THE RICHARD K. REZNICK WILSON CENTRE RESEARCH DAY | Thursday, October 29th, 2026
Registration details to come!
The Richard K. Reznick Wilson Centre Research annual event was established to celebrate the remarkable depth and breadth of scholarship in health professions education underway at the University of Toronto and the University Health Network. Whether in person or virtual, we will continue to highlight our community’s successes and accomplishments. This year, the Wilson Centre Research Day will be in-person with the keynote address available by live-stream for a remote audience.
Keynote Panels:
Conversations on the Future of Health Professions Education
This year's keynote will take a distinctive format, bringing together the outgoing and incoming Directors of the Wilson Centre for a facilitated conversation about the future of health professions education. This is a timely opportunity to reflect on where the field has been and to look ahead with curiosity, ambition, and a shared sense of purpose. Against the backdrop of rapid global change, the growing integration of artificial intelligence into healthcare and education, and shifting societal expectations, the conversation will explore how the field of health professions education must continue to adapt, innovate, and lead. The session will be facilitated by a Wilson Centre Research Fellow, weaving in perspectives from across our community's stakeholder groups. The keynote will conclude with an opportunity for audience engagement, inviting participants to bring their own questions and insights into the conversation.
In-person Podium and Lightning Talks
Lightning Talks replace traditional poster presentations and provide an opportunity to briefly present work in progress and/or innovations. Lightning Talks and Podium Presentations will be combined into themed sessions and presented in facilitated and moderated sessions. Specific times for these sessions will be announced with the abstract acceptances. These talks will not be available virtually during or after the conference.
Format
In-person Lightning Talk presentations with facilitation (specific times to be confirmed later)Lightning Talk presentations: 3 POWERPOINT or PDF Slides. Presented for up to 5 minutes followed by 3 minutes of questions
In-person Podium presentations with facilitation (specific times to be confirmed later)Podium presentation sessions: 10-minute presentations followed by a 4-minute discussion All members of the Wilson Centre and graduate students who engaged in education scholarship are invited to attend and participate in the program.
Abstract submission deadline: Friday June 19th, 2026 Call for Abstracts: The organizers invite research abstracts related to healthcare education and practice. We welcome presentations from different methodological perspectives (qualitative, quantitative, mixed methods, etc). Please indicate whether your submission is to be considered for a podium or lightning talk presentation.
The maximum length of the abstract is 250 words. Please submit your abstracts in a word document, single spaced, with Times New Roman 12-point font with the title and authors bolded. Authors should be listed First Name, Last Name. Please indicate affiliations with numerical superscript after the Last Name. Please list affiliations in Times New Roman and 9-point font below the author list. See the example below. All submissions should be sent to Cheryl.ku@uhn.ca
Example of Abstract Submission Title and Author Formatting
Jane Doe1,2, John Doe2 Wilson Centre Collaborating Institution Submitting Abstracts to Research Day: Send as document file to cheryl.ku@uhn.ca
Research Day Awards: The “best presentation” award is open to ALL presenters and will be judged at Research Day. The Richard K. Reznick “best paper” award is open ONLY to Wilson Centre Fellows (a graduate student who is directing, as PI or Co-I, an independent research project affiliated with the Wilson Centre) and requires pre-submission of a research paper.
Important Dates:
June 19, 2026 - Deadline Submission of Abstracts
August 14, 2026 - Notification of Acceptance
September 11, 2026 - Submission of papers for Reznick Best Paper Award
Information contact: Cheryl Ku Cheryl.ku@uhn.ca
About Dr. Richard Reznick
Richard Reznick received his medical degree from McGill University, followed by a general surgical residency at the University of Toronto. He spent two years in fellowship training, first obtaining a Masters’ degree in medical education, followed by a fellowship in colorectal surgery at the University of Texas.
Dr. Reznick was the inaugural Director of the University of Toronto Faculty of Medicine’s Centre for Research in Education at University Health Network, and in 1999 was appointed Vice President of Education at University Health Network. He served eight years as the R. S. McLaughlin Professor and Chairman of the Department of Surgery at the University of Toronto.
From 2010 -2020, Dr. Reznick assumed the position of Dean, Faculty of Health Sciences at Queen’s University and Chief Executive Officer of the Southeastern Ontario Academic Medical Organization (SEAMO).
From 2021 - 2023, Dr. Reznick assumed the position of President of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada.
