Read the latest Faculty update directly from the Executive Leadership Team.
Dear colleagues,
I hope you are reading this having just come back from, or soon heading off for, a relaxing summer vacation break. Please take a minute to get caught up on the latest quarterly highlights from your faculty’s Executive Leadership Team (ELT).
ELT Highlights: April – June 2019
- Faculty Strategic Planning, Mission and Vision: Following many months of consultation with all of our internal stakeholders, the ELT is poised to release its new strategic plan early in the fall. As part of this process, ELT worked with department chairs to update the Faculty of Medicine’s mission and vision. We look forward to circulating these soon for your input.
- Staff Appreciation BBQ: To give thanks to all of our faculty’s administrative, lab and grant-paid staff, ELT hosted a BBQ lunch to kick off the summer. The event was a huge success, boasting delicious mains, a great turnout, and perfect weather (very conducive to the ice cream station!). Here are some photos to enjoy.
- Recognition Strategy: The Faculty Experience Team (FET) has identified a need to enhance and formalize recognition of our faculty members, and the ELT believes this is something that is important to develop for staff and learners as well. The ELT and chairs are in favour of following a model based on Recognition Professionals International, and work has begun to identify our current practices. Stay tuned for more updates as this process unfolds.
- FoM Research Day 2019: On September 25, FoM students will be treated to a multi-disciplinary event focusing on increasing interaction between all groups of learners, a priority goal for the ELT. This is an excellent opportunity for all students and trainees to showcase their outstanding research, hone their presentation skills, and network with colleagues and faculty.
- Gala and Homecoming 2019: Planning is well underway for two of the Faculty’s key events, and the ELT is looking forward to celebrating our excellence with you. You don’t have to be an alumni to register for the October 5thgala (special rates for staff and learners), or events associated with that whole Homecoming weekend.
- FoM Awards of Excellence: To complement our existing awards for students, the ELT has approved the creation of 11 awards aimed at recognizing our members’ outstanding achievements in research, education and service. The awards, which include one for staff, will be bestowed at this year’s gala.
- Accreditation: The ELT heard from our new senior accreditation advisor, Tammy Bélanger, on how she plans to facilitate standardization and the leveraging of best practices for accreditation cycles across all programs in the Faculty.
- Communicating Our Successes: The ELT heard from Monika MacLaren, senior manager, Marketing, Communications and Engagement, on how the promotion of FoM Faculty news and educational and research achievements have been getting traction. MarCom has evolved MedPoint web news and e-newsletter, to substantial positive impact. Your interest is evident by a doubling of page views last year, and with over 37,700 views so far in 2019 on news stories alone, we have nearly doubled our views from 2018. We have seen increased traffic due to much higher levels of promotion in uO’s Gazette and with the media. Our newer communications initiatives, uOMedTalks (what you are reading!), and MedExtra (e-newsletter for alumni and donors), allow us to keep our key internal and external audiences connected to our priorities.
- Joint Convocation: Frank Battaglia, president of the Aesculapian Society, joined the ELT to discuss the topic of merging MD Program convocation with that of graduate students. Discussions are ongoing on how to increase interactions and collaborations across our varied groups of learners in the Faculty. In particular, Mr. Battaglia and his peers from other programs in the Faculty will help to identify specific initiatives to further the interaction between medical and graduate students in that lead-up.
- Creation of a Centre for Indigenous Health Research and Education: As part of the feedback the ELT received during the consultation process on our strategic directions, the concept of creating a Centre for Indigenous Health Research and Education received a substantial amount of support and very positive feedback. Based on this, the ELT proposed to various committees at the Faculty the formalization of such an important initiative. Since then, several meetings have taken place with key stakeholders including Senator Yvonne Boyer and representatives from uO, Drs. Brenda Macdougall (associate professor and holder of the chair in Métis Research) and Sylvain Charbonneau (vice-president, research). All are very enthusiastic about this new direction the Faculty is pursuing. More to come!
- Social Accountability: In the last issue, we updated you on how two seats in our medical school program have been created for students of low socioeconomic status. In phase II of our Low Socio-Economic Status (LSES) program, we will also be providing full tuition bursaries and mentorship for LSES students who wish to pursue pre-medicine studies. Our commitment to social accountability at large was further enhanced by the ELT’s approval of the creation of a new Faculty-wide role: assistant dean, Social Accountability.
- IGHO/BISM: The FoM’s former Office of Internationalization has received ELT approval to now be called the International Global Health Office (IGHO), Bureau de l’internationalisation et de la santé mondiale (BISM) in French.
- Wellness Staffing: Given the importance that the ELT places on improved wellness, and to support the new assistant dean of Wellness, we have approved the addition of a 1.0 FTE certified counselor and a 0.5 FTE psychologist.
- Leadership Announcements:
Since our last uOMedTalks, I am pleased to announce the following:
- Dr. Kristin Baetz, interim assistant dean, Research and Special Projects, for a term effective June 1, 2019 to May 31, 2020
- Dr. Francis Bakewell, director, Medicine, Ethics and Humanities Program, beginning July 1, 2019
- Dr. Anna Byszewski, director, Professionalism, beginning July 1, 2019
- Dr. Santanu Chakraborty, interim chair, Department of Radiology, for a term effective May 13 to December 31, 2019
- Dr. Alan Chaput, renewed for second term as assistant dean, Postgraduate Medical Education (PGME), beginning July 1, 2019 (subject to University approval)
- Dr. Jocelyn Côté, vice-dean, Research and Innovation, beginning June 1, 2019
- Dr. Clare Liddy, interim chair, Department of Family Medicine, beginning July 1, 2019
- Dr. Catherine Tsilfidis, assistant dean, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion, for a term effective June 1, 2019 to June 30, 2021
- Dr. Sharon Whiting, vice-dean, Faculty Affairs, beginning May 1, 2019
- Dr. Nadine Wiper-Bergeron, interim assistant dean, Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies, for a term effective July 1, 2019 to June 30, 2020 (subject to University approval)
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
