Medical Council of Canada

Our speakers

Debate speakers

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Dr. Jack R. Boulet

Vice President, Research and Data Resources, for both the Educational Commission for Foreign Medical Graduates (ECFMG®) and the Foundation for Advancement of International Medical Education and Research (FAIMER®)

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Dr. Rachel Ellaway

Professor in the Department of Community Health Sciences, and Director of the Office of Health and Medical Education Scholarship (OHMES) for the Cumming School of Medicine at the University of Calgary

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Dr. Michael Arget - moderator

Fourth-year Palliative Medicine resident, University of Ottawa and Past President, Resident Doctors of Canada (RDoC)

Panel speakers

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Dr. Brent Kvern

Director, Certification and Examinations, College of Family Physicians of Canada

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Dr. Shelley Ross

Director of Research and Innovation, Department of Family Medicine, University of Alberta

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Dr. Claire Touchie, MD, MHPE, FRCPC

Chief Medical Education Officer, Medical Council of Canada

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Dr. Bruce Wright, MD, CCFP, FCFP - moderator

Regional Associate Dean, Vancouver Island, Faculty of Medicine, University of British Columbia
Head, Division of Medical Sciences, University of Victoria
Academic Head, Neuroscience Graduate Program, University of Victoria
Executive Medical Director Academic Integration, Vancouver Island Health Authority

Medical Council of Canada

Striving for the highest level of medical care in Canada through excellence in assessment of physicians.

Veille à offrir au Canada les meilleurs soins médicaux qui soient grâce à l’excellence de l’évaluation des médecins.

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Dr. Jack R. Boulet

Vice President, Research and Data Resources, for both the Educational Commission for Foreign Medical Graduates (ECFMG®) and the Foundation for Advancement of International Medical Education and Research (FAIMER®)

Dr. Boulet holds a B.Sc. in Mathematics from the University of Western Ontario and both a M.A. and Ph.D. in Education, specializing in measurement and evaluation, from the University of Ottawa. He is a Senior Scholar at the University of Illinois at Chicago, College of Medicine, an Adjunct Professor of Medicine at the F. Edward Hebert School of Medicine, Uniformed Services University, and a Fellow of the Society for Simulation in Healthcare. He is currently a site visitor for the World Federation for Medical Education (WFME) Accreditation Agency Recognition Programme.

Over the past 23 years, Dr. Boulet has worked on the development of performance-based credentialing assessments in medicine. He has published extensively in the field of medical education, focusing specifically on measurement issues pertaining to performance-based assessments, including Objective Structured Clinical Examinations (OSCEs) and various mannequin-based evaluation methodologies. In his role with FAIMER, he has also investigated workforce issues, concentrating on the characteristics of international medical education and accreditation programs, the international migration of health care workers, the contribution of International Medical Graduates (IMGs) to the labor force in the United States, and the quality of care provided by IMGs. Dr. Boulet currently serves on the editorial boards for Advances in Health Sciences Education: Theory and Practice, Education for Health, and Simulation in Healthcare. He is a Deputy Editor for Medical Education.

Dr. Rachel Ellaway

Professor in the Department of Community Health Sciences, and Director of the Office of Health and Medical Education Scholarship (OHMES) for the Cumming School of Medicine at the University of Calgary

Dr. Rachel Ellaway has a PhD in Medical Education from the University of Edinburgh and was the Assistant Dean for Curriculum and Planning at the Northern Ontario School of Medicine before moving to Calgary in 2015.

An internationally acclaimed scholar, her work encompasses many aspects and debates in contemporary medical education. Dr. Ellaway is the National Chair of the Research Directors Group, the creator and organizer of the AMEE Fringe for the last 16 years, and she is also the new Editor-in-Chief for the Advances in Health Sciences Education journal.

Dr. Michael Arget - moderator

Fourth-year Palliative Medicine resident, University of Ottawa and Past President, Resident Doctors of Canada (RDoC)

Dr. Michael Arget received his Doctor of Medicine in 2016 at the University of Calgary and became a Licentiate of the Medical Council of Canada in December 2017.  Prior to starting medicine, he completed his Masters in Public Health from the University of Alberta in 2009 and worked in health system quality improvement.  

 

Currently the Resident Doctors of Canada (RDoC) Past President, Dr. Arget, has extensive experience as a leader and active volunteer within the medical education community. In addition to being a member of RDoC’s Executive Committee, he is also currently a member of the Awards Committee, Government Affairs Project Team, and National Resident Survey Project Team.

 

In his second year of residency, Dr. Arget was elected to join the RDoC Board as Vice President. He assumed the role of President for the organization in 2018. He has also served as RDoC liaison representative on numerous external committees including the Association of Faculties of Medicine of Canada (AFMC), the Canadian Medical Association (CMA), the Canadian Medical Forum (CMF), the Canadian Resident Matching Service (CaRMS), and the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada (RCPSC). Dr. Arget has also served as a resident surveyor for the Royal College and has previous experience as a volunteer member of the Board of Directors for the Resident Doctors of Saskatchewan (RDoS). These experiences provided a thorough introduction to the postgraduate medical education landscape at the local, provincial, and national level.

