January 2015
Chief Operating Officer
- Budgets are due to Central Institutional Planning and Budgeting (IPB) on March 11, 2015. We appreciate everyone's efforts in completing their budgets within this challenging timeline.
- Thank you to all of the United Way team members for your terrific efforts.
Media Relations
- The Government of Canada granted $26.3 million to establish the Canadian Arrhythmia Network (CANet) at Western University's Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry. The announcement was made on December 15 at Schulich Medicine & Dentistry. The news was covered by CTV, the London Free Press, the Londoner, AM 980 and Blackburn News. Dr. Anthony Tang, a professor in the Department of Medicine, will serve as the scientific director and CEO of CANet.
- Robarts Research Institute held a media event in January to officially launch the Ontario Neurodegenerative Disease Initiative led by Dr. Michael Strong, Dean, Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry. Following the launch event, Dr. Strong discussed the initiative with the London Free Press, the Londoner and CBC News.
- Dr. Rodney DeKoter and his team published groundbreaking research that identified a gene that has the potential to wipe out cancer cells in a common form of childhood leukemia. The potentially game-changing finding was covered by Sun News Network, CTV News, the Londoner and London Community News.
Human Resources
- Deborah Lucas has been appointed to the position of Associate Director, Administration & Finance, Schulich School of Dentistry, effective February 9, 2015. Deborah will lead the administrative team in all matters related to financial affairs, human resources, research and education program support. Deborah brings extensive experience in financial and administrative management. Deborah joined Western University in 2008 as a Human Resource Accountant and has most recently held the position of Manager, Administration & Finance, with the Department of Psychiatry since 2010. Deborah holds a degree in English Literature, Certified General Account designation and obtained her Master of Business Administration from Laurentian University, with a Major in Strategic Leadership.
Finance
- Spring Budget was sent out the week of February 9, with an expected date of return of completed budget files of February 24th. You will also be receiving your budget letters with respect to your Fall budget requests. There will be specific instructions on how to complete this 4 year cycle. Please read the documentation carefully. We appreciate everyone's diligence and effort in completing the budget under such tight timelines. Please contact Vicki Douvalis, Janice Dethomasis, Barb Sandford or Rosemary Hicks with any questions.
- All Mustang Market Principal Investigators must complete a Delegation of Signing Authority form to allow your research/support staff to make purchases in Mustang Market on your behalf. Thank you to those who have completed the form. Click here to access the form and send it to Research Finance for processing.
Research
- 11 applications have been funded through the Schulich Equipment AID (Advancement, Improvement, Development) grants. These awards are intended to provide Schulich Medicine & Dentistry faculty with a mechanism to acquire, develop or improve equipment directly used for research that they cannot obtain through other funding channels.
- The deadline for the Canadian Institute of Health Research (CIHR) Foundation Stage 2 Pilot applications was February 5. The CIHR Transitional Operating Grants competition deadline is March 2. Through the pilot program for internal peer review, the Schulich Medicine & Dentistry Research Officers have been working with applicants for these Transitional Operating Grants.
- The application process for undergraduate student research programs, including Undergraduate Student Research Awards (USRA), Summer Research Training Programs (SRTP), and Schulich Research Opportunity Programs (SROP), are currently underway.
Basic Medical Sciences
Basic Medical Sciences Undergraduate Education (BMSUE)
Dr. Candace Gibson
- Planning for March Break Open House (MBOH) is underway. On March 14, the basic medical science departments, in conjunction with departments from the Faculty of Science, will present program displays in the Physics and Astronomy Building to more than 9000 anticipated guests. Student panels, mock lectures, and a presentation from Schulich Medicine & Dentistry are also scheduled. The MBOH allows high school students to make their final assessment before accepting offers of admission.
- Intent to Register (ITR) for undergraduate students planning to return to Western for 2015/16 runs from February 1 – March 31. Faculty and upper year students from the basic medical sciences will participate in an ITR Fair on March 5 to provide information to Year 1 and 2 students about their courses and modules offered in the Basic Medical Science (BMSc) and Neuroscience programs.
- Basic Medical Science Undergraduate Education (BMSUE) continues to add new content and updates to the newly launched BMSc website. The new BMSc Program video, which is showcased on the website, received over 1500 views in the first 24 hours.
Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies
Dr. Andrew Watson
- The 2014 graduate applications to the Schulich Medicine & Dentistry MSc and PhD programs exceeded the number of applications received in 2013. Graduate programs are continuing to recruit applicants for the fall of 2015. Thank you to all who participated in the student-run Science Graduate Fair.
- Schulich Medicine & Dentistry graduate programs have been offered 8 of the 20 School of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies (SGPS) recruitment Ontario Graduate Scholarship (OGS) awards. Congratulations graduate programs. OGS awards applications are now closed. Award recipients are expected to be announced in April, following the ranking and review process.
- On January 26th we welcomed 28 new postdoctoral scholars to Western University. Dr. Watson led the orientation event with the School of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies.
- The Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies e-newsletter (Current Affairs) continues to be a great success. The newsletter has been opened over 1700 times. Our website continues to draw interest with over 2000 page views on the e-newsletters stories. Thank you for supporting our trainees.
Communications and Events
- On Tuesday, January 20, a total of 19 new departmental and education program websites were launched as part of Phase 2 of the website redevelopment project. Click here for more information on the Phase 2 launch.
