By KELLY LOUISEIZE
Northern Ontario Business
Northern Ontario Medical School (NOMS) administrators are interviewing for an estimated 20 high-paying faculty jobs, which should create spinoffs for the public and private sectors.
The professors to be hired will teach in both Thunder Bay and Sudbury.
“We are bringing in some very qualified faculty to teach, not only in human sciences, but also our medical sciences division,” says Dorothy Wright, ,chief administrative officer for NOMS in Thunder Bay. Clinical faculty are also being appointed, she adds.
New faculty not only bring a plethora of skills, but also research projects and expertise. Many of the professors to be hired will be working in partnership with hospitals and universities.
“You will see a lot of collaborative research across the region,” says Wright.
The medical school has been overwhelmed with response from applicants, she notes. Some are coming from southern Ontario while others who grew up in the North are finding their way back home.
Wright says she cannot disclose the range of incomes because the board of directors has not approved the faculty compensation package.
The Northern Ontario Medical School is expected to enhance the existing infrastructure in both cities. It will have the potential of contributing to research initiatives on a global scale, says Derik Brandt, manager of tourism and economic development for the City of Thunder Bay.
“I think a lot of people in the community are looking at the medical school as a way to attract new investment, but some of our best opportunities are going to be with the research which NOMS staff will be doing,” Brandt says.
Because research holds the promise of future economic benefits, a proposal has been submitted to the provincial government through Northern Ontario Biotechnology Initiative (NOBI) to hire a biomedical expert who would be located in Thunder Bay. NOBI represents the biotechnology cluster in the North.
"This person’s job will be to provide assistance to (NOMS staff) to commercialize their (research) work,” Brandt explains.
The economic development department in Thunder Bay is working on strategies that will help the faculty connect with the people who are able to realize their research objectives. The strategies, which are part of the Mayor’s Health Task Force blueprint, are a long-term goal geared to making the health sciences sector a viable part of the city’s economic engine.
“Ten years from now, Thunder Bay will look different than it does now because of the medical school and some of the entrepreneurial endeavours that are underway.”
