Our 150^th has arrived!

Our long-anticipated 150^th anniversary year has finally arrived! After a year of planning, it is very satisfying to see all of the events and tributes falling into place.

I’m especially pleased to bring your attention to our first two Dal Med Innovators—people who have made special contributions to the medical profession and our society as a whole.

Our first (January) Dal Med Innovator is Dr. Annie Hamilton, a true pioneer. She was the first woman to graduate from Dalhousie University with a medical degree, all the way back in 1894. Dr. Hamilton was well known around Halifax for crusading against tobacco and alcohol, and for making house calls on her bicycle. After a few years she travelled to China and spent the rest of her life there as a medical missionary.

Our second (February) Dal Med Innovator is a modern-day pioneer, Dr. Chadwick Williams, one of few African Nova Scotians to graduate from Dalhousie Medical School prior to last year. Even though he had no role models to inspire him on his path, Dr. Williams took a leap of faith in himself, graduating in 2004. He is now a highly respected gastroenterologist and clinical teacher, and an inspirational role model for young people in our African Nova Scotian communities.

The first indigenous African Nova Scotian to graduate from Dalhousie Medical School was Dr. Harris Barton, Class of 1978. Dr. Barton did his residency in psychiatry at the University of Ottawa and remained in Ottawa throughout his career and until his death in 2010. He was known for his compassion and dedication to his patients and his great love of friends, music and laughter.

We look forward to presenting a new Dal Med Innovator to you every month this year. We have truly been blessed by the contributions of so many outstanding individuals over the past 150 years.

If you are interested in learning more about Dalhousie Medical School’s remarkably colourful history, I encourage you to pick up a copy of Noble Goals, Dedicated Doctors: The Story of Dalhousie Medical School, written by our esteemed former Dean of Medicine, Dr. Jock Murray.

 

A sad farewell

Before I get any further into my announcements, I must unfortunately share some very sad news. Two members of our medical school community have recently passed away.

Dr. Angela (Angie) McGibbon, director of education for Horizon Health and an important part of our medical education team, died suddenly earlier this month.

Dr. McGibbon was a highly respected clinician and teacher. In 2017, the Canadian Association of Medicine Education (CAME) awarded her with a certificate of merit for her contributions to medical education in Canada. Among her recent contributions, Dr. McGibbon co-chaired the resident wellness task force that formed the basis for our resident wellness program, the Resident Affairs Office and the new position of assistant dean for resident affairs.

I have worked with Dr. McGibbon since she was a medical resident at Dalhousie. Her ability to multi-task and balance her work with a very active family life was inspiring. She always had great ideas and energy and was a wonderful colleague and friend. She will be greatly missed by all who knew her. We extend our deepest condolences to Dr. McGibbon¹s family. View Dr. McGibbon’s obituary.

Another esteemed leader, Dr. William Francis “Bill” Mason—a former associate dean of postgraduate medical education—also recently passed away. Dr. Mason was a highly respected radiologist, who spent most of his career at the Victoria General Hospital. He served in executive capacities on numerous medical boards and committees and was a past-president of the Canadian Association of Radiologists, president of the Medical Society of Nova Scotia and a member of the board of directors of the American College of Radiology.

Beyond his professional life, Dr. Mason was very involved in the life of his community and province, receiving the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal for his contributions. Among these, he was instrumental in founding the Landmark East School in Wolfville, for children with learning disabilities. He will be sorely missed by his family, friends and community. View Dr. Mason’s obituary.

 

150^th events and celebrations on the horizon

Now that our year of 150^th anniversary celebrations is underway, events are coming along quickly. I encourage you to take a look at the online event listing for an overview. At last count there were about 20 events lined up hosted by departments, students and other groups.

I would like to draw two larger-scale events to your attention. One is the Medical Education Institute on June 8, “Educating Leaders for the Next 150 years.” The Faculty Development Office is hosting this one-day seminar on how we can educate our learners to become leaders with a strong sense of social accountability.

The other major event is our 150^th gala and celebration weekend from November 2 to 4. In addition to the dinner and dance on November 3 at the new Nova Scotia Convention Centre, there will be alumni gatherings and professional development events, a reception to honour our Dal Med Innovators and their families, and a breakfast hosted by Dalhousie Medical Research Foundation. We will share more particulars as we get closer to November. In the meantime, if you haven’t already, mark your calendar!  This is a celebratory weekend for the entire Dalhousie Medical School community and our partners.  It promises to be a fantastic weekend of events.

 

New leadership appointments

I’m pleased to introduce Dr. Tony O’Leary, the new head and chief of the Department of Critical Care, who will join us from Scotland in early March. Dr. O’Leary brings a strong background in clinical practice, teaching, and leadership to Dalhousie, along with a wealth of experience in the use of simulation training in medical education.

Dr. O’Leary earned his MD from the University of Dundee in Scotland, followed by training in general internal medicine, gastroenterology, anesthesia and critical care. On top of this, he holds a masters in health care leadership. He has held a wide variety of leadership roles, including a term as head of critical care at Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust.

In announcing Dr. O’Leary’s appointment, I also want to thank Dr. Tobias Witter for taking on the role of interim head of the Department of Critical Care since 2016. He has done an excellent job leading the department and his contributions are greatly appreciated.

I’m also pleased to welcome Dr. Janice Chisholm to our leadership team, as our lead of Competency Based Medical Education (CBME). In her previous role as program director of the Department of Anesthesia’s residency training program, Dr. Chisholm led a CBME demonstration project that has provided her with unique insight and experience that will be useful to our clinical departments as they transition to the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada’s CBME model, known as Competence By Design (CBD).

The PGME office has just launched its new CBME website, where you can learn a lot more about new this approach to medical education.

I am also happy to let you know that Ms. Jennifer Lewandowski has started as our new communications advisor this month. Jennifer brings many years of experience in the health sector to the Faculty of Medicine. Most recently, she managed public and media relations for the Mental Health Foundation of Nova Scotia, and has worked in a volunteer capacity with the Ronald McDonald House Charity Atlantic Chapter, the Blue Nose International Marathon and the Doctors Nova Scotia Youth Run. She is the founder of Pacing in Pink, an Atlantic-Canadian initiative supporting breast health awareness in young women.

