Dr. Maureen Topps Award for Outstanding Achievement in the Assessment of Clinical Competence
Recognizing an individual or group who demonstrated sustained excellence in Canadian health care or health care research.
About the award
This prestigious distinction recognizes an individual or group who demonstrates sustained excellence in Canadian health care and/or health care research. Its recipients are the people who ensure our health care professionals meet the high standards that Canadians enjoy and expect. This award is unique in that its nominees and recipients come from a broad range of health disciplines, such as dentistry, physical therapy, and medical practice.
The award has been renamed after Dr. Maureen Topps, Executive Director and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Medical Council of Canada (MCC) from 2018 to 2023. Throughout her career, Dr. Topps has accumulated a wealth of experience in numerous positions related to the assessment of competence – from roles in program accreditation and her time as a postgraduate dean to extensive committee work, most notably as Chair of the MCC National Assessment Central Coordinating Committee (NAC3) – demonstrating an unwavering commitment in this area.
Nomination process
Nominations may be made by an individual or organization knowledgeable in assessment procedures within the health care professions and faculties of medicine/health sciences in Canada.
A nomination letter must be submitted electronically to [email protected] no later than April 30 of the current year.
In addition, the supporting documents listed below must be either included with the nomination letter or submitted later:
- A minimum of one additional letter of support from a person or organization, other than the principal nominator, familiar with the work of the nominee
- The nominee’s current curriculum vitae
2024 recipient
Timothy J. Wood, PhD
Dr. Timothy J. Wood received his PhD in cognitive psychology from McMaster University, followed by a one-year post-doctorate with the Program for Educational Research and Development at McMaster University. He spent 12 years with the Medical Council of Canada (MCC) as a manager, where he helped develop several MCC projects including computer and web-based examinations and a national Objective Structured Clinical Examination (OSCE) for international medical graduates. He also provided scoring support for all MCC examinations and led research-related activities for the MCC. Dr. Wood joined the Faculty of Medicine, University of Ottawa in 2011 with the Academy of Innovation in Medical Education (AIME) and is now a full professor within the Department of Innovation in Medical Education (DIME). In September 2019, he was appointed director of Student Assessment and Faculty Evaluation (UGME) with the Faculty of Medicine.
Dr. Wood’s research interests include improving quality assurance measures for the assessment of learners, developing tools to assess the impact of educational interventions and improvements in the assessment of clinical skills. Of particular research interest is the role of rater cognition especially around the influence of first impressions in the judgments that raters make. He is a deputy editor for Advances in Health Sciences Education and serves as a reviewer for a number of journals, research granting agencies, and conferences. He has served on the executive board of the Canadian Association for Medical Education (CAME), the Scientific Planning Committee for the Canadian Conference on Medical Education (CCME), as the chair of the CCME Abstract Selection Committee and the chair of DIME’s Health Professions Education Research Grant. He is currently the director of DIME’s Healthcare Education Scholars Program.
Past recipients
Year
Recipient
2023
Christina St-Onge, PhD
2022
Glendon Tait, MD, MSc, FRCP, FCPA
2021
Kelly Burak, MD, MSc, FRCPC, Lara Cooke, MD, MSc, FRCPC, and the Physician Learning Program team
2020
Kulamakan (Mahan) Kulasegaram, PhD, BHSc
2019
Rose Hatala, MD, MSc
2018
Shiphra Ginsburg, MD, PhD, MEd, FRCPC
2017
Richard K. Reznick, MD, FRCSC, FACS, FRCSEd (Hon), FRCSI (Hon), CFRS (Hon)
2015
Robyn Tamblyn, BScN, MSc, PhD, CM
2012
Kevin Eva, PhD (Hon.), FAcadMEd
2010
Daniel Klass, MDCM, FRCP(C), FACP
2009
André Jacques, MD
2008
Glenn Regehr, PhD
2007
Richard Cruess, MD, BA, and Sylvia Cruess, MD, BA
2006
Carlos Brailovsky, MD
2005
Gordon Page, PhD
2004
Physician Achievement Review Instrument Development and Assessment Team
2003
Arthur Rothman, MD, PhD
2001
Geoff Norman, PhD, BSc, MA
