New NOSM University president ready to work

NOSM University has a new president, vice-chancellor, dean and chief executive officer. NOSM’s board of directors appointed Dr. Michael Green in June and he officially started this week.

Green said his first priority is to get to know the educational leaders on the ground.

"Really getting to know them, addressing the urgent issues related to expansion that we're facing today," he said.

"And then spending the first year getting to where we're going to have a new strategic plan for the university."

Green succeeds Dr. Sarita Verma who is retiring. Some of Green’s accomplishments include running his own practice in Kingston for more than 20 years, chairing family medicine at Queen’s University and he was also the 70th president of the College of Family Physicians of Canada.

He launched his career in Moose Factory, where he worked for eight years. Green sees the school’s evolution from a medical school to a university as an exciting opportunity.

"The issues that NOSM focuses on (are) social accountability, improving Indigenous health, ensuring rural generalists, outreach to everybody, our Francophone communities are important to making sure people aren't left behind," he said.

"Those have all been a part of my career in the research work that I do, really understanding how health systems can help support the health needs of everybody and improve health equity. So, for me that was inspiring."

With news this week about a shortage of obstetricians in Hearst and Kapuskasing, Green said obstetrics is a core part of medical training and family medicine.

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He said the longer a medical student stays in the north, the more likely the person will practise in the north.

"If you do both your medical school at NOSM and your residency training at our residency program affiliated with NOSOM, we have 90 per cent of those students staying in northern Ontario," said Green.

NOSM University currently has 88 first-year students and more than 120 residency slots. Green said 91 per cent of NOSM students are from the north.