Medical Education Committee - Medical Students' Society

Welcome to the MSS Medical Education Committee’s webpage!

About us

The MSS Medical Education Committee (EdCom) is an MSS standing committee established in 2016 that functions to formalize and organize medical student representation and feedback to the Undergraduate Medical Education office and the Faculty of Medicine as a whole.

Members of EdCom are student representatives from the MSS General Council along with student representatives on UGME Program and Course committees, including theme subcommittees, component subcommittees, and others. It therefore brings diverse perspectives to the table of discussion in addressing various academic challenges faced by our medical students in all four years.

All of our student representatives are members of at least one UGME committee, and also attend the monthly EdCom meetings with all other representatives. Our main goal is to discuss with stakeholders of the UGME and the Faculty of Medicine various issues pertaining to assessment, learning environment, student wellness, administrative support for students, and the overall continuous quality improvement pertaining to the MDCM program at McGill.

If you have an issue that you would like EdCom to address, please consult the list of representatives provided below and contact the appropriate person by email.**

**Please copy your class president in all correspondence.

Terms of Reference

Click here to see our Terms of Reference

Contact information

To help you find any representative:

1- Click on the committee of your choice directly on the flowcharts. This will bring you down this page to a description of that specific committee, including a list its respective student reps.

2- Click any student representative involved with that committee to bring you further down the page to the student representatives section.

3- Click on their email address to contact them (**remember to Cc your class president).

For any general inquiries or if you don’t know who to contact, email our Secretary General: meded.mss@gmail.com

If you would like to get involved with EdCom, feel free to contact the MSS VP Education: vpeducation.mss@mail.mcgill.ca

UGME organizational chart

If you wish to contact the chair or secretary of any of these committees, click here. We strongly advise you to contact the student representatives before trying to get in touch with faculty, as your concerns might have already been discussed with them.

PROGRAM COMMITTEES

MDCM Program Committee

This committee is the highest decision-making body for the UGME, chaired by the Associate Dean UGME Dr. Cummings. It is where all policies, course objectives, assessments tools, and major change in the functioning of the program must be approved. It has oversight of most other UGME committees, including the Theme, Component, Course, and Specialty committees.

Our student representatives share the feedback from the student body, and represent students’ interests during the decision-making process, having one vote for the junior student reps, and one vote for the senior students. PC is generally not the table where we bring up new issues. Instead, the solutions to those issues are discussed at various subcommittees and PC gives the seal of approval to those solutions.

Frequency of meetings: 2-3 X / month

VP Education: Maxim Bastarache (2020)

Executive President: Liang Chen (2020)

Past VP-Education: Philippe-Antoine Bilodeau (2019)

Past President: Xin Mei Liu (2019)

Program Evaluation and Curricular Outcomes Subcommittee (PECO)

PECO is promoting the continuous improvement of the MDCM program by making recommendations about program objectives, content, instruction, learning environment, compliance with Faculty policies, and the performance of cohorts of medical graduates from McGill.

Student representatives provide this committee with the student perspective both from their own experiences and those of their peers. Our representatives feel that their insights into interpretation of student survey responses, learning experiences in the classroom and on-site, and the achievements of students, including success beyond McGill, are valued by the PECO committee.

Frequency of meetings: 1X / month (10 total per year)

Junior representative: Jill Jessica Ranger (2020)

Senior representative: Assil Abda (2019)

Student Assessment subCommittee (SAC)

The goal of SAC is to aid the MDCM Program Committee in ensuring that the current forms of assessment for student performance are fair and consistent with best educational practices and policies.

Our representatives are involved in discussions about current or future assessments methods. They are responsible for providing appropriate feedback which advocates on the student’s behalf and bringing forward a viewpoint that represents the majority of the student body.

Frequency of meeting: 1X / month (10 total per year)

Junior Representative: Cairina Frank (2020)

Senior Representative: Philippe-Antoine Bilodeau (2019)

Wellness and Learning Environment Subcommittee (WALE)

The mandate of the Wellness and Learning Environment Subcommittee is to review policies and data that relate to the learning environment and to participate in the development and implementation of curriculum content aimed at promoting wellness and resilience in learners.

The student’s role is to provide feedback about these policies and data and suggest new ways to improve the content of the current wellness curriculum.

Frequency of meetings: 2X / year

VP Wellness: Siwen Jin (2020)

MDMC Admissions Committee

This committee has the final responsibility for the selection and admission of students to the Faculty of Medicine MDCM and Med-P programs. It determines the design of the admissions process and the selection criteria applied to prospective candidates. They strive to ensure that McGill continues to both attract the best candidates to its medical program and provide excellent health care to the population it serves. Of late, the Admissions Committee has focused on modifying the admissions process to accommodate the upcoming McGill Medicine Satellite campus in Gatineau.

