Gerry Cooper, Associate Dean

Welcome to our June Newsletter, our final issue for the academic year. As we enjoy the warmer temperatures that have finally arrived after a somewhat cool spring, we have a great deal to celebrate.

In early March, our Class of 2013 had a 100 per cent CaRMS match in the first round. This is a tremendous accomplishment and builds upon the great success achieved by our Charter Class in 2012 - who also had a 100 per cent match in the first round.

Our Class of 2013 will soon be resuming their medical education journey in July and our Windsor Program graduates will find new homes across the county, some in very competitive specialties. This is particularly gratifying news for our faculty and staff who work so hard to ensure the Windsor Program learners have an exceptional academic experience. With the last two CaRMS results, it appears that we are definitely on the right course.

Also in March, my wife and I participated in the admission interview process that helped to determine the members of the Schulich Medicine Class of 2017. I was so impressed with the strong showing of support from the Windsor and area community. There was a very good representation of students, staff, faculty and community citizens who travelled to Western University for this purpose. Such support is an important way of ensuring that Schulich Medicine & Dentistry remains connected to the needs of the communities it serves.

In mid-April, we experienced another first for our School with a new special event celebrating the recipients of the Windsor Program Awards of Excellence, the Family Medicine Awards and our graduating class. Award recipients were duly acknowledged at the outset and the dinner following which provided a nice interlude before we turned our sights on celebrating the accomplishments of the 2013's. They have made us all very proud and we hope they will continue to be connected to the Windsor Program going forward.

We were pleased to welcome so many members of our faculty, staff and students, and believe have found the right balance on creating a special celebration for the Windsor Program as a whole. We plan on making this an annual signature event.

On May 3, we were pleased to be joined by the Honourable Teresa Piruzza MPP for Windsor West, as well as many other special guests as we celebrated the opening of the third floor of the Medical Education Building. This will enhance our collaborative teaching and research space.

We are looking forward to the availability of our new accommodations for visiting postgraduate medical residents at the new facility on Ouellette Avenue.

These initiatives are a testament to the hard work of many and combined, these nicely demonstrate how the Windsor Program is making its mark!

It has been a very successful academic year that was capped off by Convocation on May 17. It was a pride-filled day as our students were joined by their families, faculty members and many of our staff to celebrate their graduation. We are enormously proud of all of our students, and taking the time to recognize their success on this day was indeed a great pleasure.

As we turn our attention to the arrival of the new medical students in September, I am reminded that we continue to be a very young enterprise with the Windsor Program. September will mark the first time that we will be fully ramped up with 38 students in each of the four years of the Undergraduate Medical Education Program - or as we have been calling it "steady state". So the entirety of the 2013-14 academic year will be a first for us at the Windsor Program. Our team is ready for the challenge and we are excited to get to this important milestone.

In the meantime, I want to wish each of you a safe and enjoyable summer. I hope that you are able to spend time with family and friends and recharge for another great year ahead.