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Faculty of Medicine: COVID-19 Update #18

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June 19, 2020

Good afternoon everyone,

As restrictions in the Maritime provinces continue to be eased, and we enter the summer months, I plan to make this my last weekly communication related to the COVID-19 pandemic.  Having said that, I will continue to share time sensitive information with you as it relates to returning to campus and the resumption of research activities when appropriate. For updates pertaining to the many accomplishments and activities of our students, faculty, and staff throughout the Faculty of Medicine, I will pick up where I left off and start updating my monthly blog.

This week, Dalhousie University launched its new COVID-19 update page, Forward Focused. This page provides information on the upcoming spring/summer and fall 2020 terms, and the steps the university is taking to ensure the best possible experience for students, staff and faculty by supporting academic success, investing in the student experience and taking safety seriously.

For the Faculty of Medicine, the COVID-19 information page will begin to be phased out as the hub for information. A “Forward Focused” page for our medical students with information for the upcoming term has been posted here, and the regular communications channels that were used prior to the COVID-19 pandemic will recommence as the primary source of information moving forward.

This week also marked a significant milestone in our return to normalcy, as faculty and staff at DMNB began a phased return to campus. There is still much work to be done before we see either DMNB or DMNS return completely, but this is certainly a step in the right direction! July 2nd remains the target date for research activities to resume at the Tupper Building and LSRI in Halifax. Once plans have been finalized, they will be communicated to the research community directly.

Unfortunately, in the Maritimes, we have had to face more tragedy with the recent deaths of Ms. Chantel Moore and Mr. Rodney Levi, who were killed in two separate events in New Brunswick after encounters with police. These deaths have highlighted the very significant history of systemic racism and social inequities experienced by Indigenous communities in Canada and we grieve for the families, friends and communities of these two people.

As I have stated in this forum previously, we are committed to providing our faculty, students, and staff with an environment free from racist behaviour and we acknowledge the need for meaningful change to address these important issues in the Faculty of Medicine.

I wish everyone a safe and happy weekend,

Dr. David Anderson
Dean, Faculty of Medicine

Update
This communication is to provide updates of events 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.

Medical Council of Canada Qualifying Examination – Part 1 – Remote Sittings
Class of 2020 Dal Med graduates and any other incoming PGY1 Dalhousie residents who wish to do their remotely proctored MCCQE Part I onsite at the Carleton campus/Tupper building for quiet and reliable internet access – can contact Mr. Andrew Steele-Moore, Resident & Student Affairs to discuss their date/time and arrangements for building access. Contact: asteelemoore@dal.ca

Please note that social distancing practices will be in place and availability may be limited. This would not replace in person directly proctored testing as previously assigned by the MCC.

Genome Atlantic Funding Announcement
Two teams of Dalhousie University scientists are receiving more than $300,000 in funding for genomics research into critical areas in the battle against COVID-19.  Drs. David Kelvin and Alyson Kelvin (also IWK Health Centre) are pursuing biomarkers for COVID-19 that could predict disease severity; while Drs. Nikhil Thomas, John Archibald and Morgan Langille will pilot an innovative protocol for large-scale surveillance testing.

For the full announcement, please visit the Genome Atlantic website.

Dalhousie University Faculty Award for Excellence in Education for Diversity: Dr. Amy Bombay
Congratulations to Dr. Amy Bombay, from the Department of Psychiatry and the School of Nursing, for being named the 2020 recipient of the Dalhousie University Faculty Award for Excellence in Education for Diversity.

Annual Progress Report and Community Check-In
Faculty and staff are invited to join President Deep Saini and members of Dalhousie’s leadership team on Thursday, June 25 for the university’s Annual Progress Report and Community Check-In.

This virtual event will serve as the annual June update – where the president reports on progress made over the last year – and the next Community Check-In for faculty and staff.

The Annual Progress Report and Community Check-In will take place in Microsoft Teams Live (NetID login required) next Thursday, June 25 at 10:30 a.m.

