Temerty Medicine promotes 169 faculty members

The University of Toronto’s Temerty Faculty of Medicine has promoted 169 candidates to full professor or associate professor.

Sixty-three faculty members were promoted to professor and 106 were promoted to associate professor, including one in the teaching stream.

Generally, an associate professor will have demonstrated excellence at a national level; a professor has demonstrated impact internationally.

“We continue to see excellence broadly across the departments within Temerty Medicine. Faculty members have been engaged in work that keeps the university on the advancing edges of field of several disciplines,” says Upton Allen, chair of the decanal promotions committee and professor of paediatrics.

More than 30 faculty members from nearly 20 divisions were part of the decanal promotions committee.

“I want to extend my thanks to Upton and each member of the committee for leading the important work of recognizing the efforts of our faculty members, who work tirelessly to spark curiosity in our learners and establish new knowledge through their scholarship,” says Dean Lisa Robinson.

In the past academic year, sustained excellence in teaching was redefined to include faculty members who have been teaching for seven to 10 years, down from the previous minimum of a decade.

Allen, who is also head of the division of infectious diseases at The Hospital for Sick Children, notes that this round of promotions saw continued recognition of the work being done by part-time and community-based faculty members.

The promotions committee is also working to better understand how to consider the ways artificial intelligence may be implemented in the process.

With respect to the evolution of equity, diversity, inclusion, Indigeneity and accessibility, “we’re in a period of transition and over the past year, we have been revising the ways in which equity, diversity, inclusion, Indigeneity and accessibility are considered in the promotions process. In the future, rather than a focus on EDIIA, we’re focusing on Inclusive Initiatives of Excellence, that will include the elements of EDIIA in addition to other areas of focus, such as health equity and advocacy, among others,” says Allen.

A subgroup, led by Sophie Soklaridis, an associate professor of psychiatry and family and community medicine, is also researching academic promotions processes across Canada’s 17 faculties of medicine, including Temerty Medicine.

A third group, chaired by David Rojas, an assistant professor of obstetrics and gynaecology and the director of program evaluation, medical education is also examining evaluations and assessment of teachers.

Please click here to see a complete list of this year’s academic promotions.