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Francophone Features, In the Spotlight

NOSM University recognized for commitment to Northern Ontario’s Francophone community

NOSM University is the recent recipient of the Réseau du mieux-être francophone du Nord de l’Ontario Award of Recognition honouring community partners for their contributions and efforts to improve access to, and equity of, French-language services.

“This is an honour for which we are very grateful, and it’s one that tells me that NOSM University is on the right track” says Dr. Sarita Verma, President, Vice-Chancellor, and Dean of NOSM University who accepted the award on behalf of the University. “NOSM University has prioritized social accountability and health justice in everything we do. Simply, this means that the university must be thoughtful and responsive to communities and their health needs—particularly for the roughly 130,000 Francophones and French-speaking people in Northern Ontario.”

The University continues to expand its efforts to support Francophone medical students who will practise in French, as well as support Francophile and Anglophone medical students in recognising and providing linguistic and culturally sensitive care.

On behalf of the University, Dr. Verma thanked the many Francophone contributors, supporters, partners and communities. “To meet the needs of the Francophone community, we rely on solid partnerships with organisations like the Réseau du mieux-être francophone du Nord de l’Ontario. Merci, thank you for this recognition.”

Addressing the Gaps, Homepage News, Media Releases, News

$1 million CIHR grant supports University-City Partnerships

A $1 million grant from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) aims to improve local health outcomes for residents of Thunder Bay and Ottawa through partnership between academic researchers, universities, and municipalities.

NOSM University, City of Thunder Bay, and Lakehead University are collaborating with the University of Ottawa and the City of Ottawa, to address locally identified health and safety priorities. Recognized globally, the CityStudio framework of city-campus collaboration encourages post-secondary students to be agents of change for social accountability in their communities.

“CityStudio is internationally recognized for helping municipalities and academic institutions collaborate to create bridges across municipal government, academic institutions and the community in a concerted effort to address the unique challenges they face,” says Dr. Erin Cameron, Director of the Centre for Social Accountability at NOSM University and a Principal Investigator on the grant.

In collaboration with a team out of the University of Ottawa, led by Dr. Claire Kendall, Associate Dean of Social Accountability in the Faculty of Medicine and senior investigator at the Bruyère Research Institute, the project engages two municipalities, Ottawa and Thunder Bay, and a team of researchers who will use the CIHR funding to evaluate the impact of city-campus engagement on population health.

“One of the challenges in researching community engagement is that it’s a very complex phenomenon,” says Dr. Kendall. “Not only does it involve many different stakeholders, it also has components that interact and create feedback loops. Untangling all of these different aspects to see what’s actually going on is a lengthy, and frankly, quite difficult process, which is why it hasn’t been done before.”

Thunder Bay will receive $370K over four years to implement the project, which includes the hiring of a research coordinator. The funding will also evaluate the reciprocal relationship between cities and academic institutions and their ability to improve population health outcomes.

“We are thrilled that CIHR recognises this as an opportunity to connect communities with the academic research of universities. It aligns with NOSM University’s social accountability mandate to address the priority health concerns of communities and advocate for community engagement that is grounded in co-creation,” says Dr. Cameron.

“The Thunder Bay community, through the Community Safety & Well-Being Plan, has identified priorities related to safety and well-being. This project will help harness university resources to implement projects aimed at addressing these priorities, and deepen understanding at the municipal level , to make Thunder Bay a safer, healthier and more equitable community,” says Lee-Ann Chevrette, Community Safety and Well-Being Specialist at the City of Thunder Bay.

“This project brings together education, research, and community,” says Dr. Cameron, “and brings together an amazing team of researchers from Thunder Bay, including Dr. Helle Moeller and Dr. Rebecca Schiff from Lakehead University.” The CityStudio framework will be implemented and studied for three years while Thunder Bay and Ottawa identify their respective successes, challenges, and unique differences.

Thunder Bay and Ottawa share many challenges and factors closely linked to the social determinants of health in the areas of poverty, education, housing, racism, childhood experiences, and access to health services.

“Throughout the development of the Community Safety and Well-Being Plan for Thunder Bay, we engaged with community partners and citizens to identify local priorities that, if addressed, would have the greatest impacts on improving safety and well-being for those living in Thunder Bay,” said Chevrette. “This grant will help determine how to most effectively engage our community and implement our plan.”

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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.

The City of Thunder Bay is the largest community in northwestern Ontario, located on the shore of Lake Superior. The city is situated on the traditional territory of Fort William First Nation, a signatory to the Robinson Superior Treaty of 1850. With a population of approximately 110,000 people, the city acts as a hub for northwestern Ontario.

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, once again, among Canada’s Top 10 primarily undergraduate universities in Maclean’s 2021 University Rankings; as well as included in the top half of Times Higher Education’s 2022 World Universities Rankings for the third consecutive year, and the number one university in the world with fewer than 10,000 students in THE’s 2022 Impact Rankings (which assesses institutions against the United Nations’ 17 Sustainable Development Goals). Visit www.lakeheadu.ca.

CityStudio is a proven model of experiential learning and civic engagement that works by harnessing university resources, such as faculty expertise and student hours, to work on community-oriented projects identified by the municipality. CityStudio has been implemented successfully in 15 cities worldwide to date.