Dr. Jaymi Cormier has joined the Medical Research Development Office as manager of health research strategy, a shared position with the Faculty of Health. Dr. Cormier brings extensive experience in developing large-scale grant proposals to her new role and will be working with us to develop a high-impact health research strategy in collaboration with the Nova Scotia Health Authority, the IWK, the N.S. departments of Health and Wellness and Labour and Advanced Education, and the Nova Scotia Health Research Foundation. It’s very encouraging to see this level of collaboration and alignment among the leaders of our health research organizations. The resulting health research strategy will be of great benefit to our region for years to come.

It is also exciting that this Integrated Nova Scotia Health Research Strategy is being developed at the same time a health research network is forming in New Brunswick, involving Horizon Health, the University of New Brunswick, Dalhousie Medicine New Brunswick and the New Brunswick Community College. This collaboration with strengthen health research in New Brunswick. It is encouraging to see two of our Maritime Provinces recognizing and embracing the need for collaboration and partnership to maximize the success and impact of our research initiatives.

 

Accolades and acknowledgements

In keeping with Heart Month, I’m pleased to let you know what Dr. David Waisman, professor in the Department of Biochemistry & Molecular Biology, is recipient of this year’s Dr. Greg Ferrier Award from the Heart & Stroke Foundation of Nova Scotia. The foundation gives this award every year, in honour of the late Dr. Ferrier, to the investigator with the highest-rated proposal to its grant-in-aid competition.

Inside Dalhousie, MedIT member John Kyle has won the EMS Excellence in Clinical Simulation Champion Award. This award honours an individual who has been actively championing state-of-the-art clinical simulation-related technology, which Mr. Kyle has certainly been doing with faculty, staff, and students in the Centre for Collaborative Clinical Learning and Research. His efforts are helping transform how more than 20 health-related disciplines across Dal’s faculties of Dentistry, Medicine and Health work together to prepare learners for their careers.

On the national level, Dr. Jocelyn Downie has been appointed a member of the Order of Canada. This honour is reserved for Canadians who have made exceptional contributions to our society. Dr. Downie, a professor in the faculties of both medicine and law, is particularly well known for her contributions to the public discussion around spirituality and end-of-life care, the right to die, and physician-assisted death.

 

Faculty of Medicine Awards call for nominations

Several years ago, the Faculty of Medicine created a series of awards to acknowledge and celebrate excellence among our faculty members: 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 graduates. I encourage you to consider putting forth a nomination. The deadline for nominations is March 29, 2018. Details about eligibility for each of these awards is available here. The awards will be presented along with our faculty research awards at our June faculty meeting, to complement the awards we’ll be presenting this spring to our staff and graduating students.

We’re also seeking nominations for the Dr. Allen Cohen Memorial Award for Community Service, established in honour of the late Dr. Allan Cohen, a distinguished member of Dalhousie Medical School. This award recognizes outstanding community service among faculty, staff, and students who are making a difference through their dedicated efforts on behalf of health-related organizations and causes. The deadline for nominations is March 23, 2018.

 

Canadian Institutes of Health Research successes

I am very pleased with the success of Faculty of Medicine researchers, who have secured $7.7 million among them in the most recent CIHR competition. Of the 11 successful applications, three were ranked #1 in their committee. This is a tremendous achievement and indicator of the highest level of excellence, so congratulations to Dr. Susan Howlett (Pharmacology), Dr. Matthew Herder (Pharmacology, Health Law Institute) and Dr. Kenneth Rockwood (Medicine) for their top rankings! See this article for more about our winners and their projects.

We’re very pleased with these results, which place us slightly above the national average in terms of success rates this round. It has been extremely difficult to secure CIHR funding for a number of years, but recent changes to their process have made it more transparent and reliable in terms of rewarding the highest-merit proposals. At the same time, we’ve instituted an internal peer review process to ensure the top-notch quality of our researchers’ proposals, and provided bridge funding to allow researchers with promising ideas to gather proof-of-principle data to strengthen their applications. These factors together are helping our researchers succeed.

 

On that note, I will sign off until next month. Please do take the time to learn about our first two Dal Med Innovators and stay tuned for more announcements of upcoming Dal Med 150 Signature Events!

A year of success and progress

As 2017 comes to a close, I would like to thank everyone in the medical school community for your tremendous efforts over the past year. It has been a stellar year, with many accomplishments and ongoing progress towards achieving the objectives of our strategic plan.

First and foremost, we can all be very proud of the successful accreditation reviews of our undergraduate medical education and continuing professional development programs. Both received enthusiastic positive feedback from the reviewers, thanks to the dedicated efforts of our faculty and staff.

A great deal of effort also went into the Wave research process, culminating in the identification of four priority area of research excellence for the Faculty of Medicine. Over 250 faculty were identified in the 27 team applications that participated in the Wave process, speaking to the high level of engagement of faculty in areas of research excellence.

Our postgraduate programs were also in high gear, preparing for their accreditation reviews this coming year. Anesthesia and ENT (Head and Neck Surgery) carried the additional challenge of rolling out Competency By Design in their programs. Over the next year, five more programs will be integrating this individualized competence-based approach to residency training.

 

New residency training positions in Nova Scotia

It’s a time of great change and excitement in our residency programs, in fact. Most recently, we’ve been delighted to learn that the Nova Scotia Department of Health and Wellness has agreed to fund an additional 25 residency training seats beginning in 2019. Ten of these will be in the Department of Family Medicine, and the other 15 will be distributed across our specialist programs.

We will be working closely with the residency programs, the Department of Health and Wellness, the Nova Scotia Health Authority and the IWK to ensure that these specialist training seats are assigned to those disciplines that best match the projected health care needs and priorities across the province.

These are the first new residency seats to be funded in Nova Scotia for many years and a most welcome development. This new investment in our postgraduate programs—and indeed in the health of Nova Scotians and Maritimers—signals a major commitment on the part of the Nova Scotia government to address physician shortages and work with the medical school to plan and prepare for the future.

 

New COO to start in January

I am very pleased to welcome the medical school’s first-ever chief operating officer, Ms. Linda Penny, who will join the Faculty of Medicine after the holidays.

