June 2021 Newsletter

    • decorative imageChair's Message – Congratulations Graduates
      This month marks the end of the academic year on June 30, 2021 and the graduation of another class of PGY2 and PGY3 family medicine residents, now ready to start their practices. The family medicine residents have demonstrated strength in adversity, adaptability and have found new skills in virtual care and patient-centred communication. You will respond skillfully to whatever patient care challenges await you. The road ahead is wide open for you.

    • decorative imageGraduate Program Report
      Planning is underway for the Graduate Programs on-site session that will be held virtually from September 13 – 24, 2021. Six MClSc students and one PhD (with representation from Canada, Brazil and Uganda) have accepted offers and will be commencing in the 2021 fall term.

    • decorative imagePostgraduate Program Report
      The Family Medicine Postgraduate Program would like to welcome Dr. Anne Martin and Dr. Saadia Jan to their new roles as Site Directors at Avon Family Medicine Centre in Stratford and St Joseph’s Family Medical and Dental Centre in London, respectively. Site Directors at our Core Sites play large roles in directing and leading residency related activities. We want to extend a huge thank you to Dr. Laura Lyons and Dr. Stacey Snider who have stepped down from their roles held for a number of years. They have both helped lead our program through accreditation and have been champions and advocates of many residency curricular activities at their centres.

    • decorative imageUndergraduate Program Report
      Summer is here, pre-clerkship classes have wrapped up, 3rd year clerks are looking ahead to electives and CaRMS, and the 4th years have graduated and are waiting with excitement to start residency July 1st! A sincere thank-you to all faculty who have participated in Undergraduate education activities during the 2020-21 academic year! The pre-clerkship years have seen a new curriculum implemented the past 2 years with a greater focus on generalism. Clerkship has been renewed and now includes 8 weeks total of Family Medicine – 4 weeks of “FM core” at one of the six full-time academic centres and 4 weeks of “FM Plus” based in community and rural/regional sites.

    • decorative imageResearch Report
      A very successful and well attended Department of Family Medicine Grand Rounds was held virtually on May 5, 2021. Two of our faculty members presented their on-going COVID-19 related research. Maria Mathews PhD summarized findings to date from the ‘Pandemic Planning for Primary Care (3PC)’ project, describing family physicians’ roles during the different stages of the pandemic and the policies needed to support these roles. Bridget Ryan PhD shared findings from ‘Family Physicians and Virtual Care during COVID-19’, describing the magnitude of the move to virtual care by family physicians in the region, their experiences, and the path forward for virtual care as part of the overall family practice post-pandemic.

    • decorative imageResident Project Day
      On June 9, the Department of Family Medicine hosted our Annual Resident Project Day. Around 200 faculty, staff and residents were in attendance to support our graduating residents as they presented their scholarly projects in either rapid-fire poster or lightning oral format on Zoom. Congratulations to all of our presenters on their excellent work! We wish all of our graduating residents all the best as they take on more scholarly projects in independent practice.

    • decorative image2021 Resident Graduation
      Our 2021 resident graduation reception was our first ever virtual ceremony held on June 23 at 4:00-5:00pm. We welcomed nearly 200 guests, including residents, faculty members, staff, family and friends, and enjoyed a relaxed evening of celebration and commemoration. As a department we celebrated residents graduating between November 1, 2020 and October 31, 2021, and recognized those residents and faculty members receiving awards. Photos from the evening's festivities are posted to the Department's.

    • decorative imageGraduate Student Profile: Melad Marbeen
      Melad Marbeen is a family physician and an adjunct faculty member in the Department of Family Medicine at Western University. She moved to Canada from Northern Iraq after finishing medical school. Her greatest experience so far was conducting a mixed methods research study and completing her thesis with the guidance of enthusiastic role models for research in family medicine.

    • decorative imageAnnouncement: Introducing our New Adjunct Representative: Dr Firas Al-Dhaher
      The Department is thrilled to introduce our new adjunct representative, Dr Firas Al-Dhaher. Firas grew up on a farm in Westminster, Ontario. He graduated from Western University where he trained in rural family medicine at Mount Brydges, and now serves as the site director in Petrolia. "I was inspired to teach in addition to my regular clinical duties after supervising medical students from Schulich, and found the experience to be rewarding."

    • decorative imageIn the Media: Enhancing care for patients with multiple chronic conditions
      Dr. Moira Stewart’s recent publication on multimorbidity in the British Journal of General Practice was featured in Schulich Medicine & Dentistry News.

    • decorative imageIn the Media: 2 Doctors, One a Recent Grad and One Experienced, Reflect on the Position Ahead of Doctor's Day
      Dr. Jane Thornton Was on CBC Afternoon Drive on April 30, and interviewed about physicians on Doctor’s Day

    • decorative imageTransdisciplinary Understanding and Training on Research – Primary Health Care (TUTOR-PHC) 2021 Symposium
      TUTOR-PHC held its annual Symposium from April 26th to April 29th, 2021. The Symposium is the start of the year-long TUTOR-PHC program. This is the 18th year of the TUTOR-PHC program – the only interdisciplinary primary health care research training program in Canada.

    • decorative imageHomecoming Weekend
      Homecoming is the perfect time to reconnect with friends and colleagues. Join us virtually on September 25, 2021 for an exciting line-up of events.

    • decorative imageHealtheSteps™ Program Update
      We are happy to report HealtheSteps has continued to grow over the past 8 months since initial launch in September 2020. HealtheSteps is a free, virtual 6-month healthy lifestyle program delivered to adults (18+) interested in making changes to their lifestyle.

    • decorative imageTop Stories from our April-May Newsletter
      Missed reading our March newsletter? Take a moment to read the top stories: Celebrating the 2021 Awards of Excellence recipients, Department Spotlight: Adrienne Wakabayashi, Research Report and more.

    • decorative imageDepartment Spotlight: Cheryl Leystra-Lantz
      2020 was all about virtual, and now 2021 is following suit. As such, we will be virtually profiling our administrative staff as they continue to work from home and keep our Department on track and meeting its strategic goals. Meet Cheryl Leystra-Lantz who is celebrating four years working with the Department of Family Medicine as of July 19.