Supports for Incoming Residents
Maritime Resident Doctors is working with residents, programs and medical students to provide as many services as possible to those who are required to self isolate before their residencies begin on July 1, such as delivering groceries or walking pets, or whatever else may come as a result of travel restrictions.

For more information, please click here.

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:

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.

Faculty of Medicine: COVID-19 Update #17

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June 12, 2020

Good afternoon everyone,

On June 10th, I was pleased to join my Dal colleagues for a march at the Halifax Commons as part of a day of colleges and universities supporting the Black Lives Matter movement and highlighting the need to address systemic racism. The event provided a forum to reflect upon the important social injustice issues related to systemic racism and the importance of the Black Lives Matter movement.

The event was well-attended and there were several speakers from Dalhousie, including Dr. OmiSoore Dryden, the James R. Johnston Chair in Black Canadian Studies and Dr. Barbara Hamilton-Hinch, the co-Chair of Promoting Leadership in health for African Nova Scotians (PLANS). They emphasized the importance of taking positive action against racism in our society and not just talking about it. These are important points for me, as I am committed to leading meaningful change to address these important issues in the Faculty of Medicine.

Thanks to Dr. Valerie Chappe, our Medical Research Development Office team, and our graduate students, who put on a very successful Virtual Graduate Student Research Days this week. Congratulations to all our presenters and award winners and thanks to all who virtually attended.

For medical education, this week saw the first glimpse of a return to normalcy with the resumption of clinical clerkship rotations, following a lengthy pause due to the COVID-19 pandemic. With the appropriate training and safety measures in place, we are pleased that our clerks are able to safely continue their excellent hands-on medical education. Thank you to all of the clerks and clerkship directors for your patience as we worked through this difficult situation.

Earlier this week, a memo was sent to all Dalhousie faculty, students, and staff outlining the phased approach of a return to campus in Nova Scotia, beginning on July 2, 2020. This initial approach will consist only of individuals required to work on campus to ensure continued operations of their units or research spaces, and who can do so safely.

While the majority of faculty, students, and staff will remain working from home, Faculty of Medicine researchers are eager to return to their laboratories. For planning purposes, a maximum of 25% Dalhousie’s collective, university-wide personnel will be permitted to return to campus in this first phase. The research community’s continued patience and understanding while we review the detailed plans for a safe resumption of activities is greatly appreciated. We are excited to welcome you back to campus soon.

Have a great weekend,

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.

PGME Update
Earlier this week, Dr. Andrew Warren, Associate Dean, PGME, sent a memo to all residents with an update on the most relevant issues as it relates to COVID-19.
Importantly, work isolation guidelines and travel restrictions for residents traveling to and from New Brunswick have been updated. This document can be found here.

For all other updates, please visit the Faculty Medicine COVID-19 information page.

CIHR – Spring 2020 Project Grant Competition Update
CIHR has decided to move forward with adjudication of the applications received for the Spring 2020 Project Grant competition during the summer. The full announcement can be found here.

Please note that if you wish to withdraw your application it must be done by June 12, 2020 (today).

Elimination of Appendix A Form
The Vice President of Research and Innovation’s office announced earlier this week that the use of the Appendix A form for requesting research restart for COVID-19 related research has been discontinued.

The Appendix A form was designed for PIs to request approval to continue essential research – or commence new COVID-19 research – in the period following 24 March 2020, when all campus research operations were suspended.
COVID-19 researchers are asked to complete the forms for return to research so that we can prepare a comprehensive plan.

Any questions can be directed to Dr. Roger McLeod (Roger.McLeod@Dal.Ca), Associate Dean, Research.

Clerkship Update
Draft clerkship schedules for the classes of 2021 and 2022 have been prepared and are awaiting final approval and will be posted as soon as possible.

Current plans for electives for the Class of 2021 are focused on students doing their electives at Dalhousie sites; processes are being developed for both DMNB and DMNS students to apply. We will continue to follow provincial policies and guidelines related to travel and self-isolation; if there are changes that allow it, we will work towards students traveling between provinces with Dalhousie sites.

