The Northern Ontario School of Medicine (NOSM) held its Annual Members and Board of Directors meetings on Wednesday, September 24, 2014.  These meetings were video-conferenced between  Lakehead University in Thunder Bay and Laurentian University in Sudbury, with other members participating via tele- and web-conference.

Board members Kevin Cleghorn and Dr. Kathryn Gibson were thanked for their significant contribution to the Northern Ontario School of Medicine, as their terms completed September 24, 2014.

At the recommendation of the Board’s Governance Committee and Nominations and Community Relations Subcommittee, the Board appointed four new members to NOSM’s Board of Directors:

• Ken Boschoff
• Pierre Dumas
• Krista Marcotte
• Gary Boissoneau

In accordance with Board policy regarding Officers of the Corporation, Dr. Brian J.R. Stevenson, President of Lakehead University, was confirmed as Chair of the Board and Dr. Robert Kerr, Vice President, Academic and Provost of Laurentian University, was confirmed as Vice-Chair.

The audited financial statements for the year ending April 30, 2014, and the Board approved that BDO Canada LLP be appointed as auditors for the fiscal year ending April 30, 2015.

In an overview of recent NOSM activities, Dr. Roger Strasser, Dean, spoke about the extensive community engagement that took place over the last four months. From May to September 2014, Dr. Roger Strasser, Associate Dean of Community Engagement and Senior Associate Dean at Laurentian University, Dr. David Marsh, 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 is providing important guidance to setting the priorities of NOSM’s 2015-2020 Strategic Plan.

The next Board of Directors meeting will be held in Sudbury on November 27 and 28, 2014.

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

Contact:

news@nosm.ca

On Wednesday, September 10, 2014, the Honourable Rona Ambrose, Federal Minister of Health, announced the launch of the Canadian Consortium on Neurodegeneration in Aging (CCNA), a national initiative aimed at tackling the growing onset of dementia and related illnesses and improving the lives of Canadians with these illnesses and their families and caregivers.

Led by Dr. Howard Chertkow, a cognitive neurologist and co-founder and director of the Jewish General Hospital / McGill Memory Clinic, the CCNA brings together 20 research teams and experts from across Canada to focus research on three themes: delaying the onset of dementia and related illnesses; preventing these illnesses from occurring; and, improving the quality of life of Canadians living with these illnesses and their caregivers.

The CCNA is supported with funding of $31.5 million over five years from the Government of Canada through the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) and a group of 13 partners from the public and private sectors, including the Alzheimer Society of Canada and Fonds de recherche du Québec – Santé. The CCNA researchers will also benefit from an additional $24 million investment by a subset of the partners in Ontario and Quebec.

Dementia Care Research in Northern Ontario

Dr. Kristen Jacklin, NOSM Associate Professor, Medical Anthropology, is one of 47 principal investigators on the CCNA and the only principal investigator in Northern Ontario. Jacklin is co-leading a research team called: “Team 20: Issues in dementia care for rural and Indigenous populations.” Dr. Debra Morgan (University of Saskatchewan) is leading the rural research projects while Jacklin and Dr. Carrie Bourassa (First Nations University) are leading the Indigenous research stream.

Jacklin’s team will be receiving $1 million in funding over five years to carry out this research. The research will be carried out at NOSM, Laurentian University, and in Northern Ontario, and will focus on four areas:

1. Examining pathways to dementia care for Indigenous people and identifying effective cultural approaches to care.
2. The development of culturally appropriate cognitive assessment protocols for use in Aboriginal communities.
3. Capacity building for age-related Indigenous dementia research.
4. Regional epidemiological studies concerning dementia in rural and Indigenous populations (incidence and prevalence, patterns of care, and multi-morbidities).

“Our team is truly excited about the launch of the CCNA,” says Dr. Kristen Jacklin, NOSM Associate Professor, Medical Anthropology. “I think it is highly significant that Indigenous issues will be a part of the Consortium’s work and that there is a team headquartered here at NOSM and the Centre for Rural and Northern Health Research at Laurentian University leading this work.”

Over the past four years Jacklin’s team has worked in partnership with rural First Nations communities and urban Aboriginal organizations in Northern Ontario to begin exploring experiences with dementia. The CCNA will enable Jacklin and her team to foster cross-fertilization of ideas between research disciplines to support their research program and to develop innovative projects with other CCNA investigators.

“Initially, we will be working closely with the First Nations health centres on Manitoulin Island who were the first to bring the issue of dementia in their communities to our attention back in 2007,” explained Jacklin. “Our funding is structured in such a way that there will be opportunities to involve other communities and organizations as we move forward. Addressing dementia in Indigenous populations is crucial. Ten years ago, dementia was not a significant illness in most Aboriginal communities. Through our research, we now know that rates of dementia in Aboriginal populations are higher than those in the non-Indigenous population and communities are struggling to deal with this emerging health issue.”