Newsletter 3

May 2010 | Faculty of Medicine |
University of Toronto
Table of Contents
1T2 Class Council Council Reports
Newsletter
Class Presidents 1
Social Reps 2
VP Finance/Administration 2
Finance & Student Aid Reps
Charity Committee Rep
2
3

Communications Rep 3
Class Presidents Exam & Student Assess. Reps 3

UME Program Evaluation Rep 4
As the 1T2 Class Presidents, we voice the concerns of our Faculty Med. Education Rep 4
class and act as a liaison between our classmates and faculty Pre‐Clerkship Committee Reps 5

and other organizations. This is accomplished through
Clerkship Committee Reps 5
monthly Class Council meetings, attending Class President
MD/PhD Rep 5
lunches with faculty and staff, and sitting on the Medical

ASCM Course Reps 6
Society Executive Council. Our first responsibility this year
PBD Course Reps 6
was to act as advisors to the newly elected 1T3 Class
FMP Course Reps 6
Presidents and by amending the Pre‐clerkship Class Council
Constitution, which included the creation of a new DOCH Course Reps 7
Communications Representative position for the 1T2 class PBL Case Advisory Rep 7

and all incoming years. Later, we collaborated with the Office Fitzgerald Academy Reps 8
of Health Professions Student Affairs and the 1T3 Class PB Academy Reps
Presidents to organize and implement a highly attended Women’s College 8
series of Career Night lectures. Currently, we are working on Sunnybrook 8
resolving the long‐standing issue of a perceived disparity NYGH/Markham 8
between students of the various Academies regarding travel WB Academy Reps
distance and time. We established a focus group of students, TGH 9
including members of the Inter‐Academy Committee to Mount Sinai 9
discuss this issue, and this will be reviewed with faculty TWH 9
members and administrative staff in the near future. In
Health Equity Theme Reps 10
addition, we are part of a group of students that is assessing
Pharmacology Theme Reps 10
the Medical Student Performance Record. Again, we are
Ethics Themes Reps 10
working in partnership with faculty and administration to
Management Theme Reps 11
determine the best direction to take regarding this very
Molecular Med. Theme Reps 11
important student document. To finish off the year, we sat
on the Aikins Awards Committee and helped to coordinate an
electronic election for positions on the 3rd Year Class Council.
We’d like to say thanks for another great year and we look
forward to being a part of class council again next year!

Mathew Leonardi & Melanie Beswick
1T2 Class Council Newsletter (May 2010) Page 1

Social Representatives

We can’t even begin to comprehend how fast these two years have gone. It’s hard to believe
that just two years ago we were all nervously herded in the MSB stone lobby, meeting each
other for the first time with sweaty palms and awkwardly uncomfortable conversations. Now
we go into withdrawal if we don’t see each other for more than 24 hours…our poor Monday
morning lecturers!

We’d like to thank everyone who’s put up with our ridiculous emails and tacky centerpieces –
although we are exceptionally proud of those baguettes! Never again will we be able to walk
into O Grady’s with a) any sort of dignity and b) without wanting to belt out the words “Don’t
stop believing!” The post‐exam parties, interprofessional gatherings, karaoke nights, sporting
events, back to school party, Red party, clerks party, and of course the pre‐clerkship formal
all seem a blur…granted there may be some confounding factors involved. And as Alanis
Morissette says we wouldn’t want it any other way!

We’re going to miss all of your stunning smiles and immaculate styles this summer. If anyone
wants to remediate the year so we can do it all over again, well let’s just say that James and I
wouldn’t hate it. Congrats on finishing pre‐clerkship – we’re halfway there!
With the kind of love that only a hypertrophic heart can sustain,

Brodie Nolan & James Jung, BJ Social Inc.

VP Finance/Administration

Aside from recording the happenings at each 1T2 Class Council meeting, my main task has
been to budget our class funds for our 4 years at U of T, and ensure our spending stays within
that budget. Our main source of revenue this year has been the Pre‐clerkship Formal, as well
as any funds carried over from last year. Our primary expenses include the Pre‐clerkship
Formal, gifts for professors, Daffydil, Class Charity, the newly‐introduced Student Initiative
Fund, and various social events. The amount left in our account should carry us through to
fourth year, when Toronto Notes gives us another large cash infusion.

Deep Guha

Finance & Student Aid Representatives

This year we’ve attended financial services committee meetings to keep updated on any
funding changes that may affect our students. We also sat on the enhanced bursary selection
committee, contributing a student perspective to the review process. In addition, we have
been sending out reminders about important deadlines for OSAP and faculty grants, as well
as answering questions regarding financial aid from people in the class.

Angela Jennings & Peter Yang

Charity Committee Representatives

The charity committee has been active this year with a number of events to raise awareness
of and funds for the Native Child and Family Services of Toronto (i.e. the Anishnaabeg Youth
Centre, AYC). We started off the year with a very successful charity trivia night for the 1T2 /
1T3 classes in September. Since then, we have held a cupcake decorating contest, celebrated
the holidays with an ugly sweater party, sold festive holiday‐grams, raised money in
partnership with Kula Yoga, and run a second trivia night. In total, we have raised over $1000
this year alone, bringing the combined amount raised over the past two years to $1500.

In terms of working directly with our charity, this year we have been fortunate to meet with
Mel Hardy, the manager of Youth Services at AYC, several times. We were also invited to the
“holiday feast” organized at the centre, which was a great opportunity to speak to some of
the youth there. Recently, we were fortunate to have Irwin Wesley, a youth worker at the
AYC, come in and give a presentation to interested members of our 1T2 class about the
centre and its services, as well as some of the unique challenges faced by Aboriginal youth in
Toronto. He was accompanied by Chantelle, a young woman who spoke about her
experiences participating in some of the programs offered at AYC. It was a very, interesting,
eye‐opening and informative presentation.

Carl Bradley & Yvonne Kwok

Communications Representative

The Communications Representative position was created in response to specific needs
identified by the class council as being important to our student body. After one year in this
position, these are some of the things this portfolio entails: managing the 1T2 social listserv,
maintaining the class website at www.torontomeds.com/1T2 (including posting council
minutes and newsletters) and creating the class council newsletter. Finally, I have undertaken
an initiative to provide better resource access to students, such as the uploading of the
ASCM2 videos to the class website.

Michael Li

Exam & Student Assessment Committee Representatives

The Examination and Student Assessment Committee (ESAC), composed of both students and
faculty, is responsible for reviewing the curriculum of the MD program. As student
representatives, we ensure that our collective voices are heard and considered during regular
meetings, when individual courses are evaluated and feedback given to course directors.
Some of the courses we have reviewed this year include MNU, Surgery, and Family Medicine,
and we will soon be reviewing FMP. We welcome suggestions at any time, and look forward
to serving you over the remaining two years!

Karen Lam & Nobu Okubo

UME Program Evaluation Committee Representative

As the liaison between the Undergraduate Medical Education Program Evaluation

Committee, the Student Curriculum and Evaluation committee, and the class council ‐ I am
responsible for updating each on actions and/or suggestions from the other. I also offer my
own input to UMEPEC and SCEC, and work with them on different initiatives throughout the

year.

With the medical program accreditation coming up in spring 2012, a major goal of UMEPEC is
to come up with ways to show the accreditation committee that our curriculum is succeeding
in meeting the medical school's mandate of making us into "CANMEDS" superstars. Our
recent topics of discussion include preparation of a curriculum evaluation table that
summarizes how each of the CANMEDS competencies are being developed and evaluated by
our program, and preparation of a summary report of the 2001‐2008 MCCQE results, that
compares our performance relative to other Canadian medical schools.

Samira Jeimy

Faculty Medical Education Program Committee Representative

As the Faculty Medical Education Committee Representative, I attended the Student
Curriculum Evaluation Committee (SCEC) meetings on clerkship curriculum reform to provide
feedback on the proposed and now approved changes. SCEC has been working with Medical
Society's VPs Education on implementing a smooth transition from the current curriculum to
the new clerkship schedule. Earlier in the school year, policies about infection control of the
H1N1 pandemic were discussed at the Faculty Education Committee to minimize the spread
of H1N1 at all University of Toronto training sites.

The Education Committee has also reviewed the admissions committee’s proposal to admit
University of Toronto’s first cohort of medical students to the Mississauga Academy in
September 2011. The admissions process will not be changed and incoming students can
choose to select their campus preferences through an independent process that will not
impact their acceptance into U of T medical school. Academy assignments will continue to be
2 years in duration as it currently is.

In fall 2010, the Pathobiology of Disease and Foundations of Medical Practice courses will be
merged in order to adequately cover the vast range of topics after course feedback about
topic overlap due to the current two‐course structure and a strong student interest in having
an increased exposure to more medical specialties during their pre‐clerkship training.

Stephanie Tom

Pre‐Clerkship Committee Representatives
As liaisons between pre‐clerkship medical students and the faculty, we have been attending
monthly pre‐clerkship meetings with all of the course directors for both first and second year.
Our efforts are aimed primarily at re‐shaping the pre‐clerkship curriculum to improve the
student experience, to increase the efficiency of the program and to improve learning.

Some of the issues that faculty are working on improving as a result are: more meaningful
evaluation from faculty in small group learning environments, definite measures to improve
PBL, issues related to our school’s accreditation coming up in 2011 (curriculum revisions,
mapping, streamlining evaluations, timetabling non‐medical expert teaching, etc), the
progress with the Mississauga campus, and as usual relaying numerous specific student
concerns brought to our attention by our classmates. We will be continuing to represent you
over the summer, so if you have any suggestions or concerns you would like brought up, feel
free to email us.

Dale Podolsky & Sophia Khan

Clerkship Committee Representatives

As your clerkship reps, we have been (and still are) working diligently to ensure that the
student’s perspective is taken into account during the design of our new curriculum. From
helping update “My Practice Portfolio” to be more user friendly, to establishing goals for the
new curriculum, we are doing our best to make clerkship run as smoothly as possible. Over
this past year, much time was dedicated to organizing the clerkship information nights and
academy tours, as well as subsequent information sessions covering the many matches that
we participate in. We listened to your concerns and we are working on solutions with the
faculty for our class and for future generations. Going forward, we will be working to
produce a guide to surviving clerkship that will be distributed at the start of the coming
school year. Please keep us informed of what like and don’t like as we transition into the
clinical world, and we will do our best to keep improving the clerkship experience for
everyone. Have a great summer and see you on the wards next year!

Corey Boimer & Marcus Miller

MD/PhD Representative

The 1T2 class said good‐bye to outgoing MD/PhD students Susan Armstrong, Greg Costain,
Patrick McVeigh, and Jared Wilcox. We wish them all the best in their research endeavors!
The incoming MD/PhD students that joined the 1T2 class are Sagar Dugani, Adam Durbin,
Alvin Lin, Larissa Liontos, Ivan Pasic, Amparo Wolf and Rachel Vanderlaan. The MD/PhD
students attended a great good‐bye/welcome party at the Fox and Fiddle in December.

Rachel Vanderlaan

Arts & Science of Clinical Medicine Representatives

Another year has flown by and we bid the class farewell as ASCM reps. It's been a wild ride,
from mastering the art and science of the enigma that is the JVP to making babies cry (aka
Moro reflex). We have met with ASCM 2 Course Director Dr. Jackie James on multiple
occasions throughout the year to give the student perspective on proposed changes and to
provide feedback from you, our classmates. We have collected feedback from the class both
informally and formally.

Changes to the course this year included a module on Health Equity as well as ASCM 2 formal
feedback that included numerical grades. We discussed how to improve consistency between
sites and maintain excellence in teaching.

Vanessa Han and Marcus Miller

Pathobiology of Disease Representatives

1) Held regular meetings with course director to discuss progress in the course
2) Held final end‐of‐course meeting with course director to discuss strengths/weakness
in course structure, addressed student feedbacks, and made suggestions for next
year's PBD course
3) Responded to student feedbacks and concerns during course via email and personal
communications
4) Provided class with medical resources relevant to course
5) Attended class council meetings on a regular basis
Ana Nikolic & Phil Zhang

Foundations of Medical Practice Representatives

Over the past six months, we have thoroughly enjoyed our role as the course representatives
for Foundations of Medical Practice. Apart from regular meetings with the course director
and week managers, we have served as a liaison between students and faculties to relay any
comments, concerns, or criticisms students have had of FMP. Fortunately, FMP is a course
that is enjoyed by the vast majority of our class and the criticisms have been few and far
between.

