April & May 2015
Chief Operating Officer
- Congratulations to Pam Bere and the Education Team, and all those who worked to make the Schulich Medicine Convocation and Awards Ceremony a success. It was once again an excellent event. Also a big thank you to all of the volunteers.
- Congratulations to Laura Newton, Kristin Romak and the Communications Team for their hard work on the Celebration of Excellence Dinner & Awards Banquet. Thank you to all who volunteered their time at the event.
- Lastly, I would like to thank everyone for their hard work and dedication over the fall, winter and spring. I wish everyone a safe and wonderful summer.
Media Relations
- Dr. Margaret Steele’s team launches the first-in-Ontario research project which educates family doctors in rural communities on how to deal with children and adolescents with mental health issues. The Sarnia Observer covered the project.
- Dr. Wassim Saad is the first physician at the Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry – Windsor Program to receive the Canadian Association for Medical Education certificate of merit. The Windsor Star ran a profile on Dr. Saad.
- Dr. Michael Toth is elected the new head of the Ontario Medical Association. The London Free Press profiled his work and future.
- Kristin Mayrand, Medicine Class of 2017, is studying the use of handgrips in people with high blood pressure, in conjunction with the kinesiology department at the University of Windsor. The Windsor Star covered her research.
Basic Medical Sciences
Basic Medical Sciences Undergraduate Education (BMSUE)
Dr. Candace Gibson
- The inaugural class of students in the Honors Specialization in Neuroscience will graduate with students from the BMSc Program and Graduate Studies at the Spring Convocation ceremony on June 11 at 10:00 a.m. That afternoon, Western Gold Medals and Named Awards will be presented at the BMSUE Awards Ceremony in MSB 146 beginning at 1:30 p.m.
- Adjudication is coming to a close and decisions will be communicated to students requesting registration in Medical Sciences 2, the BMSc Program and the Undergraduate Program in Neuroscience for 2015-2016. Enrolment numbers in Neuroscience are on target and admission into Year 3 BMSc is very close to reaching the goal of 500 students.
- Preparations are underway for the start of online course registration (June 13), including training for faculty/staff members who will be involved in Summer Academic Orientation (SAO) for incoming first-year students.
Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies
- To support continued PhD graduate student expansion to our faculty, Dr. Michael J. Strong, Dean, Schulich Medicine & Dentistry, has provided a Schulich Graduate Scholarship to new, incoming domestic PhD students. Our office awarded 47 awards this May for the 2014 and 2015 incoming May term PhD students. For more on this Scholarship, including the eligibility criteria, please see our website.
- The 20 student recipients of the Dean’s Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program (DUROP) will be presenting their summer research in a friendly competition on August 20, 2015.
- Congratulations to the winners of the 2015 3-Minute Research Competition, including Schulich Medicine & Dentistry's Lauren Solomon (Microbiology and Immunology; 1st place) and Nina Weishaupt (Anatomy and Cell Biology; 2nd place).
Communications and Events
- The events team hosted a number of events this past month, including the Canadian Conference on Medical Education Schulich Medicine reception, Schulich Dentistry alumni reception at the Ontario Dental Association conference and the Celebration of Excellence Dinner & Awards Banquet in London. All three events were highly successful in terms of attendance with more than 60, 100 and 260 guests, respectively.
- The events team is currently focused on marketing and sponsorship for See the Line (August 12) and Homecoming (September 26). The team is also continuing efforts on promotion for the Dentistry 50th Anniversary Weekend (September 11-12).
- The Communications Team is working with all Phase 3 representatives to meet, create and finalize site maps. Following this, we will work with each group to create and approve homepage mockups.
Information Services
- The Drimmer Lab AV technology upgrade is progressing along schedule. Vendor submissions to perform the work have been submitted and one will be selected by the end of May. Installation will be scheduled and executed in the weeks following.
- Another successful year of medical school classes, town halls and academic half days for clerks and residents has concluded and our room technology has met the heavy demands. We thank all faculty, staff and students who have made the 2014-2015 academic year a success.