Prior to her most recent role as a senior financial and strategic planning leader for Dalhousie University, Ms. Penny worked for many years in senior roles in the Nova Scotia Department of Health and Wellness, with direct responsibility for financial management and business planning of physician services and district health authorities. She has worked extensively with the alternative funding program, physician contracts, Doctors Nova Scotia, and leaders across the health care system.

We feel very fortunate to welcome someone with Ms. Penny’s depth of experience to a new role at the medical school. As COO, she will oversee all facets of operations, in support of implementing the strategic plan, Dal Med Forward. This will include communications, finance, governance, human resources, policy, information technology, facilities and space planning. We are looking forward with great enthusiasm to working with Ms. Penny!

 

New academic leaders

On the academic side of things, I am pleased to announce that Dr. Elizabeth Cowley is the new head of the Department of Physiology & Biophysics. Dr. Cowley is a strong educator and highly respected scientist, known for her work in the role of oxidative stress in lung diseases. She brings extensive experience in departmental work and the ability to engage and synthesize a wide range of viewpoints. She will be a unifying force within the department, to guide it forward in the achievement of its academic goals.

In welcoming Dr. Cowley, I must also thank Dr. Nik Morgunov for his service as Physiology & Biophysics’ head since 2012. Dr. Morgunov has helped the department advance its academic contributions and strategic goals tremendously throughout his time as head.

In clinical departments, we are happy to announce that Dr. Jean-Philippe Pignol will be joining us in April 2018, as the new head and chief of the Department of Radiation Oncology. Dr. Pignol is currently a professor and chair of the Department of Radiation Oncology at Erasmus University in The Netherlands, with a cross-appointment in the Department of Radiation Science and Technology at the Technical University of Delft. An acknowledged world leader in the advancement of radiotherapy for the treatment of breast cancer, Dr. Pignol will be a valuable asset to patient care, teaching and research in this vitally important area. We are grateful for the many years of service provided by Dr. Tettah Ago, who has led the department with great dedication and skill since 2006.

We also have a new assistant dean of graduate studies. Dr. Valerie Chappe, associate professor in the Department of Physiology & Biophysics, has a wealth of experience supervising graduate students. She will do an excellent job overseeing the progress of our graduate students at this higher level. Dr. Chappe is assuming this portfolio from Dr. Roger McLeod, who has been overseeing graduate studies in addition to his role as interim associate dean for research.

 

Kicking of our 150^th anniversary celebrations

With 2018 and the 150^th anniversary of the medical school just around the corner, we have already begun to celebrate.

On December 2, the Division of Continuing Professional Development and Department of Emergency Medicine co-hosted the 7^th annual Fear family memorial conference on the theme of disaster planning and management, in deference to the 100^th anniversary of the Halifax Explosion and as the initial event of our 150^th anniversary celebrations.

The Explosion was a significant event in the medical school’s history, as it catapulted faculty members and students into prominent leadership roles and cemented the medical school as a pillar of the community. This disaster called on every physician, resident and medical student associated with the faculty to work around the clock for days on end to help thousands of injured people. Medical students, in particular, were thrust into roles they were not prepared for—such as delivering anesthesia and assisting in surgeries—and did an outstanding job.

An enthusiastic crowd attended the conference, representing a broad spectrum of our community. Among the speakers was Dr. T. Jock Murray, a former dean of medicine and noted medical historian, who spoke of the medical response to the Halifax Explosion.

A few days later, on the 11^th, we hosted a book signing to launch Dr. Murray’s new book, Noble Goals, Dedicated Doctors: The Story of Dalhousie Medical School. It is a wonderful read and out in perfect time both for Christmas and to mark our 150^th year! I encourage everyone to pick up a copy, it is a fascinating story.

Stay tuned for announcements of other events that be rolling out over the course of 2018 and mark your calendars for the November 3 gala!

 

Transformational gift

In a year of good-news stories for the medical school, I am especially pleased to note the extraordinary contribution of medical professor emeritus, Dr. Ron Stewart, who has pledged $1.3 million to the Dalhousie Medical Research Foundation (DMRF). The funds will be used to establish the Ronald Stewart Symposium in Emergency Medical Services Research and provide seed funding for a chair in the same field. This kind of gift has transformational potential. We are honoured that Dr. Stewart has provided such a generous gift to research in the faculty.

 

Research funding and awards

Two faculty members recently received Canada Research Chair funding. Dr. Johan Van Limbergen has been named a Tier II Canada Research Chair in Translational Microbiomics, in support of his work to understand the role of the microbiome in nutritional therapy for patients with inflammatory bowel disease. Dr. Van Limbergen has also received funding from the Canada Foundation for Innovation’s John R. Evans Leaders Fund as part of its partnership with the Canada Research Chairs Program.

Dr. Andrew Roger’s Tier I Canada Research Chair in Comparative Genomics and Evolutionary Bioinformatics has been renewed. Dr. Roger will clarify the mechanisms by which harmless microbes can evolve into disease-causing pathogens, develop resistance to drugs and adapt to changing environments.

One of our star graduate students, PhD candidate Simon Gebremeskel, is receiving national and even international recognition of his work, with Dr. Brent Johnston, to develop a cancer treatment that kills cancer cells by both activating the immune system and introducing viruses that kill cancer cells. Simon was top winner at this year’s Canadian Student Health Research Forum in Winnipeg, earning himself a nomination to attend the Lindau Nobel Laureate meeting in Germany in 2018.

The Canadian Pain Society has recognized the outstanding research of Dr. Natalie Rosen, naming her recipient of its 2018 Early Career Award. CPS also honoured Dr. Christine Chambers for her many years of exceptional contributions as mentor to a new generation of pain researchers.

 

Accolades and acknowledgements

Our faculty members have continued to shine on the national stage, reflecting their important contributions to their fields.

Two of our faculty members—Dr. Michael Dunbar and Dr. Janice Graham—have been named to the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences. This is a prestigious and influential appointment reserved for individuals who are not only at the top of their fields but have made extraordinary contributions to society. Dr. Dunbar is an international leader in advancing technology, practice and outcomes of joint replacement surgery. Dr. Graham advises national and international bodies on complex issues around the ethical procurement and use of research evidence, so that regulatory and policy decisions about therapeutics, vaccines and other interventions truly serve the public interest.

