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Dean’s Report by J. Kelton
Dr. John Kelton, Dean and Vice‐President, Faculty of Health Sciences, was at the meeting to discuss the Faculty of Health Sciences and the Department of Family Medicine.
Dr. Kelton commented on the good relationship that exists between the Department and the Faculty as a whole. The Faculty of Health Sciences began as a nursing school 45 years ago at the General Site.
Today, our School of Nursing is one of the largest nursing schools in the country with approximately 500 nurses enrolling per year. The Faculty of Health Sciences is proud to have the Bachelor of Health Sciences Program which is one of the hardest programs to get into in Canada.
Approximately 40 years ago, the medical school began with 12 students. FHS put in a winning bid to the province and had the opportunity to expand the medical school which doubled in size over a period of six to seven years. There was a shift from teaching students in teaching hospitals to teaching in communities. Eighty sites were set up across the province.
The medical school is also developing a distributive education model which will be more of a community based education model. An integrated model will be used in the satellite schools of medicine in Kitchener/Waterloo, Brampton and Niagara. By next year, there will be approximately 176 students in the School of Medicine where Family Medicine will be the driver. The monies from David Braley have given the Faculty of Health Sciences the opportunity to do something big in the community with opportunities to enhance stem cell research, to initiate an infectious disease centre, and to build a downtown centre for Family Medicine.
Dr. Kelton reported that Family Medicine is once again moving to the forefront with many students making family medicine their first choice. Through the MD expansion and the AFP, Family Medicine has done well.
Downtown Campus
Dr Kelton felt it important that the new centre for Family Medicine be centrally located. David Braley has provided $10 million as seed money. Both Drs. Kelton and Price are in discussions with the province to obtain more funding. The Centre would train students/residents in an interprofessional fashion and will reach out to the communities around us. Many thanks to all of the faculty who so willingly give up of their time to train our future family physicians.