DEAR COLLEAGUES,
We have arrived at “the end of the beginning,” to borrow a phrase from Sir Winston Churchill. And so it was at the Faculty Council & Town Hall meeting two weeks ago that the Think Dangerously! Design Groups presented their draft recommendations for the future of this Faculty, a celebrated milestone after months of engaged debate with hundreds of you. This edition of Med E-News is devoted to the Faculty Council & Town Hall meeting to give you the opportunity to fully apprise yourself of the Faculty’s strategic planning and other important Faculty news.
Of extraordinary note is the passing by McGill’s Senate last month of a motion to change the definition of “full-time” professor to include GFT(H)s, regardless of source of income. The University has committed to extending access to benefits to this group and is currently studying the means by which this can best be done. Additionally, academic performance and promotion of GFT(H)s now will be based on accomplishments in their own field of expertise. To all who are currently GFT(H)s, this is remarkable news! The changes are detailed at this link, starting on slide 40. Congratulations and thank you to our Think Dangerously! Faculty Lifecycle Design Group for realizing this historic coup and to all our Design Group members for their remarkable efforts!
Click here to view the videos of the presentations.Weighing In On Faculty’s Draft Strategic Plan
Last week was simply spectacular as our most recent cohort of graduates walked through the Roddick Gates to take on the health challenges of the future. On Convocation Day, June 1, when I addressed the Class of 2010, I was struck by how different their world will be from the one I entered as a doctor. I also was acutely aware of the extraordinary responsibility we have embraced to create a 21st century strategic plan that will prepare the next generation of health leaders. As we finalize these Design Group recommendations, I strongly encourage you to avail yourself of the material at the links below and share your thoughts and counsel via the Think Dangerously! blog in the next few weeks.
One last topic I would like to underscore is the recently released McGill Faculty of Medicine Code of Conduct . As Canada’s first medical school, with an international reputation that is the envy of many, we are entrusted by students and peers, alike, to teach and model the highest levels of professionalism. This Code is a starting point to help us make sure we shine in this regard, to help clarify any grey areas about mistreatment and to ensure we are defined by excellence in all tenets of our mission. More communication on this critical issue will follow shortly. In the meantime, thank you, in advance, for taking this to heart and reading the Code in its entirety, available here.
Vice-Principal (Health Affairs)
Dean, Faculty of Medicine
McGill University