1T2 Council Newsletter #2 (January 2010)

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

Communications Rep 3
Exam & Student Assess. Reps 3

UME Program Evaluation Rep 4
Faculty Med. Education Rep 4
Pre‐Clerkship Committee Reps 4
Class Presidents Clerkship Committee Reps
MD/PhD Rep
5
5
The first half of second year has been a great experience
ASCM Course Reps 5
PBD Course Reps 6
for us as your Class Presidents. Having done this job FMP Course Reps 6
once before, we found that we slipped right back into DOCH Course Reps 6
our roles as soon as school started. While much of our PBL Case Advisory Rep 7

responsibility has remained the same (attending Class Fitzgerald Academy Reps 7
President Lunches with faculty and staff, organizing and PB Academy Reps
running Class Council meetings, acting as a liaison Women’s College 7
between class and faculty or other organizations), our Sunnybrook 7
role has indeed changed. This year we have faced new NYGH/Markham 8
challenges such as remodeling our Class Council WB Academy Reps
Constitution, including the creation of a new TGH 8
Communications Representative position, sitting on the Mount Sinai 8
TWH 8
Medical Society Executive Council, and being advisors to
Mississauga Academy Reps 9
the 1T3 Class Presidents.
Health Equity Theme Reps 9

Pharmacology Theme Reps 10
We look forward to continue working with both 1T2
Ethics Themes Reps 10
students and students from the other 4 years in 2010.
Management Theme Reps 10
As always, we are more than happy to answer any
Molecular Med. Theme Reps 11
questions or direct a classmate in the right direction.
Please do not hesitate to approach us in class or send us
as email at meds1t2@gmail.com

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

Social Representatives

We’d like to give a quick thank you for making this the BEST (and hopefully only) second‐year
of medicine we’ve ever had! You are all fantastic and bring a smile to our faces on a daily
basis. As a quick recap of the year so far, we started off with the welcome back party with the
1T3’s and then went straight to our IPE curriculum with an awesome boat cruise. We’ve had
post‐exam parties galore, pro‐fac gatherings, BJ rearrangements, Raptors games, karaoke
nights, said goodbye to some old friends, hello to some others, and a little bit of studying
somewhere in between.

So where do we go from here you ask? Well for the corsage‐loving we’re looking forward to
what we promise to be an awesome preclerkship formal coming up on April 24th. For the
sports‐fans we’ll have another session with the Raptors and a few with the Jays once it
warms up. For those who attend lectures, we’ll be mixing the class up again with a few more
BJ rearrangements. And of course we have a healthy mix of more post‐exam celebrations,
awkward emails, and the kind of love you just can’t deny. We look forward to watching you
all become even more beautiful or handsome or both.

With statistically AND clinically significant love,

Brodie Nolan & James Jung

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 sources of revenue last year were the first‐year clothing sale as well as
some proceeds from Toronto Notes. These have left us around $8000 in the class account to
date, which this year will be used for the Preclerkship Formal, Daffydil, Class Charity and the
newly created Student‐Initiated Event fund.

Deep Guha

Finance & Student Aid Representatives

So far this year we've attended general financial services committee meetings to keep
updated on any changes in funding that may affect 1T2 students. We also sat on the
enhanced bursary selection committee, contributing a student point of view to the review
process. In addition, we have been sending out reminders about important deadlines for
financial aid and bursaries. In the coming semester we will be attending more finance
committee meetings and working hard to keep the class informed of any important
developments!

Angela Jennings & Peter Yang

Charity Committee Representatives

The 1T2 charity committee has held a few successful events so far this year. First was the
joint‐class trivia night in September hosted by two local celebrities. Next, was the
unbelievably popular cupcake catastrophe. Thirdly, no one could forget the ugly sweater
holiday party, which was an expected roaring good time. Can you believe we raised money
for our charity, the Native Child and Family Services while having this much fun? There’s
more where that came from too. We have met with the administration of our charity to
collaborate an information session for our class. We plan to have another trivia night as well
as an inter‐academy challenge event. That’s it for now.

Carl Bradley & Yvonne Kwok

Communications Representative

As the Communications Representative, I'm responsible for approving emails that we receive
in the social listserv. I've also created and I'm maintaining the 1T2 class website at
www.torontomeds.com/1T2, which includes the MedSoc event calendar and is integrated
with Flickr photo galleries of our fellow classmates. In addition, in conjunction with the 1T3
communication rep and the VP communication executives, I have created a draft acceptable
user policy for the listserv (which everyone should get to know!). I hope to continue
improving the quality (and reducing the quantity) of the emails we receive through the
listserv. Finally, I was responsible for putting together the last newsletter and this current
one. Feel free to let me know any feedback regarding the listserv, website and newsletter!