Dalhousie’s former dean of medicine, Dr. Noni MacDonald, received the National Child Day Award from the Canadian Institute of Child Health in November, for her significant work in Canada and around the world promoting immunization and solutions for maternal-child health problems.

One of our faculty members in New Brunswick, Dr. Karlyne Dufour (postgraduate program director in the Department of Family Medicine), has been named one of Canada’s 2017 Family Physicians of the Year. This is a great honour, as recipients are nominated by their peers and provincial chapters of the Canadian College of Family Physicians and must exemplify the qualities of a skilled community-based clinician.

I must also congratulate Dalhousie’s Stroke Interprofessional Team, which received a regional award for its contributions to simulation-based training at the 2017 SIM Expo in Toronto earlier this month. This award recognizes exceptional commitment to innovate, advocate and advance simulation.

Finally, two of our faculty members received certificates of merit from the Canadian Association of Medical Education—Dr. Robert Boulay, assistant dean of clinical education for Dalhousie Medicine New Brunswick, and Dr. Geoff Williams, assistant dean of postgraduate medical education—for their valuable roles in medical education at Dalhousie.

With that impressive collection of achievements, I will sign off for 2017. It has been an outstanding year on many levels, thanks to the passion and commitment of so many individuals and their willingness and ability to work extremely well in teams. It takes teamwork to achieve great things and we have incredibly strong teams. I’m looking forward to seeing what we can do in 2018!

I extend my best wishes to everyone for a joyful holiday season and hope that, amid all the celebrations with family, neighbours and friends, you are able to find some quiet time to relax and reflect. Most of all, I wish you a happy and healthy year in 2018!

November 2, 2017

It’s been a busy two months since the beginning of the semester, with some significant developments I’m excited to share with you.

 

MD program receives accreditation

First and foremost, I am delighted to report that our undergraduate medical education program has received accreditation for an eight-year term. This favourable result is the culmination of years of effort throughout the Faculty of Medicine, during which we examined every aspect of our curriculum and operations and took the necessary actions to ensure everything we do meets the extremely high bar set by the accrediting bodies.

The Committee on Accreditation of Canadian Medical Schools (CACMS) recently delivered its report and the welcome news that our MD program meets the accreditation standards for medical schools in North America. Of the 12 overall standards, 11 were rated as satisfactory and one as satisfactory with further monitoring in a year when we have more data in hand.

Of the 94 elements within those 12 standards, only one rated unsatisfactory. This was to do with students’ awareness of mistreatment policies and reporting mechanisms, and reports of mistreatment. We had already identified this element as an issue during our self-study process and begun taking action to ensure students are fully aware of these policies and how to report any violations. We strongly encourage students to report episodes of mistreatment in order for us to take appropriate corrective actions. We will follow up with CACMS about progress made regarding this element in a report to our accreditors required in one year.

The accreditation review team reported they were particularly impressed by the high degree of engagement of our leaders, faculty, students and staff in improving the quality of medical education. Other notable strengths are the quality of our IT technical and human resources. The accreditors also praised the quality of our distributed education programs and Dalhousie Medicine New Brunswick.

I want to thank and congratulate the many people who have played a role in improving our medical education and have contributed to the accreditation process. This was a team effort and we truly have a great team at Dalhousie!

You can learn more about the accreditation process and our results in this article, recently posted on our website.

 

Wave research teams announced

This month marked the culmination of another very important process in the Faculty of Medicine that came from our strategic plan—#DalMedForward—the announcement of our Wave research teams. You’ll recall the goal of the Wave process was to develop internationally leading teams of researchers who are competitive now (Wave I) or will be competitive in three to five years (Wave II) for major national and international funding opportunities.

It has been gratifying to see the level of engagement and enthusiasm from our research community around this call for proposals. We received proposals from 27 research teams, involving 275 researchers, in a wide range of research areas. It was a huge task to sift through all those applications, evaluate them, and make strategic decisions about areas of focus. We were fortunate to have our former dean, Dr. Tom Marrie, chairing the review panel that consisted of senior leaders in research, health care and fundraising.

At special event last month, we announced the successful teams. There were two Wave I teams: Genomics in Medicine and I3V (Infection, Immunity, Inflammation & Vaccinology). There were also two Wave II teams. One was a collaboration of seven research groups that were amalgamated into a Health Priorities team and the second was a Cardiovascular Diseases team. For more detailed information about the four Wave teams, read “The Wave” reveals strengths and priorities for medical research (Dal Med News).

The goal of the Wave process is to greatly grow “the pie” of research opportunities. Identifying areas of focus and international strength will enhance our chances of securing major sources of funding in this competitive research environment. As per our strategic plan, we also will continue to support our base of researchers and develop resources that will be of benefit overall to our research efforts.

I was grateful that at the event announcing our Wave teams, we had special speakers including Ms. Denise Perret, Deputy Minister of Health and Wellness for Nova Scotia, Dr. Alice Aiken, VP Research from Dalhousie, Dr. Tom Marrie, VP research NSHA, Dr. Edouard Hendricks, VP Medicine Horizon Health Authority, Dr. Jason Berman, VP Research IWK, and Mr. Brian Thompson, CEO of DMRF. All spoke about this being a very important and exciting time in health research in the Maritime Provinces. We are now in a place of unprecedented alignment of our research community in partnership with health care providers, decision makers and policymakers. There’s a stronger shared sense of direction, to which the Wave brings further momentum and a real opportunity to make substantial positive impacts on health and health care. I’m looking forward to working with our associate deans, other faculties at Dalhousie, our research teams, and partners to continue to refine and advance our research mission.

 

The Molly Appeal to advance personalized cancer treatment

Also in the realm of research, Dalhousie Medical Research Foundation’s annual Molly Appeal is well underway. This year’s campaign will raise funds to provide Dalhousie cancer researchers with resources to develop personalized cancer treatments, tailored to the specific genetic and molecular profile of individual patients’ cancers.

