NOSM Faculty Conduct Research to Improve Patient Care

Posted on December 17, 2013

On Thursday, November 28, 2013, faculty of the Northern Ontario School of Medicine (NOSM) presented their innovative research projects at a provincial showcase in Toronto. Titled “Innovation Fund Showcase 2013: From Innovation to Practice,” the showcase featured a selection of research projects being led by academic physicians committed to transforming healthcare delivery in Ontario. The conference was a joint initiative of the Ontario Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care, and the Ontario Medical Association.

The showcase highlighted projects that have been funded by the Innovation Fund – a pool of funding that was established to encourage physicians to develop new approaches to deliver better medical care in Ontario. Each year, $10 million is released to the 17 academic health science centres across the province. NOSM receives an allocation from this fund which is administered by the Northern Ontario Academic Medicine Association (NOAMA). Through NOAMA, NOSM’s physician clinical faculty from across Northern Ontario can apply for funding to pursue research that will improve patient care.

Through a very competitive process, physicians submit projects to be evaluated, and they are reviewed at the provincial level for this funding. Since 2005, NOSM’s physician clinical faculty have received nearly $2 million in funding to pursue research to improve medical care for patients in Northern Ontario.

Of all the projects funded across Ontario through the Innovation Fund in 2013, only a small group of projects are selected to showcase their work at the annual showcase. This year, three projects from NOSM faculty were selected to showcase their work at the provincial conference:

In the category of Novel Advances in Cancer Care Delivery, Dr. Dina El Demellawy, NOSM Assistant Professor in Pathology presented a poster titled “HER2/neu amplification testing in gastric cancer in Northern Ontario population.”
Dr. N. Jeeves, NOSM Assistant Professor based in Mindemoya, presented a poster on his project, “Impact of a Non-Traditional, Wilderness-Based Educational Platform/Model on Interprofessional Collaboration” under the category of Creative Patient-Centred Care.

Presenting their research project titled “Sachigo Lake Wilderness Emergency Response Education Initiative,” Assistant Professors in Family Medicine Drs. Aaron Orkin and David VanderBurgh presented in the category of Creative Patient-Centred Care.

“The portion of the Innovation Fund allocated to Northern Ontario School of Medicine faculty is specifically allocated to physician clinical faculty – doctors who not only have a very full patient case load, but who also accept NOSM learners,” explains Dr. Roger Strasser, NOSM Dean. “Their decision to undertake research to improve patient care in addition to their regular duties demonstrates how committed our faculty are to improving the health of Northern Ontarians. I express my sincere gratitude for the commitment, dedication, and innovation of these physicians.”