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northern ontario school of medicine

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A First For NOSM

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The Northern Ontario School of Medicine (NOSM) is officially Canada’s first independent medical university.

The school was first established in 2002 to tackle the ongoing doctor shortage in Northern Ontario.

With more than 780 MD graduates and 692 residents having completed NOSM programs, it is estimated that 300 physicians are still needed in Northern Ontario to meet the immediate demand.

“Health care and health education and research have never been more important,” says Dr. Sarita Verma, President, Vice-Chancellor and Dean of NOSM University. “We all know how complex and fragile the health-care system is across Northern Ontario. NOSM University will transform the system for the North and reach into underserved communities like never before.”

With the Ontario Government’s recent announcement of medical education expansion, NOSM University will increase its medical degree enrolment by 47% and residency positions by 68% over the next five years.

NOSM also vowed to:

  • Define what it means to be an independent medical university in Canada leading the way in fiscal accountability and transparency
  • Advance the national conversation around effective, affordable rural and Northern health care: what it looks like and how to provide it
  • Strengthen existing partnerships and grow new ones, while reaffirming and deepening its commitment to the North
  • Educate more physicians and other health-care providers for the North and help them develop as leaders in their communities while expanding education and training programs to meet societal need
  • Continue advocating for equity, diversity, and inclusion, fighting racism, and seeking truth and reconciliation
  • Make scientific discovery a priority, lead collaborative research in the North and look for new partnerships for cutting-edge opportunities in primary care, educational technology and population health
  • Ensure that NOSM University’s next generation of physicians, registered dietitians, physician assistants, medical physicists, and others have access to the finest high-quality fully-accredited educational programs
  • Raise funds to support our learners by providing financial aid through bursaries and scholarships
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NOSM Gets Standalone, Degree-Granting Status

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Northern Ontario School of Medicine, along with the Université de Hearst, have been given standalone degree-granting status.

The move comes from the Minister of Colleges and Universities, Jill Dunlop in an announcement March 4th.

There have been more than 700 medical professionals that have come out of NOSM since 2005 and those students have typically done more than 40 per cent of their training in Indigenous, small rural and larger urban northern Ontario communities.

Students that attend UH do so in exclusively in French as it one of two universities in Ontario that offer full-time degree programs and services exclusively in Canada’s official second language.

With the standalone, degree-granting status both institutions can now have independent governance and administration, which will provide flexibility to expand and offer more programs in across northern Ontario.

Changes to both schools status will be effective starting on April 1, 2022.