Dean’s Blog – February/March 2020
Hi everyone,
I would like to begin by addressing the level of uncertainty surrounding the COVID-19 outbreak, and how the Faculty of Medicine and Dalhousie University are working to address your concerns.
The Public Health Agency of Canada continues to assess the public health risk associated with COVID-19 as low in Canada, with the risk to public health reassessed as new information becomes available.
Dalhousie University has been in regular contact with our Provincial Medical Health Officer with regards to contingency plans for managing the COVID-19 outbreak should it become an issue for our region. The latest updates about the Dalhousie’s preparations are available at the following link: https://www.dal.ca/novel-coronavirus.html. Please also review an update from our University Provost, Dr. Teri Balser, at https://www.dal.ca/novel-coronavirus/march-2-update.html
The Medical School is involved in contingency planning for the potential impacts of the COVID-19 on the education of our students and residents and the safety of all our faculty, students and staff. Specific updates will be provided as the situation warrants. In the interim, please let us know about any concerns.
Amidst this uncertainty, I would also like to acknowledge the great work being done in our medical facilities across the Maritimes by our faculty dealing with flu and RSV season. Our faculty members and residents do a fantastic job of managing their teaching and leadership responsibilities during an extremely busy and stressful time of year. Thanks to all for your major contributions.
Collaboration
Since the start of the new year, The Faculty of Medicine has been bustling with activity and excitement. What hasn’t changed in 2020, is the collaborative relationships the Faculty has built with our partners in government, the community, and the health care system.
Family Medicine training remains a priority within the Faculty of Medicine. Over the past several months, I had the opportunity see first-hand the incredible work taking place in our distributed education sites across the Maritimes, as I visited our Family Medicine and Longitudinal Clerkship locations in Fredericton, Moncton, Saint John, Woodstock, Miramichi, Charlottetown, Cape Breton, Yarmouth and the Valley.
During these visits, I was incredibly impressed with the tremendous community support our learners are receiving. From the community preceptors who have agreed to take them into their practices, to the community members who are actively facilitating our students’ learning – community support is essential. While I was on the tour, I spoke with students and residents, and was encouraged to hear of their positive experiences in their programs and their heightened interest in community and family medicine, which bodes well for the needs of the Maritime provinces for many years to come.
Led by post-graduate program director Dr. Karlyne Dufour and our Family Medicine clerkship director, Dr. Kathleen Horrey, and with the support of Department of Family Medicine and DMNB leadership this tour also helped me to appreciate the breadth and scope of our Family Medicine training programs across the Maritimes. Particularly, I would like to thank Dr. Dufour, who is coming to the end of her term as Program Director. Under her leadership, our postgraduate Family Medicine educational programs have seen significant expansions and are well positioned for the future.
Government support has also been key to our success in our education programs around the Maritimes. For example, over the past month, the Nova Scotia government has committed to provide infrastructure funding of over $3 million to accommodate family medicine residents around the province, including a new facility to support the Valley residency training program. Other innovations vary by location, but range from renovating or creating space for training, adding rooms for residents to stay when they are on call, furniture or technology – all important, but sometimes overlooked requirements of a meaningful residency experience.
In addition to Government support, the support of provincial health authorities in New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island are absolutely key to the success of our distributed education programs. It takes an incredible team of faculty, staff and students along with supports of our colleague organizations and the public to make our distributed educational programs excellent and I thank all that are involved in these processes.
On February 18th, Dalhousie Medical School was proud to be in Bridgewater to announce the continued investment by government in the Nova Scotian Longitudinal Integrated Clerkships (LIC). Starting this September, five medical school students will spend their entire third year getting hands-on training in Bridgewater, Lunenburg and Liverpool through the LIC Program.
A special thank you to Dr. Greg Thibodeau, who will be leading the South Shore LIC, for his tireless work behind the scenes to ensure our students will be receiving the best possible educational experience. I would also like to recognize second year medical student, Emily Rogers, for attending the event and being a great representative of what Dalhousie medical students bring to the table.
The clerkship program was first launched in Nova Scotia in September 2019 in Cape Breton, with four students training in North Sydney and New Waterford. The LIC provides our medical students an excellent educational experience and exposes them to 48 weeks of patient-centred, community-based care in rural communities. These programs complement the four LIC sites we currently have running in New Brunswick, in Miramichi, Woodstock, Fredericton and Moncton.
