Optimizing our Learning Environments

• Revised the process for reporting and managing reports of student mistreatment in the MD Program with plans to expand the process for Post MD learners in 2020-21.
• Pier Bryden was appointed to the revised role of Senior Advisor, Clinical Affairs and Professional Values, in the Faculty of Medicine.
• Reena Pattani was appointed to the new role of Director of Learner Experience, in the Faculty of Medicine.

 

“I know that I am not less than the people I am working with. And specifically, in my role as a leader, I do feel that I am respected and appreciated when I contribute my thoughts. I know that my opinion and ideas are valid. Without learners, there is no learning environment.”

 

Calandra Li
MD Student

Improving Faculty Wellness

• The Faculty Wellness Webinar Series was launched with the support of the Continuing Professional Development team.
• Julie Maggi was appointed the COVID Faculty Wellness Coordinator and chair of the COVID Clinical Faculty Wellness Working Group.
• Bonnie Kirsh was appointed chair of the Basic/Rehabilitation Science Wellness Working Group.

“It’s great when supervisors can model healthy behaviours and work-life balance, but it’s also important that they are real and relatable, and willing to discuss their own wellness challenges. Nobody is perfect.”

Samah Alkhawashki
Resident, Child and Adolescent Psychiatry

Research and Innovation Leadership

• In response to the pandemic, 31 labs on campus are engaged in conducting research into COVID-19 with 250 faculty, learners and staff engaged in this work.
• Developed a job description for a pilot Research Executive-in-Residence role who will mentor researchers through the early-stage development of start-ups.
• Continued to support Health Innovation Hub (H2i), U of T Medicine’s campus-based accelerator, that aims foster the success of 100 companies over the next 10 years.

“I think universities need to offer graduate trainees more exposure to commercialization. There is definitely a role for entrepreneurship programs and workshops that can train students how to pitch, get funding and navigate the complicated scene of biotech.”

David Bakhshinyan
MD Student

Rehabilitation Research and Clinical Capacity

• Catalogued the impact of research conducted by students and faculty in the rehabilitation sciences sector,
• Identified new strategies to engage clinical practitioners in research and educational opportunities within U of T Medicine.
• Identified opportunities for greater collaboration within the rehabilitation sector related to curriculum development and innovation, as well as faculty development.

“As someone who has a communication disorder, I know how important it is to be able to connect with others through speech.”

Anna Huynh
PhD student (Speech-Language Pathology), Rehabilitation Sciences Institute

Equity, Diversity and Inclusion

• Approval of the Faculty of Medicine’s first Equity, Diversity and Inclusion plan.
• The establishment of the We All Belong Steering Committee to coordinate outreach and inclusion campaigns within the Faculty of Medicine.
• Launch a Microaggressions and Allyship Campaign to increase the awareness of microaggressions and their impact, begin discussions around microaggressions and allyship, and to encourage individuals to use their privilege(s) to be allies to others.

 

“The collective actions of leaders before us have allowed students who come from underrepresented communities to enter into the space of medicine. This is why I feel so connected to the equity, diversity and inclusion work I am completing.”

 

Chantal Phillips
MD Student

Indigenous Medical Education

• Established space where Indigenous learners, faculty and staff can come together, socialize and study in partnership with Women’s College Hospital.
• Drafted a plan to expand the mandate of the Office of Indigenous Medical Education across the Faculty, that includes calls to recruit Indigenous faculty and staff to lead all aspects of Indigenous medical education and create a circle of Indigenous faculty and staff to identify support, mentorship, professional development activities.
• Established an Elder-in-Residence role for the Faculty of Medicine to support learners across U of T Medicine.

“The role of advocacy is very significant since there is a need for specific training and clinical program development in addition to appropriate focus on Indigenous social determinants of health. I think we should move forward with a culture in medicine where advocating for access to clean water and food security is not only reasonable, but also encouraged in our role as physicians.”

Victor Vien
Psychiatrist

Artificial Intelligence

• Established the Centre for AI Research and Educational in Medicine (CAIREM) as an EDU-C to be a focal-point for research, education and infrastructure in this field.
• Appointed Muhammad Mamdani as the Inaugural Director of CAIREM.
• Hosted the Machine Learning in Medicine Symposium, which included a keynote address by Isaac Kohane, the inaugural Chair of the Department of Biomedical Informatics at Harvard Medical School.

“For my PhD, I am thinking about how COVID-19 has put immense stress on health systems. I’m interested in digital epidemiology. I’d like to examine how we can use data that’s collected outside the health system to help us deliver better care, using methods like machine learning. These methods can help build a more resilient system.”

Vinyas Harish
MD/PhD Student

Space Planning

• Secured the services of Perkins Eastman, an international planning, design, and consulting firm, to conduct a master programming study of the Medical Sciences Building (MSB).
• Began consultations with MSB occupants – including students, faculty and staff – as well as collect and analyze data to consider if existing space meets current and future needs of the Faculty of Medicine.

“If you go into a traditional classroom, you have a bank of seats where students sit facing the front. You have a lectern at the front where a person is giving the knowledge to the group. You think of things differently if you go into a space where there is no ‘front of the room’ – where the professor is wandering around the room and where students are in small groups. If you’re a professor assigned to that sort of space, you’re going to think about teaching differently.”

Michelle French
Associate Professor (teaching stream), Department of Physiology