Our Committee

As a subset of the Society of Rural Physicians of Canada, we are a committee of medical students from across Canada collectively committed to supporting student interest in rural and remote medicine.  Our aim is to increase the visibility of and engagement in student-relevant rural and remote medicine initiatives nation-wide.

Our committee includes student representatives from medical schools across Canada.  Committee members contribute to subcommittees working on specific initiatives, as student representatives on SRPC Physician Committees and as liaisons between their medical school communities and the SRPC.

Our growing committee includes liaisons from the schools listed below.

Check below to see which of your classmates represents your school.

Don’t see your school on the list? It is our goal to have representation from each of the 17 schools across the country, but we still need to fill some of those spots!  Contact us at chairstudents@srpc.ca if you know someone who could fill one of these vacancies.

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School Liaisons

• Alberta: Catherine Palme (2022)

• UBC (South): Emily Wiesenthal (2023)

• UBC (North): Caitlin Blewett (2022)

• Calgary: Gemma Percival (2021)

• Dalhousie: Sina Sedighi (2023)
• Manitoba: Corli Barnes (2022)
• McMaster: Elisabeth Fortier (2022)
• McGill: Patrick Mooney (2021)
• MUN: Emma Barlow (2021)
• NOSM: Erika Lau (2022)
• Ottawa: Marie-Ève Dufour (2021)
• Queens: Jehan Irfan (2024)
• Saskatchewan: Lauren Klammer (2023)
• Western: Courtney Fleming (2023)
• Toronto: Muskaan Sachdeva (2022)
• Western: Courtney Fleming (2023)

Our committee doesn’t stop there!  We have members working on numerous projects.  For more information, contact your school liaison above, join the student Listserv and get connected with us via social media!

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Upcoming Events

Events

   

Have an event you’d like added to the calendar?  Send us an email request

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Current Initiatives

We have been expanding our SRPC Student Committee team recently and are working to form connections with all Canadian medical schools. 

Below are some of the exciting projects that we are currently working on.

Rural & Isolated Support Endeavor (RISE)

The Rural & Isolated Support Endeavor (RISE) was created by a working group of the Society of Rural Physicians of Canada (SRPC) Student Committee with the goal to emotionally support clients who live in rural areas across Canada during the COVID-19 pandemic. Our initiative partners medical students with clients in rural communities across Canada to provide weekly check-ins via phone and social connection.

We are looking for RISE program volunteers! For more information about RISE and to volunteer, please check out the recruitment form.  If you have any questions or concerns, please contact the RISE team at rise.srpc@gmail.com.

Rural Residency Catalogue

No matter what point you are at in medical school, it is never too early to start thinking about residency!  With the number of rural options available throughout Canada, it can become overwhelming trying to learn about them all.

The Rural Residency Catalogue sub-committee of the SRPC student section has developed a catalogue of the sites for rural family medicine residency programs across Canada. The catalogue includes some demographic information for each city/town that hosts a rural residency program, and while this has been developed with input from the residency programs it is not designed in any way to replace the information that is available in CaRMS. If there is a contradiction between information presented in the catalogue and that presented elsewhere by a program then the information from CaRMS or directly from the school should be taken as correct.

Our student members have worked hard to keep this document as up to date as possible, but the rural programs for Toronto have not been updated for the 2019 CaRMS cycle. Additionally, if you notice any errors in the catalogue, or if you have suggestions for how this document could be more helpful for students applying to rural residency programs in the future please let us know through our feedback link available at the end of the document.

Rural Residency Catalogue

Rural Electives Catalogue

Picture this as your one-stop shop for planning rural electives as a medical student.  This is meant to complement the AFMC student portal, focusing on rural and remote elective opportunities that may not be associated with a school.  Here you will find information about the various locations across Canada that accept learners, what specialties are available in each location, how to apply to them, and practical details about the areas.

Rural Medicine Interest Group Toolkit

Many medical schools across Canada have a rural medicine interest group (RMIG). We created a RMIG toolkit to help medical schools create and expand rural medicine interest groups. If you would like more information about the RMIG toolkit, please contact srpcstudentoutreach@gmail.com.

Student-focused events at the Rural & Remote Conference

Each year, the Rural and Remote course, organized by SRPC, offers a wonderful opportunity for medical students to learn about rural medicine. Unfortunately, this year's Rural and Remote course has been cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.  We hope to see you at the 20th annual Rural and Remote medicine course in Niagara Falls, ON, from April 22-24, 2021.

Update: Since we were not able to see you at Rural & Remote 2020, we put together some slideshows for the presentations we planned on delivering! We know things will be pretty different for folks applying for electives and CaRMS this year, but we hope these slideshows can inspire some students about the future and motivate others to brainstorm while they have time. These are not meant to stress you out, just mix things up during a tumultuous time. Enjoy, and please let us know if you have questions or feedback. 

CaRMS Primer:  Tips for preparing for CaRMS as a rural applicant

Rural Elective Across Canada:  A sampling of electives, including one from each province!

 Social Isolation handout, designed for the general public

 

Click on Image to print the PDF

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Contests

Rural Electives Photo Contest

What better way to see more of our beautiful country than through rural electives?  It’s no secret that this is one of the many benefits of travelling to learn in Canada’s rural and remote areas, so we want to hear about it!  Share a cool picture you took during a rural elective this semester for your chance to win a $25 gift card of your choice! The photo could be of the hospital or clinic that you worked at, some scenery you saw, an activity you participated in during your spare time there, or anything you can think of!

Just remember to always maintain patient confidentiality and receive consent from anyone featured in your photographs.

Submit photos via Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram.  Posts will be featured for all our submissions and winners are announced three times a year.  We look forward to seeing your submission soon!

Photo Contest

   

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Medical Student Essay Contest

Each year, the SRPC Nomination and Awards Committee hosts a rural essay contest for medical students.  Students are instructed to submit a non-fiction essay with a rural elective theme. The winners’ essays will be considered for publication in the Canadian Journal of Rural Medicine.  The winner will also win the equivalent of $500 credited towards the cost of attending the annual Rural & Remote Conference.  Eligible costs may include registration, travel to and from the conference, as well as accommodations and social events.

Length: 500 - 1000 words. Contest opens September 1st each year. 

Deadline for submission: December 31st each year.

Submit your essay to: submissions@srpc.ca

Entrant must be a member of the SRPC.  Find more information on this contest here.

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Rural Research Poster Presentation

Each year, a rural research poster session is hosted at the SRPC’s Rural & Remote Conference.  Poster proposals must include a clear research purpose, objectives, methodology, summary of the research results, and conclusion. Posters will be judged on rural relevance, research methodology, impact, clarity of presentation and ability to answer questions regarding your research.  The winner of best student research poster will win the equivalent of $500 credited towards attending the conference.

Size: Posters are restricted to a width of 4 feet and a height of 3 feet.

Deadline for submission: Yearly on January 7th.  Stay tuned for the contest open date each year.

Submit your proposal as a Microsoft Word or PDF document to: rrsubmissions@srpc.ca

Entrant must be a member of the SRPC. Find more information on this contest here

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