Written on January 24, 2025. See all: COVID-19

Department of Medicine Weekly Roundup - Jan 23

Please see below for the following updates:

Betty and Gerald Straus Early Career Research and Innovation Award
Divisional Update
Medical Humanities Education Matching Funding Grant - Call for Proposals Spring 2025
Reminder: Royal College Maintenance of Certification – Deadline: January 31^st, 2025

In recognition of Dr. Sharon Straus’s compassionate and innovative leadership as Physician-in-Chief from 2018 to 2024, the Department of Medicine is delighted to announce the establishment of the Betty and Gerald Straus Early Career Research and Innovation Award. The award is named in honour of Sharon’s parents. They forged the way so that Sharon and her siblings could have choices and opportunities. In academic medicine, we are likewise blessed to be in a position where we may clear obstacles for future generations. The award of over $20,000 will be given annually to a member of the Department of Medicine who is within 10 years of their first faculty position. The purpose will be to provide seed funds to support the early development of the awardee’s program in research or innovation so that they may be competitive in larger grant applications. A call for applications will go out in the fall of 2025.

Dear Colleagues,

Please join me in welcoming Stephen Betschel to the role of Interim Head, Division of Clinical Immunology and Allergy at SMH. We are very fortunate to have Stephen in this role and I know that under his leadership and with the dedicated individuals in this Division, the future of the Division is bright! Stephen’s skilled teaching, collaborative and thoughtful style, and commitment to exemplary patient care will be terrific assets in this role. Stephen will assume this role as of February 1, 2025.

I would like to thank Peter Vadas for his many years as Division Head, starting with the 1999 Wellesley merger, along with his dedication and amazing clinical acumen.

Sincerely,

Natalie

Natalie Wong, MD FRCPC

Interim Physician-in-Chief, St. Michael’s Hospital

Dear Colleagues,

Postgraduate Medical Education continues to offer the Medical Humanities Education Matching Funding Grant in the amount of $5,000 per project proposal, distributed on a semi-annual basis.

I am writing to announce the call for the Spring 2025 submissions. The submission deadline is Friday, March 28, 2025 with grants awarded to the successful applicants in June.

The integration of humanities in medical education curricula has the potential to improve observation skills, self-reflection, and enhance learner competencies in the CanMEDS roles. Projects and proposals may reflect a variety of curricular designs which identify how medical humanities will be integrated into curricula and further enhance CanMEDS competencies.

Each proposal will require a matching funding commitment from the submitting department/division, i.e., if the project budget is $4,500 – a letter from the department chair committing to $2,250 is required. Funding will be provided for a one-year period, and applicants must agree to submit a project report at end of the period.

PGME will transfer the awarded funds to the successful applicant’s Academic Department in the Temerty Faculty of Medicine. Business Managers will provide Financial Information Services (FIS) account numbers to facilitate this transfer within four weeks of application approval or the funding offer will be withdrawn. The Academic Department will be responsible for the disbursement of funds to the successful applicant.

Attached is further background on the purpose of the grant as well as a template for the application. Please distribute widely.

We look forward to receiving applications for the Medical Humanities Education Grant by Friday, March 28, 2025 .

Please submit your package by email to Arlene McKinley at [email protected]

All Department of Medicine members are reminded that the deadline to submit your 2024 continuing professional development (CPD) hours for Maintenance of Certification (MOC) without mandatory documentation is January 31, 2025. You can submit your hours online at MAINPORT on the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada website.

Please note that 2024 certificates of attendance for St. Michael's Hospital Medical Grand Rounds were emailed by Jessica Comilang in early December.

Resources related to MOC and credit submission can be found at: https://www.royalcollege.ca/en/cpd/moc-program.html