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Media Releases, News, Northern Routes

Dr. Sarita Verma starts as new Dean of NOSM

Today the Northern Ontario School of Medicine (NOSM) officially welcomes incoming Dean, President and CEO, Dr. Sarita Verma. July 1 marks the start date of Dr. Verma’s five-year term, succeeding Dr. Roger Strasser, Founding Dean and CEO of NOSM.

As first female Dean of the School, and only the second Dean in NOSM’s history, Dr. Verma says her first priority is to engage with the more than 90 communities that make up NOSM’s wider campus of Northern Ontario.

“My first order of business as Dean is to get to know the communities of the North; to learn what I can about them and their needs. It’s important to me that I hear from them how they envision the future of their health and that of NOSM in contributing to the solutions to current challenges they face,” says Dr. Verma.

Before pursuing her medical degree at McMaster University (1991), Dr. Verma obtained a law degree from University of Ottawa (1981). As a lawyer and a diplomat in Canada’s foreign service, she worked with United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Sudan and Ethiopia for several years, and draws parallels between that experience and urgent health issues facing communities in Northern Ontario.

“Our social accountability mandate extends to advocacy for safe, accessible and high quality health services including food, water, and housing security here in the North. NOSM’s next 15 years will be focussed on making a direct impact on population health in Northern Ontario in partnership with the Universities, the communities and the Health Science Centers.”

Dr. Verma is the former Vice President, Education at the Association of Faculties of Medicine of Canada (AFMC) and former Associate Vice-Provost, Relations with Health Care Institutions and Deputy Dean of Medicine at the University of Toronto.

Dr. Verma says she is inspired by her new role. “I am deeply committed to serving the people of Northern Ontario, to leading innovation in clinical education and research and building the next generation of Northern physicians and leaders for Ontario.”

Gallery, In the Spotlight

New Acute Aortic Syndrome Guidelines Reflect Northern Perspective

A group of clinicians and researchers from Northern Ontario are leading the development of national guidelines for diagnosing and treating acute aortic syndrome. Dr. Robert Ohle, an emergency medicine physician at Health Sciences North and Assistant Professor of Emergency Medicine at the Northern Ontario School of Medicine, received a grant from the Northern Ontario Academic Medical Association (NOAMA) to adapt and improve existing American and European guidelines for acute aortic syndrome. Acute aortic syndrome is a condition caused by a tear in the aorta, the largest blood vessel in the body. Once the aorta is torn, blood can then leak up or down, blocking the blood flow to the vessels the aorta supplies, and depending on the placement of the tear, a number of the body’s essential organs.

Learn more about Dr. Robert Ohle’s research in the latest issue of The Scope.

Homepage News, Media Releases, News

NOSM’s Medical Physics Residency Program Achieves Full Accreditation

The Northern Ontario School of Medicine (NOSM) is pleased to announce that the recently established Medical Physics Residency Education Program (MPREP) has, for the first time, received full accreditation from the Commission on Accreditation of Medical Physics Education Programs (CAMPEP) through to December 31, 2021.

Medical physicists are health-care professionals with specialized training in the medical applications of physics. Their work involves the use of x-rays, ultrasound, magnetic and electric fields, infrared and ultraviolet light, heat and lasers in diagnosis and therapy. Most medical physicists work in cancer treatment facilities, hospital diagnostic imaging departments, or hospital-based research establishments. Through collaborations with the Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre (TBRHSC) in Thunder Bay and Health Sciences North (HSN) in Sudbury, faculty members with the Northern Ontario School of Medicine are educating medical physicists in the North, for the North.

“After much effort, we are delighted to have received this internationally recognized full accreditation for the Medical Physics Residency Education Program at the Northern Ontario School of Medicine,” says Dr. Peter McGhee, Program Director of NOSM’s Medical Physics Residency Education Program.

During the course of the program, residents (one in Thunder Bay and one in Sudbury) are formal full-time employees of the academic health sciences centres. Through their learning experience, they will gradually develop the practical skills that will allow them to fully and independently participate within the clinical environment. With successful completion of the residency, the graduates are eligible to apply for certification as qualified clinical Medical Physicists.

The program will be recruiting for two new residents with terms starting in October 2019. Successful applicants will enrol in a two-year program addressing all aspects of the clinical subspecialty of Radiation Oncology Physics. The major sections of the training curriculum include evaluation of radiation treatment equipment performance, equipment calibration, radiation treatment planning and delivery, radiation safety, and radiation oncology informatics. In addition, residents are expected to participate in clinically oriented research and be actively involved in teaching. The minimum entry requirement for a residency position is a Master of Science in Medical Physics with preference given to candidates with a PhD in Physics, or a related subject. Graduate course credits are also expected to be CAMPEP accredited. For a copy of the posting, please visit nosm.ca/mprep.

NOSM University