The Northern Ontario School of Medicine (NOSM) is pleased to announce a substantial donation from Barrick Gold Corporation. Earlier this morning, Mr. Andrew Bauman, General Manager of Barrick Gold’s Hemlo Mine presented Dr. Roger Strasser, NOSM’s Dean, and Dr. Sarah Newbery, Chief of Staff at Wilson Memorial General Hospital and Physician with the Marathon Family Health Team, with a cheque for $100,000 in Marathon, Ontario. This gift represents a significant contribution to learning and health care in Northern Ontario.

Barrick Gold’s investment in Northern-trained physicians and health-professionals has several components, including:

The creation of a Learner Suite in Marathon with exam rooms and study space;

-A technology infrastructure upgrade of $15,000 at the Wilson Memorial General Hospital and the Marathon Family Health Centre in Marathon;
-A NOSM Student Bursary of $70,000 (with $35,000 coming from Barrick Gold and $35,000 in matching funds from the Ontario Trust for Student Support), which will be available to NOSM   learners with roots in Marathon;
-A $25,000 Award to help fund recruitment initiatives for family physicians who wish to set up a practice in Marathon; and,
-$15,000 to support a Rural Remote Health Medical Conference.

Dr. Roger Strasser, NOSM’s Dean, is grateful to Barrick Gold for helping to advance the dream of a healthier North. “Contributions supporting the Northern Ontario School of Medicine’s vision of Innovative Education and Research for a Healthier North are long-term investments in better health care for Northern Ontarians.” He continued, “We are very grateful to Barrick Gold for being part of the solution, and for the support they have shown NOSM, our learners, and our partners in Marathon.”

On June 10 – 11, 2011, the Northern Ontario School of Medicine (NOSM) held its sixth annual Northern Health Research Conference (NHRC) at the Active Living Centre in Huntsville.  With 28 oral presentations and 45 poster presentations, the research presented ranged from the molecular to areas specific to the people and communities in Northern Ontario. 

This is the first time NOSM has hosted the NHRC in Huntsville – a community that supports the School by welcoming medical students, residents, and dietetic interns into their local hospital, health centres, and family practices.  “The Northern Ontario School of Medicine has a very valuable partnership with Huntsville, so it was particularly exciting for us to host the Northern Health Research Conference in their community this year,” said NOSM Dean, Dr. Roger Strasser.  “The success of the School is very much a reflection of partnerships with communities across Northern Ontario, such as the one we have with Huntsville.”  

Conference Highlights

• The keynote address was delivered by Dr. David Henry, the President and CEO of the Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences (ICES) in Toronto. The title of his presentation was The Development of ICES North – An Important Resource for Clinical, Health Services and Population Health Research.  
• A special session was organized for high school students from Huntsville, Bracebridge, and Parry Sound.  Hosted by NOSM’s Francophone Affairs Unit, the session provided youth with an opportunity to learn about health research from a NOSM researcher, and health careers and the NOSM M.D. program from a NOSM medical student.  Students also sat in on conference presentations and heard presentations from a Sudbury family physician, graduates of NOSM’s Northern Ontario Dietetic Internship Program (NODIP), and researchers from Lakehead University in Thunder Bay. 
• Conference participants had the opportunity to hear presentations from a wide variety of organizations, including: researchers based at NOSM; universities across the North, including Laurentian University, Lakehead University, and Algoma University; partner organizations; and, hospitals in Thunder Bay, Sudbury, and North Bay.  It was particularly exciting to see a number of presentations from current or former NOSM learners.  

Dr. Greg Ross, NOSM Associate Dean of Research added, “The vision of the Northern Ontario School of Medicine is Innovative Education and Research for a Healthier North.  The goal of the Northern Health Research Conference is to provide a forum for local researchers to present topics touch on the needs of people and communities in Northern Ontario.  Very few conferences span a broad range of topics as we have seen here.”  

A detailed list of presentations can be found at www.nosm.ca/nhrc.  The next Northern Health Research Conference will be held in Thunder Bay in the spring of 2012.

The Northern Ontario School of Medicine (NOSM) and the Métis Nation of Ontario (MNO) are co-hosting an Aboriginal Workshop entitled Living the Vision on May 25 – 27, 2011 in Sudbury, Ontario.

This workshop, NOSM’s third Aboriginal forum, is a follow-up to the Follow Your Dreams workshop held in Wauzhushk Onigum in June 2003 and the Keeping the Vision workshop held at Fort William First Nation in August of 2006. The purpose of the workshop is to inform Aboriginal peoples of the progress made by the School on recommendations received during the previous two Aboriginal workshops and to provide a forum for continuing dialogue between Aboriginal peoples and NOSM.

This morning, at the opening of the three-day workshop, NOSM and the MNO signed a Collaboration Agreement which will allow the two parties to work more closely together. This shared commitment is focused on providing education which is responsive to the Métis people and communities of Northern Ontario, and on highlighting their complementary resources and objectives with respect to research, education, and expertise.

NOSM and the MNO have a range of common goals, approaches, and needs. Both the School and the MNO are actively involved and engaged in addressing the needs of their communities. A number of possible areas for NOSM and the MNO to collaborate include, but are not limited to:

Identifying opportunities for beneficial collaboration in the development of new medical courses, academic programs, and innovative research initiatives.
Actively recruiting potential Métis medical students, and improving the provision of medical programming that is culturally and linguistically appropriate.
Developing communications intended to increase the visibility and success of the Métis in medicine in Ontario.
Increasing Métis participation in and access to current and future NOSM programs and services.
Increasing real and meaningful Métis input to NOSM policy development.
“A significant component of the Northern Ontario School of Medicine’s social accountability mandate is to build and cultivate relationships with Aboriginal communities across Northern Ontario, and to facilitate common goals,” said Dr. Roger Strasser, NOSM Dean. “This Collaboration Agreement between the School and the Métis Nation of Ontario will allow us to pursue opportunities that maximize the positive impact our organizations are having in the North,” he said.

“From day one the Métis Nation of Ontario has supported the Northern Ontario School of Medicine. I remember when it was just a dream,” explained MNO President Gary Lipinski. “The MNO is entering into this collaborative agreement with NOSM to facilitate more Métis students pursuing medical careers in the North. Having more students graduate in the North will dramatically increase the potential of them returning to their communities, where their skills as doctors and nurses are very much needed.”

The Métis Nation of Ontario democratically represents Métis people and Métis communities in Ontario through a province-wide governance structure at the local, regional and provincial levels. As part of our Framework Agreement with the Government of Ontario, the MNO has entered into collaborative agreements with government agencies and postsecondary institutions across the province.

The Northern Ontario School of Medicine is committed to the education of high quality physicians and health professionals, and to international recognition as a leader in distributed, learning-centred, community-engaged education and research.

For further information, please contact:

news@nosm.ca