Northern Ontario School of Medicine

The Northern Ontario School of Medicine (NOSM) is a pioneering faculty of medicine.  A medical school for the whole of Northern Ontario, the School is a joint initiative of Lakehead University and Laurentian University with main campuses in Thunder Bay and Sudbury, and multiple teaching and research sites distributed across Northern Ontario, including Huntsville. 

NOSM is also the first Canadian medical school established with a social accountability mandate.  From its community-based Board of Directors to its extensive reliance on communities like Huntsville to act as hosts for its students, NOSM is committed to engaging Northerners in the education process.     

Huntsville plays a major role in the education of NOSM learners as a host community for third-year learners undertaking their Comprehensive Community Clerkship (CCC).  During the CCC, NOSM students are provided with clinical experiences away from the campuses of Sudbury and Thunder Bay.  Students learn in hospitals, health centres, and family practices with the support of physician-teachers in one of 12 mid-sized communities across the North. During the eight-month Clerkship, medical students are poised to benefit from a length of term that allows for participation in a continuity-of-care cycle. Admitting patients, charging their medical history, and assisting in a health management plan are unique features of the CCC that prepare students for the rigours and rewards of family practice. Huntsville accepts four CCC learners every year. 

The establishment of a Local NOSM Group (LNG) in Huntsville provides a conduit through which the region's peoples and communities can have input NOSM's activities, and which facilitates the smooth integration of medical students into communities by means of orientation programs and introductions to community members.

The Dean's Solicitation Team (DST) in Huntsville is another ongoing initiative, created to encourage charitable donations to NOSM from individuals, groups and companies across Northern Ontario.  Each of NOSM's DST teams is community-based and made up of dynamic local individuals who are able to assist NOSM's fundraising initiatives in support of financial aid to learners, research initiatives reflective of the health concerns of Northern Ontario, and other financial priorities in support of the School's strategic plan, which is available on the NOSM website. For more information about the DST, or to join your local team, please contact NOSM's Advancement Unit at advancement@nosm.ca.

NOSM is proud to have such a great relationship with the community of Huntsville and the Muskoka Algonquin Healthcare (MAHC), and looks forward to continuing to work together to achieve the School's vision of Innovative Education and Research for a Healthier North.