Please see below for the following updates:

• Appointment of Prof. Moira Kapral as Chair, Department of Medicine
• Important note re: measles – please read
• Impact to Biochemistry Lab testing at St. Michael’s
• Provide your CV and consent to the Elements curation team
• Please RSVP for the June 6 SMH DOM Annual Reception and Celebration by May 21
• UT DOM Annual Day
• Posting: Anti-Racism and Anti-Oppression Lead for the SMH DOM (Close date: May 21, 2024)
• Please RSVP for the SMH DoM - 36th Annual Higgins Day - Resident Research Event by June 3^rd

Sent on behalf of Patricia Houston, Interim Dean, Temerty Faculty of Medicine

I am pleased to announce that the Agenda Committee of the Academic Board has approved the appointment of Professor Moira Kapral as Chair of the Department of Medicine for a five-year term beginning September 1, 2024. She will concurrently hold the Sir John and Lady Eaton Chair of Medicine.

Dr. Moira Kapral is Professor and Director of the Division of General Internal Medicine, Department of Medicine, Temerty Medicine with a cross-appointment to the Dalla Lana School of Public Health. Prof. Kapral is the Lillian Love Chair in Women’s Health and Director of the Women’s Health Program at the University Health Network (UHN) and a Senior Scientist at the Toronto General Hospital Research Institute and ICES. Dr. Kapral obtained her MD and MSc in Clinical Epidemiology at UofT. She completed her residency training in Internal Medicine at UofT and served as Chief Medical Resident at UHN.

A general internist, Dr. Kapral is internationally recognized for her stroke health services research. The American Stroke Association recognized her contributions to research and mentorship in the area of stroke disparities with the Edgar J Kenton III Award in Disparities Research. For outstanding achievement in the field of general internal medicine, Dr. Kapral is the recipient of the Canadian Society of Internal Medicine’s Distinguished Service Award. She has held over $20 million in grant funding with career awards from CIHR and the Heart & Stroke Foundation of Canada. Dr. Kapral is a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians & Surgeons of Canada and serves on their Internal Medicine Board of Examiners.

Dr. Kapral’s peer-reviewed publications include more than 250 articles in top-ranked journals such as the New England Journal of Medicine, Lancet, Nature Reviews Neurology, Canadian Medical Association Journal, Neurology, JAMA Neurology and Stroke. She has been recognized for her dedication to education and mentorship with numerous awards, including Temerty Medicine’s W T Aikins Award for Teaching and, more recently, the Department’s Award for Excellence in Postgraduate Teaching and UHN’s Scott-Vellend Award for Sustained Excellence in Teaching.

Please join me in congratulating Dr. Kapral on her appointment. I would also like to offer sincere thanks and congratulations to Dr. Gillian Hawker for her excellent leadership of the department since 2014, and wish her the very best in the future.

Prof. Arno Kumagai, the department’s Vice Chair of Education, will serve as interim chair from July 1 to August 31, prior to the start of Prof. Kapral’s term.

Sincerely,

Patricia Houston, MD MEd FRCPC

Interim Dean, Temerty Faculty of Medicine

As you are likely aware, several cases of measles have been identified in the Greater Toronto Area in recent months. Increasing measles activity in our community has implications for our patients, and for you.

You are highly likely to have immunity against measles, and you were likely asked to share information about your measles immunity status when you joined St. Michael’s, St. Joseph’s or Providence. Unfortunately, not all credentialed clinicians have shared this information with Workplace Health, Safety and Wellness (WHSW).

Given technological and human resource constraints, it is not possible for us to review all the information in our files and follow up only with physicians for whom we do not have this information. Therefore, we are sending this e-mail to all credentialed clinicians at Unity Health.

In the event you are exposed to measles, if Workplace Health, Safety and Wellness does not have your measles immunity status on file, you may be unable to work at Unity Health or any health care setting for up to 21 days.

We are therefore presenting you with the following options:

1. This is the preferred option. Please submit your measles immunity records to your site’s WHSW department ([email protected]; [email protected]; or [email protected]). Immunity to measles is assumed if either (a) there have been 2 doses of measles-containing vaccine after the first birthday, with doses given at least 4 weeks apart or (b) there is laboratory evidence of immunity (i.e., serology). So, you may submit either your vaccination records or laboratory evidence of immunity.

