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Researchers at the Dr. Gilles Arcand Centre for Health Equity receive $2.43M SSHRC grant to address local health priorities

A new project, led by Dr. Erin Cameron, Academic Director at the Dr. Gilles Arcand Centre for Health Equity at NOSM University, has received a $2.43-million Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) Partnership Grant to address local health priorities.

Dr. Cameron and her team will foster relationships between communities and academics. The project will study how academic institutions can direct their education, research, and service activities to address community needs, both locally and globally. The growing global social accountability research movement urges academics to heed this call.

“Social accountability as a research movement is still largely under-studied. This project will explore the transformative potential of a socially accountable research network for fostering partnerships and institutional change. NOSM University—and its many strong institutional and organizational partnerships across Northern Ontario, in Canada, and around the world—are primed to lead this work,” says Dr. Erin Cameron.

Dr. Cameron, who is also an adjunct member in the Faculty of Education at Lakehead University, is excited to invest in and strengthen partnerships across institutions, organizations, and communities regionally, nationally, and internationally.

Supported in part by a Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) Partnership Grant of $2.43-million over seven years, the total project of $3.2-million focuses on collecting and sharing best practices related to social accountability and scaling existing research projects on social accountability across new sites and settings. The project will also build capacity for socially accountable research. Co-directors in the project, Drs. David Marsh, Joseph LeBlanc, and Alex Anawati, along with a team of over 20 researchers and 12 partner organizations, aim to create and grow a connected social accountability research network.

Established in 2021 as the Centre for Social Accountability, the Dr. Gilles Arcand Centre for Health Equity was born of the immutable conviction that everyone—regardless of circumstance or geography—deserves the dignity of equal access to health-care practitioners who are culturally competent, understand the realities of living in the rural and remote North, and lead with compassion and integrity.

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About this project

Learn more about the funded project, titled Community-engaged Research in Education, Advocacy, and system Transformation for advancing health Equity (CREATE): Exploring the Transformational Potential of Socially Accountable Research Networks Locally and Globally.

This funding will support a dynamic multidisciplinary team of:

  • Project co-directors: Alex Anawati (Health Sciences North), David Marsh (NOSM University), and Joseph LeBlanc (Lakehead University);
  • Co-applicants/collaborators: Alain Simard (NOSM University), Amy Clithero-Eridon (University of New Mexico), Brianne Wood (Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre), Claire Kendall (University of Ottawa), David Greenwood (Lakehead University), Jill Konkin (University of Alberta), Hoi Cheu (Laurentian University), Jill Allison (Memorial University of Newfoundland), Kathleen Sitter (University of Calgary), Lindsay Galway (Lakehead University), Maxwell Kennel (NOSM University), Nicole Ranger (NOSM University), Robert Woollard (University of British Columbia), Robyn Preston (CQUniversity), Roger Strasser (NOSM University), Shawna O’Hearn (Dalhousie University), Timothy Dubé (Université de Sherbrooke), Danielle Barbeau-Rodrigue (NOSM University), and Rachel Brown (NOSM University).
  • Partners: CQUniversity (Australia), George Washington University (Washington DC), Health Sciences North (Sudbury ON), Laurentian University (Sudbury ON), Memorial University of Newfoundland (St. John’s NL), NOSM University (Thunder Bay ON), The Association of Faculties of Medicine of Canada (Ottawa ON), The Network: Towards Unity for Health (Philadelphia PA), The University of New Mexico (Albuquerque NM), Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre (Thunder Bay ON), Training for Health Equity Network (Garden City NY), Université de Sherbrooke (Sherbrooke QC)

About NOSM University

NOSM University is Canada’s first independent medical university and one of the greatest education and physician workforce strategy success stories of Northern Ontario. More than just a medical university, it was purpose-built to address the health needs of the region. While advocating for equitable access to care, the university contributes to the economic development of Northern Ontario. NOSM University relies on the commitment and expertise of the peoples of Northern Ontario to educate health-care professionals to practise in Indigenous, Francophone, rural, remote, and underserved communities. With a focus on diversity, inclusion, and advocacy, NOSM University is an award-winning, socially accountable organization renowned for its innovative model of distributed, community-engaged education and research.

For further information, please contact news@nosm.ca.

About Lakehead University

Lakehead University is a fully comprehensive university with approximately 9,700 full-time equivalent students and over 2,000 faculty and staff at two campuses in Orillia and Thunder Bay, Ontario. Lakehead has nine faculties, including Business Administration, Education, Engineering, Graduate Studies, Health & Behavioural Sciences, Law, Natural Resources Management, Science & Environmental Studies, and Social Sciences & Humanities. Lakehead University’s achievements have been recognized nationally and internationally, including being ranked in the top half of Times Higher Education‘s 2023 World Universities Rankings for the fourth consecutive year, and the number one university in the world with fewer than 9,000 students in THE’s 2023 Impact Rankings (which assesses institutions against the United Nations’ 17 Sustainable Development Goals).

Homepage News, Media Releases, News, Uncategorized

New book explores Canada’s Medical Assistance in Dying policies

A newly released academic book edited by a university professor and a health lawyer is making an important contribution to Canadian public policy on Medical Assistance in Dying (MAiD) while examining opportunities for advocacy for health equity.

