On Friday, August 21, 2009, the Northern Ontario School of Medicine (NOSM) celebrated the graduation of the second class of the Northern Ontario Dietetic Internship Program (NODIP). A videoconferenced graduation celebration linked the four principal community sites – Sudbury, Sault Ste. Marie, Timmins, and Thunder Bay.

Dr. Roger Strasser, NOSM Dean, congratulated the interns at the graduation earlier today. “The Northern Ontario Dietetic Internship Program’s graduation marks the end of an exciting year of milestones at the Northern Ontario School of Medicine. The success of the program is spectacular. I would like to congratulate the interns on their outstanding achievements, and wish them success as they begin their careers as dietitians,” said Dr. Strasser. “I would like to thank Denise Raftis, Program Manager for the Northern Ontario Dietetic Internship Program for her steadfast commitment, as well as the preceptors, partners, and communities that have supported the program for their generosity and dedication.”

With placements across Northern Ontario in rural, Aboriginal, and Francophone communities, and the four principal community sites, ten dietetic interns worked with, and learned from, preceptors in hospitals, public health units, long-term care facilities, and clinics. The following communities welcomed NOSM’s dietetic interns this year: Kenora, Sioux Lookout, Dryden, Fort Frances, Atikokan, Marathon, Sturgeon Falls, Garden Village, North Bay, Penetanguishine, and Little Current. Graduates now have an appreciation for the unique health-care needs of Northern Ontario, as well as the cultural diversity of the people who call it home. Ninety percent of this year’s graduating class will begin working in Northern Ontario communities.

The Northern Ontario Dietetic Internship Program offers diverse and distributed experiences in the provision of nutrition care across the health-care continuum. The next class of dietetic interns are scheduled to begin their training on September 14, 2009, with the class size increasing from ten to twelve. As with all of the School’s educational programs, NODIP was established with a social accountability mandate, of working towards improving the health of people and communities in Northern Ontario.

The Northern Ontario School of Medicine (NOSM) is pleased to announce that 20 residents whose recent completion of training from NOSM’s Family Medicine Residents of the Canadian Shield (FM RoCS) program marked a first for the School, have achieved outstanding scores on their Medical Council of Canada (MCC) examinations. In fact, the scores received by this group of residents surpass those achieved by their peers across the country, and include demonstrated excellence in problem solving, patient interaction, and data acquisition.

The qualifying clinical examinations administered by the MCC are a requirement of physician certification.

Dr. Roger Strasser, NOSM Dean, describes the outcome as an outstanding achievement which is a cause for great celebration. “This successful outcome demonstrates once again the dedication of our learners and the commitment of our physician faculty in providing first-rate clinical training. We are very proud of our residents and appreciative of NOSM’s clinical physician teachers for their ongoing support,” he said.

Dr. Maureen Topps, NOSM’s Associate Dean of Postgraduate Education, is equally delighted by the first NOSM family medicine MCC examination results, and attributes them to both the high calibre of residents in the program and the program’s strong clinical focus. “We are extremely pleased by the performance of our outstanding residents. Our hands-on family medicine program is supported by health-care professionals across communities where our residents receive practical training. Our residents receive wide exposure to clinical teachers, medical procedures and environments which allows them to develop strong clinical skills in the culturally diverse settings of Northern Ontario.”

NOSM’s family medicine program is the newest in Canada. This year marks the first completion of residents from the program – now fully certified physicians with a particular understanding of Northern health challenges who are fully prepared for medical practice or additional training. From this moment on, a growing number of Northern-trained family physicians will complete the program each year.

With a focus on community-based training, residents live and learn in one of five primary residency sites as well as a growing number of communities distributed throughout the region. The unique features of NOSM’s family medicine program provide for residency training that is unmatched in variety of clinical exposure and exceptional lifestyle opportunity.

The Northern Ontario School of Medicine (NOSM) held its annual Board of Directors retreat in Dryden, Ontario from May 7 to May 9, 2009.

As part of the opening of the three-day Board retreat, Mr. Dominic Giroux, Laurentian University’s new President, was welcomed by the Board and to the role of Vice-Chair of the Northern Ontario School of Medicine’s Board of Directors.

This year’s retreat included several presentations and interactive sessions on the topics of NOSM’s Learner Affairs, Informatics, and Equity and Quality functions; Advancement and philanthropy at NOSM; strategic planning for the School; and, NOSM’s Family Medicine Residents of the Canadian Shield (FM RoCS) program. NOSM residents Drs. David VanderBurgh, Milvi Tiisler, and Tyler Christie were on hand to share their experiences in residency training in Northern Ontario.

NOSM Directors also enjoyed visits to the Dryden Regional Health Centre, the Dingwall Medical Clinic, the Dryden Regional Training Cultural Centre, and the Dryden and District Museum.

Deputy Mayor of Dryden, Brian Collins, attended the Friday evening portion of the Board retreat. In his remarks, he expressed his appreciation. “The community of Dryden is pleased to work closely with the Northern Ontario School of Medicine,” he said. “We are delighted to have the opportunity to host this year’s Board retreat, and look forward to welcoming two new NOSM undergraduate medical students in the fall. Having students and residents come to live and learn in Dryden is important to the development of future physicians who understand and appreciate Northern communities.”

At the formal Board meeting on the final day of the retreat, the Directors received reports from Board Committees, including the Finance and Audit, Board Executive, Quality Monitoring, Governance, Nominating, and Advancement Committees.

The Directors received a Financial Report for the 11 month period ending March 31, 2009 from the Finance and Audit Committee. The Board approved a recommendation from the Finance and Audit Committee that tuition fees for the 2009-2010 academic year be increased 4%, due to numerous factors including inflation, changes in the level of provincial funding, and a comparison made of tuition with other Ontario medical schools.

In addition, the Board approved the proposed balanced budget of $40 million for the Fiscal Year May 1, 2009 to April 30, 2010, as presented.

The next meeting of the Board of Directors is scheduled for September 16, 2009.

Contacts:

news@nosm.ca