Thursday May 28th, 2026 9am – 11:30am
BMO Education Conference Centre
Transforming Education and Care at the Bedside
8:45 AM – 9:00 AM
Registration & light breakfast
9:00 AM – 9:15 AM
Opening remarks: Cynthia Whitehead
Land acknowledgement: Abby Ramdawar
Welcome & Introductions: Mahan Kulasegaram
9:15 AM – 9:35 AM
Briana Layard
9:35 AM – 9:50 AM
David Wiljer
9:50 AM – 10:10 AM
Discussion/ Q&A
10:30 AM – 10:50 AM
Nikki Woods
10:50AM – 11:10 AM
Cynthia Whitehead
11:10 AM – 11:30 AM
Discussion & Closing Remarks
The Brian D. Hodges Symposium celebrates Dr. Brian D. Hodges’ continuing contributions to health professions education research. Dr. Hodges, Director of the Wilson Centre from 2003-2011, is currently the Executive Vice-President of Education at the University Health Network and a Scientist at The Wilson Centre.
By bringing together the community of health professions education researchers, educators, scholars and students, we aim to motivate attendees to think beyond the boundaries of their current work and look for points of intersection with the research of others. The symposium provides a rare opportunity for in-depth discussion of the theory and practice of education. Attendees will enjoy invited presentations from global leaders in health professions education and the next generation of education scientists and scholars.
THE WILSON CENTRE RESEARCH ROUNDS
HYBRID RESEARCH ROUNDS
In Person: The Wilson Centre, Toronto General Hospital, 200 Elizabeth St., Rm 559 Toronto ON
The Wilson Centre Education Research Rounds offers participants a forum to engage in educational dialogue geared towards promoting excellence in their specific education research interests and identified professional needs. It is a great opportunity to build a sense of community among the scholars and graduate students of the Wilson Centre. Drs. Catharine Walsh and David Rojas co-chair these Rounds.
Monday June 15, 2026
12:00 PM - 1:00PM
Hybrid Rounds: Wilson Centre conference room or Zoom
A Scoping Review of Mandated Scholarship in Sub-Saharan African Residency Programs
Dr. Melaku
Postgraduate medical training programs increasingly require residents to undertake scholarly activity, yet how mandated scholarship is implemented and evaluated remains undercharacterised. This scoping review maps 42 studies on residency scholarship in sub-Saharan Africa. The review showed that program-design supports (curriculum, mentorship, governance) are widely implemented, while material-condition supports (protected time, funding, infrastructure) remain largely aspirational, and shows that outcome reporting concentrates on dissertation completion and self-reported attitudes.
The Past is Never Dead, It’s Not Even Past: Making Historical Perspectives Matter in HPER
Lucy Vorobej, PhD
William Faulkner’s observation that “the past is never dead, it’s not even past” offers a useful provocation for health professions education research, where present-day questions are often entangled with older institutional arrangements and ways of knowing. In this session, Dr. Lucy Vorobej reflects on her experiences conducting historical research in HPER and considers how historical perspectives can deepen and complicate our understanding of contemporary educational issues. This presentation will focus on historicizing collaborative relationships, emphasizing the need for contextual understanding, and exploring negotiation in historical scholarship.
Register in advance for this meeting: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/1TYxaIEFTzuE9U7D8v3drw
After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.
BEST PRACTICES IN EDUCATION ROUNDS
Program Objective
Best Practices in Education Rounds (BPER): Integrating Stories and Science link the theory and practice of health professions education and faculty development with invited speakers from local, national and international contexts.
Program Description
Best Practices in Education Rounds (BPER) are co-hosted by the Centre for Faculty Development, The Wilson Centre and the Centre for Advancing Collaborative Healthcare & Education (CACHE). We leverage the expertise that exists between our Centres to facilitate a more impactful offering.
BPER provides the opportunity to share innovative and emerging ideas with a wide audience of interested health professional teachers, educators, leaders, and scholars. BPER aims to reach a diverse audience, including patient/client and family partners and a range of professional/health worker backgrounds.
Program Structure
Rounds are held monthly (second Tuesday of each month) throughout the academic year and are offered virtually via Zoom. They are freely accessible for anyone to attend. Please click here to see our upcoming offerings. Registration is required. Recordings of past offerings are saved in our BPER Archive.
BPER Reads is our annual “Battle of the Papers” each February. Invited scholars champion the one paper of the past academic year they feel every health professional educator must read. Voting opens in October and each month the paper with the lowest number of votes is eliminated. At BPER Reads in February, the champions of the final two papers battle it out for the title of ‘best paper’.
For further information or to register please visit https://centreforfacdev.ca/best-practices-in-education-rounds/