I’m pleased to let you know that Dr. Damon Dagnone – Associate Professor in the Department of Emergency Medicine and our CBME Lead – has recently published a memoir called Finding Our Way Home: A Family’s Story of Life, Love, and Loss. Damon was kind enough to share the manuscript with me before it even came out, and I don’t know if I’ve ever finished a book faster. Damon’s story is almost impossible to put down once you start, and it is even more moving than it is gripping. I had always known that Damon was an excellent physician and educator.

On Wednesday October 3rd at 4:30 PM, the Aesculapian Medical Undergraduate Society will be holding the 34th H. Garfield Kelly Visiting Lectureship. This year's lecturer will be Dr. Samir K. Sinha, who will be giving a talk titled, "On Becoming a Geriatrician, Health Strategist and Effective Advocate for Change." There will be a reception before the lecture at 4:30 PM in the David M.C. Walker Atrium in the School of Medicine. Then Dr. Sinha will speak in the Britton Smith Lecture Theatre (132A) from 5:00 to 6:00 PM. 

Dr. Jocelyn Garland, Associate Professor in the Department of Medicine, has won a Regional Prix d'excellence -- Specialist of the Year Award from the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada. This award recognizes Fellows of the Royal College who have made significant contributions in providing outstanding care to their patients and the community in which they practice. Dr. Garland won the award for Region 3, which is comprised of Ontario and Nunavut. 

On September 5th, we had one of my favourite annual events in the Faculty of Health Sciences: the Faculty Promotion Reception.  During this event, many of the Department Heads and I publically recognize our colleagues who have been promoted to the rank of Associate Professor or (Full) Professor. Celebrating these career milestones is important because it gives us, as a faculty, a chance to recognize the years of hard work and dedication that went into making these achievements possible. Getting promoted is no easy thing to do in the academy.

Guest blog by Adam Devon and Darsan Sadacharam, Queen's medical students in the class of 2020.

The Office of Professional Development and Educational Scholarship has always been a true strength of the Faculty of Health Sciences, and it has recently added two tremendous honours to its impressive list of achievements. First, they received a glowing accreditation report from the Committee on Accreditation of Continuing Medical Education (CACME), and then they earned a Royal College Accredited CPD Provider Innovation Award – their second in three years!

Aortic dissection is a serious condition in which the inner and middle layers of the aorta separate. Because not enough patients and health care practitioners have sufficient awareness of the condition, however, it is often misdiagnosed.

Wednesday September 19 is Aortic Disease Awareness Day, an international action that aims to educate patients, survivors, and health care practitioners about the condition and how it is treated.

Guest blog by Dr. Hugh Langley,  Assistant Professor in the Queen's Department of Oncology and Primary Care and Aboriginal Lead, Cancer Centre of Southeastern Ontario 

The Office of Professional Development and Educational Scholarship in the Queen’s Faculty of Health Sciences has won a 2018 Royal College Accredited CPD Provider Innovation Award (Innovation Award) from the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada.