By Heidi Ulrichsen
This week?s provisional accreditation awarded to the Northern Ontario Medical School, ensures a lot of things, but most importantly that classes will start on time in 2005, says Founding Dean Dr. Roger Strasser.
The provisional accreditation is the first in a four-step process set out by two medical school review teams. The teams visited the Laurentian and Lakehead campuses in March, and were impressed with what they saw, says Strasser.
?We passed with flying colours,? he says. ?It means we are ready to commence classes on time.?
The Liaison Committee of Medical Education (LCME) and the Committee on Accreditation of Canadian Medical Schools (CACMS) will visit the NOMS three more times between now and 2008, says Strasser.
?They will visit us again next year and in 2007. The final accreditation will be when the students from the charter class enter their final year, in the fall of 2008,? he says. ?After that we will be on the same cycle as all of the other medical schools in North America. We will be visited every eight years.?
The review teams assessed the NOMS for quality of its institutional settings, educational programs, faculty, student services and educational resources, says Strasser.
Strasser is delighted his medical school team has finally jumped through this large hoop.
?I?m very excited. This is a fantastic achievement for Northern Ontario. We will have our own medical school in 2005,? he says.
Laurentian University president, Judith Woodsworth, is also thrilled with the development.
?We take pride in our medical school?s achievement and the progress it has made in such a short time,? she said, in a press release. ?Accreditation is a stamp of approval that declares the school will offer quality medical education that compares with the best in Canada.?
Future Northern Ontario doctors can start applying to the NOMS in July, says Strasser. A total of 32 spots will be open in Sudbury, and 24 in Thunder Bay.
Well-rounded, diverse students from the north will be favoured. Both arts and science students are welcome to apply, as long as they have completed electives in both disciplines, he says.
?We are looking for applicants who have completed a broad-based four-year degree,? says Strasser. ?We are particularly looking for students who come from Northern Ontario . . . our target profile is to mirror the population distribution of Northern Ontario.?
The medical school is also in the process of recruiting professors, he says. The faculty will be made up of a mixture of doctors from the north and those brought in from elsewhere.
?A lot of the medical science faculty who are coming to Sudbury have connections here,? he says. ?Some grew up here and some have a family connection. And then there are those who are already from Sudbury.?
Strasser and his new faculty recently tested the NOMS curriculum. In May, a group of upper-year Laurentian science students spent a week working through an NOMS learning module.
?It was great fun,? says Strasser, who hopes to teach at the medical school himself. ?It certainly brought the medical school building to life.?
But not so long ago, curriculum testing at the NOMS seemed a far-off challenge. ?Starting any new organization is challenging,? he says. ?Starting a new medical school is even more so. We had to co-ordinate two universities. Our mandate was to have a medical school for the whole of Northern Ontario. That was certainly part of the challenge.?
Strasser recognizes the provisional accreditation only marks the beginning of his work.
?There is a lot more to do to get ready. I have been working at this for two years, and it?s only really beginning,? he said. ?We need to do training and faculty development, and then there is the construction of our buildings.?
Construction on the Laurentian and Lakehead medical school buildings will begin in August, he says.