Edited by Dr. Jaro Kotalik, Chair of the Executive Committee of the Lakehead University Centre for Health Care Ethics and a Professor at NOSM University, and David Shannon, a lawyer and disability advocate, the book Medical Assistance in Dying in Canada: Key multidisciplinary perspectives is
being published by Springer in the International Library of Bioethics.

“With over 30 multidisciplinary chapter authors, including Canadian legal authorities, scholars, and clinicians with affiliations to over a dozen universities, this book offers the first comprehensive overview of MAiD,” Dr. Kotalik said.

“It delves into complexities and problems, and also provides various recommendations on how the MAiD program could be improved while suggesting relevant research topics that could be explored.”

A national launch of the book is scheduled to take place in Ottawa on Tuesday, Sept.  19 at 7 pm at Cardus, located at 45 Rideau St, which will also be livestreamed.

A Thunder Bay book launch will follow in October.

The book is available online, at the Lakehead University Bookstore, and in the Lakehead University and NOSM University libraries.

“The publication of this kind of scholarship demonstrates the leadership that Lakehead University and NOSM University are known for. This is a wonderful accomplishment, occurring on the 25th anniversary of the establishment of the Centre for Health Care Ethics,” Dr. Kotalik said.

You can learn more about the book and secure your digital or paper copy through the Springer website. 

You can register for the in-person or the on-line event here.

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About NOSM University

NOSM University is Canada’s first independent medical university and one of the greatest education and physician workforce strategy success stories of Northern Ontario. More than just a medical university, it was purpose-built to address the health needs of the region. While advocating for equitable access to care, the university contributes to the economic development of Northern Ontario. NOSM University relies on the commitment and expertise of the peoples of Northern Ontario to educate health-care professionals to practise in Indigenous, Francophone, rural, remote, and underserved communities. With a focus on diversity, inclusion, and advocacy, NOSM University is an award-winning, socially accountable organization renowned for its innovative model of distributed, community-engaged education and research.

For further information, please contact news@nosm.ca.

About Lakehead University

Lakehead University is a fully comprehensive university with approximately 9,700 full-time equivalent students and over 2,000 faculty and staff at two campuses in Orillia and Thunder Bay, Ontario. Lakehead has nine faculties, including Business Administration, Education, Engineering, Graduate Studies, Health & Behavioural Sciences, Law, Natural Resources Management, Science & Environmental Studies, and Social Sciences & Humanities. Lakehead University’s achievements have been recognized nationally and internationally, including being ranked in the top half of Times Higher Education‘s 2023 World Universities Rankings for the fourth consecutive year, and the number one university in the world with fewer than 9,000 students in THE’s 2023 Impact Rankings (which assesses institutions against the United Nations’ 17 Sustainable Development Goals).

Media Releases

New NOSM University Francophone Curricular Initiative addresses health inequities in the North

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NOSM University’s new Francophone Curricular Initiative offers medical students the option to study in French.  

Launched in September 2022 as a pilot initiative, the first cohort saw 90% of first-year Francophone medical students participate.

“The high uptake is a reflection of the need for this curricular initiative,” says Dr. Nicole Ranger, Francophone Curricular Lead and alumna of NOSM University. “Learners come out of high school and university fluent in French, but they don’t have the medical terminology regarding patient care. Knowing that they would benefit extraordinarily from learning in French, these students were excited to be the first participants and are becoming strong ambassadors for our initiative.”

Previously, medical students who wanted clinical placements in French had to complete extra work on top of their MD curriculum. The Francophone Curricular Initiative is more equitable and allows students to complete some of their mandatory MD curriculum in French.

The pilot will roll out over four years, with additional years of the MD curriculum added as the first cohort progresses through their studies. While not all educational activities are offered in French, Francophone students currently participate in small group learning in French throughout their first two years of medical school. While on campus, they also interact with Francophone Standardized Patients in some of the clinical skills sessions. They can also undertake clinical placements in French, and every effort is made to pair them with Francophone preceptors.

Training new doctors in French will increase equitable access to health care across Northern Ontario. “Language is one of the social determinants of health,” Dr. Ranger explains. “When patients engage with their provider in a language they’re most familiar with—their mother tongue—this is a key aspect leading to improved communication that contributes to patient safety in care.”

Students in the first cohort recognize the value of completing their medical studies in French.

“Considering the high population of Francophones in Northern Ontario, it is important for me to be able to offer equitable health care in French and English. As a physician, allowing a patient to speak in their mother tongue can make any medical encounter a better one,” says medical student Félix Lavigne.
By aligning education programs with societal and community needs, NOSM University graduates physicians who are leaders that transform health-care systems and improve population health outcomes.

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NOSM University is Canada’s first independent medical university and one of the greatest education and physician workforce strategy success stories of Northern Ontario. More than just a medical university, it was purpose-built to address the health needs of the region. While advocating for equitable access to care, the university contributes to the economic development of Northern Ontario. NOSM University relies on the commitment and expertise of the peoples of Northern Ontario to educate health-care professionals to practise in Indigenous, Francophone, rural, remote, and underserved communities. With a focus on diversity, inclusion, and advocacy, NOSM University is an award-winning, socially accountable organization renowned for its innovative model of distributed, community-engaged education and research.

For further information, please contact: news@nosm.ca.

NOSM University