Dalhousie University Faculty of Medicine

The Faculty of Medicine at Dalhousie University, also known as Dalhousie Medical School, is a Canadian medical school and faculty of Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada.

The Faculty of Medicine has operated continuously since 1868 and is one of the oldest medical schools in Canada, after Laval, McGill, and Queen's.

The Faculty of Medicine currently teaches the MD degree at two campuses:

• Sir Charles Tupper Medical Building, Carleton Campus (Halifax, NS)
• Saint John Regional Hospital (Saint John, NB)

Dalhousie's postgraduate medical faculty offers 53 residency programs at teaching hospitals located across Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island.

History

The Faculty of Medicine was founded in 1868. The school's main teaching location is the Sir Charles Tupper Medical Building which is a 15-story high-rise building that opened in 1965 on Dalhousie University's Carleton Campus. Today, the Tupper Medical Building houses the administrative offices of the Faculty of Medicine and the Faculty of Health Sciences, as well as the Kellogg Health Sciences Library, lecture theatres, a large cadaveric anatomy laboratory, and most of the basic science laboratories in the Faculty of Medicine. It adjoins the CRC, the Clinical Research Centre, via "The Tupper Link" corridor, which is the location of many state-of the art lecture halls equipped with teleconferencing technology. The CRC houses the Dean of Medicine's office as well as affiliated administrative offices.

The Faculty of Medicine is the only medical school in the Maritime Provinces and as such is closely affiliated with the healthcare systems operated by the Government of Nova Scotia, the Government of New Brunswick and the Government of Prince Edward Island. This region has a combined population of 1.8 million people with teaching hospitals located in various locations across the three provinces, as well as the Queen Elizabeth II Health Sciences Centre and IWK Health Centre (in Halifax) and the Saint John Regional Hospital in the immediate vicinity of the medical school's 2 campuses.

Curriculum

The Doctor of Medicine program admits 108 students per year. Of these, 78 matriculants attend the Halifax Campus and 30 attend the New Brunswick campus in St John, New Brunswick. In 2010, the average undergraduate GPA of accepted applicants was 3.8, and 24 percent of the entering class held graduate degrees.

Dalhousie awards the MD degree to students completing "the Tupper Trail," a new curriculum developed by the Faculty of Medicine.^[1] This program incorporates early exposure to clinical skills and clinical electives from Year 1, as well as collaboration projects with students in other health professions.

In 2010, it was reported that Dalhousie medical students placed first in Canada on the Medical Council of Canada Qualifying Examination, the school-leaving exam written by all Canadian MD candidates.^[2]

Affiliated teaching hospitals

• Queen Elizabeth II Health Sciences Centre (Halifax, NS)
• IWK Health Centre (Halifax, NS)
• Nova Scotia Hospital (Dartmouth, NS)
• Saint John Regional Hospital (Saint John, NB)
• Moncton Hospital (Moncton, NB)
• Dr.Everett Chalmers Hospital (Fredericton, NB)
• Queen Elizabeth Hospital (Charlottetown, PEI)
• Dartmouth General Hospital (Dartmouth, NS)
• Cape Breton Regional Hospital (Sydney, NS)
• Colchester Regional Hospital (Truro, NS)
• South Shore Regional Hospital (Bridgewater, NS)
• Valley Regional Hospital (Kentville, NS)
• Cobequid Community Health Centre (Lower Sackville, NS)
• Hants Community Hospital (Windsor, NS)

Notable faculty and alumni

• Sir Charles Tupper (1821–1915), dean of Dalhousie Medical School, prime minister of Canada in 1896, first president of the Canadian Medical Association.
• Jock Murray (MD'63), neurologist and medical historian in the history of neurology
• Shane Neilson (born 1975), Canadian physician and poet
• Ronald Stewart (MD'70), Former Nova Scotian Minister of Health (1990), and a pioneer of the specialty of Emergency Medicine.
• Ban Tsui, Professor of Anesthesiology at University of Alberta, pioneered the Tsui Test

Statistics

• The Undergraduate Medical Program for the MD degree was initiated in 1868, graduating its first students in May 1900. At present, 108 students are admitted to the program each year.
• The Dalhousie Medical Research Foundation oversees more than $2 million in medical research a year, with a growth of 27% in the past year.
• For 2008, total medical student enrollment was 397, distributed across the New Brunswick and Nova Scotia campuses.

Notes and references

External links

• Dalhousie University, Faculty of Medicine
• Admissions and Student Affairs
• About Dalhousie Medical School