The Maternal Fetal Medicine (MFM) Fellowship Program, is a fully Royal College accredited two-year subspecialty program.
I took on the role of Program Director when, Dr. Nancy Kent stepped down, after almost 6 years. I would like to take this opportunity to acknowledge her dedication and hard work in constantly improving the program, and for handing over a very well-oiled machine.
Our program continues to provide advanced training in high-risk obstetrics and prenatal diagnosis, with excellent clinical exposure and supervised experience in all aspects of the subspecialty. Our fellows participate in basic science and/or clinical research projects. They benefit from protected academic time and instruction in research methodology, statistics, and study design. In preparation for becoming an academic physician, they receive formal instruction on how to teach in the clinical setting, and are encouraged to participate in multidisciplinary and interprofessional committees.
The first fellow to complete his training under my tutelage was Dr. Kim MacDonald, who graduated in December 2015. He has since established his mixed obstetrics/gynaecology and MFM practice in the “Sea-to-Sky Corridor” of British Columbia. I am happy to report that he has not completed “cut the cord”, as he has accepted a locum position in our MFM Division.
The other fellows in the program were Dr. Tehila Avitan, from Israel, Dr. Allison Thiele, from Regina, Saskatchewan.
Our program continues to attract a large number of highly skilled individuals, as evidenced by the fact that we interviewed 7 excellent candidates in July 2015 for the 2016/2017 academic year position. We were fortunate enough to be able to accept two of the applicants into our program.
I could not end without acknowledging the hard work accomplished by Ms. Roshni Nair, our senior program assistant, who received one of the first Staff Service Awards from the Department. She earned this recognition partly because “the positive experiences her students talk of in their interactions with her make her a true ambassador for the department in dealing with our learners.”