Chair's Message

There have now been two reviews of our Department of Family Medicine that have recommended a revised governance structure, improved communication and flow of information, and more engagement of community-based faculty members.

We have been working on a revised governance structure for some time now, and I want to give you the key points about the proposal and seek your feedback. For those of you that are community-based faculty members you probably do not know much about our governance structure as it stands.

The key points about the governance proposal are as follows:

  1. The Department Committee is a committee of all full-time faculty members in the department and is the key committee for communicating information, and for reviewing and approving policies pertinent to department activities. Community-based faculty members will be sought to fill one or two positions on the Department Committee. In addition all community-based faculty will be invited to attend Department meetings by videoconference if they wish. There will be regular reporting of Department Committee meeting summaries. Community based faculty members will be encouraged to bring comments and issues forward through their Department Committee representatives.
  2. Departmental committees are subcommittees of the Department Committee and cover each of the main areas of Family Medicine academic activity, Postgraduate education, Undergraduate education, Graduate Studies, Research, Records and Quality of Care, and Faculty Development. Community-based faculty will be sought to occupy a position on each of the departmental committees. These subcommittees are responsible for producing the policies and guidelines that drive the work of the Department. New policies and proposals flow to the Department Committee for discussion and approval.
  3. All committees and department members will be informed about department activities through regular reports at Department Committee and universal access to minutes. There will be regular tracking of issues and reports until closure of same.

This is the bare bones of the proposed governance structure going forward. I am interested in your feedback particularly about the engagement of community-based faculty. Please contact me at stephen.wetmore@schulich.uwo.ca.