Dr. Brian Postl, Dean, Max Rady College of Medicine and Dean, Rady Faculty of Health Sciences, is pleased to announce two new appointments in the Department of Family Medicine, Max Rady College of Medicine, Rady Faculty of Health Sciences.

Ming-Ka Chan, B.Sc. (Psych.), MD, MHPE, FRCPC has been appointed Director, Shantou University Medical College Exchange.

Surong Zhang, MD, PhD has been appointed Family Medicine Lead, Shantou Exchange.

Shantou University Medical College (SUMC) was established in 1981 through the support of the Li Ka Shing Foundation. Since 2002, the U of M and SUMC have participated in an academic exchange program which includes robust student and faculty exchange activities, productive research collaborations and multiple scientific symposia.

The Department of Family Medicine has participated in the academic exchange since 2006.

In 2015, the exchange extended the department’s visits to Shantou for assistance with family medicine curriculum and faculty development, as well as student teaching; student exchange visits to Family Medicine teaching sites; and consultation visits by family medicine leaders from both institutions.

To date, more than 125 medical learners, researchers and faculty members have participated in this visionary academic exchange program.

Dr. Ming-Ka Chan completed her MD at the University of Western Ontario in 1995, started pediatric residency at Queens University before transferring to complete her final two years at the University of Manitoba. She obtained her Masters in Health Professions Education in 2011 from the University of Illinois at Chicago.

She joined the university’s faculty in 1999 and is currently a clinician educator and associate professor with the Department of Pediatrics and Child Health. Current roles include Pediatrics Director, Education/Faculty Development and Assistant Director, International Medical Graduate Program. Clinically she works as a hospitalist and has an outpatient practice for children in foster care.

Her medical education scholarship is in the areas of CanMEDS, transitions and leadership development for healthcare learners. She has been teaching in Shantou for a number of years and has helped facilitate the Shantou faculty exchange within pediatrics. Nationally, she chairs the Board of Directors, Canadian Association for Medical Education Foundation and Membership Committee, Canadian Association for Medical Education and is a member of the Royal College Pediatrics Short Answer Question Committee. She is also the founder and co-facilitator of the Annual Canadian Pediatric Resident Leadership Conference; faculty member for CLIME (Canadian Leadership Institute for Medical Education); and founding member, ‘sanokondu’ (an international community of practice dedicated to fostering health professional leadership education worldwide).

Dr. Surong Zhang received her MD degree at University of Manitoba in 2016. She started to work as a hospitalist as St. Boniface Hospital, a tertiary teaching hospital. Dr. Zhang is in senior family resident teaching. Working as a hospitalist gives her the opportunity to look after patients who are acutely ill, at the same time there is also opportunity to provide holistic care.  She also works at two clinics, caring for patients with chronic diseases, providing prenatal and pediatric care as well as preventative medicine.

During her second year of residency training, Dr. Zhang had the opportunity to visit Shantou via the Shantou-University of Manitoba exchange program. With the background growing up in China while pursuing medical training in Canada, Dr. Zhang is interested in exploring the difference between the two health-care systems with the goal of learning the advantages or disadvantages of each system. With the rising of family medicine in China in the past few years, Dr. Zhang is also working with a several hospitals in China with the goal of promoting evidence-based medicine in China.