2025 - 2026 MD Program Updates

In preparation for the opening of Scarborough Academy of Medicine (SAM) in 2027 and the approved expansion of the MD program, significant progress was made in planning and beginning a phased integration of Foundations teaching across Scarborough-affiliated clinical and community sites. Building on early planning with course directors and education leaders, the program advanced a coordinated approach to scaling delivery at Scarborough Health Network and Michael Garron Hospital, while leveraging existing infrastructure and faculty expertise.  

This work focused on ensuring alignment between Foundations curriculum delivery and the clinical learning environment, with careful attention to course comparability, learner experience, and local capacity. Expansion activity in 2025–26 provided a structured pathway for growth, supporting increased learner numbers in advance of SAM’s full opening. Importantly, this Foundations-focused initiative establishes continuity with downstream clerkship planning, reinforcing an integrated Scarborough learning pathway that supports sustainable expansion, faculty development, and equitable access to high-quality educational experiences across the MD program. 

Responding to the needs of Canada’s aging population and learner feedback, meaningful progress was made toward strengthening Older Adult Medicine (OAM) within the clerkship curriculum. This initiative focuses on ensuring that all learners develop the skills, knowledge, and attitudes required to care for older adults effectively, regardless of future specialty choice. Planning during this review period centered on evaluating the newly implemented mandatory OAM clinical experience in the 4th year clerkship and planning to transition the rotation to the Year 3 clerkship, beginning in the 2026–27 academic year.  

This work reflects a systems-level and evidence-based approach to curriculum renewal, emphasizing earlier and more consistent exposure to geriatric principles across training sites. While implementation and site recruitment are ongoing, this milestone represents a critical step toward improving learner preparedness and patient care outcomes for older adults across clinical settings. Ongoing monitoring and iterative improvement will guide future refinement of the OAM curriculum. 

A major curricular achievement this year was the development and implementation of a new Planetary Health curriculum within the Foundations program, reflecting a strengthened commitment to systems thinking, sustainability, and the broader determinants of health. Recognizing the increasing relevance of environmental change to patient outcomes and healthcare delivery, this initiative reframed existing content to position planetary health as a core component of undergraduate medical education.  

The curriculum, launched in December 2025, introduces students to foundational concepts such as climate change, environmental determinants of health, and sustainable healthcare practices, while aligning with established patient-centred and equity-focused frameworks. Designed as a longitudinal learning experience, the curriculum builds community and capacity among future physicians and lays the groundwork for specialty-specific application in later training. This work positions the MD Program to graduate learners equipped to address emerging health challenges with a holistic, future-oriented perspective.  

Growing from a research project led by the Introduction to Medicine Course Director during the 2024-25 academic year, AI Tutors were developed and implemented for each week of Foundations learning in the 2025-26 academic year. Recognizing that unstructured use of generative AI can promote passive learning behaviours (e.g., summarization or answer-generation without critical engagement), this project aimed to reframe AI as an active learning partner. The AI Tutors were trained on course-specific materials and assessment approaches and designed to function as Socratic tutors—facilitating iterative, dialogue-based inquiry to probe student reasoning and deepen conceptual understanding.

Findings from the research project demonstrated measurable benefits across the learner spectrum, supporting both struggling students and high performers. Complementary innovation streams have also emerged, including early development of AI-simulated patients to enhance clinical skills training and collaboration with the assessment team to support faculty in generating high-quality multiple-choice questions. Collectively, this initiative represents a coordinated, evidence-informed approach to integrating AI into medical education, with a focus on using AI purposefully and not reflexively.