In addition our role as liaisons, we have also assisted week managers in organizing career
nights, such as Nuit Rheum, and other activities that required our assistance. Lastly, we have
recently launched an online FMP forum so that students can share notes and discuss any
questions related to the course material with fellow classmates. We look forward to our
remaining weeks as course directors and hope that next year’s class enjoys the course as
much as we did.

Mike Fralick & John Levy
Determinants of Community Health Representatives

DOCH 2 has been a busy course for us all this year. Between Team Based Learning, didactic
lectures, agency visits, and academy presentations, you have experienced (and survived!) a
multi‐faceted approach to learning the determinants of health. It has been a great year acting
as your DOCH reps. We fielded your questions when it came time for the project match
process, ethics submissions, the ILPs, the DOCH exam, the presentation and your final papers.
We hope that we were able to address all of your inquiries in a timely and clear manner!

We acted as a liaison between you and Dr. Johnson and the rest of the course planning
committee, bringing your course suggestions to the table to be implemented both this year
and for future meds classes. You guys are full of good DOCH suggestions! As DOCH reps, we
also participated in the Student Curriculum Evaluation Committee, and class council
meetings. As our term as DOCH reps come to a close, we’d like to say thanks for electing us,
as we have really enjoyed working together to help shape this course.

As we move onto DOCH 3, Erin is excited to continue on as your DOCH rep. While Raageen
plans to move on to clerkship life, the course planning committee will be holding on tight to
Raageen as an honorary rep, as his insight is always appreciated at the meetings. We hope
that you can all look back on your DOCH projects, and be proud of what you were able to
accomplish in such a short time! Have a great summer, see ya in August for DOCH3!!

Erin Bruce & Raageen Kanjee

PBL Case Advisory Representative

As PBL representative, I continued my work from first year in relaying the concerns of the 1T2
class to the course directors of PBD and FMP. Student feedback was very well received in
both courses. More specifically for PBD, Dr. Latta agreed to take the necessary steps to
change some of the cases for next year. The main issue was some of the redundancy and
repetition between the lectures and PBL cases.

For FMP, student feedback was regularly relayed to Dr. Schreiber through regular meetings.
Dr. Rosenfield was also involved in those meetings and plans for changes for next year are
already under place.

I also managed to attend some of the pre‐clerkship meetings and brought up the issue of PBL
with the faculty there. More tutor training as well as a re‐think of PBL structure/delivery are
currently being discussed. Piloting of different models will probably be decided over the
summer.
Zaid Mammo

Fitzgerald Academy Representatives

2009‐2010 was an exciting school year for Fitz. As reps we got the chance to work with our
interim Academy Director, Dr Rob Sargeant, and speak to him about student questions and
concerns. We also made it our goal to strengthen the relationship between the first and
second year classes. This started with a trivia night mixer that brought us all together, and
continued throughout the year as we banded together to win Academy Challenge events like
the Food Drive and organize fun social events like "Fitz Speed Dating". In the end, the
collective passion and creativity of both the 1T2 and 1T3 Fitzies was showcased in the Talent
Show where we not only had the highest number of acts (despite being the smallest
academy), but we also won the show, and with it the ACADEMY CHALLENGE! This once and
for all proved that Fitz is perhaps one of the greatest institutions of all time...a bastion of
unparalleled intellect (not to mention good looks and style). Fitzgerald semper!

