COSIG Three-Year Report 2020-2023

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T H R E E - Y E A R R E P O R T

Canadian Ophthalmology Student Interest Group

Groupe étudiant canadien d'intérêt en ophtalmologie

ABOUT

Background

TheCanadianOphthalmologyStudentInterest Group(COSIG-GECIO)isanorganizationrunbya collectiveofmedicalstudentswithaninterestin ophthalmologyfromacrossCanada.Sinceits inceptioninAugust2020,thisgrouphas experiencedsubstantialgrowthintermsofscope andimpact.

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Goal

Ourgroup'sgoalistosupportothermedical studentsinterestedinophthalmologybysharing resources,facilitatingconnections,andpromoting studentresearchandadvocacyefforts.

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Vision

COSIGseekstoenhancetheeducationalexperience ofmedicalstudentsinterestedinophthalmologyby providingeducationalresources;facilitating connectionsbetweenmedicalstudents,residents, andeducationalinstitutions;andsupporting studentresearchandadvocacyefforts.

DIRECTORS

Name: Anne Xuan-Lan Nguyen

School: McGill University

Roles: Executive Director | Founder

(COMP | Conference | Finances | GHIG | Outreach | Social Media | VISCO | Website)

Name: Sloane Kowal

School: Queen's University

Roles: Executive Director

(COMP | Communications | Finances | GHIG | Social Media | Website)

Name: Nicole Costanzo

School: Northern Ontario School of Medicine

Roles: Managing Director

TEAM

Name: Amin Hatamnejad

School: McMaster University

Roles: Research Database Team

Name: Anas Abu-Dieh

School: Université Laval

Roles: Newsletter Lead

Name: Andrew Samuel

School: University of Manitoba

Roles: CAM Lead | Conference

Team | VISCO Team

TEAM

Name: Aya Alsefaou

School: University of Toronto

Roles: Fun Fact Fridays

Name: Daiana Pur

School: Western University

Roles: COMP Lead

Name: Dami Adekunle

School: Memorial University

Roles: COMP Lead

TEAM

Name: Danielle Solish

School: Queen's University

Roles: Blog Lead | Conference

Lead | Social Media Lead

Name: Deion D'Souza

School: University of Ottawa

Roles: Blog Lead | Global Health

Team

Name: Diana Danielova

Gueorguieva

School: Université de Montréal

Roles: Finance Lead | Journal Club

Team | Translation Team

TEAM

Name: Dominique Sahl

School: Dalhousie University

Roles: Education Lead | Global Health Team

Name: Emma-Lee Rhyno

School: Dalhousie University

Roles: Website Lead

Name: Jen Park

School: University of Alberta

Roles: Multi-Specialty Education

Lead

TEAM

Name: Lucy Yang

School: University of Calgary

Roles: Research Database Lead

Name: Maggie Hou

School: University of British Columbia

Roles: Multi-Specialty Education

Lead | Website Team

Name: Mehrshad Hanafimosalman

School: McGill University

Roles: COMP Team | VISCO Lead

TEAM

Name: Mohamed Gemae

School: Queen's University

Role: Global Health Team

Name: Ninglu Weng

School: University of Manitoba

Roles: Social Media Lead

Name: Shayyan Wasim

School: University of Saskatchewan

Roles: Newsletter Team | Bricks Team

TEAM

Name: Misty (Stuti) Tanya

School: McGill University

Roles: CCOR Director of Education and External Affairs (2022-2023)

Name: Cody Lo

School: University of Ottawa

Roles: CCOR Director of Education and External Affairs (2021-2022) |

Fellowship Liaison (2022-2023)

Name: Michael Nguyen

School: University of Toronto

Roles: CCOR-President (2021-2022) |

CCOR-Vice President (2020-2021)

LETTER FROM THE FOUNDER

"Envisioning, creating, and leading COSIG was an incredibly rewarding experience. It was a pleasure to work with a dedicated team of trainees and ophthalmology residents united by the same passion for medical education. When I first reached out to trainee-leads of local ophthalmology student interest groups across the country, I would have never imagined the initiatives and relationships built through COSIG during the past three years.

Early on, we discussed common challenges in accessing educational and mentorship opportunities, especially in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic and its associated restrictions. Driven by a desire to develop solutions to these barriers, we assessed the needs of medical students with regards to ophthalmology exposure and then established working groups to bring our student-led projects to fruition.

We were fortunate to receive the unwavering support of the Council of Canadian Ophthalmology Residents (CCOR). With the advice of ophthalmology mentors, we launched a mentorship program (COMP), a virtual introductory course (VISCO), research conferences (CAM), a blog, as well as social media and web platforms centralizing ophthalmology-related events, wellness resources, and CaRMS information.