Personalized cancer treatment really is the way of the future. As we identify more genetic mutations and develop or re-purpose drugs that reverse the effects of those mutations, we can put more people’s cancers into remission, with far fewer side effects and much better chances of survival. This research is part of Wave 1 team, Genomics in Medicine, and I’m delighted that it’s the focus of this year’s Molly Appeal.

If you haven’t already done so, I encourage you to make a gift to this year’s Molly Appeal. You can learn more about the campaign here.

 

Moving forward with our strategic plan

We are continuing our ongoing efforts to both fulfill the goals of our “#DalMedForward” strategic plan, and to ensure that our plan is in alignment with the needs of citizens and communities here in the Maritimes. I was pleased to host the Faculty of Medicine Dean’s Retreat in Fredericton last week, under the theme, “Serving and Engaging the Maritime Community through Research, Education and Health Policy.”

We were able to address many key areas of the strategic plan, and chart our next steps in such important endeavours as recruitment of rural students to medical school, provision of quality health care in rural communities, and strengthening research that enhances the health care of rural Canadians.

An updated overview of the Way Forward strategic plan can be found here.

 

150^th anniversary celebrations kicking off soon

The end of 2017 is coming up quickly, which means we will soon be starting our year of 150^th anniversary celebrations. We’ll be kicking off on December 2 with the 7^th Annual Thomas and Alice Morgans Fear Memorial Conference, which will focus on emergency response and preparedness.

This promises to be an extremely interesting day, as we look back at the Halifax Explosion, 100 years later, from a medical perspective. Dr. Jock Murray will take us back to the unfolding of this tragic event in our history, with an eye to the truly vital role that Dalhousie Medical School played in response to the mass casualties and injuries that needed to be treated.

Other speakers will walk us through the history of Canadian disasters and lessons learned, current practices in disaster planning, the importance of physiological skills training for clinical practice, and how to foster resilience in disaster situations. You can download the draft program here: Dec 2, 2017 Emergency Preparedness Conference Draft Schedule, and register here. I hope to see you there!

I also hope to see you a year from now, on November 3, 2018, when we’ll be hosting our biggest gala event ever. Mark your calendars and visit our 150^th website for more details.

In the meantime, enjoy these last few days of mild weather before we head into winter. I wish you the best with all of your endeavours over the remaining two months before the holidays and the beginning of our 150^th anniversary year of Dalhousie Medical School and the 200^th anniversary of Dalhousie University!

I hope everyone had a great summer and some free time to enjoy the fantastic weather we had in July and August with family and friends!

With September here, it’s time now to embark on a new academic year. There is a noticeable buzz in the Tupper Building and Carleton campus at Dalhousie as we welcome a new cohort of undergraduate medical, BSc Med Sci and graduate students to our campus. For all of them, it is the start of an exciting, challenging and very meaningful time, as they enter this new phase in their education.

A highlight of the early part of the year was our welcoming ceremony for 110 new medical students, which introduced them to the Hippocratic Oath they will be pledging in four years’ time when they graduate. The ceremony focused on the importance of diversity and inclusion in the Faculty of Medicine. We were privileged to have the Drummers from Home, Elder Debbie Eisan and Aaron Prosper, a fourth-year medical sciences student and member of the Eskasoni First Nation, involved with the ceremony.

I wish all of our students the best of luck as they pursue their studies and follow their dreams.

 

A big year ahead for postgraduate medical education

a) Accreditation
Last year, we focused a great deal of attention on undergraduate medical education and continuing professional development, as we prepared for accreditation of these two major programs. In 2017-18, we finalize preparations for the accreditation of our 57 postgraduate medical education (PGME) programs. The accreditation visit by the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons and the College of Family Physicians will take place in November 2018.

The accreditation standards for PGME have recently changed in Canada and Dalhousie will be the first Canadian medical school assessed using these new standards. This has created additional challenges and work for our program directors, as well as for our PGME office, who need all of our support in preparing for accreditation. Our PGME office has led a rigorous internal review process that for the most part revealed our programs are in good shape. They will continue to work with our program directors and programs this academic year, in the lead-up to accreditation. There will be more information to come on this very important topic in the months ahead.

b) Competency-based postgraduate medical education
Our PGME office has also been leading a major transition in how residents will be trained and promoted throughout their postgraduate years. In keeping with what is happening in PGME Canada-wide, we are transitioning to a competency-based medical education (CBME) model. The Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons is leading the shift in this direction and has developed a framework for residency training it calls Competence by Design (CBD). Our Family Medicine residency program has used a competency-based model for a number of years. Two of our other residency programs – Anesthesiology and Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery – have begun the transition to CBD, starting with the new residents who arrived on July 1. We will start nine more programs on CBD this coming July, and gradually shift the rest of our residency programs to the CBD model over the next five years. Traditionally, residency training programs have taken a time-based approach, with a focus on completing a set curriculum over a series of 12-month periods (two for family medicine and five for specialty programs). CBD, on the other hand, involves a stage-based system in which residents must demonstrate competence in a specific set of prerequisite skills before advancing to the next level of the program. To facilitate this, our PGME programs are adopting updated assessment tools that use new concepts called “entrustable professional activities and milestones.” These ensure that residents have mastered the clinical tasks and activities that are expected of them at each stage of their training.  In theory, this could take some residents more time, and others less, than the traditional time frames for residency training. This evolution in how we approach residency training will help us remain leaders in medical education.

As we transition to competency-based medical education, there will be multiple opportunities for everyone in the medical education community to learn about CBME and develop skills to support this transition. Keep an eye out for town halls, workshops, presentations, and a variety of activities to keep you updated. I must congratulate our PGME office for its exceptional work over the past year or more to prepare for two such monumental milestones – accreditation and the transition to a brand new model of medical education. We are fortunate to have a very high-functioning PGME office here at Dalhousie. I commend the leadership of our PGME associate dean, Dr. Andrew Warren, and assistant dean, Dr. Geoff Williams, and the dedicated efforts of the staff and faculty who are making it possible for us not only to succeed but to excel in these important endeavours.

c) New support for residents
Another new development on the PGME front is the recent establishment of an office of resident affairs, to provide academic, social, spiritual, emotional and mental health support to our residents. The office will be co-located with our office of student affairs in new facilities on the ground floor of the CRC Building, under the administrative umbrella of the Office of Resident and Student Affairs.