Dhiraj Dhanjani, Stephano Chang, Tanu Sharma & Thomas Zochowski

Peters‐Boyd Academy
Women’s College Representatives: Hey PB’ers, we have thoroughly enjoyed being your
Women’s College Hospital Reps for the year; thank you for giving us an opportunity to do it
again this year! We had a great time planning the opening year pub night. We shared your
feedback throughout the year to administration and ended the year with a bang at Pogue
Mahone’s, thank you to everyone for coming out, it was a great turnout! We look forward to
our last final event of the year, an MSK review session at Women’s! We hope everyone has
an amazing summer and we wish you all the best for Clerkship next year!
Cara Sterling & Dave Levin
North York/Markham Representatives: It has been another great year for the
students at North York General Hospital. Students have enjoyed the intimate learning
environment available at this superb site. We have worked hard to advocate on behalf of the
students at North York General at academy wide meeting where curriculum reform remains a
hot topic. Going forward, students, along with faculty and staff are looking forward to the
upcoming academy wide social evening. All said, is has been a privilege for both of us to
represent our peers and this wonderful hospital.
Cara Sterling & Dave Levin
Sunnybrook Representatives: As class council representatives for the Peters‐Boyd
academy (Sunnybrook) we have participated in monthly academy council meetings with the
academy director, academy representatives from all four years and other faculty members in
order to discuss pertinent issues relating to the PB academy. We have also sat on the
inaugural Inter‐Academy Executive Council (IAEC) and were involved with the resurrection of
the Inter‐Academy Challenge. In the first term, we helped organize the PB Student Mixer at
O'Grady's and in May we will be hosting an end‐of‐the‐year social event at Pogue Mahone’s.
We have really enjoyed representing the PB academy this year!!
Andrea Kirou‐Mauro & Kim Lazare
Wightman‐Berris Academy
Toronto General Hospital Representatives: As WB‐TGH reps, we started off the year
by throwing a 1T2/1T3 mixer, The WBeach Party. This consisted of games, decorations and
LOTS of ice cream. Throughout the year we attended meetings with Dr. James and the WB
administration to discuss any potential problems with the year and share our ideas for how
things could run better. Additional WB events included the Holiday party and the post exam
O'Grady's lunch. We wrapped up the year with a WB Royal Blue brunch for both first a
second years. As an end of the year gift, a WB button was given to all WBers. There was also
food, games, and prizes!

Jennifer Sy & Jessica Woolfson
Mount Sinai Representatives: It’s been a crazy year! We swear this year went by faster
than the last, but somehow second year is almost over, which means we’re almost clerks
(eek!). More importantly (or at least more immediately) it’s time for you to find out what
your Mount Sinai Reps got up to over the past year!! We started off the year with TB testing
courtesy of Mount Sinai (for those of you who can remember that far back!) We then mixed
and mingled at our 1T2/3 WBeach Ice Cream Social with the other WB Reps. The Holiday
Party was a great success, as always!

New events this year included the Inter‐Academy Council and the Academy Challenge, which
we were happy to be a part of. The Talent show was also a resounding success, and we are
excited that Tanu and crew did so much work to start a new tradition for pre‐clerks. Last, but
not least, the Royal Blue WBrunch was a whole ton of fun, and hopefully you can now take a
little piece of WB pride with you wherever you may go next year, courtesy of your buttons :o)
It has been an honour and a privilege, and more than that, a whole lot of FUN to serve as
your representatives. Mel and Vanessa are sad to be splitting up next year, but Mel remains
excited to represent you at WB again, as Vanessa heads north to represent you at PB, a
testament to how much we both enjoyed our experience. Best of luck to everyone next year,
and we’ll catch ya on the flip side!! (Or hopefully, before that!)

Lot’s of love, Melissa Mackenzie & Vanessa Rambihar
Toronto Western Representatives: We have brought forth our colleagues’ concerns
and comments with respect to their academy‐based courses, including their concerns about
the DOCH project agency selection process and their positive remarks about the ASCM tutors
at TWH. We have also helped to arrange many WB events such as the “WB Ice Cream Party”,
the after exam social at O’Grady’s and the highly successful end of the year “WB Royal Blue
Brunch” (with a special contribution to “Char‐iseases”‐ Charades of Diseases). Thanks for
electing us into your class council; we really enjoyed being your Toronto Western Reps!
Andrea Lam & Carl Bradley

