Dear colleagues,
I hope you are enjoying the summer and will take the opportunity to have a break that brings you back relaxed and rejuvenated. Below please find the latest quarterly highlights from your Executive Leadership Team (ELT).
ELT Highlights: April – June 2018
Strategic Action Group: In the winter we sought your feedback on the FoM’s Status Report and Identifying Strategic Directions. Pursuant to that, we asked you to share your views in person at one of three town halls in May. Because the input we received was so rich, we have struck a Strategic Action Group that has met several times to develop an action plan reflecting our collective strategic directions. This will be shared with all internal stakeholders for comment.
Leadership announcements: I am pleased to announce the following four reappointments:
- Dr. Lorne Wiesenfeld as vice-dean of Postgraduate Medical Education (PGME) for a second five-year term effective July 1, 2018.
- Dr. Alain Stintzi as vice-dean of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies for a second five-year term effective September 1, 2018.
- Dr. Mark Walker as chair of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the uOttawa Faculty of Medicine, and as head of the Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Newborn Care at TOH, for a second five-year term effective July 1, 2018.
- Dr. Sudhir Sundaresan as the Wilbert J. Keon Professor and chair of the Department of Surgery at the uOttawa Faculty of Medicine, and chief, of the Department of Surgery at TOH, for a second five-year term effective July 1, 2018.
FET Champions: The ELT approved the expansion of the Faculty Experience Team (FET), allowing for a FET Champion in each of our 16 departments. These volunteer faculty members will be an important resource enabling all faculty to learn about, and give feedback on, various FoM initiatives. Look for them on your departmental meeting agendas!
FMEC: The inaugural Faculty of Medicine Education Committee (FMEC) meeting was held this March. This was the first time that educational leads from all of our basic science and clinical departments, as well as trainees from all our Faculty programs, met with the goal of advancing education at the Faculty through collaboration and sharing best practices. The next meeting will be held in the fall. We are looking forward to this next meeting with great enthusiasm.
Risk management position for residents: The Faculty of Medicine’s Postgraduate Medical Education (PGME) office is pleased to welcome Ms. Sarah Chung from uOttawa’s Office of Risk Management. Ms. Chung, a registered nurse, will oversee many critical steps in ensuring our new and returning residents are safely able to practice and train in all of our clinical settings.
Salary for clinical fellows: PGME clinical fellows are post-residency physicians undergoing specialized training in a fellowship that may or may not be accredited by the RCPSC or CFPC. Clinical Fellows are not residents and as such, do not follow the PARO-CAHO contract. In order to assure that they have a living wage, the ELT supports uOttawa PGME full-time clinical fellows having the opportunity to earn a minimum of $60,000/year for fellowship training. This will be sent for approval by uO’s Executive Committee of the Senate this fall.
Competence by Design: Competence-based medical education is an outcomes-based approach to enhance patient care by identifying the abilities required of physicians and then designing the curriculum to support the achievement and assessment of these predefined competencies. At uOttawa we are well on the way to implementing Competence by Design education in our Faculty. PGME will be using Elentra (formerly known as Entrada) to track Entrustable Professional Activities (EPAs) and milestones. We are expecting to roll it out to programs this July.
CFI planning meeting: On June 5th we held a large multi-stakeholder Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI) planning meeting for all relevant research leaders, including those from other Faculties. Engagement was high and we achieved an unprecedented level of partnership toward the development of CFI Innovation Fund proposals at the faculty level. We were able to synergize proposals across faculties before submission to the VP Research Office for July 30th, and our progress is evidenced by the fact that other faculties have since adopted the same process.
Interactions with Industry Policy: Based on feedback from faculty members and other stakeholders, uOttawa's Interactions with Industry Policy 99 was recently revised and approved by Faculty Council. Changes included providing updated terms, clarity around researchers collaborating with industry and a section on how Faculty members can participate in industry-funded training. We are now working with the research institutes to align our disclosure policies. The updated document will be shared with faculty members once it is approved by the Administrative Committee in the fall.
BAF office name change: Le Bureau des affaires francophones / BAF (Office of Francophone Affairs) will now be referred to as "Affaires Francophones / Francophone Affairs". This change is meant to highlight the pervasive and growing nature of their work throughout the Faculty.
Café français: On June 20th Francophone Affairs launched its first Leadership French Café. Introduced at the suggestion of the clinical chairs, this informal event encourages our leaders to practice their French in a relaxed atmosphere. Starting in August, the French Café will occur monthly.
CTPC: The Clinical Teaching Personnel Committee, which reviews promotions and other academic files, has a revised terms of reference and expanded membership, allowing for greater representation of the following areas: quality improvement and patient safety; education scholarship; basic science; and diversity (gender and bilingualism). This was approved at the May 29th Faculty Council meeting.
Budget: Thanks to a very collaborative environment, the FoM has created a balanced budget plan for the current 2018-19 fiscal year. This has freed us up to contemplate revenue generation opportunities, and several options will be explored and acted upon this fall. In a similar vein, upcoming strategic realignment of our current resources will support such revenue opportunities, with one example being an enhancement of our advancement efforts to attract ever greater support of our academic missions.
Strategic portfolio review: As part of the budgetary and strategic directions process, the ELT continued to review Vice-Dean portfolios.
MedExtra: At the end of June the FoM released its inaugural MedExtra report aimed at alumni, donors, and other friends of the Faculty. The ELT hopes you enjoy the read!
We’re Listening…
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
Interim Dean, Faculty of Medicine
University of Ottawa
