Provincial grant to help outfit SAMIH clinical-learning spaces

The Temerty Faculty of Medicine has received a one-million dollar grant from the Ontario government to outfit the Scarborough Academy of Medicine and Integrated Health (SAMIH) with state-of-the-art clinical training equipment.  

The investment comes from the province’s $10.8 million Training Equipment and Renewal Fund. The University of Toronto will match the moneyprovided by the grant. 

Medical and health professions students at SAMIH, including learners in the MD Program as well as in the Physician Assistant (PA) and Physical Therapy (PT) programs, will train at the new 144,482-square-foot Myron and Berna Garron Health Sciences Complex, which will boost health-care capacity in Scarborough and the eastern GTA.  

Programming for some of U of T Scarborough’s undergraduate health sciences programs will also be offered in the new building.  

“SAMIH reflects the expansion of U of T’s health education programs to our campus,” says Linda Johnston, vice-president, U of T and principal, U of T Scarborough. “Hands-on training opportunities are crucial for health-professional learners. Furnishing this new facility with cutting-edgelearning tools will help us provide tomorrow’s workforce the skills they will need to serve the communities where they’re most needed.” 

The Myron and Berna Garron Health Sciences Complex will feature a simulation lab with equipment including training mannequins, hospital beds, patient service consoles and IV poles. A high-fidelity mannequin will allow learners to experience how to respond to and manage a simulated patient and how to work effectively in a team. In addition to being visually life-like, this mannequin will respond to touch and the therapeutic interventions learners will take with them.  

The facility will also house a 40-person clinical-skills lab with equipment such as movable staircases, transfer boards, walkers and parallel bars. In this space, PT and PA program learners will practise hands-on techniques. 

A new anatomy lab with rotating tables, model skeletons and anatomical models will allow PT and MD program learners to develop a three-dimensional understanding of the human body.  

“We’re excited to help play a role in addressing the unmet health-care needs of Scarborough and Durham region through our program’s expansionto SAMIH,” says Kristin Musselman, interim chair, department of physical therapy. “This investment will help ensure our students can learn through scenarios that will prepare them for the experiences they will encounter in the clinical practice.” 

“We’re very thankful to the Ministry of Colleges, Universities, Research Excellence and Security for recognizing how important this project is to UTSC, the Scarborough community, Temerty Medicine and the University of Toronto,” says Patricia Houston, vice dean, medical education at Temerty Medicine. 

The first classes in the PA and PT programs will begin their studies at SAMIH in fall 2026. The first class of MD Program learners will arrive the following year. 

At full enrolment, SAMIH will graduate more than 160 medical and health-professions students and 300 health-sciences students each year.