The new office is headed by Dr. Carolyn Thomson, our first assistant dean of resident affairs. Dr. Thomson brings a great deal of experience to her new role – for a number of years, she served as coordinator of professional support at Doctors Nova Scotia, providing guidance and support to practising physicians and residents and developing health and wellness programs for them.  She will be working with all 57 residency training programs, Maritime Resident Doctors, our Resident Wellness Committee, and Dalhousie Health Services, among others, to identify residents’ needs and design and deliver programs and services to residents.

 

New department heads
I am very pleased to announce the appointments of three department heads. Dr. Irene Sadek is taking over the leadership of our Department of Pathology. An expert in hematopathology and blood transfusion, Dr. Sadek has demonstrated exceptional leadership, teaching and scholarship abilities over many years with the department. Among various roles, she served as chief of the Division of Hematopathology at the Nova Scotia Health Authority (NSHA) for over a decade.

Another long-time faculty member, Dr. Christine Short, is stepping into the role of head of the Department of Medicine. Dr. Short is well-known nationally and internationally for her groundbreaking work with MS and spinal cord injury patients. She previously served as chief of the Division of Physical Medicine at NSHA.

Dr. Susan Kirkland has been named interim head of the Department of Community Health & Epidemiology. Dr. Kirkland is a highly respected epidemiologist and one of the leaders of the seminal Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging. She also is a board member of the National Centre of Excellence on Aging and Technology.

In addition to experience, these three leaders will no doubt bring a great deal of energy and enthusiasm to their new roles and I am looking forward to working with them in the upcoming years. I also wish to recognize and thank the outgoing heads of these three departments – Dr. Godfrey Heathcote (Pathology), Dr. Simon Jackson (Medicine) and Dr. Adrian Levy (Community Health & Epidemiology) – for their achievements and years of dedicated service to Dalhousie and the provincial health authorities. I am also very happy to note that the three most recent department head appointments have been awarded to women. Under the guidance of Dr. Jean Marshall, former head of the Department of Microbiology & Immunology and chair of our Diversity in Leadership Committee, we are placing greater attention on career development and leadership opportunities that relate to diversity and inclusion. Stay tuned for the forthcoming report from the Diversity in Leadership Committee, which will provide more detail about how we are striving to increase diversity in leadership across our operations.

 

Wave competition results to be released this fall
Also coming soon will be the announcement of the results of the Faculty of Medicine Wave research application process. As part of our research priority #1 in #DalMedForward, we have encouraged the assembly of research teams targeting international excellence. I am pleased that 11 groups submitted applications in the Wave I process (groups considered to be internationally excellent now) and 16 groups submitted applications in the Wave II competition (groups anticipating they can be internationally excellent in three to five years). An external review committee has completed its evaluation of the proposals and is now preparing its final report. I’m looking forward to sharing these results with you in the next month, as they will help to shape our major strategic research directions over the next five years.

 

Awards and accolades
Several of our faculty members have received noteworthy awards in recent months. The Heart & Stroke Foundation has recently notified me that Dr. John Sapp, a leading cardiologist and professor, has been chosen as this year’s recipient of the Dr. Greg Ferrier Award. The foundation established this award in 2006 in honour of the late Dr. Greg Ferrier, a well-known and loved cardiac researcher and member of faculty. It is awarded annually to the researcher with the highest-rated grant-in-aid proposal in Nova Scotia. Congratulations to Dr. Sapp for this achievement!

I must also offer my sincere congratulations to Dr. Christine Chambers, who continues to receive accolades for her groundbreaking work in children’s pain. In 2017, among other awards, she won first prize in the CIHR Institute of Human Development’s Child and Youth Health Talks video competition, for her team’s video, “3 Ways to Instantly Relieve your Baby’s Pain.” And, just yesterday, the Canadian Association of Paediatric Health Centres announced that it has awarded Dr. Chambers with its prestigious CAPHC Award for Individual Leadership. This annual award recognizes creativity and initiative to promote positive change and long-term improvement, which Dr. Chambers certainly exemplifies.

Our “Teaching Is Where It’s At” program, developed by our Office of Continuing Professional Development,” has recently received kudos as well, winning a 2017 Accredited CPD Provider Innovation Award from the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada. Congratulations to Dr. Connie LeBlanc and her team for this tremendous accomplishment, which they will be able to share with colleagues across Canada at the National CPD Accreditation Conference in Ottawa later this month.

 

Save the date!
As many of you are already aware, we are closing in our 150^th anniversary year for Dalhousie Medical School – 2018 is just around the corner. We will kick off the anniversary year a little early, actually, on December 2, 2017, with an event to be co-hosted by the Department of Emergency Medicine and the Office of Continuing Professional Development. The focus of this event will be emergency preparedness, in recognition of the 100^th year anniversary of the Halifax Explosion.

Also be sure to mark your calendars for November 3, 2018, when we will be hosting a gala event at the new World Trade and Convention Centre. We are looking forward to an amazing weekend of joining together with alumni, former faculty and staff, supporters and friends who’ve been involved with the medical school over the years. It promises to be a truly memorable occasion.

Please visit our 150^th anniversary website at www. medicine.dal.ca/dalmed150 for more information on these and other events.

For the latest news about ongoing and outstanding activities in Dalhousie’s Faculty of Medicine, please check our website, www.medicine.dal.ca.

 

With the arrival of summer, we find ourselves in a time of transition here at the medical school. It’s a time of looking back, and of looking forward.

This is the time of year when we celebrate the accomplishments of our people—graduates, students, faculty and staff—with a wide variety of honours and awards. Many of these are presented at Convocation.

 

Convocation highlights

This year’s Convocation was a tremendous event—many thanks to the staff and faculty who put so much effort into ensuring that everything went smoothly!

It was a great pleasure to see our largest-ever class of African-descended MDs cross that stage. Six African-descended students received their medical degrees this year, a testament to their dedication and hard work, and to the medical school’s efforts to recruit and support these students over the past number of years.