Lieutenant Governor of Nova Scotia Visit
On January 24th, myself, Dr. Deep Saini, Ms. Joanne Bath, and Mr. Allan Shaw, were pleased to welcome the Honourable Arthur J. LeBlanc, Lieutenant Governor of Nova Scotia, and her Honour, Patsy LeBlanc, to Dalhousie to share some of the important research projects taking place on campus.
During the tour, their Honours visited the Maritime Brain Tissue with Dr. Sultan Darvesh, the Zebrafish Core Facility with Mr. David Mallory, and heard a presentation from Drs. Susan Howlett and Alex Quin from the Heart Health Laboratory.
A big thank you to our partners at the Dalhousie Medical Research Foundation for coordinating the tour, and for their continued support of researchers in the Faculties of Medicine, Health and Dentistry.
Carleton Campus President’s Reception
On January 27th, a welcome reception for Dr. Deep Saini, Dalhousie University’s 12th president and vice-chancellor was held in the Tupper Link at 8:00 a.m.
Even with the early start time, our students, faculty, and staff took advantage of this opportunity to meet Dr. Saini and inform him of the various actives taking place within the Faculty of Medicine.
I believe I can speak for the entire faculty to say that we are excited by Dr. Saini’s arrival, and we look forward to working with him to advance the strategic direction of Dalhousie University.
Lend a Hand to the Loaded Ladle
On February 6th, I was excited to join my fellow deans at an event called Lend a Hand to the Loaded Ladle, which encouraged faculty and staff to embrace the giving spirit of George Munro by joining forces with the Loaded Ladle to fight food insecurity amongst Dalhousie students.
The staff of the Loaded Ladle, a student-run service on campus that provides free food to students and community members, wasted no time putting us to work as we prepared meals during the busy lunchtime rush.
Kids Run Club
On February 12th, myself and Dr. Stephen Miller were very pleased to join Doctors Nova Scotia to help kick off the 16th year of Kids Run Club – a free, school-based running program designed to give all children and youth an opportunity to be active through running.
As Dean, I am extremely proud that this is the fourth year that Dalhousie Medical School has partnered with Kids Run Club, with approximately 20 first and second year med students signed on to be trained as coaches.
In fact, over the past two years, our students have organized a 5K fun run in support of Kids Run Club during our Med150 and Med151 celebrations.
By participating with Kids Run Club, our students will gain important experience regarding the state of kids’ health that will make them better-informed physicians.
Keep up the great work!
EUPHORIA! 2020
On February 22nd the annual EUPHORIA! show took place at the Rebecca Cohn Auditorium. EUPHORIA! provides all four classes of medical students the chance to work together to produce comical skits. This is always a fun event that raises money for local charities, and it was great to see our medical students show off their creative sides.
Thank you to everyone for their charitable contributions this year, over $40,000 was raised to support the Halifax Sexual Health Centre.
Congratulations to everyone involved, especially the class of 2020 for their 4th consecutive win – a first in the over 50-year history of the show! Read more…
Match Day 2020
Congratulations to all our fourth-year medical students who learned this week where they will be taking their residencies. This was a very big day and is the next step in the education and career development of the class of 2020. About 50% of our students will be staying and doing residencies in Dalhousie programs and others will be doing residencies at Canadian Universities across the country. Those students who do not yet have residency positions will be eligible to enter the second round of matching. Our student affairs team will work with these students to help them fulfill their residency goals.
Upcoming Event
On March 27th and 28th, the 9th Annual Thomas Fear and Alice Morgans Fear Memorial Conference will take place at the Nova Centre.
Each year, the Fear Memorial Conference focuses on an important theme in medical education. Continuing Professional Development partners with a different co-host department from the medical school every year, resulting in a fresh and collaborative approach. This year the Department of Family Medicine will be co-hosting this year’s conference, with the focus on meeting future needs for primary collaborative healthcare systems.
For more information, please contact Linda.MacNutt@dal.ca.
