Dear colleagues,
In follow-up to our annual Progress Report, please find below some key mid-year updates from your Faculty of Medicine (FoM) Executive Leadership Team (ELT).
ELT Highlights: January – May 2023
CiMED: As its Interim Director, Dr. Jason Frank presented a vision for the Centre for Innovation in Medical Education (CiMED) based on feedback received through multiple consultations. The Centre will give medical education a higher profile, and work to improve teacher engagement, promotion, scholarship and innovation. The ELT approved the development strategy and are very supportive of implementation. This discussion relates to others at ELT about the important roles of clinician teachers for the excellence of our programs, and the potential implications on engagement, recruitment and retention.
Medical Education Task Force: Under the leadership of Dr. Melissa Forgie, Senior Vice Dean, Medical Education, using a solutions and appreciative approach, this task force will focus on identifying opportunities, trends and challenges in medical education and addressing them systematically and comprehensively through innovation and engagement of internal and external stakeholders. More to come soon on that front.
Engagement: Dr. Erika Bariciak, Chair of the Faculty Experience Team (FET), presented the numerous successes of FET, including the creation of a recognition strategy, the identification of data-driven faculty engagement priorities such as annual reviews and awards, and the prioritization of engagement by ELT in the faculty’s strategic plan. To best evolve this work, the ELT supported Dr. Bariciak’s recommendations to sunset the FET and continue engagement and recognition efforts through existing and emerging faculty channels.
AMRC: This spring Dr. Jocelyn Côté, Vice Dean of Research, worked with uOttawa to host a town hall on the Advanced Medical Research Centre (AMRC). The session offered important updates on progress of the project, the largest single investment in the history of the university. The AMRC, among other topics, also came up at the subsequent President’s Town Hall at Roger Guindon. President Frémont and uOttawa leadership members Jill Scott, Jacline Nyman, Annick Bergeron, Sanni Yaya and Sylvain Charbonneau fielded numerous questions on budget/revenues, grad student funding, AI, university structure, infrastructure, bilingualism and more, and you can see a recording of the town hall here.
OAHN: A new Affiliation Agreement has been drafted to anchor the emerging Ottawa Academic Health Network, comprised of uOttawa (Faculties of Medicine and Health Sciences) and partnering hospitals and research institutes. We expect ratification of this new agreement to take place in coming weeks. Formal creation of this network will be transformative for the region and will place Ottawa as a nationally and internationally recognized leader in health education, health research, health innovation and healthcare.
Faculty Member Awards of Excellence: Dr. Chris Kennedy, Director of Awards and Prizes, reviewed the 2022 competition, which represented nominations from 12 departments, and proposed some changes to this year’s offerings, which were approved with minor feedback. To better reflect the breadth of award offerings beyond education and research, the overseeing committee will now be called “FoM Faculty Member Awards Committee”. Faculty Member Awards of Excellence will be presented at the FoM Awards and Recognition Gala (see below).
FoM Awards and Recognition Gala: ELT approved the venue and date for this year’s Gala, which will take place on November 18, 2023, in the Grand Hall of the Canadian Museum of History. Tables will be sold at various price points for students, staff and faculty.
New Graduate Program: The Faculty Council and the University's Council on Graduate Studies have approved a Letter of Intent for the establishment of a new graduate program in clinical and translational medicine (CTM). This competency-based program will offer both MSc and PhD degrees, providing students with a comprehensive framework to develop essential research skills and behaviors. The innovative nature of this competency-based graduate program aims to foster the acquisition of foundational research skills that are crucial for scientific inquiry, and to equip students with specialized expertise tailored to the dynamic intersection of biomedical research and clinical investigation. By bridging the gap between basic science and real-world applications, this program will empower graduates to contribute meaningfully to the advancement of medical knowledge.
Junior Clinical Chairs Extension: Originally slated for three years, ELT approved funding for a two-year merit-based extension for Junior Chairholders. This will allow these early-career clinician scientists to maintain their research momentum, as well as bring their terms in line with the other program categories (Distinguished, Tier 1 and Tier 2) set to end in June 2025. The competitive uOttawa Faculty of Medicine Clinical Research Chairs Program was created to improve patient outcomes through supporting excellence in clinical research. The Faculty is currently devoting considerable efforts with the clear goal of maintaining and perhaps even expanding once again this flagship program beyond 2025.
FAARE Taskforce: Drs. Alison Krentel and Fawad Akbari, Co-chairs of the taskforce on Fairness and Antiracism to Enhance Academic Research, Partnerships and Education in Global Health (FAARE), gave an overview of their group’s final report, which outlines ways to improve fairness and antiracism in education, research and partnerships in global health. Aligned with the Faculty’s Strategic Plan, it was proposed to share the report’s findings and implement the recommendations. The Dean suggested that this get presented to the FoM’s Research Committee (FMRC).
Affaires francophones: Dr. Michelle Anawati, Interim Vice Dean, Affaires francophones, presented ELT with her priority plans over the coming months under the Faculty’s five strategic areas (Francophonie, education, research, internalization and global health, and engagement). She also spoke about the following opportunities:
- Partnership with CNFS: Dr. Anawati was happy to announce to ELT that funding received from Patrimoine Canada via Health Canada for le Consortium national de formation en santé (CNFS) has been renewed for an additional 5 years. In collaboration with CNFS uOttawa, the funding supports eight French medical students per year, as well as programs aimed at training affiliated faculty throughout Canada, staff support, equipment, recruitment and research. Going forward she would like to explore the ability to finance specific projects supporting initiatives aimed at la Francophonie in minority settings.
- Partnership with Montfort: She also proposed that the FoM lead the organization of the currently named “les Journées Montfort”. This national francophone interdisciplinary health care conference, the largest outside of Quebec, would give the Faculty an opportunity to further engage our members in an interprofessional setting.
Enhancement Year Program: ELT approved of the creation of this new one-year program aimed to support international trainees in 1) developing academic skills, and 2) identifying their residency career paths through activities such as clinical research training preparation and observerships, MCCQE and residency interview preparation, and community service placement. The program will be financed by the government of Abu Dhabi, with a pilot of 7 students from Khalifa University. Dr. Chuck Su will serve as Interim Director for the program.
SJTUSM: This summer, the Faculty of Medicine will be hosting 36 students from Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine (SJTUSM) for the first in-person program since 2019. This pre-medicine summer program offers students the chance to fulfill their humanities course requirement for the SJTUSM-uOttawa UGME program and gives them the opportunity to improve their English through an ESL for medicine course. The program is part of a longstanding partnership between uOttawa and SJTUSM, for which a new 5-year agreement was signed in July 2022, including educational and medical research collaborations, and annual services and fees for program consulting, admissions and summer school.
Library and Open Access: Talia Chung, uOttawa’s Librarian and Vice-Provost, was invited to hear our concerns about recent changes to the shared support program for Open Access publishing. This is of concern for medical education researchers who already have limited dissemination avenues, as well as for clinical research. While the Library offers training on best practices for open access publishing and other supports, Ms. Chung committed to evaluating the impacts of the changes. She will also have a follow-up meeting with basic and clinical researchers.
Get in touch…
ELT wants to hear from you. Reach out anytime by emailing [email protected] (or by calling ext. 8117).
Bernard Jasmin, PhD
Dean and Professor, Faculty of Medicine
University of Ottawa
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