NOSM U’s new dean gives Ford recommendations on family physician supply

Although he’s not entirely sure why the province focusing on banning international students from attending medical schoolGiven their small numbers, the new dean of Northern Ontario’s medical school has some tips for increasing the number of family documents.

Dr. Michael Green took over control NOSM University On November 1, when he became vice-rector, dean and general director, succeeded Dr. Sarita Vermawho is retiring after five years in this position.

Greene – outgoing president College of Family Physicians of Canada and joins the Northern Ontario School of Medicine from Kingston, where he held the chair of family medicine at Queen’s University.

On Friday, he was introduced to reporters at a virtual scrimmage to mark his first day at NOSM University.

Sudbury.com asked Green what his advice would be to Premier Doug Ford to increase the number of family doctors in Ontario.

He said he is very pleased with the current expansion of medical education in Ontario with the opening of two new medical schools in Ontario (at York University and Metropolitan University of Toronto) and more places in medical school in existing schools.

NOSM University expansion to 108 seats in the medical school program, a complete doubling of the number of seats in the 2005 charter class, and an expansion of the graduate program.

Overseeing this expansion is Green’s priority in his new role, as well as developing a new strategic plan for NOSM University.

But “getting the numbers out there is one thing,” Green said, adding that government funding is needed to build community support to train all those new doctors as they head into hospitals and doctors’ offices to train clinically.

“I would like to see support for creating community-based teaching units, what we call clinical teaching units,” he said, providing “support so that we can enable our local teachers to have more students in the community and provide care.”

Since its inception nearly two decades ago, the Northern Ontario Medical School has been training physicians in the community.

But such training is not free, Green said, citing the example of a family physician who may need additional clinical space to accommodate students.

He said family doctors needed “support in their practice” because even after doctors were trained, they would not stay “if their working conditions were poor”.

Greene also recommends “fair compensation” for doctors, “but the OMA (Ontario Medical Association) needs to work this out with the province.”

Further expansion of NOSM University beyond current goals will depend on all of the above factors, he said.

We also asked Green about recent high-profile announcements surrounding medical schools created by the Ontario government.

This includes banning international students from attending medical schools starting in fall 2026 and paying tuition for more than 1,000 students who are committing to become family physicians in Ontario.

Asked why he thinks the province is focused on banning international students from attending Ontario medical schools when there are few of them, Green said, “I really don’t know what the fuss is about.”

NOSM University no foreign studentsas applicants must be either Canadian citizens or permanent residents. In fact, 91 percent of the school’s students are from Northern Ontario.

“NOSM has no international students and there are only 11 in all of Ontario,” Green said.

“They are in three schools. My understanding is that these are what we call supernumerary positions, meaning they do not take away positions from Ontarians, but they are in addition to what the medical school typically offers.

“But we (NOSM University) don’t have them. We are focusing all our energy on preparing Canadian citizens and permanent residents to practice in the north.”

Green said he’s pleased to see the Stay and Learn program, which covers tuition and other educational expenses, expanded to include students who commit to becoming family physicians in Ontario.

He said medical students graduate with up to $200,000 in debt each. “So if you can take that pressure off of them, that’s one more thing that will make it easier for you to say yes to family medicine,” Green said.

In its two decades of existence, NOSM University has made some progress in reducing the physician shortage in Northern Ontario.

When students attend both medical school and residency in Northern Ontario, 90 percent remain in the region. Overall, “it’s a little less, but still more than half will remain in the long term,” Green said.

Although Green comes to NOSM by way of Kingston, he is no stranger to Northern Ontario, having practiced at the Moose Factory on the James Bay coast from 1995 to 2003 as a young physician.

He said he has already found housing in Thunder Bay, where one of NOSM University’s campuses is located, and is looking for another in Sudbury. He will travel back and forth between the two northern cities.

Green said his previous experience working in Northern Ontario will be extremely helpful as he has already developed relationships with other health professionals in the area.

“Many of the doctors I worked with in those years, like me, have gotten older and moved on to other positions and are now scattered throughout Northern Ontario,” he said. “So I’m really looking forward to reconnecting with them.”

—With files from The Canadian Press

Heidi Ulrichsen is an assistant editor at Sudbury.com. She also covers education and the arts.