Together, we advocated for and delivered programming improving accessibility to resources, guidance, and knowledge in ophthalmology. With the core values of “agile, virtual, and collaborative”, COSIG is now a community of medical students, residents, and ophthalmologists striving to enhance the experience of trainees in their exploration of ophthalmology as a profession.

By sharing our model nationwide, COSIG precedes the creation of other similar specialty student interest groups in Canada, such as the Canadian Medical Student Interest Group in Neurosurgery (launched in September 2020), the Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery Interest Group of Canada (October 2020), the Canadian Orthopaedic Surgery Interest Network (October 2020), the Canadian Dermatology Interest Group (February 2022), the Canadian Urology Interest Group (July 2022), and more.

In upcoming years, COSIG aims to continue offering accessible programming to medical students in Canada and beyond, partnering with national ophthalmology organizations, and leading initiatives increasing the diversity of underrepresented populations in ophthalmology."

— Anne Xuan-Lan Nguyen, MD

LETTER FROM THE RESIDENT ADVISOR

"I've had the pleasure of being involved with COSIG since its inception in 2020. Having experience ranging from being a medical student trying to navigate the CaRMS process prior to COSIG and now as a Resident with leadership roles within my own residency program at uOttawa and at the national level, I cannot understate the impact COSIG has had on my own professional development and on the Canadian ophthalmology community at large.

I am personally aware of the challenges faced by trainees trying to learn more about ophthalmology as a career path. In comparison to similar student-led organizations in other specialties, I believe COSIG offers a very comprehensive range of events including multiple avenues for students to obtain mentorship from residents across the country and sessions on the clinical aspect of ophthalmology.

At uOttawa, we are always trying to showcase the strength of our training program to prospective applicants. COSIG has facilitated a paradigm shift in how we interact with medical students. COSIG helps us immensely promote our Department's open house events and conferences such as the Sally Letson Symposium. Myself and many of my coresidents have spoken at a COSIG event.

Having acted as a Resident Advisor to COSIG through my involvement with the CCOR, I have been impressed with the level of initiative and professionalism exhibited by COSIG's leadership team. I believe the team's dedication to COSIG's initiatives goes beyond the personal benefit such exposure provides and involves a genuine interest in improving the accessibility of opportunities within ophthalmology.

It has been an absolute pleasure to be involved with this organization and wholeheartedly support its mission. I believe COSIG's achievements in medical education within Canadian ophthalmology should be celebrated and demonstrate how fortunate this profession is to attract such dedicated and hard-working medical students. I hope we can continue to support COSIG over the coming years."

Cody Lo, MD

LETTER FROM THE RESIDENT ADVISOR

My involvement with COSIG began as a student representative in early 2020 and later grew into the role of COMP Lead. Now, I embody the role of Resident Advisor within my role as CCOR Director of Education and External Affairs. It is truly a privilege to collaborate with our inspiring team to increase access to ophthalmology in Canadian undergraduate medical education.

COSIG has been a boon to medical students interested in learning more about ophthalmology: whether it be virtual mentorship, annual conferences with research presentations, or summer introductory courses in ophthalmology, COSIG has something to offer for everyone. The highly enthusiastic, curious, and capable medical student leaders bring even the most ambitious ideas to life.

We envision the next steps in our work together will focus on increasing the sustainability of COSIG as a student-run organization in addition to improving the accessibility and breadth of offerings to medical students across the country.

CCOR is proud of the trailblazing work that COSIG has contributed to date. We look forward to our continued collaboration in the medical education, mentorship, and EDI spaces. "

— Stuti (Misty) Tanya, MD

STUDENT REPRESENTATIVES 2023-24

University of British Columbia ............................................................. Maggie Hou

University of Alberta .............................................................................................. Jen Park

University of Calgary .......................................................................................... Lucy Yang

University of Saskatchewan ......................................................... Shayyan Wasim

University of Manitoba ............................................................................. Ninglu Weng

Western University ........................................................................................... Daiana Pur

McMaster University .................................................................... Amin Hatamnejad

Northern Ontario School of Medicine University ...... Nicole Costanzo

Queen's U................. Sloane Kowal, Danielle Solish & Mohamed Gemae

University of Toronto................................................................................... Aya Alsefaou

University of Ottawa ............................................................................... Deion D'Souza

McGill University .............. Mehrshad Hanafimosalman & Julia Rybkina

Université de Montréal ................................... Diana Danielova Gueorguieva

Université de Sherbrooke................................................................ Now Recruiting

Université Laval ......................................................................................... Anas Abu-Dieh

