March 2014
Chief Operating Officer
- I encourage all of you to highlight the exceptional work of those around you with a thoughtful thank-you card. Thank-you cards are available through the Communications department and a number of different designs are available. The images on some of the cards were provided by our own talented faculty, staff and students and were submitted through our Commitment to the Community initiative. Cards can be requested by contacting Jasmin Neil, Communications Coordinator, at jasmin.neil@schulich.uwo.ca.
- Fiscal year-end is fast approaching on April 30. More information will be coming in the next few weeks.
Media Relations
- News release for Greta Bauer on transgender issues in emergency departments drew a lot of media including the Ottawa Citizen, CTVtwo, CBC radio, Science Daily and sparked some interesting blogs.
- Dr. Marina Salvadori has done several interviews about the measles outbreak including one in the Ottawa Citizen.
- Media training was offered for a group of graduate students in Medical Biophysics, and I spoke to a journalism class at Fanshawe College.
- I will be presenting to Canadian College of Health Leaders at an event on April 17 at Stratford General Hospital.
Dentistry
Nancy Kalbfleisch- The annual Health and Safety Inspection of Schulich Dentistry occurred on March 12, 2014.
- Preparations continue for the Ontario Dental Association, Annual Spring Meeting, being held in Toronto, May 8-10, 2014.
- On April 11, 2014, we will be holding a Dentistry Seminar Series Presentation. Dr. T. Michael Underhill, Professor, Department of Cellular and Physiological Sciences, Biomedical Research Centre, University of British Columbia will present his talk, entitled “Mesenchymal cells in health and disease” at 12:00 p.m. in Health Sciences Addition H101. All are welcome to attend.
Research
Mady Hymowitz- The Schulich Medicine & Dentistry Research Office and Research Western hosted a visit from CIHR to discuss the new Foundation Pilot competition. The Research Office will be developing processes for providing assistance with Foundation applications.
- Eight students were selected as recipients for the initial round of SWORP awards. The Schulich Medicine & Dentistry – University of Windsor Opportunities for Research Excellence Program (SWORP) enables students from the Windsor Program to conduct research under the supervision of a University of Windsor faculty member. This is an extension of our other student research training awards already offered at the School. To read about all of the successful award recipients, click here.
Human Resources
Theresa Mugimba- Dr. Mithu Sen, Department of Medicine, has been appointed Assistant Dean, Faculty Equity and Wellness effective March 1, 2014.
- Applications for the Associate Dean, Continuing Professional Devleopment will be accepted until April 7, 2014.
- Work continues on the We Act Initiative. All Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry staff and faculty are expected to participate in upcoming focus groups.
Finance
Rosemary Hicks- The University's fiscal year-end is approaching on April 30 and Corporate Finance will be sending out an email in the coming weeks outlining the dates for processing invoices, reimbursement of petty cash, etc. We will keep you up-to-date on any communications we receive.
- Please ensure you are monitoring your expenses in this last month in order to meet your budget targets. We have all worked hard together to create realistic budgets and we want to ensure that we meet out targeted bottom line as presented to IPB this spring.
Basic Medical Sciences
Basic Medical Sciences Undergraduate Education (BMSUE)Dr. Candace Gibson
- Two rounds of admission offers have already been extended to high school students requesting Medical Sciences First Entry with the largest round to take place in May. The target registration in Year 1 is 750 students and an admission average from Grade 12 in the high 80s is anticipated. Generally, students complete Medical Sciences 1 and 2 prior to admission to the BMSc Program, which begins in Year 3.
- In preparation for adjudication in May, the audit of 2000 Intent to Register submissions for Medical Sciences 2, Neuroscience and modules in the BMSc Program, the development of a registration database and communication strategies will be undertaken this month.
- The BMSUE E-Learning Coordinator, Dr. Sarah McLean, along with Dr. Derek McLachlin, Department of Biochemistry and Dr. Tim Wilson Department of Anatomy & Cell Biology, will host a "Lunch and Learn" session about the “Flipped Classroom” on Monday, May 5 in Health Sciences Addition H101 from 11:30 a.m. - 1:00 p.m. The Flipped Classroom Learning Model sees content delivered online with classroom time reserved for interactive activities and learnings.
Dr. Andrew Watson
- More than 380 graduate students presented their research to more than 350 guests and judges at London Health Research Day, on March 18. The 2014 event was the largest and most successful to date with nearly 700 people attending lunch, 355 poster presentations, 32 platform presentations and four workshops. Check out the photo gallery from the day.
- The School’s three minute thesis (3MT) preliminary heat was held Wednesday April 2 at 12:00 p.m. in MSB 148. Results will be listed on the School's home page. The top students from the day will be selected to attend the Western-wide 3MT finals and reception dinner, Thursday, April 10 from 3:00 to 4:30 p.m. in the Davenport Theatre, Talbot College. Last year, Michael Taylor, Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics placed first overall at the Western finals, and went on to win the People’s Choice Award at the provincial finals.
Communications
Jennifer Parraga- The website redevelopment has moved into the final stages of website testing. All Phase One websites have completed their content migration and the Communications Team is now reviewing all Phase One websites, testing links and preparing the sites for launch.