 

Dr. Arget’s interests include medical leadership, health systems, change management, and quality improvement.  He hopes to continue contributing to key areas of resident medical education, including resident transfers, fatigue risk management, and match issues.

Dr. Brent Kvern

Director, Certification and Examinations, College of Family Physicians of Canada

Dr. Kvern is a practising academic family physician in Winnipeg, an associate professor of family medicine with the Max Rady College of Medicine at the University of Manitoba and the Director, Certification and Examinations, Academic Family Medicine for the College of Family Physicians of Canada. Dr. Kvern received Certification of the College of Family Physicians of Canada (CCFP) in 1986 and Fellowship of the College of Family Physicians of Canada (FCFP) in 1996.

In his current role as Director, Certification and Examinations, Dr. Kvern provides direction and guidance to the CFPC’s role in family medicine certification and assessment with a focus on quality improvement, infrastructure resourcing, research, and collaboration with other national stakeholders in the ongoing development of physician competency assessment. Previously, he was chair of the Medical Council of Canada’s Central Examination Committee for five years after serving on the Medicine Test Committee.

Over the past 20 years Dr. Kvern has gained clinical and academic leadership experience at the regional, provincial, and national levels. Dr. Kvern has previously served as: Associate Dean, Continuing Medical Education, Family Medicine Postgraduate Medical Education Program Director, and Enhanced Skills Program Lead at the University of Manitoba, where he played a key role in implementing a new family medicine residency curriculum, and leading transformation in continuing medical education. He is currently co-director of the Canadian Association of Medical Education’s Canadian Leadership in Medical Education (CLIME) biennial course. Dr. Kvern is also very active with the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Manitoba as President from 2014-2015, a previous Investigation Committee Chair and current IC member.

With a history of active involvement in the CFPC, Dr. Kvern served as a member of the National Residency Accreditation Committee for six years and recently completed his term as Chair of the Editorial Advisory Board for the College’s journal, Canadian Family Physician.

Dr. Shelley Ross

Director of Research and Innovation, Department of Family Medicine, University of Alberta

Dr. Shelley Ross is an Associate Professor in the Department of Family Medicine at the University of Alberta, where she is the Director, Research and Innovation, for the Competency-Based Achievement System program, and Education Strategic Planning Team Lead.

She obtained her doctorate in Measurement and Evaluation from the University of Victoria, where she studied the effects of varying levels of motivation on academic achievement.

Her current research examines procedures, outcomes, and policy recommendations related to how physicians are trained and assessed. Dr. Ross’ main research program focus is competency-based education and assessment, and she has worked with the College of Family Physicians of Canada and the Medical Council of Canada in this area.

She also is interested in the experiences of both learners and practicing physicians as they navigate training and practice within health system, particularly as those experiences differ by gender.

She is a co-editor and chapter author of Female Doctors in Canada: Experience and Culture, which was published in 2019 by the University of Toronto Press.

In April of 2019, Dr. Ross was voted in as President Elect of the Canadian Association for Medical Education.

 

Dr. Claire Touchie, MD, MHPE, FRCPC

Chief Medical Education Officer, Medical Council of Canada

Dr. Claire Touchie is the Chief Medical Education Officer at the Medical Council of Canada (MCC) and was the physician lead for the MCC’s Blueprint project that transformed the Medical Council of Canada Qualifying Examination Part I and Part II. She is also a general internist at The Ottawa Hospital and a full professor at the University of Ottawa.

As a medical educator, she co-led the Association of Faculties of Medicine of Canada entrustable professional activities (EPA) working group helping medical schools develop and implement EPAs for the transition between medical school and residency.

She is a founding faculty member of the international course on EPAs: Ins and Outs of EPAs. Dr. Touchie is an active member of the International Competency-Based Medical Education Collaborators.

Her medical education research interests include various aspects of student and resident training, high-stakes assessments (including written, performance and workplace-based), educational and assessment outcomes, entrustable professional activities and multisource feedback.

 

Dr. Bruce Wright, MD, CCFP, FCFP - moderator

Regional Associate Dean, Vancouver Island, Faculty of Medicine, University of British Columbia
Head, Division of Medical Sciences, University of Victoria
Academic Head, Neuroscience Graduate Program, University of Victoria
Executive Medical Director Academic Integration, Vancouver Island Health Authority

As Regional Associate Dean, Vancouver Island, Faculty of Medicine, University of British Columbia, Dr. Wright provides strategic leadership for the University of British Columbia distributed undergraduate and postgraduate medical programs throughout Vancouver Island.

As Head, Division of Medical Sciences at the University of Victoria, he leads academic faculty committed to bench to bedside neuroscience research.

Dr. Wright is also the Academic Head, Neuroscience Graduate Program at the University of Victoria, and Executive Medical Director, Academic Integration for the Vancouver Island Health Authority.

Previously, Dr. Wright was Associate Dean, Undergraduate Medical Education at the University of Calgary.

Dr. Wright’s medical education research interests are in career choice, curriculum development and medical school pedagogy, where he is author of over 50 peer-reviewed publications.