One of these students, Cinera States, also won the Dr. Robert and Mrs. Dorothy Forsythe Prize, given annually to a graduating medical student who has demonstrated a strong aptitude and interest in mental health. Read more about Cinera and some of her peers here.

I must also offer my congratulations to a number of our outstanding graduating medical students, who received multiple awards each.

Marshall Dunn received not only the top prize for academic achievement—the Dr. C.B. Stewart University Medal in Medicine—but also the Dr. Robert C. Dickson Prize for highest standing in all examinations across the four years, and the Dr. Clara Olding Prize for highest standing in the clinical years, which he co-won with Erika Leck. Erika also won the Dr. John F. Black prize for highest standing in surgery and the Dr. Michael Brothers Prize in Neurosciences.

Another standout was Tommy Brothers, who won the DMRF Dr. J. Donald Hatcher Award for Medical Research for his work on aging and frailty in patients with HIV, as well as the Dr. Juan A. Embil Award for Excellence in Infectious Diseases Research, The Dr. John Embil Award for Excellence in Clinical Infectious Diseases, and the Lourdes I. Embil Award for Cardiovascular Research. Tommy truly has a bright future as a clinician scientist.

Also among our truly impressive multi-award-winning medical graduates: Oliver Hatheway, who won prizes for top achievement in cardiology, anesthesia and pediatrics; Holly Greer, who was the woman with the highest academic standing in fourth year and achieved the highest standing in psychiatry over the four years of the program; Emma Sumner, who achieved the highest standing in obstetrics in fourth year and best displayed compassion and clinical competence in obstetrics and gynecology clerkship training; and Kathryn Cull, who achieved the highest standing in psychiatry examinations in fourth year and also received the Dr. Leonard, Kay and Simon Levine Scholarship for academic excellence in a medical graduate pursuing studies in family medicine.

Congratulations to these and our many other exceptional graduates. The calibre of our graduating class of 2017 augurs well for the future of medicine!

Another highlight of this year’s ceremony was the awarding of an honourary degree to Dr. Ron Stewart. A global pioneer in emergency medicine, an innovator in medical humanities, and a leader in enlightened public policy, Ron is truly a deserving recipient of this honour.

 

Service, teaching and leadership awards

We’re pretty proud here at the medical school that two of our staff members were among the three recipients of this year’s Dr. Rosemary Gill Award. This is a prestigious Dalhousie award, given to individuals at the university who have provided outstanding service to students in a non-teaching capacity.

Sharon Forward, our director of admissions and student affairs, received a Gill award for her outstanding work helping students apply for medical school and then supporting them in myriad ways all the way through.

Eileen Kaiser, a key administrator in the Department of Pathology, received a Gill award for her dedicated efforts over 25 years to build a strong sense of community in the department and support the phenomenal growth of its graduate program from two to 32 students. Learn more about our Gill award winners here.

The Faculty of Medicine also gave out a number of awards this spring. Our Awards of Excellence celebrated and showcased the remarkable contributions of our faculty and staff.

This year, we were very pleased to present the Award of Excellence in Education to Dr. Janice Chisholm, director of the anesthesia residency training program, for her pivotal role in developing the critical care sub-specialty simulation program. The Early Career Educator Award went to Dr. Babar Haroon, an outstanding teacher who revolutionized simulation-based education and mentorship through the Internal Medicine Simulation Boot Camp. We presented the Community Teacher of the Year Award to Dr. Kara Macneill, a powerful and nurturing role model who has been in instrumental having New Glasgow and Amherst recognized as designated clerkship sites for psychiatry. In the realm of clinical practice, we recognized Dr. Donna Davis for her dedication to providing high-quality, deeply humane care to patients in the Department of Psychiatry.

The Dr. Allen Cohen Memorial Award for Community Service is a special award given each year to a student or member of faculty or staff who displays extraordinary dedication to making a difference in society. This year, we were pleased to present this award to Dr. Dan Boudreau, who has worked tirelessly to build relationships with a variety of community partners, so that students can collaborate on priority outreach projects helping underserved populations.

Leadership is so important to the overall mission of the medical school, we present annual awards specifically recognizing excellence in leadership. This year, we presented the academic leadership award to Dr. Ward Patrick, head of the Department of Critical Care, and the award for an emerging leader of note to Dr. Stephen Miller, our Assistant Dean of Skilled Clinician and Interprofessional Education. The award for excellence in professional and managerial leadership went to Shawna O’Hearn, director of the Global Health Office. Heidi MacKinnon, who does an exceptional job as undergraduate lab technician and IT and web administrator in the Department of Biochemistry & Molecular Biology, received the award for excellent leadership in administrative, clerical and technical support. We are grateful for these individuals, whose efforts and abilities help us constantly improve.

The directors of our residency programs are also critically important leaders, teachers and mentors. Each year, we present “Program Director of the Year” awards to program directors who have made outstanding contributions to providing excellent training for our residents—one award is for leadership, the other for innovation. This year, Dr. Sarah Manos received the Leadership award for her efforts to ensure our 28 residents in the Department of Pediatrics receive a top-quality education. Dr. David Bowes, program director in the Department of Radiation Oncology, received the Innovation award for the many forward-looking improvements he has made to the design and delivery of the program.

 

Research excellence

Every spring, Dalhousie Medical Research Foundation provides generous support for several awards that recognize the accomplishments of our researchers. This year, we were pleased to present the Faculty of Medicine Early Career Award to a rising star, Dr. Alexander Quinn, who has transformed scientific thinking about scar tissue in the heart and opened the door to a whole new therapeutic approach to preventing heart disease.

Our Award for Excellence in Basic Science Research went to Dr. Paola Marcato, who is making groundbreaking discoveries in the mechanisms and potential treatment of breast cancer. Dr. Jai Shankar receive the Award of Excellence in Patient-Oriented Research for his extraordinary contributions to interventional radiology procedures in the brain.

The senior research award is the Max Forman Prize, which this year went to Dr. Andrew Roger, a globally influential leader in the genomic evolution of microorganisms. He has attracted several million dollars in funding to Dalhousie Medical School and plays a very active role in mentoring the next generation of scientists.

