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Northern Routes

Amplifying Impact Through Community Engagement

As I sit down to write this, I can’t help but reflect on the wild and unpredictable weather we’ve experienced in Northern Ontario since the official start of spring. From snowstorms that seemed to come out of nowhere, to freezing rain, followed by bursts of sunshine quickly replaced by cold winds, it’s been a reminder of how quickly things can change. But, just like the weather, our progress at NOSM University is resilient, driven by the passion and determination of our community. Despite the challenges, we continue to build a brighter, more equitable future together.

One of the significant moments since my last update was NOSM University’s participation in the 2025 International Congress on Academic Medicine (ICAM) Conference in Halifax, where representatives from all Canadian medical schools gathered to exchange ideas, address shared challenges, and celebrate successes in medical education. For NOSM University, this conference was an important opportunity to reflect on our unique role in Canadian medical education. As the only stand-alone medical university in the country, we are proud of the distinctive position we hold. But what truly sets us apart is not just our independence—it’s our commitment to collaboration. Our mandate to provide equitable health care in underserved regions, combined with our deep relationships with other medical schools, places us at the forefront of innovation, education, and health-care solutions.

Our vision is shaped by the leadership that has guided us along the way. As we celebrate our 20th anniversary, I reflect on the exceptional work of Founding Dean, Dr. Roger Stasser and the leadership of founding President, Vice-Chancellor, Dean, and CEO, Dr. Sarita Verma. Their vision has helped propel NOSM University into a national leader in health professions education with a focus on serving rural and remote communities. Their contributions laid the groundwork for an institution that not only educates health-care professionals but also leads with purpose, serving as a model for what a medical university can achieve. I had a chance to meet with Dr. Strasser at ICAM and share thoughts about the past and future for NOSM at this 20 year anniversary.

As we reflect on our past, we also look ahead. We’re in the early stages of planning for our 2026-2030 strategic plan, and I’m excited to share that community engagement will be at the heart of this process. Strategic planning isn’t just about setting goals—it’s about ensuring those goals reflect the voices, needs, and values of the people they impact. A plan is only as strong as the community behind it, which is why we’re committed to hearing from you. Whether it’s a story about a local issue, a suggestion for improvement, or a shared hope for the future, every voice adds depth to the conversation.

Our community engagement is about recognizing and valuing the lived experiences of individuals. Through online surveys, virtual and in-person meetings, we are ensuring that everyone has an opportunity to share their thoughts, no matter where they are or how busy their schedules may be. This is our chance to amplify our collective impact by working together to create a future that is meaningful, inclusive, and sustainable.

As we embrace this next chapter of strategic planning, I invite you to join us in making this process as inclusive as possible. In April, we’ll be holding a series of community visits, and I encourage all those who can participate to join us and if you are not able, please contribute your thoughts through our survey. This is an opportunity to connect with NOSM University, share your thoughts, and contribute to our vision.

March was an incredibly busy month, filled with significant milestones. From celebrating the International Day of La Francophonie to supporting our learners through Match Day, we’ve seen resilience, dedication, and a deep commitment to health equity. It’s these moments that remind us of the strength of our community and our shared mission to provide equitable health care and education.

As we continue to build on the legacy of those who have come before us and shape a future that is inclusive, innovative, and focused on real-world solutions, I’m incredibly excited for what lies ahead. Together, we are creating a vision that not only serves the North but can also serve as a model for health care education across Canada.

Thank you for your continued commitment and engagement in this important journey. Your voice matters, your experiences matter, and together, we will create meaningful change.

Warm regards,

Dr. Michael Green
President, Vice-Chancellor, Dean, and CEO
NOSM University

If you have any feedback or comments, please reach out at president@nosm.ca and follow me on X (formerly Twitter) @DrMichaelGreen1.

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Join us as we Shape the Future of NOSM University

Over the coming months, these in-person gatherings will provide an opportunity for faculty, preceptors, staff, learners, partner organizations and community members to engage in meaningful discussions about our shared successes and challenges. Join us at a location near you.

SAULT STE. MARIE
April 15, 2025
4:30 p.m.
Marconi Multicultural Event Centre, Fogolar Lounge
450 Albert Street W.
 TIMMINS
April 28, 2025
4:30 p.m.
Best Western Premier Northwood Hotel
245-A Airport Road
RSVP		 NORTH BAY
May 13, 2025
4:30 p.m.
One Kids Place, Children’s Treatment Centre
400 McKeown Avenue
RSVP
THUNDER BAY
May 22, 2025
4:30 p.m.
NOSM University
955 Oliver Road, Medical University Building, Room 1011
RSVP		 SUDBURY
May 28, 2025
4:30 p.m.
NOSM University
935 Ramsey Lake Road, Medical University Building, Room 107
RSVP

Join us at the Society for Rural Physicians of Canada (SRPC) Reception

Please join us for a reception at the SRPC Conference in Winnipeg to connect and discuss the exciting developments happening at NOSM University.

