues related to rural, remote, and underserviced health care; social accountability as it relates to health professional education; Longitudinal Learning; Aboriginal health and research; and the engagement of communities in the processes of educating future physicians and health professionals.

Conference highlights:

• The scientific conference opened with a plenary presentation from the Ngangkaris, Aboriginal healers and traditional owners of the land on which the conference was held. From the Ngangkaris, participants learned about Aboriginal perspectives on health, the extent of the Ngangkaris’ healing powers, how the Ngangkaris heal their people, and the valued professional partnerships that they have with modern health professionals.
• Dr. Rachel Ellaway, NOSM Assistant Dean, Curriculum and Planning gave an engaging plenary session about the intersection between medical schools and communities, and the importance of qualitative and theory-based research in medical education.
• Dr. Fortunato Cristobal, founding Dean of the Ateneo de Zamboanga University School of Medicine (ADZU-SOM) gave an inspirational keynote address about the formation of the ADZU-SOM. When it was founded in 1993, ADZU-SOM had a budget of $500 with no governmental support. Cristobal shared the exciting progress that the School has made in training high-quality health professionals for the Zamboanga region in the Philippines, which is now a national and international leader in medical education.
• Delegates had the opportunity to meet with students, faculty, and administration at the National Indigenous Training Academy (NITA), a training academy established by the Indigenous Land Corporation to provide training programs for Indigenous Australians within the country’s tourism and hospitality industry. Through direct engagement with Indigenous Trainees, participants learned how NITA is developing sustainable Indigenous employment in remote regions.
• More than 20 health professional students from around the world attended the conference to learn about the theory behind their education. To close the conference, the students provided guidance and feedback to all delegates about future directions for medical education and research from their perspective.
• Dr. Erica Wheeler of the World Health Organization (WHO) introduced the WHO’s new toolkit: Transforming the Health Workforce in Support of Universal Health Coverage: Global Toolkit for Evaluating Health Workforce Education. The toolkit was offered to the delegates to seek input into the toolkit before it was globally launched.

“Many communities around the world are underserved and experience poorer health outcomes due to lack of health professionals in their regions,” says Dr. Paul Worley, Dean of the School of Medicine at Flinders University. These are exactly the reasons why we meet at Muster 2014-to ensure that people around the world have the health care they need, no matter where they live.”

“We have made a distinctive mark on medical education over the last eight years, with opportunities to collaborate in previous NOSM/Flinders conferences,” says Dr. Roger Strasser, NOSM Dean. “But global, community-engaged medical education is still emerging, and there is still much we can learn from each other. Muster 2014 provided yet another important opportunity to learn from each other and continue to mold global, community-engaged medical education for the better.”

About Flinders University
Geographically dispersed across the north-south corridor of Australia, the Flinders University School of Medicine’s students, staff, health professionals and community leaders work together to improve the health of society through health professional education, research and clinical practice.