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 way students are evaluated in all 4 years of the MD
program. As student representatives, we ensure that our collective voices are heard and
considered during our regular meetings, when individual course exams are assessed and
feedback given to course directors. Currently, we are in the process of auditing the 2009
MNU examinations. We discussed the midterm, final exam, histology exam and clicker
component of the overall MNU mark. The validity/reliability of the exam questions,
comparison to previous years' marks, and how feedback was used to improve these exams
was discussed in order to make recommendations for future years. We will continue to keep
you updated and we welcome your suggestions and feedback at any time!

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 will continue to work with

Medical Society's VPs Education on implementing a smooth transition from the current
curriculum to the new clerkship schedule which directly impacts our class of 1T2. 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.
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,
as well as term meetings with the student course representatives. We discuss and debate

everything about the pre‐clerkship curriculum and experience.

This past summer and this semester some of the specific topics of discussion have been the

debate of what marks should lead to remediation/extra work, pandemic planning for H1N1
and how it might affect our learning and contingency plans, policies on absences, presenting
the results of the surveys about our class’s feelings about clickers and printed notes (both

final recommendations were implemented based on what you voted), the portfolio project
being piloted with volunteer first and third year students this year (and likely to be taken up
by all third year students next year), issues related to our school’s accreditation coming up in

2011 (curriculum revisions, mapping, streamlining evaluations…. (Cont’d)

(Cont’d)… timetabling non‐medical expert teaching, etc), , the progress with the Mississauga
campus, and as usual relaying specific student concerns brought to our attention by our
classmates (quality of printed notes, recording of lectures, frequency of MedSIS evaluations,
the town hall meeting, number of hours of lecture a day, etc).

Dale Podolsky & Sophia Khan

Clerkship Committee Representatives

If you didn’t already know, it’s an exciting year to be a clerkship rep! There is a lot going on in
the realm of clerkship with the new curriculum changes being introduced next year. We’ve
been at the clerkship committee meetings learning about the changes and representing your
views to the committee. At the same time we’ve been following the introduction of My
Practice Portfolio which is now live and being used by clerks to log their patient encounters.
We’re currently working hard to organize the clerkship and academy information sessions
that will take place in January. Keep an eye out for lots more to come!

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 joining 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. A special
thanks to the Social Reps for organizing the Karaoke night!

Rachel Vanderlaan

Arts & Science of Clinical Medicine Representatives

Marcus and Vanessa make their illustrious return this year as your ASCM 2 reps! It has been
pretty smooth sailing with ASCM so far this year. We hope you all agree and have been
learning lots of new and practical skills. The history and physical evaluation is right around
the corner so you’ll have a chance to see how your skills are progressing. You'll also get some
practice being observed and performing focused evaluations similar to the OSCE in May.
Please remember to keep on top of your log books and tutor evaluations. As always, if you
have any comments or concerns about the course or how we could make any improvements,
we’d love to hear them!

Marcus Miller & Vanessa Han

Pathiobiology of Disease Representatives

Hey Class, it was a pleasure working on your behalf as the PBD reps this year. We sincerely
hope that you enjoyed the block and that the course provided you with a solid foundation
going into FMP and clerkship. We are happy to hear that we have addressed many of your
concerns and to have seen the course improve on based on your feedback. We are also
planning to meet with the course administrators to see how we can further improve the
block for future classes. Good luck with everything!
Ana Nikolic & Phil Zhang

Foundations of Medical Practice Representatives

We have just started FMP and it's going great so far. Our main role is to be the link between
our classmates and Dr. Schreiber. So we're here to answer any questions about the course
and forward any comments or concerns that the class may have to Dr. Schreiber. We will be
meeting regularly with him to assess how the course is coming along. As part of this position
we are also representatives on Class Council and the Student Curriculum Evaluation
Committee (SCEC). We are looking forward to an exciting year!
Mike Fralick & John Levy

Determinants of Community Health Representatives

This semester has seen us focusing mainly on two issues: the DOCH project and clerkship
renewal. With respect to the former, we have fielded questions from the class regarding
numerous aspects of the assignment (details of the ILP, navigation of the website, etc).
Additionally, after polling the class for feedback, we were able to present a list of compiled
comments and suggestions to the Course Planning Committee (CPC). The course director was
receptive to these comments, and where applicable provided feedback and instituted some
of the changes.

