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'Scripts by David Anderson, MD

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Faculty of Medicine: COVID-19 Update #15

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Good afternoon everyone,

This has been an exciting week for the Faculty of Medicine as we celebrated the graduation of the Dalhousie Medical School Class of 2020.

On Tuesday, Dalhousie Medicine New Brunswick premiered the first-ever Virtual Launch Ceremony, which recognized the completion of four years of undergraduate medical education for medical students in their home province of New Brunswick. If you missed the premiere, it is available to watch online.

Two days later, we celebrated the accomplishments of the entire graduating class with a live stream of the Virtual Convocation and Awards Ceremony. One of the changes to convocation this year as a result of COVID-19, was the opportunity for me to address the class. This was a great honour and something I will cherish.

These two events would not have been possible without the hard work and ingenuity of Dr. Brianne Robinson, Dr. Alexandra Hetherington, and the Student Affairs Office for the Virtual Convocation, and Ms. Alexandra Fournier at DMNB for the Launch Ceremony. Well done to you all!

As we celebrate the accomplishments of our graduates and wish them well as they begin their residencies on July 1st, work within the Faculty of Medicine is continuing.

Dalhousie President, Dr. Deep Saini, announced on Wednesday that the fall academic term will take place predominantly online, with limited exceptions. Those exceptions will apply to medical education, and we are working towards holding in-person clinical skills sessions during the fall term.

Planning is also taking place for a phased approach to returning campus. Researchers will be asked to generate safety plans which should be distributed shortly (see below).

Thank you again to everyone for your continued patience as we work through impacts of COVID-19. I know many faculty and students are anxious to return to campus to continue their research and we are also looking forward to their return.

Continue to take care of yourselves and your families and hope everyone has a wonderful weekend!

Kindest regards,

Dr. David Anderson
Dean, Faculty of Medicine

Update
This communication is to provide updates of events over the over the past week. For details on more Faculty of Medicine-specific information related to COVID-19, please visit: https://medicine.dal.ca/news/covid.html.

Planning for Phased Resumption of Research Activities

We received word today that the proposed target for a return to campus is July 2, 2020, with an initial return of about 25 percent of Dalhousie’s overall workforce. This is very good news for our many scientists and graduate students who are anxious to return to their laboratories.  More information will be forthcoming shortly about the return to work process and Dr. Roger McLeod, Associate Dean of Research, and Ms. Linda Penny, Chief Operating Officer, will be coordinating these efforts.

Staff at the DMNB Campus will return to work on a phased-in approach beginning June 15th. The phase-in plan will incorporate the basic principles that staff who can work off-site will continue to do so and staff necessary to support the operations will be staggered to ensure appropriate social distancing can be respected in the workplace.

Researchers at Dalhousie to lead human trials of COVID‑19 vaccine
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced last Saturday that the Canadian Center for Vaccinology — a centre based at Dalhousie, the IWK Health Centre and Nova Scotia Health Authority — will lead the trials after receiving approval by Health Canada. This research will be led by the Center’s director, Dr. Scott Halperin, Professor, Department of Pediatrics, Dalhousie University and IWK Health Centre.

This is a very exciting development, and I encourage you to read the Dal Med News article on this important research.

Class of 2020 Grad Profiles
Dalhousie Medical School is home to students from various backgrounds and with a wide range of interests. This year 118 medical students graduated in a virtual convocation ceremony.

Please visit this Dal Med News article to read just a few of their stories.

Clerkship
Plans for the resumption of clinical clerkships on June 8th continue to progress.

Modified PIER 3 will be occurring May 26-28, with an online program that will include a session by Student Affairs that will explore changes that have occurred in the current clinical teaching environment. Further PIER 3 programming will be occurring following the completion of Unit 4 in September.

Faculty of Medicine Graduate Research Days
The Faculty of Medicine will be virtually holding our Graduate Research Days on June 8th and 9th. All are welcome to virtually attend and a communication with more information will be electronically delivered in the coming days.

Research Nova Scotia: New Health Investigator Grant
This week, Research Nova Scotia launched the New Health Investigator Grant, which supports early-career health researchers who are engaged in work that aligns with the province’s health research priorities. The grant aims to provide two years of support of up to $100,000 for researchers who are within the first five years of their academic appointment in Nova Scotia or who are new to the field of health research.

For more information, please visit the Research Nova Scotia website.

 

FacDev Seminar Series: Virtual Supervision of Medical Students in Clinical Settings
On Tuesday, May 26th at 8:00 p.m., Faculty Development is hosting a webinar on Virtual Supervision of Medical Students in Clinical Settings. Medical education has increasingly shifted online since the COVID-19 pandemic began, this seminar will help attendees identify opportunities for providing virtual supervision, and how to develop an approach to supervising medical students in their own contexts

For more information, please visit the Faculty Development website.

Mental Health Supports Available
In this uncertain time, our students, faculty, and staff may be experiencing stress and anxiety. If you are in need of assistance, several mental health resources are available to you:

Questions
Thank you to everyone who has reached out with feedback and questions during this ever-changing period and have expressed how this is impacting your education, research or professional responsibilities. Please know that we are meeting regularly to address your questions and communicate the answers to you in a timely manner. If your questions are not answered here, or on the website, please contact the Faculty of Medicine’s Communications Advisor, Jason Bremner (jason.bremner@dal.ca). For further information related to the impact of COVID-19 in the Faculty of Medicine, please visit our website at https://medicine.dal.ca/news/covid.html.

A reminder that the Public Health Agency of Canada, Nova Scotia Public Health, New Brunswick Public Health and PEI Public Health remain the best source for up-to-date public information on this rapidly changing situation. More information related to Dalhousie can be found at www.dal.ca/coronavirus.

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