Starting in the Fall of 2022, the faculty undertook a significant consultation process to review and refresh the Rady Faculty of Health Sciences strategic plan. Concurrently, the Max Rady College of Medicine undertook a critical appraisal of its current state to develop an immediate action plan for the 2023 and 2024 academic calendar years while the Rady Faculty of Health Sciences developed its 2024- 2029 strategic plan. The Max Rady College of Medicine’s desired state, gap analysis and its immediate action plan that has been implemented since January 2023 can be found in Appendix 1.

The Rady Faculty strategic plan was endorsed by the Rady Faculty Council in June 2024, which was aligned to the University of Manitoba 2024-2029 strategic plan entitled MOMENTUM: Leading Change Together. Central to this alignment the Rady Faculty and its constituent Colleges agreed to adopt the mission, vision, core values, as well as the strategic themes and the fundamental commitments of the University of Manitoba strategic plan.

Unique to the Rady Faculty strategic plan was the development of a mandate for the faculty, and while the strategic themes and fundamental commitments aligned to those of the University, the Rady Faculty customized the goals of its strategic plan to reflect this unique mandate. Further the Rady Faculty strategic plan developed metrics that all Colleges will use to assess annual progress.

This document contains the Max Rady College of Medicine’s strategic action plan for 2025 to 2029 developed through workshops, town halls, and broad stakeholder feedback. It is to be used as a companion document to the Rady Faculty of Health Sciences strategic plan.

I look forward to working together to advance the Max Rady College of Medicine as an integral member of the broader Rady Faculty of Health Sciences and the University of Manitoba community.

Dr. Peter Nickerson
Dean, Max Rady College of Medicine

a) Strategic goal: Focus on high quality in all educational programs, meeting the needs of the provincial health workforce.

Strategic actions:

1. Ensure onboarding of new faculty to acquire skills and understand the standards required in educational programs.
2. Enhance utilization of the Office of Innovation in Scholarship and Medical Education (ISME) and the Centre for the Advancement of Teaching and Learning (CATL) across educational programs for continuous quality improvement (CQI) of curriculum.
3. Partner with the Provincial Chief Medical Officer (CMO) to forecast health system workforce requirements to align program resource investment.

b) Strategic goal: Advance distributive models of education reaching rural, northern, and remote communities.

Strategic actions:

1. Establish a scalable distributive faculty model (network) for integrated medical education, including Undergraduate Medical Education (UGME), Postgraduate Medical Education (PGME), International Medical Graduates (IMG), and the Master of Physician Assistant Studies (MPAS).
2. Develop and enact a plan to establish a comprehensive Brandon Satellite Campus for Undergraduate Medical Education (UGME) and PGME training.
3. Create a sustainable funding mechanism and coordinating office to support student travel and housing.

c) Strategic goal: Expand sustainable and cohesive interprofessional education and clinical opportunities.

Strategic actions:

1. Create and refine interprofessional education (IPE) curriculum for asynchronous and synchronous learning.
2. Identify and utilize existing team-based clinics in Medicine 1 and Medicine 2 for IPE observational reporting.
3. Create IPE hubs that are resourced to support Medicine 3 and Medicine 4 experiential IPE learning.

a) Strategic goal: Increase interdisciplinary and collaborative scholarship that is highly competitive and impactful.

Strategic actions:

1. Advance team-based science, including funding and recognition programs, strategic recruitment, and networking.
2. Establish a Clinician-Investigator minimal income base to support major research protected time (greater than 75%) to drive innovation.
3. Create pathways for knowledge implementation, including integration into the health system, clinical practice, and commercialization.

b) Strategic goal: Advance health system and person-centered research, informed by authentic reciprocal engagement.

Strategic actions:

1. Increase participation of health system leaders, community leaders, or vested public members on research teams as appropriate.
2. Increase utilization of “Learning Health System” platforms, such as the Centre for Healthcare Innovation (CHI), the Manitoba Centre for Health Policy (MCHP), Ongomiizwin – Indigenous Institute of Health and Healing, and the Institute for Global Public Health (IGPH), by health system leaders, health researchers, and communities to address unmet needs.
3. Remove health system barriers and reduce the administrative burden of conducting person-centered research.

c) Strategic goal: Enhance core platforms that advance all research pillars, including those defined by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) and the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) in pillars I, II, III, and IV.

