Guest blog by Dr. Richard van Wylick, an Associate Professor in General Pediatrics, and the Director of Faculty Development for the Faculty of Health Sciences.

The Office of Faculty Development has the mission to prepare faculty for their current and future roles through skill development by assisting faculty in attaining the skills relevant to their roles as educators, researchers, administrators and scholars.

This past week, Canadian medicine lost one of its greats. One of the fundamental tenets of medical education and practice today, is that treatment should be guided by evidence. It seems so logical and fundamental, and yet, the “science of evidence-based medicine” is relatively young. Arguably, the father of that science[1], David Sackett, just recently passed away at age 80. Ostensibly, Sackett was able to pioneer and champion the marriage of statistically based epidemiology with the practice of clinical medicine.

Over the last six months, it has been nothing short of thrilling to watch the hard work and dedication of the team behind the Canadian Institute for Military and Veteran Health Research (CIMVHR) come to fruition. Under the leadership of its Director, Dr. Alice Aiken, we’ve seen the number of it’s university partnerships grow to 37, and, incredibly, generous grants and donations from the federal government, True Patriot Love, and General Dynamics have come rolling in – over 21 million dollars worth since November.

Every once in a while, we hear of a story concerning one of our alumni that simply blows us away. Such a story came to us in the last week about two-time Queen’s grad, Phil Sheppard.

Following the completion of his Master of Science in Biomechanics, Phil pursued his Master of Science in Physical Therapy, graduating in 2013. While a student in our School of Rehabilitation Therapy (SRT), Phil was President of the Rehabilitation Society, and sat on a number of prominent committees.

Lately, in the Faculty of Health Sciences we have been exploring the idea of the “flipped classroom”, an educational term used to describe the idea of switching the components of homework with the components of class time. For instance, instead of using valuable class time for a lecture, students are asked to watch the lecture as their homework, and time together in the classroom is spent on activities such as small group learning, debate, lab demonstrations, etc.

Guest blog by Dr. Damon Dagnone, an Assistant Professor in the Department of Emergency Medicine and the Faculty Lead for CBME at Queen’s University.

Shortly after the Supreme Court of Canada’s decision on assisted death was announced, I wrote a blog article on how we will need to address the upcoming changes to legislation within our faculty. Just two months later, this topic remains high in the public consciousness. As such, Post Media health reporter Sharon Kirkey contacted me recently to discuss how medical schools might begin to prepare for this change. I was pleased with the corresponding article that Ms. Kirkey produced, and felt that it accurately captured my views.

Guest blog post by Anne O’Riordan, Clinical Educator with the Office of Interprofessional Education and Practice and Lecturer with the School of Rehabilitation Therapy.

Perhaps you’ve noticed that the accreditation countdown clock on our School of Medicine’s webpage has finally reached zero. Early last night, we welcomed the visiting accreditation team to our school, eager to start a critical process that we have been preparing for over the last several years.

To give you a sense of the breadth of the work and coordination involved, here is an accreditation visit “by-the-numbers”:

128 accreditation standards

7 committees involved with accreditation, each consisting of at least 10 members

Guest blog from Dr. Steven Brooks, Emergency Physician and Resuscitation Scientist at Queen’s University.