Clerkship renewal is the hot topic of the day ‐ and this is quite true at the CPC meetings as
well. As reps, we have attempted to advocate on behalf of the students' interests during
discussions regarding changes to be made to DOCH 3 and 4. This is an ongoing process as the
details of the new curriculum continue to be refined.

As per usual, we have also continued to liaise with the course director with regards to
questions and comments raised by students, particularly during exam season. Our inboxes
take quite a hit around exam time but we hope that we were able to steer most of you in the
right direction for your studying!

As the year progresses, we look forward to helping you through your independent projects
and we welcome any feedback about the course!
Erin Bruce & Raageen Kanjee

PBL Case Advisory Representative

As an extension from my first year role, I continued to act as a liaison between the faculy and
the second year class with regards to PBL matters. During PBD, I sent Dr.Latta monthly
updates on any issues raised by the class. The main anticipated change will involve the last
three PBL cases of the course since they were felt to be redundant with the actual lecture
material. Early on FMP, I initiated contact with Dr. Schreiber with specific students' concerns
with regards to the new setup and expectations of the PBL sessions. The feedback is currently
being discussed in an effort to optimize the experience of students. In addition, we are
looking at ways to increase the collaborative aspect of those sessions.

Zaid Mammo

Fitzgerald Academy Representatives

The Fitzgerald Academy has had an active and productive fall term. As academy
representatives it has been our pleasure to speak for all the members of the Fitzgerald 1T2
class. Following is an outline and brief description of highlights from the year from our
perspective:

• Coordinating a 1T2 Fitz gift to Academy Director Dr. Vincent Chien at his farewell party
• O'Grady's Social ‐ including trivia night
• Class Council Meeting
• An influential voice on the newly established Academy Rep Council including membership
on the Academy Challenge task force

Dhiraj Dhanjani, Stephano Chang, Tanu Sharma & Thomas Zochowski

Peters‐Boyd Academy
Women’s College & North York/Markham Representatives

Hello 1T2s! It’s your Women's College and North York General Reps here! We've started this
year off with a bang with a 'Welcome to ASCM II Breakfast' at all hospital sites, and a '1T2 and
1T3 PB Pub Night at O'Grady's'. Both events were very successful! We have also been
involved in the Inter Academy Challenge. Most recently, team colors have been assigned and
PB is GREEN! We have lots of exciting events being planned for the new year, so stay tuned.
Happy holidays and best wishes for the new year!

Ashley Clausner, Cara Sterling, Dave Levin & Michael Misch
Sunnybrook Representatives

As class council representatives for the Peters‐Boyd Academy(Sunnybrook site) we have held
a Pub Night Mixer for First and Second Year PB students at O'Grady's… (Cont’d)
(Cont’d)… We also attended the first academy council meeting in October in which we
discussed pertinent issues relating to the PB academy and medical students in general with
the academy director, academy representatives from all four years, and other faculty
members. Now that the PB budget has been re‐evaluated, we are looking forward to
planning more PB social and academic events, including a potential Holiday party.

Andrea Kirou‐Mauro & Kim Lazare
Wightman‐Berris Academy
WB Æ Toronto General Hospital Representatives

As WB TGH reps it is our job to plan fun socials for WB students as well as bring any concerns
with the academy to the attention of the director. So far this year we have put together a
WBeach Ice Cream mixer to introduce the first and second year students, and are helping out
with the Holiday Party. We have had a meeting with the WB academy director to discuss how
the year is running and have another one coming up in the New Year. Future plans include
being involved with the Academy Cup Challenge as well as having an end of the year social.

Jennifer Sy & Jessica Woolfson
Mount Sinai Representatives

The Mount Sinai group of the WB Academy had a great first semester! We started the year
off with a trip to the W‐Beach! First years and second years were able to get to know each
other over copious amounts of ice cream and toppings, with music and games galore!
Students at Sinai then helped vaccinate the flu‐fearing public and Mt Sinai staff by giving both
H1N1 and seasonal flu shots. New events and activities planned by the academy council
sound promising, and progress was made at academy meetings with Jackie James. We look
forward to 2010 with many more activities and exciting events planned!

Melissa Mackenzie & Vanessa Rambihar
Toronto Western Representatives

Along with the usual duties of academy representatives, we have taken on the new duties
associated with the Inter‐Academy Executive Council. We hope to contribute largely to the
Academy Challenge this year. We have assisted with the community outreach food drive and
have met with the academy director, Jackie James, to discuss the issues surrounding
academy‐based parts of the curriculum.

