At the University of Ottawa’s Department of Family Medicine, improving primary health care for all Canadians is one of the main priorities.
With the creation of a new chair in family medicine research, uOttawa and its partners, the Institut du Savoir Montfort (ISM) and the Montfort Foundation, have given themselves the new tools they need to carry out their mission.
The Research Chair is the first of its kind in Ontario to focus on health care for Francophone minority populations. It will broadly seek to have a concrete impact in the lives of all Ontarians, but it will pay particular attention to Francophone communities.
“There is a disparity in terms of access to healthcare services for Ontario's Francophone community, and the creation of a bilingual chair like this one will support research on health services and help to reduce the inequities experienced by Franco-Ontarians," explained Dr. Clare Liddy, Interim Chair of the Department of Family Medicine at uOttawa. "We are very proud to increase our research capacity in this way and to contribute to improving health care delivery for the general population.”
It is not the first time the Montfort family and the University of Ottawa have joined forces, but it is a first partnership between the Department of Family Medicine and the Institut du Savoir Montfort.
“This new and unique collaboration was spearheaded by Dr. Dianne Delva, the past Chair of the Departement of Family Medicine, and our researchers are already helping to transform care for Canadians by working on rigorous and relevant research,” said Dr. Liddy. “I am thinking in particular of Dr. Barbara Farell's work in the area of deprescribing, Dr. Kevin Pottie's research on the best recommendations and guidelines for immigrants and refugees, and Dr. Claire Kendall's promotion of primary health care for people living with HIV. This new Chair will join a team of dynamic researchers and together, they will contribute to improving the health of the population.”
The Family Medicine Research Chair will receive considerable funding: $2 million over ten years, which will be equitably distributed. $1 million will come from the Institut du Savoir Montfort and the Montfort Foundation ($500,000 each), and $1 million from the Department of Family Medicine.
All partners involved will soon start their review process of the numerous submissions received from candidates before selecting a Chairholder.
With this new partnership, the Department of Family Medicine, the University of Ottawa and the Montfort family have once again demonstrated that they are meaningfully involved in improving the Canadian health care system and in research related to Francophone communities across Canada.
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