Only Medical School in Canada to Have Entire Class Match to Residency Programs on First Attempt

The Northern Ontario School of Medicine (NOSM) is pleased to announce that all undergraduate medical students in its Charter Class have successfully matched to Canadian residency programs on their first attempt. In fact, NOSM was the only Canadian medical school in which all students were matched in the first round.

Each student, in their final year at a Canadian medical school, must apply for residency training to become a fully-trained physician. Postgraduate residency programs are offered at all Canadian medical schools in various disciplines (for example, Family Medicine, Orthopedics, Surgery, Anesthesia, Pediatrics, etcetera) ranging in duration from two to five years, and beyond. Students apply to the discipline and the medical school of their choice, and are then granted interviews after which both the student and the program they have applied to rank each other for preference through the Canadian Residency Matching Service (CaRMS). CaRMS then matches students, based on rankings, to postgraduate residency programs across Canada. Monday, March 9, 2009 marked the date of the first of two rounds of matches facilitated by CaRMS.

Dr. Maureen Topps, NOSM’s Associate Dean of Postgraduate Education, was confident that NOSM undergraduates would do very well in the match, but was thrilled about the remarkable rate of success. “It is unusual to have all medical students of one medical school match in the first round. It certainly speaks to the quality of education demonstrated by the Northern Ontario School of Medicine’s first graduating class. This is excellent news both for the School and students of the Charter Class.”

Dr. Topps sentiments are reinforced by Dr. Joel Lanphear, NOSM’s Associate Dean of Undergraduate Medical Education. “The successful first match of our Charter Class students provides testament to the years of preparation, selection process, and distinct model of medical education that has been established at the School. I would particularly like to acknowledge the dedication of the School’s Charter Class, and the overall quality that these students have come to represent. I congratulate them on their achievement.”

Dr. Roger Strasser, NOSM’s Founding Dean, was delighted to receive the exceptional outcome of the residency match for the School’s first-ever graduating class. “This is another great milestone for the Northern Ontario School of Medicine. The results of this year’s CaRMS match very tangibly demonstrates how highly our students are regarded across the country. I applaud the tireless efforts of our physicians, faculty and staff at the Northern Ontario School of Medicine who have worked so hard to contribute to this success, and extend my full congratulations to each and every one of the Charter Class students on this accomplishment.”

A significant proportion of NOSM’s Charter Class students will continue their education in Northern Ontario, beginning their residency training in various NOSM postgraduate training programs. The remainder will represent NOSM across the country in residency programs at other medical schools, in some cases to gain specialized training not available in Northern Ontario. NOSM is also pleased to have attracted significant numbers of medical students from other institutions to its residency programs, paving the way for more physicians-in-training to gain exposure to Northern health issues.

On January 8, 2009, as part of a settlement of two outstanding Ontario Labour Relations Board Applications, the Northern Ontario School of Medicine (NOSM), Laurentian University Staff Union (LUSU) , and the Ontario Public Service Employees Union (OPSEU) agreed to hold a Certification vote for eligible employees at all NOSM locations* who are working in office, clerical, administrative, technical and service positions. This excludes employees who are members of the Faculty Bargaining Unit and other agreed upon staff exclusions.

The Certification vote will determine whether employees wish to be represented in their employment relationship with NOSM by either LUSU or OPSEU or to remain Non-Union. The vote will take place on February 10 -11, 2009.

During the campaigning period preceding the vote, and until the result of the vote is confirmed, NOSM will not make comment on the process, or speculate as to the outcome.

(*NOSM employees are located in Sudbury, Thunder Bay, Kenora, Sault Ste. Marie and Timmins).

The Northern Ontario School of Medicine (NOSM) held its first Faculty Affairs Retreat in Thunder Bay on January 16 – 17, 2009.

NOSM has over 800 faculty members across Northern Ontario, and many of them gathered in Thunder Bay to bring NOSM’s three faculty divisions (Medical Sciences, Human Sciences and Clinical Sciences) together in one place to facilitate a free-flow of ideas and information about current and potential future collaborative research and scholarly activities.

The retreat featured an open forum, where Medical Sciences and Human Sciences faculty members gave brief presentations on current research projects. This was followed by a compelling presentation by Dr. Len Kelly from Sioux Lookout, in which he shared his experience and expertise as an active clinician undertaking research. Three faculty development sessions rounded out the two-day meeting: “How to Facilitate Small-Group Learning,” by Dr. Anne Robinson and Dr. Bob Chaudhuri; “Research 101 for Clinicians,” by Dr. Greg Ross; and “Integrated Clinical Learning,” by Ms. Sue Berry, Dr. Richard Almond, and Dr. Saleem Malik.

Dr. McCready, Associate Dean of Faculty Affairs, says the retreat was a great success, especially in terms of fostering relationships and collaborations among the many physicians and health professionals across the North who assist in delivering NOSM’s unique model of distributed medical education. “It is my belief that in the near future we will see the development of collaborative research projects aimed at improving the health of Northerners, which had their origins at this retreat,” he said.

The Faculty Affairs Unit provides leadership, supervision, and representation for the faculty of the Northern Ontario School of Medicine to ensure that the School always has the teaching resources to provide the highest quality educational experience for learners, while building the capacity and commitment of teaching resources throughout Northern Ontario by supporting research and academic activities of NOSM faculty.