Creating a Vision for Education Research in Erie St. Clair #WEareready

Dec 14, 2016 | Community Engagement , Design & Innovation

At a visioning session hosted by the Programing and Services Steering Committee – which oversees planning for the new Windsor-Essex Hospitals System – they mapped out the current state of research in the region and discussed ways they can use the opportunity created by the new hospital's system, to build on these strengths.

“Today, everything is possible,” said Windsor Regional Hospital President and CEO David Musyj at the opening of the session. “The way to achieve what our region desperately needs and deserves is to start planning now.”

Musyj, who Co-Chairs the Steering Committee along with Dave Cooke says we are not working from a clean slate. “We have a lot of progress in the region and the goal of these discussions is to build on the pockets of research we have in the community and look for opportunities to move forward together.”

Participants included representatives from a variety of groups including the University of Windsor (Nursing, Biology, Social Work, HK, Leddy Library, the Cross Border Institute, EPICentre, etc) Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry, St. Clair College (Biomedical Engineering, School of Health Sciences), Windsor Regional Hospital, Hôtel-Dieu Grace Healthcare, WE-tech Alliance, the Windsor Cancer Research Group, the Essex County Medical Society, Wayne State University and more. The group discussed ways to break down silos and collaborate on projects now, while working toward a more integrated research network in the new hospitals system.

WATCH: Vision Session, December 13, 2016


“What I liked so much about this is that every institution that came together had the same vision. That this is the time to move forward with research in Windsor and I think that was so exiting,” said Dr. Caroline Hamm, Co-Director, Windsor Cancer Research Group. “Lots of stuff has happened. All the pieces are there; we just have to put the pieces together.”

From the beginning of this project, education and research have been among the main drivers. An expanded focus on clinical research strengthens the research and scholarship culture and puts Windsor-Essex in a better position to recruit and retain top physicians, professional healthcare staff and medical leaders.

This is the first of several sessions planned. The results will help shape the new Windsor-Essex Hospitals System during the next planning stages.

People are very hopeful that we are going to create something great together and I fully agree with them,” said Dr. Michael Siu, VP of Research and Innovation at the University of Windsor.