STUDENTS & RESIDENTS
New dean drives positive change
at College of Medicine
By Dallas Carpenter
B
y 2:00 p.m. on the first day of his tenure as Dean of
the University of Saskatchewan’s College of Medicine,
Dr. Preston Smith had already met with three provincial cabinet ministers and the newly installed university
president. It was a quick but reassuring introduction to his
challenging new position, and in spite of recent events, he
is eager to take on his new role and become a part of the
University of Saskatchewan community.
“The move and transition for me has been very easy,” said
Smith, after noting that late May was the right time of year
to move to Saskatchewan. “The university and college people have been tremendously welcoming and supportive.
Plus, this has to be one of the most beautiful university campuses in the country.”
The upheaval within the university leadership and backlash to the TransformUS initiative were making headlines
as Smith made the move to Saskatoon, but it did not deter
him. “There is no doubt that the turmoil at the U of S was
an interesting backdrop for my arrival,” he said. “My focus is
what we’re going to need to accomplish at the College of
Medicine and I have every confidence that we’re going to
get that work done. One of the most exciting things to me is
the absolute commitment to seeing the College of Medicine
succeed, both at a government and university level. It’s no different than what I was told when I was interviewed for the job.”
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SMA NEWS DIGEST | SUMMER 2014
Smith comes to Saskatchewan after a distinguished career
as a practicing physician in Nova Scotia and as a faculty
member and administrator at Dalhousie University’s Faculty of Medicine. Recently, Smith was the Senior Associate
Dean, Regional and Rural Medical Education, where he was
involved in determining capacity needs throughout the
Maritimes while enhancing community engagement and
developing the distributed medical education model for
Dalhousie.
The experience of working with rural and regional centres
in a distributed education model will give Smith an advantage as the College of Medicine builds an even more robust
distributed model and engages with faculty across the
province.. Other factors, however, were just as important as
these for Smith when he decided to pursue this opportunity.
“This is a university that has a huge opportunity as a medical
school,” he noted. “There is no doubt that it has a history as a
good College of Medicine. It has substantial resources that
even some other medical schools don’t have, when you look
at the fact that on this campus there is a veterinary school, a
nursing college, a synchrotron and an agriculture college. A
lot of these things, if the College of Medicine plays its cards
right, are substantial advantages over any similar-sized
medical school in the country. “
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