The responsibility of the student representative is to represent the student body in all decisions and actions taken by the Admissions Committee. They work to relay the concerns and proposals of students, and the MSS Education Committee, to the Admissions Committee throughout any decision-making process.

Frequency of meetings: at least 3X / year

N.B. This committee does not fall under the MDCM Program Committee; it has direct oversight from the Associate Dean UGME and from the overarching Faculty of Medicine.

Student representative: Alex Derstenfeld (2020)

THEME COMMITTEES

Scholarship, Critical Thinking, and Knowledge Translation Theme Subcommittee (SCTKT)

The Scholarship, Critical Thinking and Knowledge Translation curricular theme guides the teaching of these important concepts and skills in a coordinated, progressive and meaningful way throughout the four years of the MDCM Program. This curricular theme includes knowledge, skills and attitudes related to Basic Sciences, Social Studies of Medicine, Research fundamentals, Evidence-based medicine (EBM), and Critical appraisal.

The student representative’s role on the SCTKT is to provide student input and feedback relating to several themes and courses that fall under the purview of the SCTKT committee. They work to obtain student feedback through various means such as surveys and focus groups. Consequently, we provide structural reform to the organization of these courses/themes based on feedback.

Frequency of meetings: 4X / year

Junior representative: Menal Huroy (2021)

Senior representative: Milani Sivapragasam (2020)

Primary Health Care and Population Health Theme Subcommittee (PHCPH)

The PHCPH committee, chaired by Dr. Anne Andermann, is responsible to advise the MDCM Program Committee on matters related to content and integration of the Primary Health Care and Population Health curricular theme within the MDCM Program. This committee has oversight of the Molecules to Global Health course (Block A), the CHAP course, and longitudinal teaching of this theme across the curriculum.

The student represents the Medical Education Committee on the Primary Health Care and Population Health Subcommittee. Their role is to gather and report student feedback to this subcommittee with the goal of improving teaching related to the PHCPH theme.

Frequency of meetings: minimum 2X / year

Junior representative: vacant

Senior representative: Emily Yung (2020)

Social Accountability and Health Advocacy Theme Subcommittee (SAHA)

Good clinical practice is rooted in advocating for the needs of patients and society. The best physicians and surgeons are responsible not only to individual patients but also the communities in which they live and capitalize on opportunities to address societal needs. The Social Accountability and Health Advocacy Theme committee guides the teaching of these important concepts and skills in a coordinated, progressive and meaningful way throughout the four years of the MDCM Program. It contributes to the quality-improvement for theme-related content, and requires the contribution of a student representative to do so.

Frequency of meetings: minimum 2X /year

[committee not operational at this moment, no student representatives]

Junior representative: vacant

Senior representative: vacant

COMPONENTS COMMITTEES

Fundamentals of Medicine and Dentistry Component Subcommittee (FMD)

This committee has oversight of all courses taught during the first 1.5 years of the curriculum, from Block A to Block J, including the longitudinal courses of FMD.

Frequency of meetings: minimum 4X / year (average 1X / month)

Med-1 academic rep: Alexandra Cohen (2021)

Med-1 class president: Jad Abi-Rafeh (2021)

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Med2 class president: Kimberly Wong (2020)

Dent1 & Dent2 class presidents

Transition to Clinical Practice Component Subcommittee (TCP)

This committee oversees all courses in TCP, the 6-months long transition period between pre-clinical and clinical teachings in our curriculum.

Frequency of meetings: minimum 4X / year (average 1X / month)

Med2 class president: Kimberly Wong (2020)

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Med3 class president: Brian Tran (2019)

Clerkship Component Subcommittee

This committee oversees all clerkship courses, in collaboration with the clinical departments’ UGME committees.

Frequency of meetings: minimum 4X / year (average 1X / month)

Med3 class president: Brian Tran (2019)

Med4 class president: Mary Koziol (2018)

Gatineau student representative: David Giroux (2018)

Physicianship Component subCommittee (PCC)

The physicianship component committee is responsible for the oversight of many courses such as Physician Apprenticeship, Clinical Methods, Medical Ethics and Health Law, Community Health Alliance Project, Mindful Medical Practice, and Transition To Residency.

The role of the student representatives on the PCC is to advocate for student issues regarding the courses this committee oversees.