2. This option is available if you do not wish to find and submit your measles immunity records. You may assume that WHSW has your measles immunity records. In the event that you are exposed to measles, WHSW will manually check your file. If your immunity record is on file, you will be able to continue working. However, if your records are not on file, you may be unable to work at Unity Health or any health care setting for up to 21 days.

If you have any questions, please review the additional information in this memo. If your questions are not answered there, please e-mail WHSW at your site’s email address (listed in one above).

Thanks,

Cheryl Croutch, Director, Workplace Health, Safety and Wellness

On Tuesday May 7, 2024 the Biochemistry Division transitioned to new instrumentation at St. Michael’s Hospital. The lab will be without automation for three months, which will require manual handling of all samples that come to the chemistry lab. This includes tests such as electrolytes, creatinine, troponin and endocrine tests, etc.

While the lab will do their best to limit the impact on patient care, please expect some delays in testing during this transition period. We are unable to process add-on testing during this transition period without automation (approximately three months). Please see this chart for details. Thank you for your patience with while we work to make meaningful laboratory improvements at St. Michael’s Hospital and across Unity Health. If you have any questions, please reach out to any member of the Unity Health Biochemistry team: Daniel Beriault, Head of Biochemistry, Sarah Delaney, Clinical Biochemist and Jeff Companion, Laboratory Manager.

Dear DoM faculty members, 

Elements was recently highlighted in the Chair’s Column in the March edition of the DoM Matters Newsletter. Further details, including training materials, can be found on the VPRI website and the Community Support Site. The goal of this project is to populate Elements with faculty CV data and help DoM faculty transition away from WebCV, which we are aiming to decommission by the end of 2024.

To help populate fields in Elements that require manual entry, we are requesting faculty provide their CV and consent to the curation team to use their CV to populate their profile. Over the summer of 2024, there will be a team of work study students updating profiles. Curated profiles will remain marked as private, and faculty will receive an email once their profile has been curated asking them to login and review it. 

To take advantage of the curation service, please complete the following steps:

1.            Complete the consent form. Completing the form will prompt an email message to the address provided.

2.            Reply to the prompted email and attach your CV and a profile picture.

Once your profile is curated, you will receive an email and be invited to log in and review. It is also possible to request delegate access so someone else can edit your profile on your behalf. Please email [email protected] and share the name and email address of the requested delegate.

Additional plans for Elements over the summer of 2024:

• Additional training materials specific to Temerty Medicine will be generated and shared via the MedIT website 
• Launch of a workflow for requesting guest UTORid’s so staff outside UofT can be granted delegate access/edit Elements profiles 
• Release of multiple other extraction reports, such as Activity Report, Teaching & Education report, and CPA report
• Development of regular communication channel for Elements updates

If you have any questions, please message [email protected].   

Best, 

Joanna King, Manager, Business & Research Administration 

&  

Kate Park, Elements Client Support Coordinator 

Please see the attached poster for UT DOM Annual Day. Please note that this event is for faculty only as space is limited. Registration is mandatory:  https://bit.ly/DoM2024

The application deadline for this Lead position has been extended to May 21, 2024.  Please see the revised posting attached. If you are interested, please submit a letter of intent and CV to [email protected]

Dr. Sharon Straus, Physician-in-Chief, cordially invites you to St. Michael’s Hospital Department of Medicine 36th Annual Higgins Day - Resident Research Presentation Event.

 

Monday, June 17th 2024

12:00pm – 4:00pm

*Zoom Hybrid Option Available*

https://ca01web.zoom.us/j/65040490616?pwd=SUErSEVUZytoVjM2Q2ZTRTJBc0FIZz09

In Person Location:

Li Ka Shing Knowledge Institute of St. Michael’s Hospital

209 Victoria Street, 1st Floor, Room: 136

Toronto, Ontario

Keynote Speaker:

Gillian Booth MD MSc FRCPC FCAHS

Canada Research Chair in Policy Solutions for Diabetes Prevention and Management. Clinician Scientist, MAP Centre for Urban Health Solutions,

Department of Endocrinology and Metabolism, Unity Health Toronto

“From data science to interventions: The best part of the research was the friends we made along the way.”

Luncheon:  12:00 – 12:30 pm

Welcome: 12:30 pm

Keynote Talk: 12:35 – 12:55 pm

Resident Research Presentations:  1:00 – 3:25 pm

Annual Awards Announcement: 3:30 pm

 

Please RSVP for the luncheon: https://knowledgetranslation.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_e3vpvmRztRvzRrg

Please RSVP by June 3^rd