- The Communications Team has successfully the launched the first website of the redevelopment project with the release of the updated Communications website. Please take a look at our new website for an example of the new design and format of the School's websites.
- This month the redesigned Research Office eNewsletter was successfully launched.
- We are continuing promotion and gearing up for the first in our Discover Robarts Community Presentation Series on April 3. For more information on this, and other upcoming Discover Robarts presentations, click here.
- Paige Mastalerz was hired as the new Communications/Facilities assistant. Paige's first day will be on April 7.
- Jasmin Neil will be leaving the team following more than two years in Communications at the School. Jasmin will be taking on a new opportunity closer to home at Sun Life Financial. Jasmin is one of the founding members of the Communications and Marketing Team and has contributed enormously to the successful launch and management of many communications vehicles and projects. We will miss her. Please join me in wishing her all the best.
Information Services
Sergio Rodriguez- The development team has been extremely busy supporting and preparing for cyclical processes. February to June is our busiest time of year as it includes the admissions cycles for undergraduate medicine and dentistry, hospital re-application for London and regional hospitals, as well as postgraduate trainee registration. The team has also been working with PMO to develop and introduce the next set of updates to the Oneform module in SAS.
- Information Services would like to remind you that as of April 8, 2014, the Windows XP Operating System will no longer be supported by Microsoft or the University. The Schulich Medicine & Dentistry IS support team is working with stakeholders to ensure that Windows XP is removed from our environment wherever possible.
- Your feedback is important to us. Schulich Medicine & Dentistry IS would like to hear from you regarding our level of service. In order to facilitate this, we have introduced a new web form available by clicking on the Online Forms menu on the IS web site.
Project Management Office/Strategic Technology Commons
Dale Shelley- Registration is still open for the Two-Day 'Focus' workshop (Process Improvement & Management Methodology & Tools) for April 23 and 24, and there are still a few spots available. Send a request to pmo.inquiry@schulich.uwo.ca to register.
- The PM Office is actively involved with Schulich Dentistry, conducting an operations review. We want to thank those that have taken time out of their busy schedule to meet with us. We anticipate that we will be engaged with Dentistry until May 2014.
- STC was very actively involved in the Western TIES Conference held March 27 and 28 with a poster presentation entitled “An Overview of myPortfolio Installation and Customization” by Peter Flanagan, Weikai Huang, Jay Loftus. As well, Jay Loftus joined in a panel discussion entitled “Exploring Online Visualizations Beyond the Correct Answer”, as well as co-presenting “Gold Stars and Competition: Motivating and Engaging Students” with Anita Woods.
- As always, you can email stc@schulich.uwo.ca for any consultation requests related to instructional design.
Education
John Ruicci- The CaRMS PGY1 first iteration results were released on March 5, 2014. Schulich had 171 students in the match (169 first time participants and 2 from previous graduation years). Of this number, 163 matched successfully. The largest number of students matched to Family Medicine, followed by Internal Medicine, Psychiatry, Emergency Medicine & General Surgery. Members of the class also matched to Ophthalmology, Dermatology & Plastic Surgery. From the perspective of the Postgraduate Medical Education Programs, 179 of 187 positions (95%) filled in first iteration. Second iteration positions are available in Family Medicine, Cardiac Surgery and Anatomical Pathology. Second iteration occurs April 15th, 2014.
- UME's Institutional Self-Study Task Force Sub Committees are half-way through their reviews of the UME Accreditation Standards. A communications strategy to promote and educate the Schulich community is being developed and will be launched this April. The Accreditation site visit is set for April 2015.
- MD program Graduate Tracking project hit a major milestone with the practice location, status, and specialty type identified for 1,775 MD program graduates dating back to 1994.
- The Windsor Program Awards of Excellence (Windsor Program and Family Medicine Postgraduate awards) will be held Monday, April 14/14 at the Giovanni Caboto Club in Windsor. This event will celebrate achievements by Faculty, Students and Staff. Additionally, the Class of 2014 will be honoured.
Alumni Relations and Development
- Gillian Sneddon left the team at the end of the month to pursue a new course in Toronto. She was recognized on March 25 for her tremendous contributions to both the School and health care in London over the years.
- The Development Team continues to work with the senior staff of Alumni Relations & Development through the restructuring process. The ad for the Executive Director of Development for the Team will be broadcast in April on Western's HR site as well as in the Globe & Mail on April 2 and 5, and through numerous virtual sites.
- The team continues to work to achieve the fiscal-year goal, and as of February 28 was at 78% of the year's goal. The largest gift for March was a generous estate gift from Winnifred Shantz. The "Kathleen and Dr. Henry Barnett Chair in Stroke Research" at Robarts will benefit from Winnifred's estate.
- We recently held a reception in Vancouver for Dentistry alumni attending the Pacific Dental Association Conference which enjoyed the highest attendance of any year.
- A letter promoting Homecoming 2014 was recently sent to all reunion classes ending in a "4" or "9" along with a nomination form for the Alumni Award of Excellence. Deadline for nominations is April 30. Homecoming weekend will take place from Friday, September 19 through to Sunday, September 21.
