NOSM University alumnus to lead NOSM University’s Admissions Portfolio

Monday June 19th, 2023 Jason Lind

NOSM University’s new Assistant Dean, Admissions and Enrolment is one of the University’s earliest MD graduates. Dr. Paul Miron is a Francophone family physician, born and raised in Northern Ontario. He graduated from the University of Ottawa with an Honours Bachelor of Biochemistry. After embarking on his medical studies at NOSM University, Dr. Miron completed a Family Medicine residency at McMaster University and subsequently obtained a Master of Health Sciences Education.

For the last 10 years, Dr. Miron has worked in NOSM University’s Postgraduate Medical Education program. Most recently, he spent five years as the Program Director, Family Medicine, during which time he participated in provincial and national committees and initiatives, specifically in the areas of continuous quality improvement, accreditation, resident selection and admission.

A family physician in Timmins, Dr. Miron provides broad-scope primary care, hospital medicine, and primary care addictions, stroke and oncology. Dr. Miron has acted as a consultant in medical education for The College of Family Physicians of Canada (CFPC) and family medicine programs in Canada, particularly in continuous quality improvement of educational programs. He has been actively involved in the modernization of selection and recruitment of family medicine residents and contributed to the development of new tools utilized in the national approach to resident selection.

“Dr. Miron’s enthusiasm for NOSM University, medical education and his experience with the selection and recruitment of family medicine residents gives him a good foundation for this new role as Assistant Dean, Admissions and Enrolment,” says Dr. Céline Larivière, Provost and Vice President Academic of NOSM University. “We are thrilled to have an alumnus of NOSM University and look forward to Dr. Miron’s contributions in this new role.”

Beginning his five-year, renewable term on September 1, 2023, Dr. Miron will be responsible for all aspects of planning, implementing and evaluating the admissions process, and admissions to NOSM University’s MD Program. Dr. Miron will be developing the strategy to fulfill the University’s vision of being a national leader in attracting and admitting the most diverse student body and setting admissions standards for all its programs.

“I am very excited to join the decanal team at NOSM University and continue the wonderful work that has already been done for several years! With the changing landscape of health professions and new ways of practicing medicine, including technology and other advancements, we need to stay current and modernize our selection of medical students to ensure we respond to the needs of our patients here in the North. My experience in postgraduate family medicine will help me align some of these realities with the selection of our next medical school classes,” says Dr. Miron.

“Dr. Miron was unanimously confirmed by the search committee,” says Dr. Sarita Verma, President, Vice-Chancellor, Dean, and CEO of NOSM University. “He embodies the University’s values of inclusion, respect, and social accountability. I look forward to seeing the exceptional work that will come with expanding our programs and enrolling more medical students and residents each year.”

“I would like to thank Dr. Owen Prowse, outgoing Assistant Dean, Admissions, for his dedicated service and herculean efforts in this role for more than a decade,” says Dr. Verma.

Homepage News, Media Releases

NOSM University seeks community members as standardized patients

Thursday June 15th, 2023 Alexandra Poling

Help train Northern Ontario’s future doctors by portraying a patient

NOSM University will be hosting an information session for individuals interested in becoming a Standardized Patient (SP). SPs are healthy people trained to act as real patients and simulate symptoms and medical conditions. They assist medical students in acquiring skills for patient history-taking and physical exams and provide valuable feedback to students.

Date:          Tuesday, June 27, 2023
Time:    6:00 p.m. – 7:00 p.m.
Venue:     Room 1011, NOSM University building, Thunder Bay
Room 107, NOSM University building, Sudbury

No Registration Required.

Benefits:

Casual work: Get paid to play a patient!
Make a difference: Help train future doctors.
Personal growth: You will learn and practice transferable skills.

NOSM University is seeking individuals in the Thunder Bay and Sudbury areas, who are over 18 years old and meet the following requirements:

Flexible and available for casual work during weekdays.
Available approximately five hours every four to six weeks.
Excellent oral communication and memorization skills.
High school diploma or equivalent.
Strong computer skills, and access to a personal computer, tablet or smartphone.

Visit nosm.ca/sp to learn more.

– 30 –

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.

Addressing the Gaps, In the Spotlight

New Program Set to Bring More Medical Residents to the North

Gallery Tuesday June 6th, 2023 Alexandra Poling

The new Northern Ontario Resident Streamlined Training and Reimbursement (Nor-Star) program from the Ontario Ministry of Health aims to remove barriers to training more physicians in Northern Ontario. A new portion of the program will launch on July 1 and will reimburse the costs of travel and accommodation for medical residents on elective in Northern Ontario.

Data from NOSM University shows that among medical residents who complete an elective in Northern Ontario, one in five will return to practice in the North. And for learners who complete both their medical degree and a residency elective in Northern Ontario, the likelihood of practising in Northern Ontario increases to one in two. Additional physicians will return to work as locums, providing important support for local doctors.

Northern Ontario communities are actively recruiting for more than 350 physicians, and this figure does not account for upcoming retirements.

“The Nor-Star initiative is well-timed to help us meet physician shortages across our region. This new funding will help create opportunities for medical residents to get to know what it is like to live, learn, and work in our communities and to collaborate with our terrific clinical faculty here,” says Dr. Sarah Newbery, Associate Dean of the Physician Workforce Strategy at NOSM University.

“Our critical care department at Health Sciences North (HSN) is actively working on our physician resource planning to ensure that we have a great team here serving Northeastern Ontario,” says Dr. Kyle McKechnie, chief of critical care at HSN. “The opportunity to bring physicians training in critical care to Sudbury will help us to continue to deliver excellent care well into the future.”

Medical residents in any discipline—from family medicine to pediatrics to critical care—are eligible. Funding is provided by Ontario Health for three groups of postgraduate learners:

Residents from any Canadian medical school who are undertaking an elective (launches July 1, 2023).
Residents and faculty from any Canadian medical school who are working with a locum (launched March 2023).
Residents in their last months of training who work as a locum on a restricted license under Northern Specialist Locum Programs (launched March 2023).

Dr. Tara Baron, NOSM University’s incoming Associate Dean of Continuing Education and Professional Development, notes, “I came to Northern Ontario from my pediatrics training at the University of Toronto and loved what I experienced about the work here, so I decided to return. This new program creates opportunities for more postgraduate learners to have the same kind of experience that many of us did when we were in training.”

“It is terrific to see the collaboration that made this happen,” says Dr. Newbery, “We advocated strongly for this program and are grateful for the partners who advocated alongside us. In particular, this program addresses one of the key recommendations brought forward by Northern physicians through the Ontario Medical Association’s Prescription for Northern Ontario.”

Application information and eligibility requirements can be found on the Medical Electives page.

NOSM University provides a variety of clinical learning opportunities across Northern Ontario. Clinical elective placement options are easy to explore using NOSM University’s new, user-friendly, interactive catalogue.