Nusha Ramsoondar, NOSM University medical student, receives the Canadian Medical Hall of Fame (CMHF) Award for 2022. The award recognizes medical students who have completed their second year of study and exemplify perseverance, collaboration and an entrepreneurial spirit. Recipients have an established track record of community leadership, superior communication skills and demonstrated interest in advancing knowledge.
“I am honoured and grateful to be chosen to receive this award,” says Ms. Ramsoondar. “I feel very privileged to be a medical student at NOSM University and even more so that I’m able to support my peers through my advocacy efforts. I am fortunate to be part of an environment where I can grow my leadership skills. My experience here reassures me that I’m in the right field of study.”

Ms. Ramsoondar is from North Bay and completed a Bachelor of Business Administration at Nipissing University, followed by a Master of Public Health at the University of Saskatchewan. Currently, she is involved in research focusing on improving social accountability standards across health-care institutions.

“Nusha is a strong advocate for equity and anti-racism in medicine and education,” says Dr. Sarita Verma, NOSM University’s President, Vice-Chancellor, Dean and CEO. “She has generously volunteered her time and energy to the University’s equity initiatives. As Student Council Vice President of Equity and Inclusion, Nusha has led various educational and advocacy initiatives focused on anti-racism, bias, microaggressions, and leadership development.”

Ms. Ramsoondar was part of the student-led team that organized the Dean’s Lecture Series in 2021 titled, Racism in Medicine—a timely conversation between physicians of colour and learners on the effects of racism towards physicians and learners of colour within the health-care system and medical education system.

Having recently begun her third-year Comprehensive Community Clerkship (CCC) in Timmins, Ontario, Ms. Ramsoondar says she works to harness her passion for equity, diversity, and inclusion—particularly within the health-care field. “I am reminded of Dr. Gigi Osler’s words during the Racism in Medicine event—words I try to remember as I continue to better my skills as a leader: “Why not me?” I, too, have the potential for breaking glass ceilings for the marginalized individuals entering medical education behind me.”

Recipients of the Canadian Medical Hall of Fame Award receive a cash prize of $5,000 and a travel subsidy to attend the Canadian Medical Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony in Halifax, Nova Scotia, where they will have the opportunity to meet CMHF Laureates and interact with health leaders from across the country

Pictured: Nusha Ramsoondar, NOSM University medical student

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NOSM University is Canada’s first independent medical university and one of the greatest education and physician workforce strategy success stories of Northern Ontario. More than just a medical university, it was purpose built to address the health needs of the region. While advocating for equitable access to care, the university contributes to the economic development of Northern Ontario. NOSM University relies on the commitment and expertise of the peoples of Northern Ontario to educate health-care professionals to practise in Indigenous, Francophone, rural, remote and underserved communities. With a focus on diversity, inclusion and advocacy, NOSM University is an award-winning, socially accountable organization renowned for its innovative model of distributed, community-engaged education and research.

For further information, please contact: communication@nosm.ca

Addressing the Gaps, Community Stories, Gallery, In the Spotlight

Marathon doctor advises medical students to keep open mind about rural practice

Tuesday August 23rd, 2022 Alexandra Poling

Had she taken another path, Dr. Lily DeMiglio would probably be practising medicine in her hometown of Sault Ste. Marie. That’s what she first thought she’d do after graduating from NOSM University’s MD and family medicine residency programs. Little did she know that a community about 400km north of the Soo on the North Shore of mighty Lake Superior would win her heart.

Dr. DeMilgio says she always found Marathon to be very charming, but more than that, she fell in love with the broad scope of work she could practise as a rural generalist: from inpatient care to the emergency room, to work in the clinic and with First Nations communities. Dr. DeMiglio says she likes the flexibility of her schedule. “I have time for teaching and committee work. I’m not doing the same thing every day.

“I really like my lifestyle in Marathon.”

To adapt to the needs of her patients and the community, Dr. DeMiglio expands her skill set regularly—she is now a coroner, for example—and she recommends that others who practise as rural generalists embrace the opportunity to continue to learn.

“You’re not going to know everything. Over time, you do get that experience and when you don’t know, you can always phone a friend.”

That “phone a friend” mentality has shored Dr. DeMiglio up along the way, helping her to build personal resilience—and solve problems for patients.

“Medicine is so collegial. For me, a huge part of helping to sustain myself is reaching out to my medical school colleagues.”

“Your team is your physician colleagues,” she continues, “and your nursing colleagues. It’s everyone: the custodial staff, the administrative staff. In a rural community, you really need to draw on all hands.”

