Hospital appoints new scientific director, receives official teaching designation
Montfort Hospital has appointed a new scientific director and received a Group A teaching designation, strengthening its ties with the University of Ottawa and springing it forward in its teaching and research possibilities.
Montfort is a Francophone teaching hospital affiliated with the U of O. Although Montfort and the U of O’s faculty of medicine created a family medicine residency program in 1992, the hospital could not expand its program to the rest of the province because it lacked the Group A ranking. The Government of Ontario designated it a Group A academic teaching hospital on June 19, 2013, which demonstrates the official acceptance and support of the program by the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada.
Montfort is the only hospital in Ontario that offers medical training in French.
“It was a historic day for Ontario’s Francophone community and for Montfort Hospital,” said Dr. Bernard Leduc, president and chief operating officer of the hospital.
The ranking also allows the hospital to be eligible for more funding, allowing for better medical education, more services offered in French, and increased research.
“Montfort Hospital is well known to doctors who wish to practice, teach, or conduct research,” said Dr. Jacques Bradwejn, dean of the faculty of medicine at the U of O. “We expect this new designation will result in economic benefits for not only the region but also the entire province.”
Montfort, the U of O, and the Ontario Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care, are currently negotiating funding and reforming programs. In particular, they are looking to increase the number of Medicine Teaching Days (MTD) in order to meet demand. In 10 years, the number of MTD increased to 21,000 from 6,457 and the hospital hopes to reach 34,000 by 2016 due to the growing number of students.
“Montfort is proud to be working with the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care to enhance access to healthcare in French for Franco-Ontarians across the province,” Leduc said.
Montfort also tightened its relations with the U of O by nominating Dr. Denis Prud’homme, the dean of the faculty of health sciences from 2002 –12, as vice-president of research and scientific director of the Institut de Recherche de l’Hôpital Montfort (IRHM). The IRHM, created in 2012, is a multidisciplinary Francophone research institute that provides opportunities for doctoral and postdoctoral students to improve the wellness and health of the population, with a focus on the health of Francophone minorities.
“It will be a great opportunity for me to be able to support researchers so they can carry out innovative and competitive research programs in an inter-professional context,” said Dr. Prud’homme. “I want to develop a reputation for the quality of research not only in medicine but also in nursing, kinesiology, and nutrition sciences.”
Prud’homme said that, as a Francophone, creating a French-language research environment is “of particular interest” to him.