Dalhousie University ....................... Dominique Salh & Emma-Lee Rhyno

Memorial University of New Brunswick............................... Dami Adekunle

ALUMNI

Abdullah Al-Ani

Alexandru Panaitescu

Antoine Etcheverry

Dominique Geoffrion

Rishi Gupta

Tyler Henri

Jordan Huang

Emre Islam

Mohammad Khan

Ekaksh Khurana

Cody Lo

Clara Long

Taylor McGaughey

Eisi Mollanji

Anne Xuan-Lan Nguyen

Charles Paco

Michael Penny

Kristen Piché, Misty (Stuti) Tanya

Cameron Robb Mackay

Alana Sorgini

Andrew Samuel

Amirthan Sothivannan

Bryan Wong

Laura Wu

STATISTICS

1,695 followers across our three main social media accounts

130+ students participate in our mentorship program yearly

445 registrations for VISCO 2022

CANADIAN OPHTHALMOLOGY MENTORSHIP PROGRAM

Each year, COSIG, in partnership with the CCOR, runs the Canadian Ophthalmology Mentorship Program (COMP). COMP is a program that is centred around a national mentorship network of Canadian medical students and their resident mentors.

Our matches are tailored to language preferences, schools of interest, and additional interests such as advocacy and research. In our first year, we had over 150 students and 30+ mentors, with similar numbers in the second year.

The program received positive feedback with many stating that COMP supported them in learning about programs, developing relationships, starting research projects, and more. This is most underscored by the number of PGY-1s who join the program as mentors due to the impact this program has had on them.

COMP also offers a mentorship lecture series on different aspects of being an ophthalmologist, such as academic vs. community practice, academic leadership, advocacy, and more.

Faculty guidance is provided by Dr. Radha Kohly, a medical retina specialist and Vice Chair of Faculty Development, Diversity and Equity, and Global Health in the Department of Ophthalmology and Vision Sciences at the University of Toronto.

COMP 2021-2

2021 was the first year COMP ran, and the program was successful, with 135 mentees and 45 mentors participating. To set expectations a mentorship guide was created with information on the program.

Additionally, a six-event speaker series on various topics such as Inclusion, Diversity, Equity & Access (IDEA) in ophthalmology, training and a career in ophthalmology, ophthalmology residency programs across Canada, mindfulness, academic leadership, and community ophthalmology was run. Faculty guidance was provided by Dr. Radha Kohly.

One highlight of the speaker series was a three-day resident panel series where ophthalmology residents, representing every Canadian residency program, shared their journey to ophthalmology, unique aspects of their residency program, and tips for future applicants.

A quality improvement survey was completed by participants, which showed that 89% of mentees would recommend COMP to other medical students. The majority were satisfied with the COMP sign-up process, the mentorship guide, group size, and the mentorship speaker series.

COMP 2022-3

This year 115 Canadian mentees were paired with 30 resident mentors from schools across Canada. Matches were made using a Python-based algorithm to ensure optimal matching based on students' language of use, schools of interest, and interests. There was also an effort put in to minimize overlap per year; this was done to support inter-year mentorship, networking, and reduce any perceived competition.

Events were based on topics that students requested learning more about, which resident panels highlighting tips when applying to ophthalmology residency programs, the pros and cons of parallel planning, and advice when scheduling and doing visiting electives.

Feedback from mentees and mentors has thus far been very positive.

Tanya SM, Nguyen AX, Pur DR, Nguyen M, Kherani F, Costello F, Kohly R Bridging gaps in access to ophthalmology mentorship with the Virtual Canadian Ophthalmology Mentorship Program Eye 2022;36(9):1848-1849 doi:101038/s41433-021-01899-y

COMP FUTURE PERSPECTIVES

Moving forward the COMP team hopes to expand how we as a group define mentorship. In particular, we envision interactive networks where learners of all years can ask questions, network, and learn together.

Furthermore, with in-person opportunities becoming more accessible, we believe there could be added value from small group gatherings - allowing for a more casual mentorship experience.

We also hope to offer more opportunities to international graduates. As the international medical graduate (IMG) experience is greatly different in terms of education and matching, we hope to create a program that is supportive of those applicants.

As well, following the recent publication of COMP's impact, we hope to continue to collect data on and publish pieces that showcase the importance of mentorship in ophthalmology, and find areas to improve our practices.

COSIG ANNUAL MEETING

The COSIG Annual Meeting (CAM) is a national ophthalmology conference organized by, and for, medical students. The format of the conference allows us to facilitate education, networking, and mentorship in ophthalmology. In addition, CAM provides a space for medical students to share their research projects and actively engage in keynotes, workshops, and resident-led mentorship sessions.