Rural practice does come with some very real challenges, she acknowledges, and sometimes rural physicians in the North are at the mercy of things very much outside of their control.

“I think about our geography,” she says. “I have had the worst luck with patients needing urgent care in a larger centre when the highway is closed and Ornge [Ontario’s air ambulance] isn’t flying.”

“Even though I have a broad scope of practise,” she continues, “at the end of the day, that patient needs a higher level of care. That can be hard to deal with. Looking back, you overcome those challenges by drawing on your team, and by doing the best that you can.”

No matter the drawbacks—and the fact that she can’t control the weather—Dr. DeMiglio says the rural North is the place for her.

“My greatest joy is the continuity of care that I have with my patients,” she says. “Following families, and following patients through their lifecourse. I value relationships, so it brings me a lot of joy.”

Dr. DeMiglio revels in helping aspiring medical learners on their paths. She recently won the NOSM University learner-nominated Teacher of the Year award. “Whenever I have students, it reinvigorates my passion for medicine.”

She offers learners these insights about the qualities of a good medical learner: “Be curious, be honest, be a good listener, and take every opportunity you can to get more clinical experience. Keep an open mind and know that you’re going to make mistakes. You don’t have to be perfect.”

As for her, Dr. DeMiglio says she finds purpose in being able to respond to a real need, and provide medical care to people in an underserved community.

“I feel grateful for having trained in the North,” she says. “I feel this need to give back.”

This NOSM University Campfire Chat was made possible by the generous sponsorship of Weaver Simmons.

Addressing the Gaps, Community Stories, In the Spotlight

‘All in:’ meet Dr. Akila Whiley, family doc who charted her own map and made Red Lake home

Gallery Tuesday August 23rd, 2022 Alexandra Poling

“It was minus-40 and it was January,” recalls Dr. Akila Whiley, recounting her arrival in the small community of Red Lake, some 500 km northwest of Thunder Bay. “It was a dark night,” she remembers. “I had no clue where I was. The person who cleans the runway drove me home… I didn’t have my luggage.”

“It was just crazy!”

Dr. Whiley was born and raised in Halifax. Following an undergraduate degree at McGill University in Montreal, she went back to Halifax to attend Dalhousie’s medical school. She then earned a spot at the University of Toronto and was working through a family medicine residency. She says that because her experience to that point had been in large urban settings, the emphasis seemed to be on specializations—anything but rural generalism and family medicine.

“That really wasn’t what I wanted,” she says about weighing her options for the final year of her residency. “And so I truthfully mapped out all of the places I could go… and I picked the furthest place on the map.”

That place was Red Lake, and in the early days of her residency there, Dr. Whiley says, “it took a lot of bravery. It was really scary.” But she must have put on a courageous face, because she made a very good impression. On her final day, a local doctor asked her to come back to Red Lake to practise.

“I hadn’t thought about it,” she recalls. “I got on the flight and I left. And then I had just a really sinking feeling that I’d never come back. And so that was my sign.”

“I wrote him back a week later and said, you know… I’m gonna be all in.”

Four months later, Dr. Whiley was back on a plane to Red Lake.

“You just do it,” she says of establishing her practice. “I think you know in the moment. I knew that going to Red Lake was what I wanted, but in hindsight, you have to be brave.”

Dr. Whiley recalls in her first year in the community, despite perhaps experiencing a little bit of “imposter syndrome,” she knew she had the training to be a good rural generalist and family physician. She also knew she wasn’t alone. “In communities like ours, I always felt like there was somebody there that would help me if I needed it.”

And need help she would. In her first three weeks of practise, Red Lake’s hospital had to be completely evacuated due to encroaching forest fires.

There’s a number of things you can prepare for,” Dr. Whiley says of that surreal experience. “And then there are those that require the courage to step up to, with the leadership skills, commitment to community, and trusted resources you have as a clinician.”

Every single patient was evacuated safely, and Dr. Whiley now reflects on how that frightening event galvanized the community even more.

“It was just this remarkable group effort. There’s so many people I see and I’m reminded of our sense of connection because we went through that experience together.”

She says people in Red Lake have been so supportive and appreciative of her efforts in the community.

“I just feel so welcomed, and I feel really validated in the work that I do,” she says.

“You know, there’s just something so special about serving in a community that is small and unique and tight. It’s difficult to describe the feeling. You really do care for people at all stages in their life. I have found so much fulfillment.”

This NOSM University Campfire Chat was made possible by the generous sponsorship of Weaver Simmons.