February 15, 2001 For Immediate Release

World experts in rural physician training will be in Prince George next week to participate in a key planning workshop for the proposed Northern Medical Program. The workshop is being funded by the BC Ministry of Health.

Representatives from The University of British Columbia, UNBC, government ministries, the Northern Interior Regional Health Board, local physicians, and community members will be attending the workshop, which starts on February 19th and concludes on the 21st. International and national consultants will be participating from the University of Tromso, the University of Michigan, Monash University in Australia, the University of Western Ontario, and Sherbrooke University. A total of 33 participants will be attending.
The workshop will review national and international best practices in the training of rural physicians and will begin the process of detailed curriculum planning for the proposed Northern Medical Program.

The workshop will be closed to the media except for 30-minutes on Tuesday, February 20th. At 1:00pm, the workshop participants can be available to the media, before the start of the afternoon session. Please contact Rob van Adrichem with the workshop participant(s) you wish to interview at that time, so he can inform them and facilitate.

The Northern Medical Program is a proposed collaborative program between UBC and UNBC and builds on UBC's vision to increase the capacity of its medical school to meet BC's needs for physicians. The aim of the NMP is train doctors in northern BC for practice in rural areas. It's expected the first 15-20 students could enroll in the program by 2004, pending government funding. For more information about the Northern Medical Program, refer to the web site at www.unbc.ca/nmp.