Health Equity Theme Representatives

The Health Equity Initiative has had a very successful year working with faculty on curriculum
development. We have worked with Dr. Jackie James, course director of the ASCM II course
to develop a video on cross‐cultural interviewing as well as a session where students were
given the opportunity to discuss the vignettes of contrasting medical encounters seen in the
video. In ethics, we worked with Dr. Pier Bryden to organize one of the seminars around the
theme of social responsibility. In small groups, students discussed ethical issues that centered
around the first year experience in DOCH. This allowed for students to actively engage in
material around servicing socioeconomically disadvantaged communities and on global
health issues. Feedback has been collected from these new additions to the curriculum, and
we will be working to improve these sessions in coming years. Also, the 2010‐2011 internal
medicine curriculum will now feature health equity content in their seminar cases. We are
currently working with the clerkship directors of family medicine and obstetrics and
gynecology. More exciting developments to come!
Danielle Rodin & Calvin Ke

Pharmacology Theme Representatives

We consulted on the changes to the first year pharmacology curriculum (creation of a 2 week
pharmacology block at the end of Brain & Behaviour) with the other pharmacology theme
reps. We did not receive any comments or feedback from anyone, but we would be happy to
address or relay any, so please email us with your pharmacology concerns. Have a great
summer!
Elisa Fuller & Meghan Ho

Ethics Themes Representatives

This was an exciting year for Ethics and Professionalism! As your ethics reps, we worked with
Dr. Pier Bryden, the Faculty Lead for Ethics and Professionalism, to deliver a revised ethics
curriculum to the 1T3 class. In response to your feedback, lectures and seminars for the 1T3s
are now attached to first year courses, and seminar cases are set to reflect situations that are
relevant to students in the pre‐clerkship years.

We also assisted Dr. Bryden with a presentation to the Joint Centre for Bioethics on Ethics in
Medical Education and will be working further with her and the rest of the Professionalism
Committee to ensure that U of T provides you with a solid foundation to pass the Ethics and
Professionalism component of the medical licensing exams at the end of fourth year.

AAs members of the Portfolio Steering Committee, we have also been working with Drs.
Bryden and Ken Locke to make sure the Portfolio Program—which our whole class will
participate in next year—has increased mentorship focus, with reduced hours of
commitment and redundancy with other parts of the curriculum. …(Cont’d)

(Cont’d)… We hope the roll out of this program proves to be beneficial to you and gives you a
better sense of the profession, and our place within it.

We will continue to serve as your ethics reps through the clerkship years. We are looking
to integrate ethics education into the clerkship rotations in a number of ways, including via
the Portfolio Project, as well as through the development of ethics‐based lunch‐time
seminars and the piloting of an “ethics checklist” to be used during medicine and surgery
rounds. We welcome your feedback on any of these initiatives!

Ethically yours, Alex Saltman & Jared Wilcox

Management Theme Representatives

As the class is aware, we had three management sessions this spring that dealt with advice
for clerkship and beyond, leadership and teamwork. It was thus a relatively quiet year for the
management theme, but as your representatives we are ready to relay your questions,
comments and concerns about management, so please feel free to ask us anytime. We also
look forward to management activities in the following clerkship years.

Duncan Cushnie & Janice Wong

Molecular Medicine Theme Representatives

This year the Molecular Medicine theme reps have been focused on defining the theme as
well as looking at the bigger picture. We have recruited Dr. Eleanor Latta as a faculty advisor
as the theme has been without faculty representation for a number of years. We are
currently looking at how the theme fits into the curriculum, as it is less defined as other
themes. We have begun mapping the theme throughout the pre‐clerkship curriculum, noting
when and where molecular medicine topics arise and what content is covered. We are
coordinating these efforts with the theme reps from the other classes with the ultimate goal
of informing potential curriculum development.

As always we are actively participating in the Student Curriculum Evaluation Committee
(SCEC). Important topics being addressed by this group at the moment include changes to
clerkship, analysis and presentation of last year's SCEC survey and development of a new
survey to evaluate different aspects of student life.

We are always available to the class to discuss their interests and concerns with respect to
the molecular medicine curriculum and willing to approach the appropriate individuals with
respect to this feedback.

Arielle Rochman & Cheryl Foster

Thanks for Reading!
1T2 Class Council Newsletter (January 2010)

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May 2010 | Faculty of Medicine |

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