Anon187283 Posted December 8, 2022 Report Share Posted December 8, 2022 This year McMaster ophthalmology spontaneously decided to convert one of its CMG spots into an IMG spot. McMaster normally does not offer IMG spots in ophthalmology so something already appears fishy. Now, there are rumours going around that one of McMaster ophthalmology's own faculty members has a child who's graduating this year from medical school in the Carribean so this creation of an IMG spot was a move done by them to hand down the spot to one of their own. These are only rumours so we will have to wait a few months to see if this ends up being true or not, but thought I should post this here in case this ends up being true, and a formal complaint can be made to CARMS. Im applying to another competitive specialty myself but I was completely shocked to hear this. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MDee2B Posted December 8, 2022 Report Share Posted December 8, 2022 It’s unfortunate but not so shocking. Nepotism is prevalent in other medical specialties (see article below) and frankly, in most areas of life. https://thetyee.ca/News/2015/02/06/Former-Cabinet-Minister-Wins-UBC-Residency/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1D7 Posted December 8, 2022 Report Share Posted December 8, 2022 I would say it's uncommon to have such a significant advantage. I've known several medical students who did not match to programs their parents were faculty on (though not part of the core residency committee). Not to say it doesn't exist, but in general most medical students do not have parents in highly influential academic positions. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Supervenience Posted December 8, 2022 Report Share Posted December 8, 2022 I have heard rumours of a simiar situation playing out with UofT ophthalmology this past year Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bambi Posted December 8, 2022 Report Share Posted December 8, 2022 Power corrupts, absolute power corrupts absolutely! These highly placed people as a group consider themselves entitled, elite, privileged and have the arrogance, chutzpah and confidence to implement and actually get away with such behaviour! Shame on them and shame on us for allow it. Shining a light on it can perhaps stop them. They have succeeded at this game for decades . They are sort of like Trump in the USA. Anoumdphd 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Findanus Posted December 8, 2022 Report Share Posted December 8, 2022 13 hours ago, 1D7 said: I would say it's uncommon to have such a significant advantage. I've known several medical students who did not match to programs their parents were faculty on (though not part of the core residency committee). Not to say it doesn't exist, but in general most medical students do not have parents in highly influential academic positions. It's not as uncommon as you think in certain fields. Anoumdphd 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Edict Posted December 9, 2022 Report Share Posted December 9, 2022 I know med students who haven't matched to programs where their parents were faculty in but they matched in another institution. I've also seen examples where people matched to the same institution as where their parents are faculty in. I've also seen IMG kids have spots made for them, like the case in BC years back. Usually, the more power the faculty has within the program, the more likely they can pull something like this off, but politics is very important here, so it really has to be the right culture and the right person to be able to do this. Probably still relatively uncommon but not unheard of. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RandomIntrandom Posted December 9, 2022 Report Share Posted December 9, 2022 Absolutely shocking if true! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dooogs Posted December 9, 2022 Report Share Posted December 9, 2022 It’s too insane even for ophthalmology Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
indefatigable Posted December 9, 2022 Report Share Posted December 9, 2022 On 12/7/2022 at 8:22 PM, Anon187283 said: This year McMaster ophthalmology spontaneously decided to convert one of its CMG spots into an IMG spot. McMaster normally does not offer IMG spots in ophthalmology so something already appears fishy. Now, there are rumours going around that one of McMaster ophthalmology's own faculty members has a child who's graduating this year from medical school in the Carribean so this creation of an IMG spot was a move done by them to hand down the spot to one of their own. These are only rumours so we will have to wait a few months to see if this ends up being true or not, but thought I should post this here in case this ends up being true, and a formal complaint can be made to CARMS. Im applying to another competitive specialty myself but I was completely shocked to hear this. It looks a little suspicious for sure.. looks like Ottawa and McMaster swapped IMG for CMG spot. It seems like Carrib grads in the past matched to the Ottawa program (SGU at least twice) as IMG - so maybe they're hoping it will fly under the radar? Last year UofT ophtho had a couple of children of faculty match - not at all unknown is small programs like derm, ENT.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zoxy Posted December 9, 2022 Report Share Posted December 9, 2022 On 12/8/2022 at 2:11 AM, MDee2B said: It’s unfortunate but not so shocking. Nepotism is prevalent in other medical specialties (see article below) and frankly, in most areas of life. https://thetyee.ca/News/2015/02/06/Former-Cabinet-Minister-Wins-UBC-Residency/ His mom was the cabinet minister. His dad was the head of cardiac surgery for UBC and St.Paul's hospital and he just coincidentally managed to match to UBC cardiac surgery, a program that has never taken another IMG to my knowledge. He then got a job at St.Paul's in Vancouver, where his dad is the head of Cardiac surgery. Imagine getting your first job in downtown Vancouver without a graduate degree or a fancy US fellowship with the current state of the cardiac surgery job market in Canada. I'm going to call my parents right now and criticize them for not being a provincial minister and the head of a department at UBC. who_knows, IMislove, MDee2B and 1 other 1 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
who_knows Posted December 9, 2022 Report Share Posted December 9, 2022 Shocking that this corruption happens without consequences in front of everyone and when everyone knows. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IMislove Posted December 9, 2022 Report Share Posted December 9, 2022 Family dynasties happen in many urology programs. UBC, Dal, Edmonton, western. shikimate, sykern and Anoumdphd 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
plastics91 Posted December 9, 2022 Report Share Posted December 9, 2022 Would not be surprised if it was the case. Many specialties, especially ophthalmology that is rife with nepotism that is blatant and happens in broad daylight. No one with backbone to change this in Canada unfortunately. If PGME is serious about their EDI initiatives as they say they are they should be sending surveys and gathering real data to shed light on this travesty rather than yet another women in medicine/surgery thing that just regurgitates the same message over and over again and using it as a check mark for having done something about EDI issues Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
med2family Posted December 11, 2022 Report Share Posted December 11, 2022 Common in many surgical fields. See the IMG match for a 2021 U of T neurosurgery spot. zoxy 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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