April 24, 2025
5:00 p.m. – 7:00 p.m.
RBC Convention Centre
375 York Avenue
Winnipeg, MB
RSVP

 

 

Register for Northern Constellations & Connections & Northern Lights 2025

Join us for Northern Constellations & Connections 2025, Northern Ontario’s premier faculty and preceptor conference. Register for Northern Constellations & Connections 2025 and/or join us at the NOSM University Achievement Celebration where we honour this year’s award recipients. Visit the conference website to explore the full agenda!

 

 

Save the Date: Northern Health Research Conference

The 20th annual Northern Health Research Conference will be held from Monday, June 16 to Tuesday June 17, 2025, in Thunder Bay. The conference will be offered in a hybrid format, with the option to attend in-person or online. Registration is opening soon. Visit the NOSM University website for more information. Dr. Kristen Morin, an Assistant Professor at NOSM University, is the Keynote Speaker. Dr. Morin is an affiliated Researcher with the Health Sciences North Research Institute, and an ICES North Fellow. Her keynote address is titled ‘Respecting Lives, Enhancing Care: Addressing the Opioid Crisis with Compassion.’

Gallery, In the Spotlight

Training Future Public Health Physicians

When Dr. Lloyd Douglas considered a career in medicine, public health was not on his radar. After training as general practitioner at the University of the West Indies in Jamaica, he knew that he wanted to focus on something broader than individual patients.  

“The idea of population health and doing work to promote and protect health at the population level was quite appealing,” he says. Today, Dr. Douglas works as a Public Health Physician seconded from the Thunder Bay District Health Unit to the Sioux Lookout First Nations Health Authority.  

As a public health physician, he works with organizations and communities to develop a public health system for the Sioux Lookout area First Nations. Dr. Douglas provides public health education and contributes to health promotion, emergency preparedness, public health surveillance and more. A typical day may include work on all or none of the above.  

Having completed his residency in Public Health and Preventive Medicine (PHPM) at NOSM University in 2021, Dr. Douglas says the program prepared him for some of the realities of working as a public health professional serving First Nations communities and organizations. 

PHPM is a five-year residency program that includes “direct patient care, graduate studies, and training in population-level care at public health agencies,” says Dr. Emily Groot,  Program Director. Focusing on disease prevention and health promotion at the population level, PHPM specialists support equitable health outcomes for all members of society.  

In addition to technical expertise in public health, Dr. Douglas says that having soft skills and knowledge about building relationships are critical to the work of public health physicians. He is working with the program to incorporate more applied training opportunities for residents. “Residency should be a true apprenticeship,” says Dr. Douglas.   

He has first-hand experience of this through his work with First Nations and remote Northern communities. “It’s about understanding the complexities of the population that lives in two worlds and being an ally,” Dr. Douglas says. “Every resident at NOSM University should spend some time in the Far North. That’s the best way to learn.”    

PHPM residents train across Northern Ontario and outside the region to get a broad range of experiences. With just 10 residents, the small program provides a tight-knit learning community with two streams: a PHPM-Family Medicine stream in Sudbury and a PHPM stream in Sault Ste. Marie. This provides residents with a variety of experiences and learning opportunities.  

Dr. Lyall Pacey is a third-year PHPM resident currently based in Thunder Bay. He also serves as the chief resident for the PHPM program. “Part of why I chose NOSM University was the opportunity for clinical training,” he says.  

“I wanted to work where my clinical and public health training could converge and have some rural and remote perspectives. NOSM University gave me one of the best opportunities for that.” He has trained in Sioux Lookout, Moose Factory, James Bay and other remote and fly-in communities and describes these experiences as the best part of the program.  

“The training I’ve enjoyed the most has been our experiential learning experiences,” he added.” Touring mines, meeting occupational medicine physicians, and simulated emergency management training have provided invaluable learning.  

The NOSM U PHPM program also supports scholarly work in public health. Recently, NOSM University residents Dr. Oscar Pico Espinosa won the CAME Rising Star Certificate of Excellence award and Dr. Kasunka Kankanam Gamage received a 2024 NAPCRG Distinguished Trainee Research Award.   

PHPM is a dynamic and continually changing specialty as it involves working with multiple aspects of the medical profession. “You might provide direct patient care while also working on health policy. One day, you might be managing an outbreak, and the next you might work on a report summarizing health issues in your region. You interact with a broad range of other public health professionals like epidemiologists, public health nurses, public health inspectors, data analysts, health promoters, and policy analysts,” Dr. Groot says.  

Individuals with an interest in the specialty are encouraged to connect with Medical Officers of Health and other PHPM specialists. Actively seeking out insights and information from these professionals will provide valuable knowledge and a deeper understanding of the field. 

