In the Spotlight
Portraits honour the stories of Indigenous MD graduates
At NOSM University’s inaugural convocation ceremony on May 26, 2023, Dr. Ryan McConnell was one of two physicians presented with a striking portrait by Anishinaabe and Kanienkehaka artist, Elliott Doxtater-Wynn, a member of Bay of Quinte Mohawk who grew up in Six Nations of the Grand River. The portraits are large—four feet by three feet—and incorporate imagery from the graduates’ personal stories. The artworks were part of the CIBC Indigenous Learner Leadership Award, which provided each learner with $20,000 and a professional development budget and supported them with networking resources during their fourth year of MD studies...
Read about portraits honouring the stories of Indigenous MD graduates
Two Northern Ontario communities share successes with recruitment
Sault Ste. Marie and Sioux Lookout are great places to work—and the word is getting out Dr. Mara Boyle didn’t originally think that her career would lead her to family medicine—or to Sioux Lookout. Plans changed when her third year of NOSM University’s MD program brought her to the small town, four hours north of her hometown of Thunder Bay. “I didn’t really want to be a family physician when I arrived in Sioux Lookout in my third year. I thought that I was going to become a specialist,” Dr. Boyle explains. “One of the aspects of working in Sioux Lookout is that you practise a broad scope of family medicine. I found it...
Read about two Northern Ontario communities successes with recruitment.
Meet “Nsidwaamjigan,” ceremonial object created to open NOSM University convocations
On May 26, 2023, hundreds of people stood respectfully in silence, listening to the powerful sounds of Indigenous singing and drumming, waiting for the graduates to appear. Then, as the formal convocation procession began, a carved eagle’s head club emerged, leading the way. The carefully-hewn head is the end of Nsidwaamjigan, the beautiful new ceremonial object that will now open all of NOSM University’s convocation ceremonies. Created by Algonquin artist Bradly (Dreamwalker) MacDonald, a Waskabe (Helper) based in North Bay, Nsidwaamjigan means “it recognizes achievements” in Anishnawbemowin, and the baton-like object was named...
Meet “Nsidwaamjigan.”