Senate approves establishment of new school of medicine

Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU) is one step closer to opening a school of medicine in Brampton. On Tuesday, March 7, the university’s Senate approved the establishment of the school as a new faculty, allowing the project team to set up the structure for future undergraduate and postgraduate medical education programs and the eventual recruitment of part-time and full-time faculty and staff.

The school of medicine will help address the current shortage of primary care physicians who are unevenly distributed across communities throughout the province. Additionally, as the health-care sector evolves to become a more integrated, coordinated system, there is an urgent need to train physicians with different skills, knowledge and experience that will allow them to meet the diverse health and social needs of communities to improve patient outcomes. The school will apply a learning model that emphasizes an outcomes-based approach to align learning outcomes to individualized needs, and prioritizes team-based care rooted in interprofessional and interdisciplinary collaboration.

“This is a significant milestone in our efforts to deliver a new approach to medical education that will address the changing needs for health care delivery and practice,” says TMU’s interim provost and vice-president, academic, Roberta Iannacito-Provenzano. “Through our commitment to community, equity, diversity, inclusion and accessibility, decolonization and innovation, we will train doctors who are grounded in community-centric care and cultural humility, allowing them to meet the health-care needs of a diverse population.”

The school of medicine will be the first medical school in Canada founded and intentionally built upon social accountability, equity, diversity and inclusion and reconciliation. Located in Brampton, the school will be embedded into one of Canada’s most culturally diverse and fastest growing cities. As its population grows, Brampton residents are experiencing significant challenges with access to appropriate, high-quality primary care - challenges that are reflected across similar communities in Ontario and across Canada. The school of medicine will not only build up the health-care system in the City of Brampton, but will also create space for a diverse pool of talent to address similar health needs experienced by Ontarians and Canadians more broadly.

“The journey towards building a medical school from the ground up has been a real team effort,” says the school of medicine’s dean of record, Dr. Andrew Padmos. “We want to recognize and thank the hundreds of TMU students, faculty and staff who shared their knowledge and expertise through participation in planning committees, advisory councils and consultation sessions to get us to this important landmark on the road to opening the school of medicine.” 

Community engagement has also been a key priority during planning. Industry partners, physicians and health-care workers, and community members in Brampton, Etobicoke and surrounding areas have been actively engaged in the planning process to help shape the school and its programs in a way that meets the health-care needs of the region.

Marcia Moshé, senior advisor to the interim provost and vice-president, academic, who served as the vice-chair of the planning committee and leads the proposal development for the  (PDF file) Doctor of Medicine (MD) program, voiced the school of medicine team’s enthusiasm for this achievement.

“We are incredibly fortunate to have an entire community outside of the university be involved and support this project,” says Moshé. “They are all wishing, hoping, enthusiastic and eager to have a program established.”

The next step will be to present the proposal for the MD program to the Senate in the coming months, moving TMU closer to welcoming its first cohort of medical students in fall 2025.

For more information, visit TMU’s school of medicine website.