Faculty of Medicine ramping up for 2020 campus opening
By Lisa Dutton
The McGill University Faculty of Medicine’s Campus Outaouais is busy onboarding members to its growing team. The Campus recently welcomed nine new appointments including the accreditation lead and eight course directors. To date more than 50 percent of Campus Outaouais’ educational leadership and administration staff has been hired. Recruitment will continue at a steady pace as the Campus prepares for the arrival of its first cohort of undergraduate medical students in August 2020.
“The success of Campus Outaouais starts with the quality of its faculty members and support staff, and we are excited to be assembling an outstanding team,” said Dr. David Eidelman, Vice-Principal (Health Affairs) and Dean of Medicine at McGill. “These new members will play a primary role in training and supporting the McGill undergraduate medical students who will complete the MDCM Program in French in Gatineau. I welcome them and wish them every success.”
Dr. Susan Ellen Brien, Accreditation Lead, Campus Outaouais (Biography in French only)
Dr. Emmanuelle Britton, Course Director Reproduction and Sexuality, Campus Outaouais (Biography in French only)
Dr. Jean Chou, Course Director Longitudinal Family Medicine Experience, Campus Outaouais (Biography in French only)
Dr. Nayla Gosselin-Papadopoulos, Course Director Movement, Campus Outaouais (Biography in French only)
Dr. Jackson Guimezap Tsopmo, Course Director Human Behaviour, Campus Outaouais (Biography in French only)
Dr. Stephen Hanley, Course Director Principles of Research 1 and 2, Campus Outaouais (Biography in French only)
Dr. Walid Issawy, Course Director Circulation, Campus Outaouais (Biography in French only)
Dr. Akinni Akim Salaou, Course Director Respiration, Campus Outaouais (Biography in French only)
Dr. Martin Viau, Course Director Digestion and Metabolism, Outaouais Campus (Biography in French only)
All nine of the new faculty members live and work in the Outaouais region and many graduated from McGill’s MDCM Program or completed residency training at McGill.
“The faculty members’ strong ties to the region will give medical students an appreciation of what it is like to live and practice medicine in the area,” said Dr. Gilles Brousseau, Assistant Dean of Medical Education, Outaouais Region. “Research shows doctors tend to settle down and start their practice where they completed their medical training.”
Campus Outaouais gives students not only from the Outaouais region, but also from across Quebec, the opportunity to complete their entire medical education, from their MDCM degree to residency training, in French in Gatineau and the surrounding areas.
Starting in 2020, the Campus will welcome 24 undergraduate medical students annually for a total student body of 96 students over the four-year MDCM Program. Recruitment efforts have been going strong across Quebec in an effort to inform potential students about the possibility of studying at the new campus. In addition to undergraduate students, each year 30 medical residents complete their residency training in the region in a variety of programs, including Family Medicine, and each month about 15 residents from various postdoctoral programs also do internships in Outaouais.
“The opening of the new campusis a major milestone for McGill and the CISSS de l’Outaouais, one that builds on over 30 years of collaboration,” said Dr. Samuel Benaroya, Associate Vice-Principal and Vice-Dean of Health Affairs at McGill. “We expect the Campus will serve as a magnet to attract and retain outstanding physicians and educators in Outaouais. This will help fulfill the Campus’ goals – to address the chronic shortage of family physicians and other specialists in the region and to help improve access to care for those who live there.”
General construction of the Campus should begin in the next few weeks. The $26.4-million construction project involves adding two floors to the Emergency Department of the CISSS de l’Outaouais’ Gatineau Hospital. One floor will be the new home of the Groupe de médecine familiale universitaire (GMF-U) de Gatineau and the other will house the Campus Outaouais’ teaching facilities, including a high-tech simulation centre.
“We began preliminary construction in the fall. The major work starts this winter and will be completed by spring 2020,” said Michel Leblanc, Senior Project Director, Campus médical Outaouais. “We are working with a number of Outaouais-based architectural, construction and engineering firms on the project’s design and construction.”
We’ll keep you up-to-date as the Campus continues to take shape.
Check out the Campus Outaouais web pages.
January 18, 2019