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Some of the world’s top health-care institutions have ����ɫ�� medical trainees at them right now, learning and developing greater expertise to serve people in need. All with one important academic mission — to return to Calgary with specific new skills to better serve our community in the future.

More than 50 clinical trainees from the (CSM) have worked in health facilities in Toronto; Boston; Miami; London, England; Melbourne and other major centres since 2012. This has been made possible through a fellowship training opportunity supported by the Helios Wellness Centre, the (UCMG) and��, as well as CSM and several of its departments.

Dr. Kimberly Williams, MD’14, PGME’19, a psychiatrist and clinical assistant professor, recently returned from further advanced fellowship training. Beginning in January 2023, she spent five weeks as a visiting scholar with Harvard University at Massachusetts General Hospital.

“I gained additional clinical skills that I now use with current patients. I also made connections that can improve my research through collaboration and mentorship,” says Williams. “Experiencing a different health-care and education system was an invaluable opportunity to broaden my skills and perspective.”

As a visiting scholar in neuropsychiatry and behavioural neurology, she practised in a mix of clinics, attended education sessions, met with researchers involved in active clinical trials, and visited different facilities, including a former naval base now being used for medical research.

“It was especially enjoyable to work with and meet new female physicians at a similar stage of their career who are also balancing research, clinical practices and a young family at home,” says Williams, a mother of three, including an eight-week-old.

Along with parenting, teaching and patient-care responsibilities, Williams continues to further neuropsychiatry research in Calgary and advocating for women’s health through her role as the 100th��president of the .

Collaborating on a global scale

Dr. Raynell Lang, MD, PGME '18, an infectious disease specialist and assistant professor, has also benefited recently from international training. The UCMG member was selected to complete a two-year fellowship at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in Baltimore from 2020 to 2022.

While there, she worked with the (NA-ACCORD) to complete a postdoctoral fellowship in HIV epidemiology. In all, the global network involves more than 200 sites and serves 130,000 people living with HIV. Lang was first author of research published in , the journal�� and the .

“I was able to gain experience and expertise with research methodology and data analysis for large-scale projects and broaden my research interest in areas like co-morbidities and co-infections among people living with HIV,” says Lang. She returned to UCalgary and works at the Southern Alberta HIV Clinic in a clinical and research capacity, working closely with NA-ACCORD colleagues.

In 2023, fellowship recipients received support to participate in training at��the Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health in Boston; Johns Hopkins Multiple Sclerosis Precision Medicine Center of Excellence in Baltimore; the Cleveland Clinic in Cleveland; King’s College Hospital, Guy’s Hospital and St. Thomas’ Hospital in London, England; and the University of Newcastle’s Centre for Asthma and Respiratory Disease in Newcastle, Australia.