Andrea Lam & Carl Bradley

Mississauga Academy Representatives

The year of 2009 was a very exciting year at the Mississauga Academy. This past May the
government of Ontario officially announced the funding of 28 new medical student seats for
the Mississauga academy of the University of Toronto (UofT) Medical School, bringing the
total number of medical students trained at UofT to 259 per annum. The construction of the
necessary infrastructure has already begun and the administrative staff is working to prepare
the road for the admission of the 1T5 class. The year of 2009 also saw the first spark of
student involvement in the new academy. A group of students from the Trillium and Credit
Valley hospitals have taken the initiative with the support and encouragement of the student
affairs to start a mentorship program in the Mississauga community. Through the
Collaboration of UofT Medical School, UTM (UofT Mississauga Campus), UTMAGS (UofT at
Mississauga Association of Graduate Students), and Peel District School Board, Saturday
Program in Mississauga (SPM), an expansion of the long standing Saturday Program in
Toronto, will start in Feb 2010. It is a 10‐week tutoring and mentorship program that will be
held every Saturday morning at UTM, targeting high school students who are identified as
experience trouble in school by their counsellors. Such programs are necessary to make the
student experience at the new academy equivalent to the one in Toronto. Overall, the
academy has gained new momentum ever since the announcement by the government for
the new funding. Officials are now quite optimistic that meeting the 2011 deadline seems
reasonable, despite the previous speculations.
Saman Zarghom & Nathaniel Winata

Health Equity Theme Representatives

The Health Equity Initiative is a student‐based group composed of 2 members from each
medical class, with Dr. Philip Berger is our faculty mentor. We aim to improve the medical
education on vulnerable populations such as the homeless, Aboriginals, recent immigrants
and global health populations. To this end, we have developed a casebook containing dozens
of clinical scenarios that highlight key relevant health equity themes. Since our founding 2
years ago, we’ve met with Dean Whiteside, Dr. Rosenfield, Dr. Martin Schreiber as well as the
Preclerkship Curriculum Committee and all preclerkship course directors. Last year, our
casebook was presented to the Undergraduate Medical Education Curriculum Committee and
received a positive reception. Building on this progress, we are consulting with course
directors to identify areas where health equity content may be strengthened. This year, we
produced a video which was used in ASCM II which addressed cultural sensitivity in
interviewing marginalized populations. We are currently involved in modifying the third and
fourth year internal medicine clerkship seminars to include questions on health equity
themes and resources for students and teachers. Moreover, the Health Equity Initiative is
currently working to draft a proposal an official mission statement for health equity as a
longitudinal theme alongside other themes (e.g. Management, Pharmacology) to further
strengthen our programming.
Danielle Rodin & Calvin Ke
Pharmacology Theme Representatives

As your pharmacology theme representatives, we have been in touch with Dr. Cindy
Woodland during the previous months. Most recently, we were in attendance of a
pharmacology theme representative meeting where we met with the representatives from all
four years and Dr. Woodland.

The current status of pharmacology in the curriculum, the need for more pharmacology
content and the recent changes that have been made to the first year curriculum with
respect to pharmacology were discussed. We hope to continue to be in contact with Dr.
Woodland in the upcoming semester and please feel free to contact us with any of your
concerns.

Elisa Fuller & Meghan Ho

Ethics Themes Representatives

Your Ethics Reps were busy this fall working with Pier Bryden, the Faculty Lead for Ethics and
Professionalism, to revise the first year ethics seminars based on results from the survey of
our class last spring. Thank you to all the 1T2s who volunteered to facilitate these seminars ‐
they were a huge success!

In the new year, we are hoping to begin a new initiative ‐ Brown Bag Ethics Lunches ‐ where
students can participate in discussions of "hot topics" in medical ethics, from abortion to
stem‐cell research. We will invite ethicists from U of T's Joint Centre for Bioethics to act as
resource people. If you're interested in helping out with planning these lunches, please let
either of us know!

Yours ethically,

Alex Saltman & Jared Wilcox

Management Theme Representatives

The management theme representatives are continuing to be present for student questions
or concerns about the management theme. There are several management‐related lectures
coming up this spring, so please feel free to come to us with your thoughts and feedback
about the management theme! Also, in preparation for 3rd year, we are always open to
suggestions for improving how management fits into our clerkship curriculum.

Duncan Cushnie & Janice Wong
1T2 Class Council Newsletter (January 2010)

Molecular Medicine Theme Representatives

So far 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 than other
themes. We have begun mapping the theme throughout the perclerkship 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 Evalution Committtee
(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 evalute other 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 apppropriate individuals with
respect to this feedback.

Arielle Rochman & Cheryl Foster
Thanks for Reading!

1T2 Council Newsletter #2 (January 2010)

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January 2010 | Faculty of Medicine |

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