Earlier this week, Lakehead University and the Northern Ontario School of Medicine (NOSM) announced the receipt of major development funding from CANARIE Inc. Part of a larger funding agreement valued at $15 Million, the funds will be used for their “Health Services Virtual Organization (HSVO)”.

The funding, awarded through CANARIE’s Network-Enabled Platforms Program, will be administered by Lakehead University and involves several partners, including NOSM, McGill University, IDEAL Consulting, National Research Council Institute for Information Technology (NRC-IIT Fredericton), Industry Canada’s Communications Research Centre (CRC Ottawa), Stanford University (US), and Innovation in Learning (IiL US).

The goal of HSVO is to provide an integrated collection of user-controlled online services that will enable the medical community to reduce costs while increasing the depth, standardization and objectiveness of patient treatment planning, team and individual preparedness, and professional evaluation.

Principal Investigator Dr. Rachel Ellaway, Assistant Dean of Informatics at NOSM, will direct the development of a focused collection of services supporting the planning, patient treatment, and team and individual preparedness in the operating room, emergency room, general practice clinics, and patients’ bedsides.

Dr. Rachel Ellaway sees the project as “having great potential to impact health care in Northern Ontario by leveraging advanced forms of cyber-infrastructure to address health inequities experienced by Canadians due to barriers of distance, cost of care, and access and availability of medical experts.”

CANARIE Inc., based in Ottawa, is Canada’s advanced network organization. It facilitates the development and use of its network as well as the advanced products, applications and services that run on it. The CANARIE network serves universities, colleges, schools, government labs, research institutes, hospitals and other organizations in a wide variety of fields in both the public and private sectors. By promoting and participating in strategic collaborations among key sectors, and by partnering with peer networks and organizations around the world, CANARIE Inc. stimulates and supports research, innovation and growth, bringing economic, social, and cultural benefits to Canadians.  The national organization was created in 1993 by the private sector and academia under the leadership of the government of Canada. CANARIE Inc. is supported by membership fees, with major funding of its programs and activities provided by the Government of Canada through Industry Canada.  More information may be found at www.canarie.ca

The Northern Ontario School of Medicine (NOSM) is pleased to announce the arrival of both Dr. Gerry Cooper to the post of Associate Dean of Learner Affairs and Dr. William McCready to the post of Associate Dean of Faculty Affairs. Both incumbents begin their posts today.

Dr. Cooper succeeds Dr. Tom Szabo, who has been Associate Dean, Admissions and Student Affairs for almost three years. Dr. Cooper will be responsible for the development, administration and delivery of services, programs, policies and procedures which foster academic success for our students and promote a learner-centered environment.

A graduate of the University of Toronto, with a Doctorate in Education, Dr. Cooper has worked for over 30 years in a variety of roles within the mental health and addictions fields. Most recently, he has been based in Sudbury as the Manager (Northern Ontario) with the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH). As Assistant Professor, Clinical Education with NOSM, Dr. Cooper has been an active teacher in Phase One of the MD program. He is also an Adjunct Professor with the Laurentian University School of Social Work.

Dr. Cooper has produced or co-produced many health and educational resources, including course curricula, videotapes, interactive CD-ROMS and Web pages. Additionally, he helped secure funding for the Northeast Mental Health Public Education Campaign, acting as one of its Regional Steering Committee Co-Chairs. His doctoral thesis from the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education at the University of Toronto won the US National Problem Gambling Council’s 2001 Outstanding Dissertation Award.

In his new position as Associate Dean, Faculty Affairs, Dr. William McCready will be responsible for the recruitment, scheduling and evaluation of faculty members as well as promotion, integration and mentoring of faculty members. He will provide leadership, supervision and representation for the faculty of the Northern Ontario School of Medicine in order to ensure the School always has the teaching resources to provide a quality educational experience for the learners while building the capacity and commitment of teaching resources in the North.

Dr. McCready, formerly the Associate Dean of Clinical Affairs at NOSM, has been in clinical practice as a nephrologist for 25 years. He participated in the efforts to ensure the Northern Ontario School of Medicine became a true pan-Northern partnership and in the recruitment and hiring of the Founding Dean. Dr. McCready has also enjoyed teaching medical learners in the former Northwestern Ontario Medical Program (NOMP) since 1982.

Dr. McCready graduated in medicine from Queen’s University, Belfast and did postgraduate training in Belfast, Toronto and Saskatoon. He completed a fellowship in peritoneal dialysis under the supervision of Dr. D. Oreopoulos at Toronto Western Hospital.

“It gives me great pleasure to welcome both Dr. Cooper and Dr. McCready to their new roles at the Northern Ontario School of Medicine. The depth of experience and understanding of health education and facilitation that each incumbent brings will unquestionably contribute to the quality of learner experiences offered at the School,” says NOSM Founding Dean, Dr. Roger Strasser.

Today, the Northern Ontario School of Medicine (NOSM) is pleased to announce the launching of its new external website. Along with an updated look and many other improved features, the website can now be found at www.nosm.ca.

NOSM’s new website features a new, contemporary design with easy navigation and expanded functionality. Some of the many fresh features of www.nosm.ca include: streamlined tabs with fewer layers to the information that you need; updated content and photographs; changeable text size; a way to subscribe to the School’s various publications; quick access to upcoming events in the School’s Health Professional Development Calendar; and, an organization area reflecting the new structure of the School

NOSM’s Founding Dean, Dr. Roger Strasser says the new website is another tool through which the School can work to fulfill its social accountability mandate. “One of the most significant additions to the website is an expanded area devoted to the many communities that have generously supported, and provided resources for, a medical school of, by, and for the people of Northern Ontario,” he said. “Our hope is that, in addition to providing information about NOSM, the new features and functions of the website will further enhance communications with and between the School’s many pan-Northern stakeholders.”

Kim Daynard, NOSM’s Director of Communications, is pleased to see the efforts of many come to fruition with the launch of www.nosm.ca. “The development of the website was a truly was a collaborative undertaking,” she said. “The new site is easier to use, more pleasing to interact with, and better able to serve the various communities engaged with the School in large part because of the valuable input received by both internal and external sources during its development.”

The new website also contains information regarding two important upcoming conferences at the School. The first, the Northern Health Research Conference (NHRC), is a conference exploring the research activities within Northern Ontario arising from community-based activities. The second, the International Conference on Community Engaged Medical Education in the North (ICEMEN), is a five-day conference showing the importance of fostering relationships among medical schools across the globe in an effort to share knowledge and best practices as part of a worldwide network. Both are featured on the website’s homepage.