Pre-Clerkship Electives

Undergraduate Medical Education studentsPre-clerkship summer electives are designed to introduce medical students to the practice of medicine in rural and regional communities in Southwestern Ontario. These electives, assist students in developing their clinical knowledge and practicing their skills in clinical and community settings outside the teaching centre.

Medical student applicants should be aware that, although funding is provided for travel and accommodation, they must have access to their own transportation as many of the electives are in communities that are not reached through public transportation. 

Summer Elective Opportunities

Educational Goals

  1. To assist students in developing their clinical skills and knowledge outside of a tertiary teaching centre.
  2. To provide an enrichment experience for students with an interest in rural regional medicine at a time when they are considering future career paths.
  3. To provide undergraduate medical students with an opportunity to discover the joys and challenges of living and working in a rural and regional community.

Year-One Information Session:  January 7, 2026 at 8:30am
Year-Two Summer Electives Presentation: February 23, 2026 at 12:30pm

Summer Research Electives

We invite all interested first and second year students with an interest for Regional Research this summer to apply to the Distributed Education Summer Research Elective, a Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry funded program. First or second year undergraduate medical students are paired with a distributed faculty member to complete a rural/regional research project. The elective is intended to support students' interest in research by contributing to a project over 6 weeks, 30-35 hours/week. A limited number of projects will be funded.

By the end of the elective, the student will be able to:

  • Gain an understanding of the research process for research conducted in the region
  • Gain research experience to complement the student's academic activities

Research Opportunities

The Office of Distributed Education is proud to support the following research projects for the 2026-2027 academic year. Learn about our previous research projects here. 

Impact of a Warming Centre on Homeless Visits to the Emergency Department
Principal Investigator: Dr. Tristan J. Walker
Location: Stratford

Stratford plans to have a warming centre open December 2025 which will allow us to compare Emergency Department visits pre-warming centre and after. Student researcher will be expected to conduct research tasks such as chart review, examination of ED metrics and Warming centre, review of clients at the local homeless centre and seeing if we are accurately counting these patients and estimating their needs.

Penicillin Reaction Clinic
Principal Investigator: Dr. Abhishiek Setia
Location: Stratford

This retrospective chart review study looks at impact of a community Penicillin Reaction Clinic in the Huron Perth Healthcare Alliance (HPHA). Student researcher will be expected conduct research tasks such as literature review, data collection, etc. 

Mapping addictions associated conditions; Emergency Medical Services - Ontario Health Team Population Management and Public Health Project
Principal Investigators: Dr. Tristan J. Walker, Dr. Julia Bryson, & Dr. Shanil Narayan
Location: Stratford
Students: 1

The Huron Perth and Area Ontario Health team (OHT) is a multisector organization that helps with resource allocation in our region. The K shaped economic recovery post covid has left a subpopulation of our community with growing hardships and compromised their determinants of health. The 2023 OSDUHS Drug Report showed an uptick in nonmedical use of prescription opioids shows a increase in 2023. EMS are closely connected with our OHT on a number of patient projects and provide service outreach to address addiction related conditions. This serves as a potential monitoring system for resource utilization for this population.

The proposed project would be to partner with the OHT and EMS to create a dashboard for monitoring frequency and location of addictions related responses. This would position the OHT to be able to rally resources to this equity deserving population as demand evolves before any epidemics escalate (Akin to Covid and Influenza dashboards used in our ecosystem which help direct seasonal resource when needed). The Huron Perth community is currently deploying innovative strategies to help with low income housing and navigation for communities at risk, and this dashboard would help build a case to evaluate the impact of these services on addictions related responses.

Optimizing local treatment for patients with Heart Failure; Determining predictors of patient outcomes in a community health model. Ontario Health Team quality improvement project. 
Principal Investigator: Dr. Shanil Narayan
Location: Stratford
Students: up to 2

The Huron Perth and Area OHT was recognized with the AFHTO Bright Lights Award for our Heart Failure Program’s outstanding success in improving patient outcomes through team-based care. There continues to be a healthy tension between comprehensive population-based guidelines and tailored individualized care in our health care ecosystem defined with limited resources and increased demands on primary care. Triaging guideline recommendations in accordance with local outcome data is important for efficient and cost-effective care.

The proposed project would examine patient characteristics of those followed in the Heart Function clinic to elucidate predictors of readmission. The project would also design and develop a database for prospective collection of deidentified patient data to afford ongoing subsequent analysis that is automated and sustainable through integration of AI.

APPLY TO THE SUMMER RESEARCH ELECTIVES PROGRAM

Summer Electives Application

  • Clinical and research applications will January 7.
  • Applications for MedLINCs opens January 7.
  • Clinical electives must be 4 weeks in length to qualify for funding. Pediatric electives less than 4 weeks in duration may qualify for a competitive grant. To apply, email judith.thomas@lhsc.on.ca.
  • Medical students must follow the Registration Process through the Schulich Undergraduate Medical Education site.
  • Medical students are required to pay a $60.00 fee at the time of registration.  

 Pre-clerkship Clinical or Research Elective Application

 

Research Project Application - DHC & MedLINCs

Students participating in Discovery Healthcare Camp or MedLINCs who are interested in a summer research opportunity, have the option of applying for a research project. Applications can be found here.