OTTAWA – Today the first set of Committee on Accreditation of Canadian Medical Schools (CACMS) accreditation standards received final approval at the conjoint meeting with the Liaison Committee on Medical Education (LCME) held in Victoria, British Columbia.
The CACMS is sponsored by the AFMC and the Canadian Medical Association (CMA). The LCME is the American accreditation committee, sponsored by the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) and the American Medical Association (AMA), whose standards had been used in Canada until now.
Last December, a memorandum of understanding (MOU) on Undergraduate Medical Education Accreditation was signed by the AAMC, the AMA, the CMA and the AFMC. “This historic MOU was the first step in allowing Canada to start defining the standards by which we want to uphold our medical schools” declared Dr. Hélène Boisjoly, Chair of the AFMC Board and Dean, Faculty of Medicine, Université de Montréal.
“We accomplished what many said could not be accomplished,” said Dr. Geneviève Moineau, President and CEO of AFMC. “While preserving reciprocity for our graduates and dual accreditation status for our schools, Canada now has its own accreditation standards that allow us to be more responsive to the needs of Canadians.”
June 20, 2014