NOSM Associate Dean, Community Engagement Dr. David Marsh Reappointed for Second Five-Year Term

Dr. David Marsh to Assume Deputy Dean and Dr. Catherine Cervin to Assume
Senior Associate Dean, Laurentian University Roles

The Northern Ontario School of Medicine (NOSM) is pleased to announce the reappointment of Dr. David Marsh as NOSM’s Associate Dean of Community Engagement for a second five-year term, effective July 1, 2015. In addition, Dr. Marsh will take up the new role of Deputy Dean, effective January 1, 2015.

Community Engagement at NOSM is a mechanism to deliver on the School’s social accountability mandate by ensuring all NOSM’s activities are conducted in active partnership with the communities the School serves. Dr. Marsh’s Aboriginal ancestry, coupled with a firsthand engagement with distinct populations and his strong clinical experience ideally position him to respond to the needs of Northern Ontario’s diverse cultural groups.

In his role as Deputy Dean, Dr. Marsh will be responsible for leading whole-school academic program developments by enabling, facilitating, and coordinating cross-portfolio collaborative initiatives which are consistent with the NOSM Strategic Plan and determined by the Executive Group. The Deputy Dean may assume the Dean’s responsibilities during the Dean’s absence.

In addition, Dr. Catherine Cervin, NOSM’s Associate Dean of Postgraduate Education (PGE) will assume the role of Senior Associate Dean at NOSM at Laurentian University as of January 1, 2015. Dr. Cervin has been successfully leading NOSM’s residency training programs since 2011, and has continued to fortify NOSM’s reputation as a leader in residency training to meet the needs of Northern Ontario. In May 2014, NOSM underwent its first full accreditation review for Postgraduate Education. The success of this review is a credit to the Postgraduate team under Dr. Cervin’s leadership.

“It is with great excitement that I congratulate both Dr. Marsh on his renewal and expanded role as Deputy Dean, as well as Dr. Cervin on her broadened role as Senior Associate Dean,” says Dr. Roger Strasser, NOSM Dean. “The range of skills, breadth of experience, and level of commitment to distributed community-engaged learning and health research demonstrated by both of these individuals has undoubtedly contributed to the high calibre of learning experiences at the School.”

About Dr. David Marsh

Dr. Marsh graduated in Medicine from Memorial University of Newfoundland in 1992, following prior training in neuroscience and pharmacology. In July 2010, Dr. Marsh joined the Northern Ontario School of Medicine as Associate Dean, Community Engagement. He brings skills and experience with health-care administration, strategic planning, community-based research and social accountability as well as a personal background of Aboriginal ancestry to this role. Prior to moving to NOSM, David served as the Physician Leader, Addiction Medicine with Vancouver Coastal Health and Providence Health Care and Clinical Associate Professor in the School of Population and Public Health, Faculty of Medicine at the University of British Columbia from 2004-2010. Previously, he held leadership roles at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health in Toronto from 1996-2003. Author of over 70 peer-reviewed papers, book chapters and government reports, Dr. Marsh’s research interests focus primarily on addiction medicine, methadone maintenance, heroin-assisted treatment, and harm reduction interventions such as supervised injection. He continues to be actively engaged in the development of research and supervision of graduate students at NOSM having received over $300,000 in research funding in the past three years for studies on Opioid Agonist Treatment in partnership with the Institutes of Clinical and Evaluative Sciences (ICES). In 2004, Dr. Marsh received the Nyswander-Dole Award from the American Association for the Treatment of Opioid Dependence in recognition of his contribution to this field. In addition, Dr. Marsh received the 2013 Physician Achievement Award from the Ontario Medical Association (OMA) Section on Addiction Medicine.

About Dr. Catherine Cervin

Dr. Catherine (Cathy) Cervin grew up in southern Ontario, went to medical school at the University of Toronto, finished her family medicine residency at Dalhousie and then practised full-scope family medicine in Northern Ontario (Timmins and Sault Ste. Marie) for seven years before embarking on an academic career in the Department of Family Medicine at Dalhousie. While at Dalhousie, Dr. Cervin took on a number of leadership roles. She became Hospital Chief of the Department of Family Medicine at the Grace Maternity Hospital (now the IWK Women and Children’s Health Centre), she was Residency Program Director for Family Medicine for ten years, and was the Interim Department Head of Dalhousie Family Medicine. As befits a generalist, her professional interests are wide ranging and include social accountability, educating for comprehensive primary care, curriculum development, learning portfolios, communication skills and cultural competency. Her clinical interests include primary maternity care, the patient-centred approach, and chronic disease care.

Recognized by her peers and colleagues, Dr. Cervin received a Certificate of Merit from the Canadian Association of Medical Education in 2009 and also received an Award of Excellence from the College of Family Physicians in 2010. That same year, she completed her Masters of Medical Education. Dr. Cervin was also recently appointed as a new Director on the Board of the Canadian Resident Matching Service (CaRMS). Dr. Cervin also holds leadership roles at the College of Family Physicians of Canada as Chair of the Board of Examiners and Vice Chair of the Research and Education Foundation.