"It's as simple as that," says Vice-President (Health Affairs) and Dean Lesley Fellows, MDCM'96, DPhil, when asked about the title of the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences' new strategic plan, Together for better health.
"Our Faculty is diverse in its constituencies, from healthcare professionals to clinician-scientists and experts in the biomedical sciences, population health and global health, all contributing to train students across multiple programs. We've long worked together for better health and have achieved exceptional results.
"It's in our DNA," she adds. "And it's more important than ever."
Excellence in education
At the heart of the plan, launched in fall 2025, is education—outstanding education. "This is where we've made the most progress," says Fellows, citing new space being created for students in the McIntyre Medical Sciences Building and the Faculty's Campus Outaouais in Gatineau, where teaching takes place exclusively in French. "We had to scale up quickly to accommodate a 40 percent increase in medical student recruitment to meet Quebec's urgent healthcare needs," she explains.
The School of Physical and Occupational Therapy's upcoming move to more modern facilities is another priority. "Bread and butter, maybe, but necessary to teach and innovate."
At the graduate level, work is afoot to expand experiential learning and connect students with government, industry and NGOs—both locally and globally—to gain more real-world experience. The Educational Delivery and Graduate Experience (EDGE) Initiative in the School of Biomedical Sciences is one example. "This aligns with our objective to train outstanding researchers who can lead transformative change," notes VP-Dean Fellows. "While lab research is inherently hands-on, researchers also need cross-cutting competencies, such as entrepreneurial skills and the ability to collaborate in high-performing interdisciplinary teams."
More than a village, a global society
"There are several exciting initiatives," Fellows says about the strategic plan's second theme, collaborative research for better health. "Our School of Population and Global Health, for instance, is consolidating its rigorous population health and epidemiological expertise and methodologies to create something greater than the sum of its already strong parts."
She refers to the new Centre for Climate Change and Health, which will serve as a convener across the Faculty, University and beyond—bringing experts together to tackle the urgent health threats posed by climate change, including infectious diseases, extreme heat, wildfires and disruptions to our food chain.
"Human health is a powerful focal point in the vast landscape of climate change impacts," Fellows continues. "Arguably, it is the single largest existential challenge we face as a species… and it's not a distant, abstract one."
Another priority is strengthening the career continuum for clinician-scientists by bridging gaps where no funding currently exists. "Clinician-scientists are vital because they have a foot in both the clinical and research worlds," she explains. "They are uniquely positioned to translate research findings into clinical practice, making sure the right research questions are being asked and our work has the greatest possible impact."
With and for our communities
Openness, mutual respect, inclusion and embracing what makes us unique form the foundation of the strategic plan's next theme: delivering with and for our communities. "We all share responsibility for embedding these values in everything we do," Fellows emphasizes. "Certainly, in leadership, but also in research, teaching and administrative support. We must hold ourselves collectively accountable."
This commitment underpins the creation of the Faculty's Community Engagement and Belonging Hub. "We knew there was great work happening across the Faculty, and we wanted to bring the people leading these initiatives together to exchange and learn from one another." The resulting community of practice also gives the Faculty better visibility on all that is underway and the progress being made—insights that inform next steps for improvement.
The Faculty's inaugural Equity report 2024-2025 provides a snapshot of the most recent activities, together with key data. The report will be published annually, Fellows says, to spark reflection, monitor progress, learn and support ongoing improvement.
A future we can't take for granted
VP-Dean Fellows is firm in her conviction that universities will play a determinant role in overcoming the current confluence of urgent needs and threats to human health. "We need to commit, collectively, to continue to develop expertise, create new knowledge, learn and share it—and, in our case, improve health," she says. Referring to the counter forces—such as compressed budgets and geopolitical turmoil—she stresses: "We can't take that for granted."
She views healthcare as a deeply human undertaking: humanistic, but pragmatic and solution oriented at the same time, carried out at ɬŔď·¬ by people with the expertise to take on the challenges.
"I've been endlessly encouraged by the commitment of the wider community of alumni and friends, too," she adds. "People who don't need convincing, who are looking for ways to help, who understand and are excited about the research impacts, about training young people.
"It's great to see, and it's never been more important."