Province announces funding for Mississauga hospital partners in U of T's academy of medicine

The provincial government has announced capital funding to renovate Credit Valley Hospital (CVH) and Trillium Health Centre to ensure medical students learn in state-of-the-art health care facilities.

Mississauga-Erindale MPP Harinder Takhar, minister of government services, announced the funding May 25 at CVH for construction of learning and office space at both hospital sites. Both CVH and Trillium are partners in U of T's newest medical academy, the Mississauga Academy of Medicine.

This new investment will ensure that Mississauga residents will have access to new doctors who are trained to the highest standard, Takhar said at the announcement. We recognize the importance of having modern, state-of-the-art facilities for training our next generation of doctors.

Professor Deep Saini, vice-president and principal of U of T Mississauga, welcomed the announcement, noting the funding will help to strengthen the university's partnership with our two hospitals by introducing medical education to Mississauga. The academy of medicine is a partnership of U of T's Faculty of Medicine, the University of Toronto Mississauga, Credit Valley Hospital and Trillium Health Centre.

Dr. Norm Hill, senior executive lead, medical education, CVH and Trillium, noted the Mississauga Academy of Medicine will increase access to health care by training the next generation of physicians needed both in our community and in our province. The medical students will benefit from a University of Toronto education coupled with the broad spectrum of experience available in large specialty community hospitals like Trillium and Credit Valley.

The renovations at both sites are expected to begin shortly.

The Mississauga Academy of Medicine will be located in the Terrence Donnelly Health Sciences Complex on the U of T Mississauga campus. Fifty-four medical students will start their training in August 2011 at the Academy for their first year of the four-year program. There will be a total of 216 preclerkship and clerkship medical students when the program is fully enrolled. Twenty-four students will do their clinical placements at Trillium and 30 students at Credit Valley.