Frequency of meetings: 6X / year

Med-1 representative: Amy Daradich (2021)

Med-2 representative: Valerie Caldas (2020)

Med-2 representative: Angelo Rizzolo (2020)

Med-2 representative: Benjamin Mappin-Kasirer (2020)

Med-3 representative: Ann-Sophie Lafreniere (2019)

Med-3 representative: Maxime Masson (2018)

Med-4 representative: Saba Balvardi (2018)

MDCM Components Organigram

COURSE COMMITTEES
CLINICAL DEPARTMENTS UGME COMMITTEES

COURSE COMMITTEES

Longitudinal Family Medicine Experience (LFME)

The committee is chaired by Dr. Goldie Marmor and includes the LFME coordinator, FMD Component Director Dr. Colin Chalk, and other physicians including family physicians involved in medical education.

The role of the LFME Committee Representative is to represent the first year medical school class on all issues related to the LFME experience. The committee discusses current concerns and future programming, and it is the student representative’s job to bring forward class feedback to the committee.

Frequency of meetings: 4X / year

Student representative: Safina Adatia (2021)

Community Health Alliance Project (CHAP)

The Community Health Alliance Project (CHAP) is a course that gives students the opportunity to work with local community organizations and projects, in the context of a service learning placement, to improve the health of a community or population. The course is intended to provide future clinicians with the competencies required to have more community-oriented practices that take into account the needs and concerns of the population which they serve as a medical professional.The committee reviews topics related to the course, which includes current and potential service learning placements (i.e. community organizations), assignments and exercises assigned to students, and reviewing student comments and feedback.

Student representatives have the following roles and responsibilities: being available to answer student questions and concerns related to the course, gathering student feedback, acting as the liaison between the CHAP Course Committee and the EdCom Committee, and participating in EdCom reports that aim to improve the CHAP experience for students.

Frequency of meetings: 4X / year

Junior representative: Olivia Monton (2020)

Senior representative: Alexandre Elhalwi (2019)

Public Health and Preventative Medicine (PHPM)

The aim of the committee is to ensure that the PHPM is meeting its course objectives. This committee ensures student satisfaction with the course and strives to improve the course.

The student representative gathers feedback from their peers about the PHPM course and represents these interests at course sub-committee meetings.

Frequency of meetings: 2X / year

Senior representative: Andréanne Leblanc (2018)

Putting It All Together (PIAT)

Putting it All Together (PIAT) is a 4th year course designed to brush up students’ understanding of basic science and social science research, ensuring they graduate as well-rounded physicians, who are able to incorporate the academic world around them into their practice. The PIAT committee is made up of the many professors and clinicians that are responsible for portions of this course (selectives, journal clubs, etc) as well as administrators that help with its implementation.

The student representatives are present at course committee meetings to represent students’ input in the shaping of this new course. If in fourth year, a student representative will also serve as liaison between the participating class and the course director. They also meet one-on-one with the course director Dr. Hébert more frequently, in order to ensure that we have a concrete plan to present to the committee that is centered on student feedback and satisfaction.

Frequency of meetings: 4X / year

Junior representative: Laura Labonté (2019)

Senior representative: Nicola Smith (2018)

Transition To Residency (TTR)

The TTR committee consists of an interprofessional body of McGill faculty and student representatives and oversees the design and the smooth implementation of the Transition to Residency Course based on the feedback received from preceding years.

The student representatives liaise between the student body and faculty in order to ensure students’ input in the design of the TTR course in Med 4.

Frequency of meetings: 2X / year and additional phone meetings

Junior representative: Casey Wang (2019)

Senior representative: Claudèle Brault (2018)

CLINICAL DEPARTMENTS UGME COMMITTEES

Family medicine undergraduate education committee

This committee oversees the family medicine curriculum during FMD (LFME), TCP (Family Medicine) and Clerkship (Family Medicine – Urban & Rural, electives). Course and site directors sit on this committee.

The student representatives attend meetings of the Family Medicine Undergraduate Education Committee and provide feedback from their class on the Family Medicine curriculum. They advocate for change in courses and administrative procedures and represent the student point of view during discussions. They also report back to EdCom and seek input from all students.

Frequency of meetings: 1X / month (total of 7 per year)

Med-2 representative: Amanda Try (2020)

Med-3 representative: Emily Parkinson (2019)

Med-4 representative: David Giroux (2018)

Internal Medicine undergraduate education committee

The Undergraduate Internal Medicine Committee oversees the curriculum of Internal Medicine in TCP and Clerkship. The committee is made up of student representatives from Med-2, Med-3 and Med-4 as well as the Internal Medicine site directors.