Recognitions
Dorland’s Illustrated Medical Dictionary
Congratulations to Dr. Paul Neumann, Department of Medical Neuroscience, for being named as one of three key consultants in the 33rd edition of the Dorland’s Illustrated Medical Dictionary. The Dorland’s Dictionary is one of the world’s most trusted medical dictionaries, and Dr. Neumann’s contribution is clear evidence of his knowledgeability of anatomical nomenclature.
Wuhan Support
I would like to take this opportunity to acknowledge the tremendous effort and initiative demonstrated by faculty members in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology related to the COVID-19 outbreak in Wuhan, China.
Drs. Zhenyu Cheng, Alyson Kelvin and David Kelvin have launched a GoFundMe campaign to raise money for healthcare workers, medical microbiologists, and virologists in China, who are currently using personal protective equipment at an alarming rate as they are caring for patients and investigating this virus.
To date, the campaign has raised over $40,000, and has already sent the first shipment of over $20,000 of equipment to Wuhan, China. The campaign has also been featured in the Chronicle Herald.
CIHR Project Grant Competition
In February, seven Faculty of Medicine members received financial support from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) Project Grants, for their research projects.
The Project Grant competition is one of CIHR’s flagship funding programs. They are multi-year grants that are designed to support researchers at various stages in their careers as they conduct health research and knowledge translation projects that cover the full range of health research topic.
Congratulations to everyone who received funding to further their research.
To view the complete list of recipients, click here.
COVID-19 Rapid Research Funding
We are particularly proud that two of our Faculty: Drs. David Kelvin and Scott Halperin received awards from CIHR totaling just under $1.5 million in funding for a special research competition to address research related to the corona virus. Their research will be studying new diagnostic tools for early case detection and surveillance, and the effects of public health outbreak control policies.
To read more about their research, click here.
New Appointments
Medical Research Development Office – HR Update
Best wishes for a speedy recovery to Dr. Roger MacLeod, our Associate Dean for Research who is recovering from an accident. In the interim, Dr. Jim Fawcett and Dr. Craig McCormick have kindly agreed to step in and provide coverage for Dr. McLeod’s ADR portfolio. For efficiency, we ask you to direct any inquiries, concerns or pressing research question to Ms. Sara Lavender (sara.lavender@dal.ca), our faculty research director.
Co-Director of Human Resources for the Faculty of Medicine
We are very pleased to welcome Marlo Shinyei to the Dean’s Office. Marlo will be here on a one-year secondment, effective January 27, 2020, to enhance the Faculty of Medicine’s Human Resources function. Many of you may already know Marlo from her current role as Manager of Academic Staff Relations in Dalhousie’s HR Department. At the University since 2007, Marlo brings a broad range of expertise including academic staff relations, academic recruitment and immigration, and equity. She can be reached at marlo.shinyei@dal.ca.
In Memoriam
This past month, two individuals who have made huge contributions over their careers to the Faculty of Medicine, health care in Nova Scotia, and the good of our society have passed away.
Dr. David Bruce Fraser
Dr. Fraser graduated from Dalhousie with a BSc in 1953 and MD, CM in 1958. He was a very committed and compassionate general practitioner for eight years before completing his residency in Diagnostic Radiology in 1970. In 1972, he completed a Fellowship in Cardiovascular Radiology through Harvard University where he was later recognized as Honorary Alumnus of the Year through the Brigham and Women’s Hospital.
After ten years working as a radiologist at the Victoria General Hospital, he became Head of the Department of Diagnostic Radiology and served as professor and chair until his retirement in 1998. In 1999 he was named Professor Emeritus. During his illustrious career, Dr. Fraser served on and led dozens of hospital, university and professional committees. Most notably his outstanding leadership earned him the role of President of the Canadian Association of Radiologists (CAR) and subsequently Chairman of the Board and President of the prestigious Radiological Society of North America (RSNA).
Dr. Joseph Michael Dooley
Dr. Dooley and his wife Elizabeth settled their young family in Halifax in 1982 where he practiced as a Pediatric Neurologist at the IWK Health Centre and taught at the medical school at Dalhousie University for 37 years, until his retirement. Dr. Dooley was the head of the Division of Pediatric Neurology at the IWK Health Centre for more than 15 years. He truly cared for and loved seeing the many children in his practice and took immense satisfaction in helping infants and children from all over the Maritimes
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