- The move to the campus wide survey solution, Qualtrics is continuing. The ability to create surveys on the current Schulich Medicine & Dentistry survey system will be disabled as of June 15, 2015. After this date, the current system will no longer be supported. For more information, please visit our new Qualtrics webpage.
Project Management Office/Strategic Technology Commons
- The Project Management Office (PMO) has:
- Stared the roll-out of Change Management workshops for Managers and Employees within Schulich Medicine & Dentistry. Please email pmo.inquiry@schulich.uwo.ca for further information.
- Scheduled the next 2-Day Focus workshop on “Process Improvement & Management Methodology & Tools” for June 29-30. Please email pmo.inquiry@schulich.uwo.ca to register.
- Jay Loftus in Strategic Technology Commons is assisting with the planning of the Western Conference for Science Education (WCSE) along with other Schulich Medicine & Dentistry educational specialists. They will be highlighting the projects and uses of technology for teaching.
Education
- The 2014-2015 academic year will be the last year that Undergraduate Medical Education will be using conventional paper and scantron assessments. For the first time in 133 years, all examinations will move to a secure, digital format. Worthy to note is that across 24 Year 1 & 2 courses, a student experiences 23 assessments and 50 examinations. This year alone, over 12,000 assessments will have been completed, graded and recorded to students' academic records.
- The MD Program convocation bid "goodbye" to 165 outstanding Medicine class of 2015 graduates. Over the span of their four year academic career, the graduating class spent a collective 150,000 hours in lectures and small groups and nearly 500,000 hours in clinical learning activities. Considering time spent on extra-curricular activities, summer electives, observerships and research, the class of 2015 collectively engaged in over one million hours of educational time while completing their MD Degree. We congratulate them.
- The PGME Program is currently registering 273 new and 713 continuing residents and fellows for the 2015-2016 academic year. All letters of appointment have been sent out and over 85 percent have been returned and submitted to CPSO for licensure. All PGME and Hospital requirements must be met by July 1, 2015 for all trainees to begin/resume training. The PGY1 Orientation Day will be held in conjunction with Windsor on Thursday, July 2, 2015.
- We begin to welcome the incoming class of 2019. Admission decisions for the Medicine Program were released on Tuesday, May 12. Candidates who were offered admission will have until Tuesday, May 26 to confirm their decision through the Ontario Universities Application Centre (OMSAS). Based on the number of confirmations received, offers from the waiting list will begin after this date.
Alumni Relations and Development
Three new team members have joined us:
- Larissa Stoddart, Leadership Giving Officer, comes to us from Western's Development office where she has been fundraising for the past year. Larissa is a Western University (Brescia) alumna and has experience in recruiting, marketing and communications, and fundraising. She recently completed the Not-for-Profit Management Certificate program here at Western.
- Linda Palmer, Leadership Giving Officer, comes to us from the publishing industry where she was in sales and sales management. She recently completed a certificate program in Fundraising Management at Ryerson University in preparation for her career change.
- Kristen Lesko, Senior Development Officer, joins us from the Sunshine Foundation where she has been fundraising for the last five years. Prior to this, she worked for KGK Synergize - a Western research spinoff - selling clinical trial health nutrition research.
- A Senior Development Officer position currently remains open, awaiting the right applicant. It will be posted again in the fall/winter.
Recent Gift Highlights:
- We recently received a gift of $25,000 from Visiting Research Fellow Dr. Shauna Devine and Mr. Gary Nolden to support the History of Medicine program at the Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry through the establishment of a named award. Designed to support medical history activities and to encourage medical students to study the history of medicine as part of their medical education, this support will also assist with various program activities such as hosting visiting speakers, sponsoring colloquiums or annual lectureships, and supporting student projects and/or related program events. The holder of the Hannah Chair in the History of Medicine will be responsible for allocating spending from this fund.
- A generous endowed gift of $100,000 has been received to establish the Shah Family Fund to support the highest priority needs of the Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry.