The student representative’s role is to provide feedback and recommend changes to the curriculum in Internal Medicine throughout TCP and clerkship.

Frequency of meetings: 1X / month

Med-2 representative: Amanda Marino (2020)

Med-3 representative: Luca Melnychuk (2019)

Med-4 representative: Ryan Hartley (2018)

Surgical Undergraduate Education Committee (SUEC)

The SUEC is composed of members from general surgery, as well as all surgical subspecialties that students may be exposed to during their core clerkship surgery rotation. Topics including student teaching, supervision, evaluation, supervision, and scheduling are discussed.

The SUEC student representative fulfills their 2-year mandate by representing the interests of their fellow peers from all 4 years of the undergraduate medical education on topics relating to the core clerkship surgery course. The expectation is that student representatives attend at least 3 of the 4 annual meetings during each year of their mandate. The SUEC student representative also holds a position on the Medical Education Committee and is responsible for providing reports to the MedEd Committee and relaying any concerns from the MedEd Committee to the SUEC.

Frequency of meetings: 4X / year

Junior representative: Natasha Caminsky (2019)

Senior representative: Doulia Hamad (2018)

Department of Pediatrics UGME committee

The purpose of the pediatrics committee is to continuously assess and improve the pediatrics curriculum for second-year TCP and third-year clerkship students.

The Pediatric Clerkship Committee Med-3 and Med-4 student representatives sit on the Pediatric Clerkship Committee and act as an intermediate between the student body and the pediatric clerkship directors. This collaboration allows for communication of students’ needs and exchange of their perspective to the faculty, while also encouraging the creation of educational projects. The final goal is to work with the committee to enrich the clerkship pediatrics experience.

Frequency of meetings: 4X / year

Junior representative: Ashley Tritt (2019)

Senior representative: Laurence Gariepy-Assal (2018)

Psychiatry clerkship committee

The Psychiatry Committee is in charge of the clerkship component of psychiatry education at McGill. It is composed of the site directors, the course director, two student representatives and one resident representative.

The student representative role is to provide a student’s perspective in the conversations within the committee. He/she also advocates for his/her colleagues’ best interests to maximize the learning experience of psychiatry rotations.

Frequency of meetings: 10-12X / year

Junior representative: Julian Nguyen (2019)

Senior representative: Samantha Rivet (2018)

Department of Obstetrics & Gynecology UGME committee

The OBGYN Clerkship committee is involved in all aspects of the Obs-Gyn core clerkship rotations. It includes all site directors and their respective student affairs coordinators.

The student rep is involved in obtaining student feedback from their Obs-Gyn rotation experience, offering support to students, and sitting in with the committee members to raise students’ concerns.

Frequency of meetings: 4X / year

Junior representative: Yi-Hong Shao (2019)

Senior representative: Maria Lopez (2018)

Emergency Medicine UGME committee

The Emergency Medicine Clerkship Committee is the program committee consisting of the site coordinators and administrators in charge of the 4th year clerkship rotation in emergency medicine.

The student representative’s role is to attend committee meetings and provide student perspectives in order to strengthen the rotation.

Frequency of meetings: Variable

Student representative: Mark Woo (2018)

Division of Geriatric Medicine UGME committee

The Geriatrics Committee consists of physician representatives from every site, including Gatineau, as well as resident representatives and administrative staff. Different topics are discussed in an organized fashion following a collaborative and previously determined agenda.

By attending the committee meetings, student representatives are able to provide staff members with students’ feedback on their experience during the geriatrics rotation, be it site-specific or more general, while acknowledging physicians’ perspective concurrently. The goal of the student representative is to harmonize both inputs and hopefully improve the experience for all.

Frequency of meetings: 5X / year

Junior representative: Laurianne Rita Garabed (2019)

Senior representative: Sara Tomaszewski (2018)

MSS/EDCOM COMMITTEES

MSS/EDCOM COMMITTEES

Student Leadership meetings (SL)

At these meetings, elected student representatives who sit on both the MSS Council & EdCom discuss emerging issues with the Associate Dean UGME. This is an excellent opportunity to improve communication and collaboration between MSS, EdCom, and UGME, and troubleshoot any issue if necessary.

N.B. This is not an official subcommittee of the UGME or MDCM Program Committee, but rather an informal meeting between the Associate Dean UGME and the MSS/EdCom student representatives.

Frequency of meetings: 1X / month

VP Education: Maxim Bastarache (2020)