The Northern Ontario School of Medicine has released a new five-year strategic plan.
It focuses on current challenges, future growth and preparing for an always changing health care system.
The goal is building a culture of diversity, inclusion, integrity, and empowerment.
School Dean Dr. Sarita Verma says staff and students must concentrate on four specific areas to be successful.
-Valuing Our People
-Managing Our Resources
-Investing in Our Infrastructure
-Sustaining Our Resilience
The new mission statement reads “to improve the health of Northern Ontarians by being socially accountable in its education and research programs and by advocating for health equity.”
In the ambitious plan, the school has identified the need to promote innovation, discovery, and academic and clinical excellence.
Dr. Verma says the strategy will help them prepare for current challenges.
“Even before the COVID-19 crisis, we were witnessing worsening health equity issues. Rapid technological change, growing economic interdependence and frankly mounting political instability which continues.”
She notes the strategic plan was drafted after a year of planning and talks with some 2,000 people,
“We were poised to address the challenge immediately of the pandemic but at the same time we were already pivoting towards a realistic future in virtual health education and population based research.”
Dr. Verma adds they must train physicians of the future so they can work in an increasingly uncertain and volatile world.
NOSM’s new plan identifies four strategic directions:
-Transform Health Human Resource Planning
-Advance Social Accountability
-Innovate Health Professions Education
-Strengthen Research Capacity in Northern Ontario
To hear more about the plan from Dr. Sarita Verma, visit the Audio link below
