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Message from the Chair
I want to congratulate Dr. Sharon Johnston, appointed Scientific Director and Associate Vice-President – research at Institut du Savoir Montfort, the Knowledge Institute (ISM). We wish you all the best in your new role and are proud of your contributions to family medicine and health research. Dr. Johnston succeeds Dr. William Hogg, who has been the Interim Associate Vice-President-research and scientific director since May 2020.

It's hard to imagine the pandemic began almost two years ago. Our members have been working tirelessly on the front line and giving patients the best care possible. I want to reaffirm our support for our people! Family doctors are vital to the health and mental wellbeing of patients, our residents, and fellow colleagues. The WHO defines wellness as "a state of complete physical, mental, and social wellbeing and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity." Promoting wellness among our people and recognizing achievement throughout the Department are strategies we are implementing to promote the value of family medicine as a discipline. I hope you will enjoy reading some stories from our Department that highlight our work in this area. This includes a piece on Dr. Kay-Anne Haykal's passion for wellness and her recent publication on risk factors for suicidal ideation and suicide attempt among medical students. Dr. Jean Roy's pioneering work as a medical educator at the Department of Family Medicine and the Montfort Academic Family Health Team. Lastly, January was Alzheimer's Awareness Month. This issue includes a piece on Dr. Frank Knoefel's research on dementia and how innovations in technology can improve the lives of those who have dementia and Alzheimer's.

Do you have any other ideas or resources to share that can help achieve our vision for promoting the values of family medicine as a discipline for our people? As always, I would love to hear from you.
12 IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENTS

The Department of Family Medicine is excited to welcome faculty members at the Spring Faculty Retreat at the Fairmont Château Montebello on Friday, April 1 and Saturday, April 2, 2022! Participants who have registered for the event, please ensure to add this to your calendars and prepare for a great event. Please note that there is still space available, and we would love to have you join us! If you are interested in registering or have any questions, please contact Andrea Rawley. Read more.

We are pleased to announce the launch of the DFM's Dragons' Den Clinic Goes Green contest, this time to address planetary health in family medicine. The contest is open to all interested in planetary health, as long as one member is faculty, staff, learner, or alumni of the University of Ottawa. Participants are encouraged to submit an expression of interest by Friday, February 18. The deadline to submit an abstract is Friday, April 1, and the final proposal deadline is Friday, April 8. Three finalists will present their proposals to the DFM's VIP panel on Earth Day, Friday, April 22 (tentative). The winning team will be awarded a cash prize and publication financial support. See contest rules.

The Department of Family Medicine is proud to recognize the achievements of our faculty members and administrative support staff. Please nominate your fellow colleagues and help celebrate the accomplishments of our members. To learn more about the process or for any questions, please contact the Faculty Affairs Coordinator. The deadline is April 8, 2022. See nominations form.

The nominations for the College of Family Physicians of Canada Awards are now open. Please take some time to nominate your colleagues for these prestigious awards. To learn more about the process or for any questions, please contact the Faculty Affairs Coordinator. The deadline is March 1, 2022.

The Journées Montfort are the result of an initiative launched by the Institut du Savoir Montfort that aims to gather francophone physicians and health professionals from across Canada. The Journées Montfort is the national continuing medical education event in French! This year’s virtual event will take place on March 31st and April 1st, 2022. The deadline for abstracts for oral presentations is February 11, 2022. Register now!

Dr. Parisa Rezaiefar invites you to complete an online survey to help understand the types of ambulatory women’s health procedures academic family physicians perform and the barriers, including the recent COVID-19 pandemic they encounter when providing these procedures. Your participation involves completing the survey, which takes approximately 10 minutes. Everyone who completes the survey can opt in to enter a draw to win three $300 Amazon gift cards. Read more.

These courses are intended for independent researchers, early career researchers, research support staff, and students at all levels of learning. This course will introduce researchers to the FAIR Principles for scientific data management and stewardship and describe how to implement these in the research workflow. FAIR data are data that meet principles of findability, accessibility, interoperability, and reusability. For more information, contact Dr. Kelly Cobey. Register now!

This series of three 3-hr webinars with didactic and interactive learning, breakout sessions with trained QI coaches, as well as practice enhancement facilitation, offers the opportunity to implement a QI project (e.g. CPSO QI/QA) while learning essentials of QI from experts. Read more. Register now!

Congratulations to Dr. Lyne Pitre, who was awarded the "médaille de l'Ordre de la Pléiade" last December. This medal is awarded to Francophones who have been involved in advancing the French language.

Annual rates of outpatient visits for mental health and substance use among Ontario physicians increased by 27 percent during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a study published in JAMA Network Open. In a study led by Dr. Daniel Myran and co-senior authors Dr. Manish Sood and Dr. Peter Tanuseputro, anonymized data from 34,000 practicing physicians in Ontario was linked to the health administrative databases at ICES. Read more.

The Canadian Collaborative Mental Health Care Conference aims to advance collaborative practices in mental health, primary care, and community settings. It is a unique conference where all stakeholders involved in collaborative mental health care can gather, learn together, and learn from each other. Whether you are a healthcare provider or administrator, researcher, student, policymaker, community-based service provider, or person, family member or caregiver with lived or living experience of mental health and/or substance use challenges, we invite you to submit an abstract and attend the conference to connect with a diverse community who share a common interest in collaborative care and innovations that can improve mental health and well-being. The call for abstracts deadline is February 15, 2022, at 11:30 p.m. EST. Read more.

Are you interested in building your scholarly and research skills? What about learning elements of project management and research ethics board processes? The DFM is organizing a series of workshops targeting different aspects of scholarship starting this month. Join like-minded people interested in building their skills. The sessions are open to all including faculty members, physicians, residents, staff and others outside the department, invite your colleagues! Read more. Register now!