CAM is highly accessible through its free registration, engaging opportunities, and ultimately an equitably accessible event to students on a national level.

Another objective of CAM was to ensure collaboration with Canadian medical schools across Canada to encourage attendance and enhance the national community. Such an objective was achieved as the conference planning committee was comprised of 15 medical students and two resident advisors from a total of 14 Canadian medical schools. Moving forward we plan to maintain representation from these medical schools and ensure attendance from all schools.

CAM 2022

The first CAM, in May 2021, focused on the topic of global health. With over 120 participants, ten residents and two keynote speakers, the event was deemed an educational and valuable experience.

Keynote speakers included Dr. Hélène Boisjoly, an ophthalmologist with formal training in cornea and global health, and Dr. Jennifer W. Rahman (the President of Eye Physicians and Surgeons of Manitoba), who spent time working with Orbis on the flying eye hospital and with the Canadian and the International Blind Sports' Associations and the International Paralympic Committee (IPC).

The event also had a trivia collaboration with MEDSKL - an educational program focused on various topics and a speed mentoring session. This session allowed students in small groups to meet with a resident for 15 minutes, ask questions, and learn more about their daily lives.

The event also had a sponsor/exhibit hall and 21 presentations by students involved in ophthalmology research.

CAM 2022

CAM 2022 offered 145 registrants the opportunity to engage with keynotes, mentorship opportunities (through 11

resident-led breakout rooms), a wellness and mindfulness session (through the mid-day seminar), and networking opportunities throughout the conference. 22 students presented posters on their ophthalmology research to a national audience, with 11 students contributing additional video presentations. Three students were awarded research prizes for their exceptional contribution to ophthalmology research as per a research evaluation committee made up of organizers and residents.

The keynote sessions involved topics of innovation in retina as a subspeciality within ophthalmology (by Dr. Cynthia Qian) and a motivational talk on an ophthalmologist's journey to ophthalmology titled “How you got here and where you are going” (by Dr. Guillermo Rocha). Likewise, the wellness seminar (by Dr. Agnes Wong) was an interactive session that was well received based on post-conference survey results. Students appreciated Dr. Wong’s breakdown of wellness strategies and practicality towards the trainee journey.

As well, resident-led mentorship included discussions surrounding the life of a resident, the application process, how to get involved in research, tips for medical students, and open Q&A. It was noted by many delegates that the increase in time from 15 minute breakout rooms (CAM 2021) to 20 minutes (CAM 2022) allowed for more time to engage in conversation and gain advice.

Overall, CAM 2022 was a success due to its financial and multimodal accessibility, and the variety of opportunities offered to students on a nationally.

CAM 2022

Audience Representation by University

Audience Representation by Cohort

CAM FUTURE PERSPECTIVES

A major learning point from CAM 2022 is that the timely and extensive effort required to plan such an event is well worth it. Through this event, students were able to network and secure collaborative opportunities as a direct consequence of maintaining communication with a resident following the mentorship small-group breakout rooms. Further, feedback from post-conference surveys demonstrates that students find great value in such events as they allow for opportunities they would otherwise not be able to experience in the magnitude provided through having equitable access virtually.

Moving forward, we will be collaborating with the Canadian Ophthalmological Society (COS) at their annual meeting. This collaboration will allow students further opportunities to interact with ophthalmologists and resident mentors.

To ensure accessibility, we want to continue to have a virtual component of the AGM.

CAM SPONSORS

MEDICAL STUDENT SYMPOSIUM

This year COSIG with CCOR held the first medical student symposium at the COS annual meeting. The purpose of which to engage and invite students to actively partake in the annual meeting - while advancing their knowledge, skills, and community.

The medical student symposium achieved a significant milestone, being fully booked and even having a waitlist.

Overall it gained great participation and feedback from students.

MEDICAL STUDENT SYMPOSIUM 2023

KEYNOTE SPEAKERS

The first part of the Medical Student Symposium was composed of a keynote speakor session by Dr. Agnes Wong, who has previously spoke at COSIG events. The topic of the keynote presentation was “Lessons you might not learn on your path to becoming a doctor”. In the session, Dr. Wong spoke about her journey in becoming a physician-chaplain, and how medical learners can lead a healthy, and compassionate life. The session covered topics such as the difference between empathy and compassion, and what is meant by “compassion fatigue”.