Dr. Douglas encourages people to be true to themselves overall. “Understand what type of medicine you want to practise. Understand the challenges that you are going to face, the type of life involved and see if it is a fit,” he suggests.  

Learn more about the PHPM program on the NOSM University website. 

Gallery, In the Spotlight

Expanding global impact: NOSM University professors advance medical education

In late 2024, Dr. Jack Haggarty, psychiatrist and NOSM University Professor, travelled to the University of Global Health Equity (UGHE) in Rwanda in his role as clinical supervisor and educator. This marked his second time supporting UGHE undergraduate clerkship rotation in psychiatry, reinforcing an evolving partnership between two institutions that share a commitment to health equity in underserved communities. Dr. Haggarty was among 10 international physicians providing two weeks of clinical supervision to UGHE medical students in Butaro, Rwanda.  

Founded in 2015, UGHE was created through a collaboration between Partners in Health and the Rwandan government, with a shared vision to advance health equity and medical education in rural communities. Its main campus is in Butaro, a mountainous region near the Uganda border, and its programs extend to other rural areas of Rwanda.  

Partners in Health founder Dr. Paul Farmer, a global health visionary, dedicated his life to building sustainable, high-functioning medical services and education in underserved regions including Haiti, Peru, Russia and Rwanda.  His principles of equity and access continue to shape UGHE’s work today. 

Dr. Haggarty sees UGHE as a ‘concept model’ similar to NOSM University, as both universities strive to improve health equity, medical access and education in rural communities. 

Developing Partnerships  

The partnership between NOSM University and UGHE began in 2021 with Dr. Emily Groot, Program Director, Public Health and Preventive Medicine at NOSM University. She was looking for opportunities for residents interested in global public health to gain a wider variety of experiences.  

“I was really interested in developing a partnership with an institution that is newer than NOSM University but has thought through a lot of the same challenges we face,” she says. “It provides an opportunity for us to learn from another institution that is embracing a similar social accountability mandate.”  

The partnership between NOSM University and UGHE was a natural fit—both universities serve rural communities and train health professionals to deliver equitable access to care in underserved areas.  

Dr. Haggarty sees parallels between the rural communities of Rwanda and those across Northern Ontario, such as Indigenous and Francophone populations, which similarly present opportunities to learn from low-resource settings.  

During his recent visit to Rwanda, Dr. Haggarty worked with local social workers, psychologists, and psychiatrists to train 36 UGHE medical students in core psychiatric skills such as mental status exams, pharmacology, and mood disorder treatment. He also supervised students during rotations at Rwanda’s only psychiatry hospital, which serves the country’s 13 million people. Following his initial visit in 2023, student interest in psychiatry grew significantly, leading to discussions about developing a postgraduate psychiatry program at UGHE. 

“One of the reasons I’ve been asked to continue to engage with UGHE is because the NOSM University experience has been so parallel,” he says.    

Dr. Tara Baron, pediatrician and Associate Dean of Continuing Education and Professional Development (CEPD), has also played a key role in fostering this relationship. She first visited UGHE in 2022, 2023, and again in January 2025 while bringing a medical resident with her. These experiences provide pediatric residents with invaluable exposure to healthcare systems outside North America, allowing them to develop teaching skills while adapting to different medical environments. 

“For the residents, this is an opportunity to understand medicine in a global context, work with minimal resources, and learn alongside talented UGHE students,” says Dr. Baron. “It’s an extraordinary opportunity for growth.”  

Dr. Baron also sees parallels between UGHE and NOSM University in terms of challenges and learning opportunities, including learning to provide care in limited resource environments and ensuring that there is space for medical students to have hands-on learning.    

Looking Forward 

UGHE main campus signThe physicians enjoyed their experience teaching and learning from UGHE and hope to deepen the partnership with NOSM University going forward.  

Dr. Haggarty is looking forward to continuing working with UGHE and the Boston-based Partners in Health to develop more programs. “It was a privilege to be invited. We’re looking forward to working on a postgraduate development plan for psychiatry,” he says.    

Dr. Baron, who has been at NOSM University since its inception, describes the experience of working with the UGHE students as “extraordinary” and is working to bring two UGHE pediatric residents to Northern Ontario for an elective.  

“They are bright, motivated students who are so keen to learn. It has also been a privilege to watch UGHE develop their own clinical teaching capacity over the past three visits, to the point that eventually visiting faculty will no longer be needed,” she says.   

“Our residents get the opportunity to go there, so we wanted to be able to be reciprocal and give their students the opportunity to come and see what pediatrics in Canada is like,” she says.  

In May 2024, UGHE professor Dr. Ursin Bayisenge presented at NOSM University’s annual faculty development conference, Northern Constellations and Connections. Faculty members who have engaged with UGHE believe that formalizing this partnership could bring lasting benefits to both universities. 

NOSM University