On October 10, 2012, the Northern Ontario School of Medicine (NOSM) will host its 4th NOSM Francophone Symposium as part of Rendez-Vous 2012, a major world conference being hosted by the School in Thunder Bay, Ontario. This one-day symposium convenes stakeholders and conference registrants with an interest in Francophone health. The deadline to register for this exciting opportunity is September 25, 2012.

Participants will examine current best practices and resulting impact of service, education, and research on the health status of Francophones in Northern Ontario and around the world.
Throughout this interactive day, conference participants will engage in group work, individual conversations, and small group discussions, including the opportunity to:

1. Discuss and identify elements and successful strategies to integrate community within the medical education framework in an effort to assist medical schools meet their social accountability mandate;

2. Identify mechanisms for the priorities of linguistic and cultural minorities being connected to a medical school’s social accountability;

3. Discuss and identify the elements of collaboration between Francophone community partners and medical schools in the provision of opportunities for service learning;

4. Discuss how culture and language impact a population’s health status; and,

5. Identify partnership strategies from a regional, national, and international perspective for integrating health-care services and delivery within the context of the Francophone global community.

The symposium will feature presentations from well-known medical educators and professionals such as Dr. Charles Boelen, Dr. André-Jacques Neusy, Dr. Paul Grand’Maison, Dr. Aurel Schofield, Andrée Robichaud, and France Jodoin. M. François Boileau, Ontario’s French Language Services Commissioner, will act as moderator.

The deadline to register is quickly approaching. For registrants who require accommodations while in Thunder Bay, please contact Lianne Baron, Administrative Assistant, Francophone Affairs Unit at lbaron@nosm.ca or by telephone at 807-766-7507 by September 25, 2012. Interested participants not requiring accommodations can register beyond September 25, 2012 by contacting the Francophone Affairs Unit at NOSM.

Participants should note that all presentations will be in French, with simultaneous interpretation to English available. Please contact the Francophone Affairs Unit at NOSM for further information about the Francophone Symposium’s program.

The Northern Ontario School of Medicine (NOSM) is pleased to announce the appointments of Dr. Douglas Boreham as Division Head of Medical Sciences and Dr. Elizabeth Levin as Division Head of Human Sciences, effective September 1, 2012.

Dr. Douglas Boreham comes to NOSM from McMaster University, where he is a Professor in the Department of Radiation and Applied Radiation Sciences. Originally from the Elliot Lake area, he holds an undergraduate degree from Laurentian University and has considerable experience running a large research laboratory. Boreham’s research interests lie in the effects of radiation on the human body, which he is highly published on the topic. He is also a principal scientist at Bruce Power where he oversees R&D programs related to university and industrial partnerships. Dr. Boreham has also been appointed as the Bruce Power Research Chair in Radiation and Health at NOSM.

Dr. Elizabeth Levin has held an appointment with NOSM for a number of years, and has taught several modules. She also holds a position as Associate Professor in the Department of Psychology at Laurentian University. Levin has considerable administrative experience having chaired the Department of Psychology at Laurentian on several occasions and will continue her role at Laurentian on a part-time basis. Her expertise is in child psychology and she has published widely in this area. She also has a small clinical practice in her discipline.

“Drs. Douglas Boreham and Elizabeth Levin are senior leaders who bring a richness of experience that perfectly complements NOSM’s vision of Innovative Education and Research for a Healthier North. It is with great pleasure that I welcome both Drs. Boreham and Levin to the Northern Ontario School of Medicine, and wish them much success in their new appointments,” said Dr. Roger Strasser, NOSM Dean.

Background Information about Medical Sciences at NOSM:

The Medical Sciences Division at NOSM is the organizational unit for teaching and research in the basic medical sciences. The faculty members act as discipline experts, give lectures and demonstrations, and facilitate small group sessions in the undergraduate medical education curriculum. On the research side, they supervise externally-funded research programs, involving M.Sc. and Ph.D. students and postdoctoral fellows, supported by the major funding agencies for research in Canada and elsewhere.

Background Information about Human Sciences at NOSM:

The Human Sciences Division at NOSM is the organizational unit for research and teaching in the human sciences. The Human Sciences seek to have a broad understanding of human health based on utilizing methods of reasoning and compassion. The Human Sciences faculty are experts in their disciplines, participate in lecturing, act as facilitators of small group sessions in the undergraduate medical curriculum, are available to supervise graduate students, and provide opportunities for applied community research placements in various locations and communities.

On September 5-7, 2012, the Northern Ontario School of Medicine (NOSM) welcomed 9 delegates from the China Medical Board Study to the School’s East Campus at Laurentian University in Sudbury, Ontario. Comprised of medical leaders from various medical universities in Western China, the delegation has come to learn about rural health in Canada and how NOSM collaborates with local communities and health services to recruit local students, provide education programs grounded in the Northern/rural context, and graduates health professionals with the skills and the desire to practice in rural and underserved areas.

“There are so many things we have learned since our arrival,” said Roman Xu, China Medical Board Office Director. “The curriculum and how it is delivered at the Northern Ontario School of Medicine is so vastly different to curriculums used at medical universities in China.”

Technology at the School was a particular highlight for the group. One example of the technology used is each class is connected by videoconferencing equipment. The lecture can be performed by a professor at either of the School’s campuses with students connected from sites across Northern Ontario. “The use of this technology would be of great benefit to the rural and remote areas we are trying to reach,” said Xu.

“What an exciting opportunity it is for us to showcase the Northern Ontario School of Medicine to leaders from medical Universities in rural China,” explained Dr. Roger Strasser. “Although there are differences between our School and the universities they represent, we have commonalities that link us and we can most certainly learn from each other.”

With many areas of rural China suffering from doctor shortages, the China Medical Board is touring one group of medical delegates through NOSM and another is visiting a medical program in Thailand. The NOSM delegation is touring the medical school at Laurentian and meeting with many of NOSM’s staff and faculty members, visiting Health Sciences North, and travelling to Parry Sound, one of NOSM’s host communities for the Comprehensive Community Clerkship (CCC).

The China Medical Board tour is in advance of an exciting joint world conference that will be hosted by NOSM on October 9-14, 2012, in Thunder Bay and across Northern Ontario. More than 800 delegates from around the world will converge in the North with visits to Sioux Lookout, Marathon, and Sudbury, and communities in between. This conference will bring together the Wonca World Rural Health Conference and The Network: Towards Unity for Health annual conference, as well as the NOSM/Flinders Conference on Community Engaged Medical Education, the Consortium for Longitudinal Integrated Curricula, and the Training for Health Equity Network.