Short Story
The longstanding relationship between St. George’s University and Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry was re-emphasized with a very special visit from Dr. Michael Strong, Dean of Schulich School of Medicine and Dentistry in Ontario, Canada. Dr. Strong visited the University’s True Blue Campus from Monday, February 27 to Friday, March 2, 2012.
St. George’s University School of Medicine currently has over sixteen visiting professors from Schulich within its pathology, microbiology and clinical neuroscience programs. Dr. Strong stated, “There is a very strong relationship with the University, and it’s one we’ve had a real vested interested in.”
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Dean Strong also boasts of having a significant number of SGU graduates within their residency program at Schulich, one of which he says is a second year resident within his neurology program. He speaks to the diligence of SGU graduates by stating, “It is a very interesting group because they’re selected from a population of students who really have a keen interest in medicine, but their ambition sets them apart wherever they might be.”
Dr. Strong pointed out similarities between the two institutions. He observed that the students were “a group of really bright young people who want to be physicians and are looking towards the next path in their journey.” He also highlighted the passion and dedication of the University’s faculty and staff, which is also a mirror reflection of that in Schulich. He stated, “Physicians and people who are dedicated to education don’t grow on trees, they are hard to find. Nevertheless there is always a group of passionate individuals, and I see that here just as I see it back home in Ontario.” At the core of these similarities he states is the “very specific personalities of people who have made a commitment to education and medicine.” It is Dr. Strong’s hope that the relationship which has been cultivated between both Universities for over 12 years “continues to grow in the larger context of what we as health care educators provide to our students as the curriculum changes.”
On Wednesday, February 29, 2012, Dr. Michael Strong conducted a Lecture on Frontal Temporal Syndromes of ALS at the University’s Bourne Lecture Hall. According to Dr. Strong, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) also referred to as Lou Gehrig's disease/Motor Neurone Disease is one of his areas of research, and he sought to answer the questions, “What is causing it, and why is it actually happening?” Through his research he states, “we have come to understand that there is an abnormality in the way a particular group of proteins is handled within the brain. We’ve now characterized that extremely well, we now have an antibody which is a way of actually staining tissues to look and see if there is an abnormality, and we created an antibody specific to what’s going on in ALS.” This he states, “allows us to go from ‘this is an interesting thing’ in 1993/1994, through to where we are 16 yrs later. Not only do we understand it but I can re-create it in a cell culture dish. The next step is to go all the way back again and see if we can treat it, and that is what we call translational science.”
As his objective, Dr. Strong states, “I am hoping the students can actually see the power of a clinical academic career, and as a physician scientist what it is you can really understand about a disease and its impact. It’s not that there’s this whole area of science in medicine that should be viewed as being foreign, challenging, and difficult. It is all of these things, but it is part of what we do.”
About Dr. Strong
Dr Strong is a scientist at the Robarts Research Institute and was appointed Dean of Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry in 2010. From 2000-2010, he served as the Chief of Neurology and Co-chair of the Department of Clinical Neurological Sciences at the London Health Sciences Centre and The University of Western Ontario. Additionally, Dr. Strong also served as Co-chair of the Canadian ALS Research Consortium and is a former member of the Board of Directors of the ALS Society of Canada.
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