A Task Force on Medical Education Renewal examined these questions and determined that the Faculty of Medicine needs to provide expertise, leadership and innovation in health professional education. Additionally, we must support faculty development, information and technology in education, inter-professional education and simulation.

To create a “Community of Educators,” the Faculty will bring together various units under the single umbrella of a new Division of Continuing Education & Professional Development, led by Associate Dean, CEPD Dr. Jose Francois.

CEPD includes the following components:
• International Medical Graduate (IMG) Program – Director: Dr. Xin-Min Li
• Assessment and Evaluation – Director: Dr. Marilyn Singer
• Clinical Education & Simulation – Director: Dr. Rob Brown
• Medical Education – Department Head: Dr. Andrew MacDiarmid
• Continuing Education – Director: Jeff Toews
• Joint Initiatives with Dentistry – Director: Casey Hein

The new Division of CEPD will build a stronger academic community as we bring together areas which share many commonalities, and improve educational supports.

Our new integrated Division of CEPD will also enable us to test out new formats for learning, such as blended learning methods which integrate e-learning or simulation with the traditional classroom format. It will also allow us to better integrate our growing expertise in the area of physician assessment with other educational programming.

Lessons learned in this “living educational lab” will inform other areas in Undergrad, Postgrad and Physician Assistant curriculum.

At the same time, with an increase in faculty resources, we are widening the expertise available in the Dept. of Medical Education, now under the direction of Dr. MacDiarmid once again.

The new structure has resulted in re-assignment of tasks between some staff members, concentration of some functions (such as finance), and more effective sharing of expertise between components to maximize the efficiency and effectiveness of resources.

Clustering allows us to explore new areas such as oral systemic health, and frees up resources to focus on e-learning for faculty development and continuing education, and promotes the development of new learning models.