Strategic actions:

1. Promote core platform services across the research ecosystem.
2. Invest in the sustainability of core platforms, including funding through the Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI) and matching provincial funding.
3. Conduct a client survey to assess core platform gaps that need to be addressed to sustain the research ecosystem.

a) Strategic goal: Advance and contribute to health system partnerships, informing policy and practice.

Strategic actions:

1. Establish a clinical governance structure to enable integration of health system and academic clinical programs.
2. Involve government and health system leaders on pertinent committees in the Max Rady College of Medicine.
3. Consolidate the framework and support for a sustainable “Learning Health System” across Manitoba.

b) Strategic goal: Improve reciprocal community engagement through new and existing outreach programs.

Strategic actions:

1. Identify communities that are a priority for engagement.
2. Create a formal framework for community engagement with input from and agreement by the community.
3. Determine community needs and opportunities for partnership.

c) Strategic goal: Increase efforts to support, coordinate, and expand pathway programs.

Strategic actions:

1. Leverage Bachelor of Health Sciences and Bachelor of Health Studies programs as pathways to Max Rady College of Medicine programs, with a focus on Indigenous learners.
2. Partner with school boards for early exposure and to support education programs for junior and senior high school learners.
3. Elevate community awareness and support for educational opportunities in the Max Rady College of Medicine.

a) Strategic goal: Implement the revised Rady Faculty of Health Sciences reconciliation action plan.

Strategic actions:

1. Develop reconciliation leads in units.
2. Create and advance a Community of Practice of reconciliation leads across units.
3. Integrate actions within both academic and health system environments by clinical departments.

b) Strategic goal: Embed Indigenous initiatives and Indigenization of curricula in all programs.

Strategic actions:

1. Align Vice-President Indigenous and Vice-Dean Indigenous Health, social justice and anti-racism offices’ action plans to maximize impact.
2. Complete Indigenization of curricula across all programs – leverage expertise of those who have completed refresh.

c) Strategic goal: Increase recruitment of, and support for, Indigenous learners that remove barriers.

Strategic actions:

1. Recruit Indigenous faculty across all programs.
2. Partner with other medical schools to develop a pre-admission support program to enhance access.
3. Increase bursaries and travel grants to community for Indigenous students in all Max Rady College of Medicine programs.

a) Strategic goal: Adopt the principles of the Okanagan Charter.

Strategic actions:

1. Create awareness and promote understanding of the Okanagan Charter.
2. Map the current policies in the University of Manitoba and the Max Rady College of Medicine to evaluate alignment with the Okanagan Charter and identify gaps.
3. Conduct an environmental inventory of current initiatives within the Max Rady College of Medicine and develop a framework for future implementation.

b) Strategic goal: Establish work and learning environments that promote balance and wellness.

Strategic actions:

1. Increase the amount and quality of study space for undergraduate and graduate students.
2. Improve the quality of teaching and office space within the Max Rady College of Medicine.
3. Develop a systems approach to scheduling and workflow that advances balance and wellness.

c) Strategic goal: Increase and formalize mentorship and professional development opportunities for faculty and staff.

Strategic actions:

1. Educate faculty, staff, and learners through workshops on providing and receiving constructive feedback.
2. Customize mentorship programs for both early and mid-career faculty members.
3. Formalize a professional development program for staff that creates a structured pathway for promotion.

a) Strategic goal: Ensure common core competencies in social justice, anti-racism, anti-ableism, and anti-oppressive practices.

Strategic actions:

1. Align the action plans of the Vice-Provost Equity and the Vice-Dean Indigenous Health, Social Justice, and Anti-Racism offices to maximize impact.
2. Embed training modules in onboarding requirements for faculty and staff, such as Giga mino ganawenimaag Anishinaabeg (“We will take good care of the people”).
3. Develop leader-specific training and coaching focused on action and implementation in academic and administrative units.

b) Strategic goal: Achieve equity, access, and participation at all levels within the Rady Faculty of Health Sciences.

Strategic actions:

1. Embed Equity, Access, and Participation (EAP) statements and questions in all academic and staff hiring searches and interviews.
2. Identify barriers to enacting EAP  practices.
3. Monitor EAP trends among students, staff, and faculty.

c) Strategic goal: Ensure culturally safe and inclusive work and learning environments that invite participation by everyone.

Strategic actions:

1. Conduct workshops for faculty and staff to address issues as they occur, promoting a “Call-in” versus “Call-out” culture.
2. Perform regular cyclical environmental assessments of academic and administrative units and address identified gaps.
3. Celebrate and recognize achievement through awards and other forms of acknowledgment.