Accreditation, awards and appreciation

Those who have thought about buying or selling real estate will be familiar with the three most important elements in these sales: Location, Location and Location.

Similarly, anyone who is connected with Schulich Medicine’s Undergraduate Medical Education program is aware that we are currently focused on three critical areas: Accreditation, Accreditation and Accreditation.

It is hard to believe that at long last, our formal accreditation site visit will soon be upon us (April 12-15, 2015).

Many individuals have been involved with getting our School ready for this important visit. Of course, all deserve to take a bow, but I am in awe of a few in particular: Dr. Shannon Venance has always managed to keep us smiling as we move toward this milestone. She has been ably assisted by Matt Wannan in London and Nicole Sbrocca in Windsor. Students too, have played a pivotal role and in this connection. Daniela Kwiatkowski, Dani Cadieux and Yousif Atwan have all been very generous with their time and contributions. Soon it will be “show time” and I am confident that our collective rehearsal work will pay off in the end.

April is always a busy time of the year and 2015 will be no different. The Medicine Class of 2015 will graduate on May 15, but not before we bid a fond farewell to soon-to-graduate Windsor Program students at the Celebration of Excellence Dinner taking place on April 16 at the St. Clair Centre for the Arts. This year’s gala will showcase comments by Dr. Michael Strong, dean, Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry, and Dr. Douglas Kneale, provost and vice president, academic University of Windsor.

The Celebration of Excellence Dinner will provide an opportunity to recognize exceptional contributions by faculty, learners and staff at the Windsor Program over the past year. Of those nominated for an award, the following award recipients will formally be recognized at this event:

  • Associate Dean’s Award: Dr. Dana Fleming, Ms. Jeanne Hickey, Dr. Jerry Tan
  • Educators' Award: Dr. Amit Bagga, Dr. David Wonham, Dr. Junaid Yousuf
  • Learner Peer Award: Dr. Fawad Ahmed, Mr. Yousif Atwan, Ms. Ayesha Raza
  • Dr. Colin Nisbet Award for Excellence in Emergency Medicine: Ms. Kathleen Milne
  • Windsor Sub-Specialty Rotation Faculty of the Year - Dr. Tony Meriano
  • Windsor Family Medicine - Faculty of the Year Award - Dr. Ross Moncur
  • Family Medicine Post Graduate Award for Academic Leadership - Dr. Kerry Mayrand
  • Community for Doctors Family Physician Award - Dr. Kerry Mayrand
  • City of Windsor – Family Physician Award – Dr. Jessica Summerfield

This annual event is a wonderful way to celebrate our accomplishments before we catch our breath in June and prepare to welcome our newest family medicine residents in July and our newest medical students in late August. I encourage you to join us for this special evening by securing your tickets today as they are limited in number.

Windsor Program students continued to fare very well in the Canadian Residency Matching Service (CaRMS) process. Windsor Program students’ success with CaRMS speaks volumes of how the dedicated efforts of faculty and staff are paying off. This year our students have matched to some highly competitive subspecialties, and areas to which our students have never matched in the past.

This issue of the newsletter begins a new chapter in that Dr. Tim O’Callahan, President of the Essex County Medical Society (ECMS) will host a standing column for our readership. We believe there are many areas of shared vision between ECMS and Schulich Medicine and it is important that we do what we can to support one another’s initiatives regarding physician recruitment and retention in this part of the world.

Welcome Dr. O’Callahan.

Finally, it is with mixed feelings that I share with you some recent changes to the Academic Leadership Group.

It gives me me great pleasure to welcome several new members to this team during the past few months:

  • Dr. Hema Gangam, Academic Director, Paediatrics (UME)
  • Dr. Takeshi Takahashi, Academic Director, Surgery (UME/PGE)
  • Dr. Tyceer Abouhassan, Year 2 Course Coordinator, Endocrine & Metabolism

At the same time, I am so grateful for the contributions of those who have or will soon vacate these leadership posts: Dr. Mark Awuku (Paediatrics), Dr. Andrew Petrakos (Surgery) and Dr. Raphael Cheung (Endocrinology). While it is typically a healthy sign of transitioning when new leaders bring with them new ideas and new energy, it is always difficult to see such strong and dedicated champions step aside.

Drs. Awuku, Petrakos and Cheung have played numerous roles since the earliest days of medical training in Windsor; indeed, before there was a Windsor Program. To simply say thank you seems insufficient and I encourage readers to express their gratitude, as we all recognize the exceptional contributions of these fine medical educators.

Gerry Cooper, EdD
Associate Dean