At the last Faculty Council meeting of the academic year, held May 21, several innovative initiatives were shared, from a new McGill Clinical Genomics Program to an MDCM admissions pathway for candidates from rural populations. Faculty Council presentations and minutes are available here for your review.
Also discussed were recent developments in the Faculty’s Project Renaissance strategic planning exercise. Officially launched in 2017, Project Renaissance sets the course for the Faculty through to 2022. Themes encompass education, research, health affairs, academic affairs and our overall governance structure. Examples of outcomes to date include the Faculty’s Education Strategic Plan and its Research Strategic Plan, as well as Campus Outaouais and the Telemachus Mentorship Program for faculty members.
Under VP-Dean David Eidelman’s purview is the Faculty’s governance structure, which includes conversations about the creation of two new schools – a School of Medicine and a School of Biomedical Sciences. The Faculty of Medicine currently counts four schools – Ingram Nursing, Physical & Occupational Therapy, Communication Sciences & Disorders and Population & Global Health – each with a director representing their respective schools’ interests at the senior leadership level.
In creating a School of Medicine, the Faculty aims to provide a formal structure that will strategically align and support McGill’s medical education programs along the career continuum, from undergraduate and postgraduate to continuing professional development.
The establishment of a School of Biomedical Sciences is intended to promote stronger oversight and advocacy of biomedical education at both the undergraduate and graduate levels. It is also hoped that the new School will foster interdisciplinary science, provide critical mass for large scale grant applications and enhance support for core facilities and platforms.
The rationale, proposed structures and cross-cutting mechanisms to ensure transversal collaborations are described in the Faculty Council presentation (slide 69) and minutes (page 4). Several retreats and meetings with leadership and key stakeholders on this topic have taken place over the last several months, with more consultations with both the medical education and biomedical communities in the planning for later this summer and fall.”
Also under negotiation: the Faculty’s name, which no longer reflects the full nature of our activities. More on this on page 91 of the presentation.
July 25 2019