Dear colleagues,
Happy spring (finally!). I am pleased to share with you the early 2019 quarterly highlights from your faculty’s Executive Leadership Team (ELT).
ELT Highlights: Jan. – Mar. 2019
- Faculty Strategic Planning, Mission and Vision: Departmental chairs met with the ELT at a leadership retreat in February to further discuss our strategic directions. Incorporating your valuable feedback from our town halls and email consultations on the Action Plan and Task Force Report on International and Global Health, we are refining our strategic plan, which we will circulate in the coming weeks. As part of this process, the ELT and chairs felt it was timely to review the Faculty of Medicine’s mission and vision. Refreshed language for both vision and mission was discussed with our chairs and at Faculty Council, and will be included in the upcoming broad consultation.
- Staff Appreciation BBQ: To give thanks to all of the Faculty’s administrative, lab and grant-paid staff, the ELT will be hosting a BBQ lunch from noon to 1:30 p.m. on June 27. All staff are invited to join us on the terrace of RGN to recognize the key contributions of our staff to the continuous success of the Faculty on multiple fronts. An email has been sent requesting RSVPs.
- Pairing Program: As part of our ongoing efforts to foster interdisciplinary collaborations, over 50 medical students have been paired with basic scientists at the Faculty. We also had another good turnout at our winter Dean’s ‘Ask Me Anything’ Pub Night, which allowed for networking between all students, and with faculty members and leadership. A recurring event, another Pub Night is scheduled for today, April 25, at 5 p.m. at Dooly’s. The Faculty will be working to formalize a series of new initiatives to promote greater interactions and collaborations across all learner groups.
- EDG: Dr. Cathy Tsilfidis, director of the Office of Equity, Diversity and Gender Issues, presented the ELT with a draft strategic plan for their office. We recognize this as a priority area, and are committed to seeing progress both through Dr. Tsilfidis’s efforts at the FoM, and Dr. Steffany Bennett’s contributions to uO as special advisor to the president in this regard. Here, at the Faculty, the ELT has also furthered the profile of EDG by upgrading the director position to one of assistant dean.
- Wellness: Similar to EDG, wellness is a priority for the Faculty. As such, the ELT has also opted to upgrade the wellness director position to one of assistant dean (see Leadership Announcements below to learn who will lead this important file!).
- Internationalization and Global Health (IGH): Another priority you’ve heard about lately at the FoM is how we will move forward with our international and global health partnerships and initiatives. While this area will be featured as part of the strategic plan consultation, the ELT has approved the appointment of an interim director so that we do not lose any momentum in defining our IGH strategy and portfolio. Stay tuned for more details.
- FoM Research Day 2019: Learners at the FoM—mark your calendars! This half-day event will take place on September 25. More information to follow.
- Social Accountability: In an attempt to reduce barriers and provide all candidates with equal access opportunity, we have created two seats in our medical school program which will be reserved for students of low socioeconomic status. We see this as a first step to decreasing socioeconomic disparity in medical school admissions.
- Doors Open Ottawa and Discovery Day: The ELT is proud to strongly support the broader Faculty of Medicine in two exciting community outreach events this spring. On Friday, May 31, the Faculty will host its inaugural Canadian Medical Hall of Fame Discovery Day by welcoming local grade 11 students to explore a variety of career opportunities in medicine via a career panel, interactive workshops, and keynote presentations. Then, on Sunday, June 2, community members can visit RGN to learn about our innovative research and educational programs in our third consecutive year of Doors Open Ottawa. We would like to thank all those involved and invite you to take part in these exciting events!
- Budget: Following the 10% cut to tuitions, a new performance-based funding formula for universities was announced in the Ontario Government’s 2019 Budget. uOttawa is working closely with the Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities (MTCU) to better understand the proposed measures and their relation to our own budget and the next Strategic Mandate Agreements (SMAs). The ELT continues to advocate for Medicine at the University level.
- One-Time Funding Opportunity: Two projects that were denied uO Central strategic funding will see an injection of money at the Faculty level. Given their alignment with our priorities, the ELT voted to give one-time funding to the following initiatives:
1) uOExcelerator: The uOExcelerator initiative represents a unique and innovative world-class discovery and translational research platform that will employ innovative, cost-effective methods to overcome the daunting challenges associated with translating basic discoveries and innovations in health research into evidence-driven, clinically relevant therapeutics.
2) Competency-Based Education (CBE) Support Unit: The development of a CBE support unit, as an initial collaboration between the Faculty of Medicine, the Faculty of Health Sciences, and the TLSS, will lead to a) the creation of models and processes that are scalable and transferable to other programs/faculties; b) expertise in CBE that will be readily available across the university; and c) innovative performance/workplace-based assessment tools and approaches that can be adapted to other programs (such as co-op programs, graduate students in wet lab environments etc.).
- Leadership Announcements:
I am pleased to announce the following, all five-year terms:
- Dr. Ruth Slack, director, University of Ottawa Brain and Mind Research Institute (uOBMRI), beginning June 1, 2019.
- Dr. Manon Denis-LeBlanc, vice-dean, Francophone Affairs, beginning May 1, 2019 (subject to University approval)
- Dr. Elizabeth Muggah, assistant dean, Faculty Wellness Program, beginning April 1, 2019 (subject to University approval)
- Dr. Chris Kennedy, director of Awards and Prizes, Research Office, beginning January 1, 2019 (subject to University approval)
In addition, at the senior leadership level, the Faculty is recruiting two vice-deans (Research and Innovation, and Faculty Affairs) as well as four chairs (BMI, Family Medicine, Ophthalmology, and Radiology). In addition to the creation of the new/upgraded leadership positions mentioned above (assistant dean, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion; assistant dean, Faculty Wellness Program; and interim director, Internationalization and Global Health), a position of assistant dean of Graduate and Postgraduate Studies has also been approved.
Tell us what you think…
Do you have feedback to help improve your Faculty of Medicine? You can reach out to me and the Executive Leadership Team anytime by emailing us at [email protected] (or by calling ext. 8117).
Bernard Jasmin, PhD
Dean and Professor, Faculty of Medicine
University of Ottawa
