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spring 2009 |
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Online Only
E D U C A T I O N
Attracting
Aboriginal students to medicine
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Submitted Photo |
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Dr. Carolyn Sturge Sparkes |
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A program of fundamental
change in medical education programs and approach to Aboriginal
communities and Aboriginal health is under way in the Faculty of
Medicine at Memorial University.
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Submitted Article |
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A program of fundamental change in
medical education programs and approach to Aboriginal communities
and Aboriginal health is under way in the Faculty of Medicine at
Memorial University.
An award of $187,500 over two years from
the Aboriginal Health Human Resources Initiative Atlantic Region
Competition will allow the Faculty of Medicine to develop a set of
bridging programs, make revisions to the undergraduate medical
curriculum, and reconfigure the faculty’s new master’s of public health
program to ensure cultural relevance and sensitivity.
Dr. James Rourke, dean of medicine at
Memorial, said this three-part program will bring Memorial to the
forefront of the national effort to enhance the cultural sensitivity of
health professional education and the presence of Aboriginal peoples in
the country’s health professions.
Memorial’s project will involve close
collaborative development with First Nations, Inuit, Métis communities
and health providers throughout Newfoundland and Labrador. Dr. Michael
Jong, full-time clinical faculty member in Happy Valley-Goose Bay, and
Dr. Catherine Donovan, Division of Community Health and Humanities, are
co-chairs of this project. Dr. Carolyn Sturge Sparkes has been hired as
project co-ordinator.
Dr. Jong has worked for 26 years in Goose
Bay, and has close ties with the Aboriginal communities of Labrador. He
is in the process of broadening his connections with Aboriginal groups
on the Island. Dr. Donovan led the development of the master’s in public
health program, and her expertise will help revise that program as well
as lead in the revisions to the medical curriculum
Dr. Sturge Sparkes has a PhD from McGill
University in curriculum development and has worked with First Nations
peoples in Quebec and other parts of Canada to determine ways to attract
more students to pursue higher education.
At Memorial, her job will involve
developing bridging programs to help the Faculty of Medicine reach out
more effectively to the Aboriginal populations of the province. This
includes an outreach program to increase awareness among Aboriginal high
school students about the possibilities of a career in the health
professions and raise their familiarity with Memorial’s Faculty of
Medicine. It also includes planning to set aside two seats in the
first-year medical class for Aboriginal students and the reconfiguration
of the admission criteria and the interview process in order to fill
those seats.
Dr. Sturge Sparkes will also be working
with others on the revision of the undergraduate medical program from a
culturally sensitive position, in collaboration with community partners
in the province’s Aboriginal organizations. The proposed design of the
new master’s of public health program will include the examination and
revision of the approach and content of existing courses that are part
of the program, and culturally sensitive design of all the new courses
developed. The program will also be designed to include at least one
practicum opportunity in a First Nations, Inuit or Métis setting.
Dr. Donovan said that in addition to the
proposed design changes for Memorial’s master’s in public health
program, the Faculty of Medicine has worked with the National Consortium
on Aboriginal and Rural Public Health Education to adapt one or more of
Memorial's graduate courses for online delivery across the country and
to promote enhance access to public health education for Aboriginal
students.
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