It’s a fresh year filled with optimism and new opportunity at the Northern Ontario School of Medicine.
A new academic year is underway for students in Thunder Bay and Sudbury.
This year, NOSM experienced a five-fold increase in Northern applicants; a 3.2-fold increase in Indigenous applicants and, two-fold increase in Francophone and rural applicants.
The school is also welcoming the 15th class of the Northern Ontario Dietetic Internship Program.
It’s a comprehensive 46-week course in which students learn about nutrition care, population and public health, and management roles in dietetics.
Eight of the 11 (73%) participants are from northern Ontario and requested experience in Indigenous, Francophone, and/or rural/remote communities.
Two were prior NOSM summer students.
Some of the projects they will be taking part in include culinary nutrition to improve outcomes in Oncology patients as well as mental health culinary medicine labs.
There are also 69 students enrolled in the second Master of Medical Studies cohort.
The program is designed for physicians wanting to complement their clinical practice with research that answers questions which have an impact on northern and rural communities.
Sixty-eight per cent of the students are female, with 12 Indigenous learners taking part.
The average age of the group is 25.
Other key statistics in the program:
-18 (28%) are from rural Northern Ontario
-36 (56%) are from urban Northern Ontario
-8 (13%) are from rural and remote areas of Southern Ontario or the rest of Canada
-2 (3%) are from urban areas of Southern Ontario or the rest of Canada
