When the Scarborough Academy of Medicine and Integrated Health (SAMIH) was first announced in March 2022, its opening seemed like a distant dream. We needed to construct a building, recruit and train faculty, and then admit the highly qualified health professions students who would learn at the University of Toronto Scarborough (UTSC). But, thanks to many people's hard work and dedication, we are realizing the benefits of SAMIH today, even before classes start at UTSC in fall 2026.
For those who may not recall, SAMIH is a partnership between the Temerty Faculty of Medicine, UTSC, the Bloomberg Faculty of Nursing and the Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy. It will enable Temerty Medicine to expand its MD and Physical Therapy programs by situating additional seats at UTSC. In addition, the expanded Physician Assistants (PA) Program will relocate to UTSC, where they will also be joined by some of Bloomberg Nursing’s Nurse Practitioner students. It will have three clinics: a branch of Discovery Pharmacy, a nurse practitioner-led interprofessional clinic and a clinical psychology clinic. All of this will be housed in a new building to be constructed at the northwestern gateway to the UTSC campus that will support the local community in addition to training students.
Our vision was bold and clear, but realizing it seemed, at times, uncertain. First, we needed a building. Diamond Schmitt Architects and MVRDV solved that challenge by designing a dynamic building to ensure an excellent environment in which to learn and work. It’s now under construction by EllisDon Corporation, which is keeping the project on schedule. We will be ready to deliver the Physical Therapy (PT) and PA programs in the 2026/27 academic year, with the MD program beginning the following year.
We also needed to find a way to pay for this new building. We are fortunate and grateful that Orlando Corporation, The Garron Foundation and others answered our call for support. The new building will be named the Myron and Berna Garron Health Sciences Complex. As part of their gift, The Garron Foundation has provided money to help equip the building and support faculty development, which is critical in offsetting anticipated costs for Temerty Medicine.
Those were essential steps that brought us to where we are today, which is managing the enrolment growth already underway. Even before the doors open at UTSC, the PA and PT programs have already added all the new seats they received through SAMIH. That means the PA Program has effectively doubled in size, and the PT Program has grown by nearly 40 per cent. To provide perspective, this has required the PA Program to increase the number of clinical instructors and teaching assistants and seek an additional 260 student placements. The PT Program will add three additional faculty positions, 275-300 additional clinical instructors and an additional 200 student internships. These are significant challenges, but dedicated teams in both programs are ably managing them.
The MD Program has added 34 additional students within the existing academies this year and will reach its total enrolment increase of 44 seats next year. Key to the expansion of the MD Program is working closely with our hospital partners who support the four current MD academies as we prepare to launch our newest one: the Scarborough Academy of Medicine.
The Scarborough Academy of Medicine (SAM) will be the fifth academy supporting learners in the MD Program. It has been established as a partnership between Temerty Medicine, Michael Garron Hospital (MGH) and the Scarborough Health Network (SHN). Michael Garron Hospital has a long history of delivering undergraduate medical education as part of the Wightman-Berris Academy, and they will soon continue that work at SAM. Scarborough Health Network also has an extensive history in postgraduate medical education training and is now eagerly embracing its expanding role in undergraduate medical education. Essential leadership roles are being filled, including Caroline Chan as the inaugural academy director of SAM, and work is underway to ensure that SAM is fully supported and prepared to launch in fall 2027.
All of this is happening against a background of expanded postgraduate medical education occurring across the Greater Toronto Area. Combined with the growth in undergraduate medical education, there is a need for new and expanded faculty development. Program leaders are working closely with the Office of Faculty Development and the Centre for Faculty Development to meet that need. That has included, for example, launching the Teaching and Learning in the Clinical Context program to support clinical educators at SHN, MGH and other expansion sites.
This tremendous work occurs in an environment with constrained resources and significant system strains. Yet, we do it because it’s essential. It expands our capacity to educate the next generation of health professionals. It enables us to support a part of our city that has long been underserved. It strengthens the bonds between Temerty Medicine and other health professional faculties at U of T and with our hospital partners. This results from seizing opportunities to advance our mission and do what must be done. Rather than shrink from the challenges, I have seen members of our community rise up, pitch in and develop creative solutions that can be applied elsewhere. As a result, SAMIH is no longer a distant dream but a goal about to be achieved.
Lisa Robinson Dean, Temerty Faculty of Medicine Vice Provost, Relations with Health-Care Institutions