Appointment of Dr. Stephen Miller, Associate Dean, Continuing Professional Development and Medical Education
On behalf of the Faculty of Medicine, I am pleased to announce Dr. Stephen Miller has been appointed Associate Dean, Continuing Professional Development and Medical Education, for a five-year term. This appointment is effective July 1, 2020. I would like to thank Dr. Connie LeBlanc for her numerous contributions during her ten-year tenure as Associate Dean.

For the full appointment announcement, please click here.

Appointments of Dr. Younes Anini and Dr. Leslie Anne Campbell, Research Trainees Advisor
On behalf of the Faculty of Medicine, I am pleased to announce the appointments of Dr. Younes Anini and Dr. Leslie Anne Campbell, as Faculty Research Trainees Advisors for our graduate students and post-doctoral fellows for a two-year term.

For the full appointment announcements, please click here.

Faculty of Medicine Annual Faculty Meeting Award Recipients
At the Faculty of Medicine Annual Faculty Meeting on June 2, it was my pleasure to present the awards and promotions to members of the Faculty of Medicine. Recognizing the contributions of our many faculty members in the areas of research, education, and community service is a key component of our strategic plan, #DalMedForward.
Congratulations to you all on your achievements and accomplishments.

For the full list of award recipients, please click here. For promotions, please click here.

Virtual Graduate Student Research Days
Congratulations to all those involved in planning the first ever Virtual Graduate Student Research Days. I would like to acknowledge that this event would not have been possible without the extraordinary ingenuity and collaboration between the Medical Research Development Office, MedIT, the various departments throughout Dalhousie, and the students and presenters, who have all stepped up to make this event a success.

Special mention to Ms. Meg Dahn, from the Department of Pathology, who was the recipient of the 2020 Faculty of Medicine, Excellence in Research Award. This major award is given to the graduate student within the Faculty of Medicine who has demonstrated excellence in research. Each department within the Faculty of Medicine nominates one student, who is then and judged on the basis of scientific merit by a review committee.

Doctors Nova Scotia Welcomes New President
Congratulations to Dr. Robyn MacQuarrie, who began her one-year term as President of Doctors Nova Scotia on June 8th.

Dr. MacQuarrie graduated from Dalhousie Medical School in 2006 and received her specialty from the Royal College of Physician and Surgeons of Canada in 2011. Prior to her medical career, Dr. MacQuarrie completed a Master of Applied Science in biomedical engineering as well as an undergraduate degree in microbiology and immunology, both from Dalhousie University.

Information Security
Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, there has been a significant increase of cyber-crime campaigns directly targeting educational and research institutions. As communicated yesterday by Josh Leon, Dalhousie CIO, part of Dalhousie’s efforts to secure Dalhousie’s networks and protect the information of faculty, students, and staff will be enhanced security restrictions in place at the network border. Starting Monday June 15, direct remote desktop communications (Windows remote desktop, VNC, and MacOS remote desktop) will be restricted to either Dalhousie campus locations or through VPN (Virtual Private Network) access. To access these services from off-campus locations users must first connect through Dalhousie’s VPN service.

This will not impact daily activities for the majority of those in the Faculty of Medicine, but if you need to remotely access a computer on campus as part of your work and/or research, you must use the Dalhousie VPN, or the remote desktop service will not be available. If you have any questions or concerns, or do not have the Dalhousie VPN installed on your computer and need assistance, you can find more information here or contact medit@dal.ca.

Reminder:
A reminder to our community to be vigilant and cautious with email in your inbox and the tools being used to communicate and share information. More details can be found at the Remote Working site under the Technology Resources menu, including:

  • COVID-19 Related Scams: a number of malicious actors are taking the opportunity to exploit fears about the infection and use alerts and other communications to trick people into installing malware on your devices. Don’t click on a link or open an attachment of anything suspicious. “When it doubt, throw it out.” More information can be found here.
  • Technology Security Topics (link): contains information related to Zoom Risks and Best Practices, VPNs and Remote Access, Securing Mobile Devices, Protection from Phishing, and much more.
  • New guidelines for COVID-19 Vaccine Researchers have been developed to help ensure the security and integrity of research data and information, and are available here.

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.