For some time, I have been pre-occupied with whether we have the presence we should have in our own neighbourhood. We can all be proud of the faculty’s community-focused projects in place such as the Inner-City Science Centre (founded by Dr. Francis Amara in partnership with Winnipeg School Division), the student-run WISH clinic and the Jacob Penner Park student initiative. We intend to continue to support and enhance these projects.

But what more can we do to partner with our neighbours and support our inner-city community?
In a wide-ranging plan to develop a Faculty focus on diversity, health equity and learning with the community, Dr. Sharon Macdonald, Head, Dept. of Community Health Sciences and Dr. Catherine Cook, Associate Dean, First Nations, Métis and Inuit Health suggest we engage with the community around us to:

• Create pipelines for Aboriginal, new Canadian and inner city youth to enter careers in the health sciences, particularly in medicine;
• Develop service learning opportunities for our medical students to make their education more relevant;
• Support, develop and enrich student practice placements;
• Facilitate participatory research by undergrads, grads and postgrad students; and
• Participate in knowledge exchange.

Another way we are reaching out to our community is through the “UM Connecting to Kids” project, supported by the University of Manitoba and the Deans of Medicine, Social Work, and Kinesiology and Recreation Management. A project team is meeting with individuals and agencies in the inner-city to enhance our relationships and interactions with our neighbours.. Learn more about this project at an information session with the Deans of Medicine, Dentistry and Pharmacy on Thursday, January 20,2011 from 11:00 am to Noon in Room S211, Medical Services Bldg.

Through these efforts, I am confident we can build respectful relationships with our community partners and become the good neighbours we aspire to be. At the same time, we will be fulfilling the Faculty of Medicine’s mission of education, research and service.