June 2017 Newsletter
Resident Graduation
Our 2017 resident graduation reception was held on Friday, June 16 at the Western Centre for Public Health and Family Medicine. We welcomed over 200 guests, including residents, faculty members, staff, family and friends, and enjoyed a relaxed evening of mingling and commemoration. As a department we celebrated residents graduating between November 1, 2016 and October 31, 2017, and recognized those residents and faculty members receiving awards.
Chair's Message
The Cancer Care Ontario Bulletin for Primary Care was released in April 2017, and included some interesting statistics about our area. The overall cancer incidence for all cancers in the Southwest LHIN, (SW LHIN), was higher than the Ontario average in the latest statistics from 2010/12 at 714 per 100,000 person years, age standardized. The SW LHIN also has one of the highest rates of colorectal cancer in the province. The report also pointed to where family physicians could play a role by counseling patients about risk factors for cancer and chronic disease.
Postgraduate Program Report
We are recruiting Family Medicine faculty to teach in the Academic Half Day series. Please contact us if you have any thoughts on the series. Our Internal Review date initially scheduled for the Fall of 2017 is now moving to Spring 2018. More details to come. In preparation for the start of the new academic year, please take a moment to review the program policies.
Graduate Program Report
Our Graduate Program Convocation took place on June 15 at Alumni Hall. Dr. Katherine Stringer was awarded her degree but was unable to attend the ceremony. Dr. Helena Piccinini-Vallis successfully defended her Comprehensive Examination on June 6. We are preparing to welcome our new cohort and returning MClSc and PhD students as we launch the 2017-18 academic year with the on-site sessions from September 18 - 29.
Community News – Faculty Development Program survey
The purpose of this survey is to assess the faculty development needs for the department of Family Medicine in order to lay the groundwork for the creation of faculty development curricula that are both relevant and considered important by you as well as offered at a time that is convenient to you. Please fill out the anonymous survey if you currently hold an academic appointment with the Department of Family Medicine at Western University.
Celebrating our achievements
Kathryn Nicolson graduated with a PhD in Epidemiology and Biostatistics on June 15. Kathryn’s dissertation was titled “Multimorbidity Among Adult Primary Health Care Patients In Canada: Examining Multiple Chronic Diseases Using An Electronic Medical Record Database”. Her co-supervisors were Dr. Amardeep Thind and Amanda Terry, PhD.
Dr. Stewart Harris' team receives the Sandra Letton Quality Award
The Department would like to congratulate Dr. Stewart Harris and his team on receiving the prestigious Sandra Letton Quality Award. The Sandra Letton Quality Award is one of the President’s awards presented by St. Joseph’s Health Care in London. The award recognizes a team who have made an outstanding contribution toward improvement in quality patient care.
Moira Stewart, PhD appointed Professor Emerita
Western University welcomed Moira Stewart, PhD as Professor Emerita during Spring Convocation. Stewart's accomplishments and important contributions to Western are recognized with this prestigious honour. Congratulations Moira.
Judith Belle Brown, PhD appointed Vice President of the North American Primary Care Research Group (NAPCRG)
The Department of Family Medicine would like to congratulate Judith Belle Brown, PhD for being appointed Vice President of the North American Primary Care Research Group. She will transition to President in one year's time.
Honouring our long-standing faculty
The Department of Family Medicine would like to honour long-standing faculty members Drs. Jo-Anne Hammond and John Jordan for their years of service training comprehensive family physicians and future leaders in health care.
Sunscreen Made Simple
Family Medicine graduates Dr. Aric Sudicky and Dr. Mario Elia produced a YouTube video highlighting what is the best sunscreen to prevent skin cancer, and debunking current sunscreen myths.
Resident Profile - Dr. Jean-Marc Beausoleil
Dr. Beausoleil, PGY2, Family Medicine decided to pursue his medical degree while studying to be a paramedic. via Schulich Communications.
TUTOR-PHC Symposium – King City, ON
The annual TUTOR-PHC Symposium recently took place from May 8 – 11 in King City, Ontario, signifying the start of the 2017-2018 program year. TUTOR-PHC or Transdisciplinary Understanding and Training on Research – Primary Health Care is a pan-Canadian, interdisciplinary training program led by Judith Belle Brown, PhD and Amanda Terry, PhD.
INSPIRE-PHC Program hosts Ontario SPOR SUPPORT Unit meeting
Moira Stewart, PhD, Department of Family Medicine and lead of the INSPIRE-PHC Program hosted the Operational Management Team of the Ontario SPOR SUPPORT Unit (OSSU) for their in-person meeting May 29 and 30. This event brought together researchers and decision makers from all over Ontario, who may not otherwise cross paths.
Trillium Primary Health Care Research Day 2017
The INSPIRE-PHC Program, led by Moira Stewart, PhD, Centre for Studies in Family Medicine, hosted another successful Trillium Primary Health Care Research Day on May 31 in Toronto. There were 115 participants, 58 (poster and oral) research presentations from PHC researchers across the province, a distinguished lecture, keynote panel and two workshops.
Resident Project Day June 7
On June 7 the Department of Family Medicine hosted Resident Project Day. With 15 oral and 27 poster presentations, the scholarly activities that the PGY2/PGY3 residents completed over the course of their programs were showcased to more than 170 attendees. The day allowed for knowledge sharing, networking, and discussion about current topics in family medicine and primary care.
Celebration of Success Breakfast June 15
Faculty and staff of the Centre for Studies in Family Medicine enjoyed a delicious breakfast buffet to celebrate another great year of success. Our achievements are due in large part to the tremendous team work and collaboration within, and amongst all of our teams.Congratulations and thanks to everyone for your valuable contributions.
See the Line Returns August 16
Learn the latest in concussion research. Hear from world-class medical experts, health care advocates and professional athletes at the full day CME or afternoon Community Symposium that will educate you on sport related brain injury evaluation and treatment.
Department Spotlight: Annaka Norman
The postgraduate team would like to extend a big thank you to Annaka Norman for her coordination of resident graduation. Annaka joined the postgraduate team May 15 on a temporary contract. She did an amazing job coordinating our resident graduation celebration and has stepped in to help out with completing time off requests and the organization of the new academic year.
June 2017 Research and Publications
The Department of Family Medicine is at the forefront of research in primary health care. Among the areas of focus for research are patient-centered care, clinical practice guidelines, health promotion, population health, care of the elderly, health services and information technology.
Events
Mark your calendars for the Dr. Ian McWhinney Lecture Series on September 20. Save the date for the 40th Anniversary of the MClSc Program in Family Medicine on September 22-23.
Top Stories from our May newsletter
Family Medicine retirements, Chair's Message and Celebrating our achievements.
