Nearly 400 prospective medical school students were recently at the Northern Ontario School of Medicine (NOSM) campuses in Sudbury and Thunder Bay to undergo in-depth interviews as part of their application to the School’s M.D. program.

This year, NOSM received 1,845 applications. The applicants, many from Northern Ontario, are competing for 56 coveted student seats. Roughly half of the candidates selected for interviews were assessed in Sudbury at the School’s East Campus on March 28 and 29, 2009 while the remainder was assessed in Thunder Bay on April 4 and 5, 2009.

“This year marks the fifth year the Northern Ontario School of Medicine has accepted student applications. Just as in previous years, we are searching for highly motivated students from a variety of backgrounds who are self-directed, and who will excel in a small group-based, distributed learning environment,” said Dr. Marc Blayney, Associate Dean, Community Engagement. He added, “Our goal is to find those who have a strong interest in practicing medicine in communities in Northern Ontario.”

Candidates in both Sudbury and Thunder Bay were also given the opportunity to tour the medical school buildings and facilities, the respective city, and meet with currently enrolled students. “We have a team of trained community volunteers, medical school faculty, staff, and medical students helping us with the interview process,” said Dr. Blair Schoales, Assistant Dean of Admissions. “We sincerely thank all the volunteers for giving their time and expertise. They certainly made all the candidates feel welcomed.”

NOSM seeks to reflect the demographics of Northern Ontario, and encourages applicants who have spent five years or more in rural, remote or urban communities in Northern Ontario, as well as those who are Francophone, Aboriginal, or from other parts of rural Canada. Eighteen percent of the 391 interviewees self-identified as Francophone, while seven percent self-identified as Aboriginal. Females accounted for 62 percent of the applications, while 38 percent of the candidates were male.

Offers of admission from the Northern Ontario School of Medicine will be sent out to successful candidates on May 15, 2009. Orientation Week for NOSM’s entering class of 2009 will begin on August 24, 2009.

Dr. Fred Gilbert, Chair of the Northern Ontario School of Medicine (NOSM) Board of Directors and President of Lakehead University in Thunder Bay, is pleased to announce that Dr. Roger Strasser, NOSM’s Founding Dean, has been reappointed for a five-year term as Dean to follow his current term which ends in June 2009.

“Dr. Strasser has worked diligently to transform a Northern Ontario dream into an internationally recognized School of Medicine with a community-engaged model of education,” said Dr. Gilbert. “As we move into the next five years of NOSM’s development under Dean Strasser’s leadership, we look forward to further strengthening of relationships with the universities and the clinical faculty, as well as with people from the Northern Ontario communities ”

Since taking up his current position as NOSM’s Founding Dean in September 2002, Dr. Roger Strasser has assembled a strong administrative team and worked to respond to the unique health-care challenges of Northern Ontario by leading the creation of a medical school with an innovative model of distributed medical education that draws on the commitment, expertise, and generosity of people in communities across the North. Training and graduating physicians and health professionals with a particular understanding of, and affinity for, people in Northern, rural, and remote settings is a key component of the School’s mandate to be socially accountable to the cultural diversity of the region it serves.

Under Dr. Strasser’s leadership, and with each year since the School’s official opening in 2005, there has been increasing recognition of NOSM’s innovative approaches to medical education from medical faculties around the world, and the School is fast becoming a must-see location for their educators to learn about NOSM’s curriculum, model for distributed community-engaged learning, and use of new technology to advance medical education.

Dr. Roger Strasser came to Canada from Australia where he was Professor of Rural Health for Monash University and Head of the Monash University School of Rural Health in, and around, Melbourne. Dr. Strasser has been awarded a number of prestigious awards including: Honorary Fellowship of the Royal College of General Practitioners in recognition of his world leadership in the field of rural health; the Louis Ariotti Award for excellence and innovation in rural and remote health in Australia; Fellow of Wonca in recognition of his outstanding service to Wonca and family medicine around the world; the inaugural Small, Rural and Northern Award of Excellence by the Ontario Hospital Association; and, the Australian College of Rural and Remote Medicine Life Fellowship Award for outstanding and meritorious service to Rural and Remote Medicine in Australia.

The Northern Ontario School of Medicine (NOSM) is pleased to announce the appointment of Ms. Kathleen (Kate) Beatty to the position of Director of Equity and Quality, effective March 24, 2009. The newly created role of Director of Equity and Quality includes the development and implementation of a comprehensive framework of programs, processes and internal consulting support for NOSM’s equity and quality initiatives and activities.

Ms. Beatty has worked for more than 20 years in higher education and social services in senior management positions, and as a consultant. She was responsible for various equity and diversity initiatives, including the creation of an Access Centre for students with disabilities, the development of Aboriginal Student Services, and the delivery of employment assistance programs to professional immigrants, women in trades, and youth with disabilities. She has participated on two business missions with the Premier of Ontario to China and India.

Through effective collaboration with faculty, staff, students and NOSM’s community stakeholders, the Director of Equity and Quality will provide NOSM’s Dean and Executive Group with guidance with respect to quality enhancement in the Medical School’s activities, and the promotion of equity in its relationships with stakeholders, individuals, and organizations.

Ms. Beatty earned a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Waterloo and a Master of Science degree from the University of Guelph. She is currently completing her doctoral research in quality assurance of international education at the University of Toronto.