For Media requests please contact: communication@nosm.ca

For further information about the City Studio Model, please contact:

Dr. Erin Cameron, PhD.
Director, Centre for Social Accountability
NOSM University
Office: 807-766-7451
Cell: 807-631-1682
Email: ercameron@nosm.ca

Lee-Ann Chevrette

Community Safety & Well-Being Specialist
City of Thunder Bay
Phone: 807-631-4422
Email: lee-ann.chevrette@thunderbay.ca

Northern Routes

Our Year of Making History

Bonjour, Aanin, Boozhoo, Tanshi, Kwe Kwe, Hello,

To make history is to do something important that has not been done before and will be remembered for a long time. This year—2022—is the year that we, NOSM University, are making history.

Imaginative. Inventive. Inquisitive. Inspiring. That’s what I think of the 58 newly-minted MDs who are graduating this week.

Please join me as we tip our hats to this 14th graduating class. This marks 838 MD grads since 2009.

All of you are about to join your chosen profession, a calling to which you may feel very proud. If you work hard, take good care of yourself and remain humble, yours will be a long and worthwhile career in medicine. You will heal and comfort many people, and you will do good in the world. Congratulations, doctors!

Hold your heads high, class of 2022: you are helpers, you are advocates and you are leaders.

And to you, I must say this: Thank you.

Foremost, thank you for adapting. Many of your educational experiences were shifted and shaped by this pandemic. You dug in and adjusted—like the professionals you are—to off-and-on lockdowns, managing uncertainty and, in our case, being in a health-care profession that has become one of the riskiest and most dangerous in the world.

Thank you for supporting one another.  Our programs are rigorous and demanding, and too much time in isolation proved a harmful thing for many during COVID-19. You found ways to shore each other up, to make bonds and forge friendships. You may not know how you impacted the life of a fellow student, and you may never know. But rest assured, though: you did.

Thank you for your excited ingenuity. Student-led projects like the Cannabis Use by Teens video and the second annual menstrual product drive for Kingfisher Lake First Nation, make us all so proud of your energy and passion for a healthier, more just world.

Thank you for bringing joy to NOSM University and everyone you interacted within Northern Ontario. Some of my happiest moments these last few years have been hearing your laughter and seeing you revel in your learning. As they say: the days can be long, but the years are short. Moments of joy from you punctuated many lives, and made this unprecedented time enjoyable. Many of you worked with me on our astounding initiatives like the anti-racism strategy, the inaugural Dean’s Lecture Series, our strategic Plan (The NOSM University Challenge 2025), Operation Remote Immunity and the birth of our new medical university. You are Tweeters and Instagrammers extraordinaire! You are captivating, courageous, compassionate changemakers.

Thank you for leading our University and your learning with compassion. Compassion is the ever-beating heart of this profession. As President Theodore Roosevelt once said, “Nobody cares how much you know, until they know how much you care.” That will be true in every aspect of your life. Take it to heart. As you leave the safe confines of the MD program to residency positions and go to the next phase of your education, never stop learning, never stop asking questions, and never forget that medicine is an art as well as a science.

Making History

NOSM University makes history as the first independent medical university in Canada

The spring issue of the President’s Report is now available at report.nosm.ca. We celebrate NOSM University’s roots by highlighting key milestones from the past 20 years. Read about the mark NOSM University is making in embodying health justice, opening doors for BIPOC women in medicine, empowering future learners, and changing the status quo by becoming the research nexus for the North.

Far from a break with the past, NOSM University is a seamless continuation of the work done by so many to make it the single greatest resource for health and wealth in Northern Ontario.

And yet, we are making history on a regular basis. NOSM University is expanding with more MD and residency positions. Incredible research is happening, and you can learn more in the 2021 Research Annual Report – A Treetop View. NOSM University will make history with its inaugural charter class entering Canada’s first independent medical university this fall. And this year, we have our first Board of Governors, our first Senate, and we are on the way to selecting our first University Chancellor.

Collectively, so many people, including staff, faculty, learners and the public, are involved in this historic journey. I want to thank you all. We are truly a village of movers and shakers! Those who came before us with this incredible vision created the successful foundation of NOSM University—now some 20 years in the making. Thank you to everyone who has helped to build upon the legacy of that vision, which has led to today and to this incredible moment. I especially want to extend my appreciation to the NOSM Transition Board, Transition Senate, our Executive Group and Management Group for their untiring work during the past few months. It has been scary yet inspiring.

We have a lot more work to do. Just imagine what we will look like in 50 years. NOSM University is, and will always be, rooted in the North. We will keep growing with creativity, leading in cutting-edge education and research, being socially accountable and making history in everything we do.

Miigwetch, thank you, marsi, merci,

Dr. Sarita Verma
President, Vice Chancellor, Dean and CEO
NOSM University

If you have any feedback or comments, please reach out at dean@nosm.caand follow me on Twitter @ddsv3.

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Convocations and Celebrations

This week, we celebrate convocation together in both Sudbury and Thunder Bay. It is a time of great excitement for NOSM University’s MD Class of 2022, their family and friends. Celebrating our newest physicians.

Sudbury
Tuesday, May 31, 2022 at 2:30 p.m. (In person and online.)

Thunder Bay Ceremony
Friday, June 3, 2022 at 12:00 p.m. (In person only.)

Following each convocation, NOSM University is hosting a reception and white coat ceremony for graduates.

Northern Health Research Conference

Join us June 24, 2022 for our first-ever hybrid conference! View the conference agenda.

Participants will have the option to attend in person from the NOSM University Sudbury campus or virtually. There is no registration fee to attend this year’s conference as we try out a hybrid model.

Please visit the NHRC website for further information and to register.

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