As our winter comes to an end, I hope everyone is doing well and that between February reading week, March break, or other vacation, got some downtime to enjoy family, friends, and catch up on rest. It’s been an eventful month and here are a few of the highlights.

Accreditation site team concludes visit to Maritimes
The national undergraduate medical education program accreditation site team visited our medical school between February 26 and March 1. While at our Halifax and Saint John campuses, the accreditors met with a large number of faculty, staff, and students – many of whom had been preparing for this process for more than two years. It was our first full accreditation visit since 2009.

Overall, I think overall the visit went very well. The accreditors provided positive feedback about the quality of our medical school and the enthusiasm and engagement of our students, staff, faculty, along with colleagues at our partner health authorities. They also provided constructive feedback about areas we need to work on to make our school better.

We expect to receive official notification about our accreditation status in the fall; I’ll let you know as soon as we get word from the Committee on Accreditation of Canadian Medical Schools.

I want to acknowledge the tremendous assistance and leadership of our students, staff, and faculty who worked collaboratively in preparation for accreditation. It was a fantastic team effort, and I’m extremely proud and grateful for your support.

Next, our continuing professional development program will go through the accreditation in early April, and our postgraduate program in the fall of 2018. More to follow.

CaRMS #MatchDay 2017
There was a lot of buzz in our student lounges in Halifax and Saint John on March 1, which was residency match day for our fourth-year medical students. It’s always an exciting – and anxious – time. Congratulations to all of our fourth-year students and we are very excited for you as you prepare for the next phase of your medical education, with graduation only two months away. Where did those four years go!

Recognizing our best
To acknowledge and celebrate excellence among our faculty members, the following awards of excellence have been created: The Faculty of Medicine Award of Excellence in Education; The Faculty of Medicine Community Teacher Award; and the Faculty of Medicine Award of Excellence in Clinical Practice.

We require excellent teachers and role models to produce excellent students. So to encourage this continued commitment to excellence, I hope you’ll consider putting forth a nomination.

We’re also looking for nominations for the Dr. Allen Cohen Memorial Award for Community Service. This award honours the late Dr. Allan Cohen, a distinguished member of Dalhousie Medical School. This award recognizes faculty, staff, and students who are dedicated to making a difference in society by displaying outstanding community service with health-related organizations and causes.

The deadline for all nomination submissions is March 24. Award eligibility, along with the nomination processes, can be found on our website.

The faculty awards will be presented along with our faculty research awards at our June faculty meeting. These awards complement award presentations that we also will be having this spring for our staff and graduating students.

Recent accolades
While on the topic of awards, I’d like to note a few recent honours:

– Simon Gebremeskel (Microbiology & Immunology) was the winner of the highly competitive Three Minute Thesis final, sponsored by the Faculty of Graduate Studies of Dalhousie University on March 2. Simon’s research topic was Harnessing the Immune System to Fight Cancer. Simon will go on to represent Dalhousie at the Eastern Regional competition in April at UNB.
– Dr. Zhenyu Cheng (Microbiology & Immunology) received new funding from the Canada Foundation for Innovation for his cystic fibrosis research.
– Dr. Paul Linsdell (Physiology & Biophysics) was awarded the Cystic Fibrosis Canada (CFC) Senior Scientist Research Training Award and the CFC Cathleen Morrison Research Impact Award.
– Dr. Jeremy Brown (Biomedical Engineering) received funding from the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency to support the research and development of a miniature endoscope.
– Drs. Angie McGibbon (Endocrinology & Metabolism) and Lorri Beatty (Emergency Medicine) received certificates of merit from the Canadian Association of Medical Education.
– Dr. Joan Sargeant has been awarded the 2017 Ian Hart Award for Distinguished Contribution to Medical Education from the Canadian Association of Medical Education. This award recognizes Dr. Sargeant’s lifetime contributions to medical education and her dedication to excellence in teaching and mentoring. Dr. Sargeant will receive this award at the upcoming Canadian Conference in Medical Education in Winnipeg, Manitoba.

I congratulate you all, and continue to appreciate the contributions you make to the Dalhousie Medical School community.

Resiliency focus of 2017 Fear conference
Each Fear Family Memorial Conference focuses on an important theme in medical education. This year, the topic is resilience.

Ballast and Buoyancy: Successfully Sailing Through Your Medical Career will help participants to: identify the types of challenges and stressors learners face during their medical training; understand the impact of these challenges and stressors on the health and wellness of learners and practising physicians; and consider ways in which we can change the culture of medicine to support health and wellness.

This will be a great event open to all. For more information on the Fear conference, and to register for the March 24-25 event, visit the conference website.

Promoting patient care through Research in Medicine
On April 8, our med students will showcase their research findings by presenting the results of their Research in Medicine (RIM) projects.

This event brings together faculty, medical students, alumni, allied health professionals, and administrators across the medical school, to share information on a broad spectrum of student research, and to celebrate research excellence.

Since 2014, more than 230 students have presented their RIM research at conferences, and at least 53 have published their research in journals.

RIM Research Day is intended to foster vibrant research in our university. A strong research program not only attracts and retains more health professionals to our region, but also, through scientific discoveries, translates into improved care and health for the communities we serve.

Keep an eye on DalMedix for the finalized RIM Day schedule.

Euphoria supports local education
The talents of our medical students were on full display at this year’s Euphoria. It was an incredible show by all four of our medical classes.

Funds raised from ticket sales supported SHINE Academics. The organization, run by student volunteers, including a number of our medical students, provides free math and science tutoring to students needing of support at the North End Library in Halifax.

Congratulations to the Class of 2020 on winning the coveted trophy for the best class skit.

Health Law Institute appoints new director
Matthew Herder recently assumed the directorship of Dalhousie’s Health Law Institute. An associate professor in the Faculty of Medicine, Dr. Herder educates on a variety of health law topics. He also teaches in the Schulich School of Law.

Winter weather working
I want to thank all of our essential services employees for working through our recent snowstorms and cancellations. I appreciate the difficulties you went through to make it to campus, despite the university being closed for everyone else. Your work and dedication didn’t go unnoticed.

Thanks again for your interest and engagement in Dalhousie Medical School.