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THUNDER BAY — NOSM University's board of governors has announced the appointment of a new president, vice-chancellor, dean and CEO.
Dr. Michael Green from Kingston will begin the new role effective Nov. 1.
He succeeds Dr. Sarita Verma, who's stepping down this month after five years.
Green is the current president of the College of Family Physicians of Canada, after being elected to the post last fall.
He completed his medical degree at the University of British Columbia and residency training at Memorial University of Newfoundland.
He practised for eight years in Moose Factory and Kashechewan on the James Bay coast.
In a statement Tuesday, Verma said he "is no stranger to Northern Ontario. He is a highly skilled family physician and rural generalist . . . I know that NOSM University and the North will continue to be in very good hands."
During his time at Moose Factory, Green completed a master's degree in public health at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in Baltimore, Maryland.
In 2003, he moved his family to Kingston where he began his academic career at Queen's University.
He served as the head and a professor in the department of family medicine and as a professor of public health sciences and policy studies, among other roles.
With an interest in Indigenous health, he also served as a medical officer with Indigenous Services Canada's First Nations and Inuit health branch from 2003 to 2014.
The chair of the NOSM U board, Sue LeBeau, said the board recognizes the "incredible impact" that Dr. Verma has made during her term.
"I cannot overstate the degree to which her accomplishments have helped to shape NOSM University and the future of health equity in Northern Ontario," she stated.
NOSM U became Canada's first independent medical university in 2022, after being created 20 years earlier as the Northern Ontario School of Medicine in a partnership between Lakehead and Laurentian universities.