Special congratulations to Simon Gebremeskel won a Gold Medal and the top prize Lindau Award at the Canadian Student Health Research Forum in Winnipeg in June 2016. Simon is a PhD candidate in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology.  Earlier this year he won the Three Minute Thesis competition amongst graduate students at Dalhousie University.

 

Research directions

Many thanks to the teams who submitted applications to the Wave 2 Faculty of Medicine research teams competition! The response to the call for applications was tremendous. The review committees are now in the process of reviewing all of the Wave 1 and Wave 2 applications. We plan to announce the winners of both the Wave 1 and 2 competitions over the summer. Stay tuned for more news on this—the successful Wave teams will help shape our research priorities and directions in the future.

 

Faculty Promotions

I must also congratulate our 27 members of faculty who were granted tenure and/or promoted this year. It speaks to their high level of commitment to developing their careers that they’ve reached these new academic milestones.

A large number of faculty attained the rank of associate professor: Samina Abidi (Medical Education), Keith Brunt (Pharmacology), Babar Haroon (Critical Care), Vered Gazit (Emergency Medicine), Helena Piccinini-Vallis (Family Medicine), Lori Connors (Medicine), Stephanie Snow (Medicine), Tony Lee (Medicine), Trudy Taylor (Medicine), Baharak Amir-Khalkhali (Obstetrics & Gynaecology), Arati Mokashi (Pediatrics), Johan van Limbergen (Pediatrics), Lynette Penney (Pediatrics), Cheryl Murphy (Psychiatry), David Tang (Surgery), Gwynedd Pickett (Surgery), Michael Bezuhly (Surgery), Timothy Brown (Surgery). Associate professor Jill Hayden (Community Health & Epidemiology) was granted tenure.

Special congratulations go out to those who achieved the rank of full professor: Janie Astephen-Wilson (Biomedical Engineering), Debra Morrison (Medicine), Timothy Mailman (Pathology) and Denis Dupre (Pharmacology).

There are a number of steps to take and requirements to meet in order to be promoted, but there are many resources and a lot of support available through the Faculty Development Office to help faculty members succeed in the process. A good place to learn more is in the “For Faculty” section of our website, where you will find all the guidelines and contact information.

Promotion is Dalhousie University’s mechanism to recognize and reward academic achievement. I strongly encourage faculty members to take the time to learn more about the promotion process and how it might apply to them.

 

Funding awards

Six of our faculty members received a total of $4.4 million in funding through the most recent Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) project grant competition. Among these, Dr. Sultan Darvesh (Neurology, Geriatric Medicine) was awarded $1.2 million to continue his groundbreaking work to develop PET and SPECT probes for diagnosing Alzheimer’s disease in the living brain. Dr. Jill Hayden (Community Health & Epidemiology) and her collaborators in the departments of Emergency Medicine and Diagnostic Radiology received $784,000 to develop and test a clinical decision tool to help doctors make appropriate decisions about imaging for patients who present to emergency with low back pain. Only a small percentage of these patients have serious pathologies underlying their pain, and unnecessary x-rays do more harm than good, so this important project will dramatically improve management of what is, in fact, the third most common reason people go to the emergency department.

Our other CIHR project grant winners are: Dr. Jenn Corcoran (Microbiology & Immunology), for her work to understand how viruses reprogram host cells; Dr. Brent Johnston (Microbiology & Immunology), to explore cancer therapy that combines cancer-killing viruses with immune-cell activation; Dr. Jason McDougall (Anesthesia, Pain Management & Perioperative Medicine and Pharmacology), to study how proteases and protease-activated receptors contribute to nerve damage and pain in arthritis; and Dr. Chris Sinal (Pharmacology) for his work to understand a pathway that regulates bone cell development and could potentially be used as a therapeutic target.

Dr. Susan Kirkland (Community Health & Epidemiology) and her team in the Dalhousie node of the Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging have received Catalyst Grant funding from CIHR to further their work to understand the social, physical, and genetic factors that lead to individual differences in the way people age and develop chronic conditions.

Another recent CIHR award went to Dr. Alix Carter in the Department of Emergency Medicine. Through BRIC NS (Building Research for Integrated Primary Healthcare), she and her team are evaluating a program that has trained paramedics to deliver palliative and end-of-life symptom-relief care in the home, to prevent unnecessary and stressful transfers to hospital.

Members in the Department of Community Health & Epidemiology were also successful in their applications. Dr. George Kephart and Dr. Tanya Packer (School of Occupational Therapy) received $500,000 from CIHR and NSHRF to develop new tools to help patients self-manage multiple chronic conditions. Dr. Leslie Anne Campbell, meanwhile, secured a data-analysis grant from CIHR to see if the rising numbers of children and adolescents presenting to emergency rooms with mental health issues is the result of a deterioration in access to primary and outpatient care. Dr. Kephart and Dr. Campbell and their collaborators also received NSHRF Catalyst Grants in the areas of maternal-child mental health and reducing health care costs for patients with complex needs.

Congratulations to these dedicated researchers for their success in recent grant competitions!

 

Admissions Review

Earlier this month, the Faculty of Medicine admissions review was presented at our annual faculty meeting and will soon be released on our website. I launched this review to receive explicit feedback on our medical school undergraduate admissions processes to assist our at-the-time new Assistant Dean for Admissions, Dr. Andrea Rideout. This committee was external to the Faculty of Medicine (save for the involvement of a medical student member), chaired by Dr. Gus Grant the CEO of the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Nova Scotia. We thank this committee for its contribution to our medical school. The committee provided over 15 recommendations, some of which have already been implemented by our admissions team.  If anyone has feedback for us about this review please feel free to reach out to Dr. Rideout or myself.

 

Looking ahead

Now that Convocation is over, our recent medical graduates are preparing themselves to embark on the next phase of their journey to becoming doctors—their residency training—which begins on July 1.

At the same time, we will begin welcoming residents into our postgraduate programs—from Dalhousie and all across the country.

I offer my thanks to the faculty and staff in our clinical departments, who go to great lengths to welcome our residents and clerks and help them adapt to and succeed in their new roles, and my best wishes to the new residents and clerks starting this summer.

On that note, I wish everyone a wonderful summer. I know many of you will be working as hard as ever, but I hope all of you have an opportunity to enjoy some sunshine in our beautiful province and region.