- Planning for Phase 3 of the website redevelopment project is already underway, with an official kickoff to happen in February. Phase 3 will include an additional 30 web sites that will undergo redevelopment, with an expected launch to happen mid-to late-October of this year.
- The Schulich Dentistry 50th Anniversary planning committee has developed a year-long plan to celebrate and promote awareness of the anniversary within the School and the external community. This plan is now being implemented with various activities and tactics scheduled from now until the celebration weekend September 10 – 11. Visit the Schulich Dentistry 50th Anniversary website for more details.
- The year of celebrations will launch at the Schulich Dentistry 50th Anniversary kickoff celebration Tuesday, March 10 from 5:00 - 7:00 p.m. at the Great Hall. All are welcome to attend, please RSVP before March 2.
- Planning is underway for a number of events in 2015 including the Awards of Excellence – Windsor and London, Discover Robarts, London Health Research Day, and Homecoming.
Information Services
- In collaboration with our Dental school colleagues, our Development team has recently finished a project for the Internationally Trained Dentist (ITD) Program in Dentistry. This project included a new web application form as well as a new view in the Schulich Administrative System (SAS) to process applications and automate the admissions process for the ITD program. This was launched on February 2, 2015 after many months of planning and development.
- On January 20, as part of the second phase of the migration to Cascade as the School's Web Content Management System, the Information Services web site was redesigned and updated including a more prominent link to our System Health Status page, a Tips section, and a new page on Conferencing. Please visit the website and provide feedback to Information Services.
- In collaboration with the division of Paediatric Surgery, our server team has deployed an instance of a secure web application called Redcap. Redcap is used by many medical schools in North America to gather and manage survey data usually related to clinical research. It will facilitate multi-site studies taking place at the division of Paediatric Surgery.
Project Management Office/Strategic Technology Commons
- Lori Matheson has accepted a position with the Faculty of Nursing at the University of Calgary. We would like to thank Lori for her valuable contributions to Schulich Medicine & Dentistry and wish her every success in this exciting career opportunity.
- The Project Management Office (PMO) is currently involved in a process workshop in Windsor, Change Management Training with Dentistry and the Distributed Education Network (DEN), and individual process projects throughout the School. Thank you to everyone involved in these projects.
- Registration is open for the 2-Day 'Focus' workshop (Process Improvement & Management Methodology & Tools) for March 24 and 25. Send a request to pmo.inquiry@schulich.uwo.ca to register. The Standard Operating Procedure workshops continue to be offered through Continuing Professional Development (CPD). Email stc@schulich.uwo.ca for more information.
- The Strategic Technology Commons (STC) website is in the process of being updated to reflect the current tools that are being used and highlight the best practices of teaching with technology from our faculty.
- STC has started working with the Instructional Innovation and Development Fund (IIDF) grant winners to develop their projects, as well as assisting courses to make larger transitions from traditional face-to-face courses to online courses / labs in classes > 400 students. Email stc@schulich.uwo.ca for any consultation requests related to instructional design.
Education
- Western University and the Windsor Program have successfully won the bid to host the Canadian Federation of Medical Students, Annual General Meeting set for September 2015. This is a historic accomplishment for the Windsor Program, Schulich Medicine and the City of Windsor as this will mark the first time a distributed medical education site will be the host city. Congratulations to Yousif Atwan (MEDS 2017) and the entire student team from both London and Windsor who worked on this bid. The theme of the conference, as expressed by our students, will be “Leadership in the Clinic and Community”.
- Continuing Professional Development (CPD) is pleased to announce that Dr. Mark Weyers has joined the CPD program as its Educational Developer. Mark has B.Ed and M.Ed degrees from Western University, a Doctor of Education degree from Lincoln University, UK and a Master of Science in Neurophysiology from University College London. Mark brings extensive experience from University College London at the Centre for the Advancement of Learning & Teaching as a Senior Teaching Fellow where he was involved with program development, evaluation, teaching and educational strategy.
- Learner Equity & Wellness (LEW) will now have one of its faculty members on the Dentistry Student Issues Committee – a great opportunity that will provide the LEW program with a better understanding of the DDS program and its issues.
- A long anticipated meeting between senior leaders of the Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry and the Henry Ford Hospital System (HFHS) took place in December at HFHS’s main campus in downtown Detroit, Michigan. For a first meeting of its kind, there were many indications of shared interests and values for further discussion.
Alumni Relations and Development
- Two Senior Development Officer positions were posted at the end of January and two Development Officer positions will be posted in early February. These full-time, permanent positions have been vacant for many months and are essential to the attainment of our revenue goals.
- Recent Gift Highlights:
- $40,000 in proceeds from the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge from the ALS Society of Essex County in support of the Ontario Neurodegeneration Integrated Discovery (ONDRI) Program.
- $50,000 to create the Dr. David Wonham Class Community Building Award
- Two $5,000 gifts to fund graduate bursaries which will be matched 2:1 through the Ontario Graduate Student (OGS) Bursary program, resulting in $30,000 total bursary support.
- $25,000 from the Plunkett Foundation in support of equipment to be housed in the Molecular Pathology Core Facility in the Robarts Research Institute. The funds will be used to purchase a Tissue Processor which will impact medical research in over 75 labs across London.
Facilities
- Renovations are in progress in West Valley Building for Dr. Julio Martinez-Trujilo.
- Planning and preparations continue for renovations to the Containment Level 2+/3 Facility in the Dental Sciences Building.
- Planning is underway for renovations to the Dental Sciences Building third floor to create new research laboratories.
