Winner of Three 2010 Global Best Awards, including “Overall Global Winner” 

The Northern Ontario School of Medicine (NOSM) is thrilled to be the recipient of three 2010 Global Best Awards granted by the International Partnership Network (IPN). Global Best Awards celebrate outstanding and effective business, education, and community organization partnerships that have a significant impact on the communities in which they operate. NOSM received the following top international honours for its development of community partnerships:

– Global Best Award for the Americas: Building Learning Communities
– Global Best Award: The Americas Regional Winner
– Global Best Award: Overall Global Winner

NOSM was recognized for the successful relationships the School has built with Aboriginal community partners to facilitate the Aboriginal Integrated Community Experience (ICE) in the NOSM M.D. program. All first-year students spend one month living and learning in rural and remote Aboriginal communities as part of the ICE component of NOSM’s undergraduate curriculum. The students learn about the delivery of health-care services, heighten their cultural competency, increase their understanding of issues affecting Aboriginal peoples, and gain new insights regarding their emerging roles as future physicians. This cultural immersion experience, unique to NOSM, was developed and is implemented with the participation of Aboriginal community partners across Northern Ontario.

As with all program components at NOSM, this Integrated Community Experience reinforces the School’s social accountability mandate of contributing to improving the health of Northern Ontario’s culturally diverse populations.

The three awards recognizing NOSM’s global leadership in building community partnerships were accepted by NOSM Dean, Dr. Roger Strasser, NOSM Aboriginal Affairs Director, Orpah McKenzie, and NOSM Aboriginal Affairs Manager, Ian Peltier.

On behalf of the School, Dr. Strasser expressed his gratitude, and called attention to the role collaboration has played in building successful community partnerships. “It is truly an honour for the Northern Ontario School of Medicine to receive not one, but three awards acknowledging the School’s global leadership with respect to community partnerships. This success is the result of the vision, commitment, and teamwork of NOSM’s faculty, physician teachers, staff, and the many community partners, all of whom have provided, and continue to provide crucial input into an innovative learning program for students which is designed to facilitate a better understanding of Aboriginal culture and the health needs of people in these under-serviced communities.”

The Awards were presented on the final day of the 10th International Education Business Partnership Conference: 2010 Regeneration of Partnerships to Face Future Challenges which was hosted by the Conference Board of Canada in Toronto from April 25 to April 28, 2010.

The Northern Ontario School of Medicine (NOSM) was recently pleased to support NOSM researcher, Dr. Kristen Jacklin, and Dr. Wayne Warry of McMaster University, in their efforts to draw attention to dementia in Aboriginal communities.

On April 15 and 16, 2010, researchers, administrators, and Aboriginal community members from across the country attended the Aboriginal ADRD Research Network Meeting at NOSM’s East Campus in Sudbury where presentations, discussions, and community perspectives focused on the complexity of dementia among Aboriginal groups.

The event was organized in response to a 2007 provincial forum on ADRD, which revealed a scarcity of information on how Aboriginal groups understand and cope with dementia. Participants at the NOSM event shared findings from research currently underway and discussed strategies to address gaps in knowledge using a transdisciplinary approach to research.

As part of discussions on shared priorities, supporters discussed future funding opportunities for a national project that would develop research capacity, contribute to understandings of cultural competency, and bring a critical perspective to the perception and experience of dementia illnesses that will be of use to Aboriginal communities, care providers, and academics.

A principal organizer of the event, NOSM professor, Dr. Kristen Jacklin, noted the importance of this Research Network Meeting as a key step in addressing the needs of this population group. “We believe such research has the potential to inform our understandings of ADRD, which can lead to the improvement in care for Aboriginal peoples suffering from dementia, and to the awareness of dementia-related diseases in Aboriginal communities,” she said.

Drs. Kristen Jacklin and Wayne Warry are both active investigators in the Indigenous Health Research Development Program, one of nine Networks Environment for Aboriginal Health Research in Canada (NEAHRs).

This first gathering among research participants with interests in ADRD is an important step in extending collaborations and working toward securing funding for a national project.

The event was co-funded by the Indigenous Health Research Development Program (www.ihrdp.ca ), the Northern Ontario School of Medicine Faculty Association Research Fund, and through in-kind contributions from NOSM.

Award Recognizes M.D. Graduates’ Commitment to Rural Health Care 

The Northern Ontario School of Medicine (NOSM) is pleased to be the recipient of the 2010 Rural Medical Education Award granted by the Society of Rural Physicians of Canada (SRPC). Each year, the SRPC confers the Rural Medical Education Award to an undergraduate medical education program which has excelled in graduating physicians heading toward a career in rural medicine.

This year’s selection process involved choosing the medical school program that matched the most graduates to rural family medicine residency programs in the 2009 Canadian Resident Matching Service (CaRMS) results. CaRMS matches medical students, based on both student and medical school preferences, to postgraduate residency programs across Canada. In 2009, fully 40.3 percent of NOSM graduates from the M.D. program were successfully matched to rural family medicine residencies.

On behalf of NOSM, NOSM Dean Dr. Strasser expressed his gratitude for the recognition. “It is an honour for the Northern Ontario School of Medicine to be acknowledged by the Society of Rural Physicians of Canada.” He continued, “This particular award speaks to both the high calibre of NOSM graduates, and the hard work of NOSM’s staff and faculty who are committed to the School’s overall mission of educating skilled physicians and health professionals who are innovative, resourceful, sensitive, and who understand the rigours and rewards of medical practice in Northern, rural, and culturally diverse settings.”

Receipt of the Rural Medical Education Award follows previous successes. All charter class members who graduated from the M.D. program in 2009 were matched to residency programs in the first round. Over ten years have lapsed since a group of graduating students from a Canadian medical school has achieved such results.

The Society of Rural Physicians of Canada provides leadership for rural physicians and promotes equitable care for the nine million Canadians who reside in rural areas of the country.

The Award will be presented to NOSM in Toronto on April 23, 2010.