WORKSHOPS

The second part of the symposium consisted of a rotation of five 12-minute hands-on workshops. Students were divided into groups of 8-10, and assigned a starting workshop. Each workshop was led by 1-2 Canadian ophthalmology residents. Workshops were led by Canadian ophthalmology residents (PGY1-PGY5). The overall objective of the workshop stations was to learn basic ophthalmology clinical skills that are not otherwise taught throughout medical school. The five workshops consisted of: an approach to glaucoma (including tonopen demonstration), basics of neuro-ophthalmology (including practice with pupillary light response and use of an exophthalmometer), an approach to lenses (with indirect ophthalmoscopy demonstration), and finally handson practice completing intravitreal injections using simulation eyemodels.

MEDICAL STUDENT SYMPOSIUM

SMALL GROUP MENTORING

The final part of the symposium consisted of resident small-group mentoring. PGY1-PGY5 Canadian ophthalmology residents rotated through the medical student groups for approximately 10-minute mentoring sessions. The overall objective of the small-group mentoring was to allow medical students to have open and transparent conversations with many residents, of whom all took unique journeys to the field of ophthalmology. The sessions encouraged the residents to speak about their experiences in residency and journeys to the specialty. Students had the opportunity to lead the discussion and ask the residents any specific questions that they had.

The COS Foundation took a significant step forward by introducing the inaugural "COS Foundation Medical Student Grant." This grant was specifically designed to alleviate the financial burden of the early-bird conference registration fee. Open to ten medical students, the grant application process underwent careful evaluation by a prestigious committee composed of COS Foundation ophthalmologists and CCOR resident physicians.

The selection process considered both the applicants' financial needs and their scholarly achievements, ensuring a fair and comprehensive assessment. In addition to the grant, the fortunate recipients were honoured with a certification of receipt during the day of the medical student symposium at the COS Annual Meeting.

VIRTUAL INTRODUCTORY SUMMER COURSE IN OPHTHALMOLOGY

The Virtual Introductory Summer Course in Ophthalmology (VISCO) is an annual free virtual ophthalmology course collaboratively run by COSIG and the Council of Canadian Ophthalmology Residents.

VISCO aims to increase accessibility to ophthalmology knowledge, utilizing a flipped classroom framework. Each year VISCO has been hosted by faculty of COSIG's resident advisor's home school. Each VISCO series contained at least six lectures, with topics including OCT, retina, cataracts, and many more! Topics were selected on what students should know and what may help them for a future career in ophthalmology.

Engagement with VISCO content during and after each session has continued to be high, with students reporting the immense value they have gotten from focused, low stress lectures.

VISCO 2021

The Virtual Introductory Summer Course in Ophthalmology (VISCO) was run by COSIG and Council of Canadian Ophthalmology Residents for the first time in 2021, and hosted out of the University of Toronto. Each week featured a guest ophthalmologist who had a background in the topic.

Throughout the duration of the course, we had over 350 attendees with majority being Canadian MD students, as well as some international students and physicians.

Topics included approaches to eye complaints, optical coherence tomography (OCT), retina, cataracts, and many more!

Saturday June 5 2021

Saturday June 12 2021

Saturday June 19 2021

Saturday July 10 2021

Saturday July 17 2021

Saturday July 24 2021

Sunday July 25 2021

Introduction and Approach to the Patient with an Eye Complaint

Dr. Michael Nguyen

Pediatric Ophthalmology and Optics

Dr. Michael Wan

Cataract and Glaucoma

Dr. Dima Kaiache

Introduction to NeuroOphthalmology Part I

Dr. Jonathan Micieli

Basic OCT Workshop Part I

Dr. Jason Kwok

Eye Emergencies Review Part I

Dr. Seema Emami

How to Match to a Competitive Specialty Canadian Resident Panel

Orbital Anatomy and Oculoplastics

Dr. Imran Jivraj

Cornea and Refractive Surgery

Dr. Tanya Trinh

Retina and Uveitis

Dr. Parnian Arjmand

Introduction to Neuro-Ophthalmology Part II

Dr. Jonathan Micieli

Basic OCT Workshop Part II

Dr. Jason Kwok

Eye Emergencies Review Part II

Dr. Seema Emami

How to Match to a Competitive Specialty Canadian Resident Panel

VISCO 2022

VISCO 2022 was hosted out of the University of Ottawa. Similar to the year prior, each week featured a guest ophthalmologist who had a background in the topic. VISCO participants were given pre and post-lecture quizzes to test their knowledge on the topics of each lecture.

VISCO 2022 had 440 attendees, a 26% increase from 2021, with 85 of the attendees being residents. Attendees were asked to score VISCO 2022 on a variety of factors and answer pre-course knowledge based questions.

After the course knowledge based questions were repeated with additional questions measuring confidence and self-perception.

Overall quiz scores increased for all sessions in the post quiz compared to the pre. As well, attendees rated sessions an overall score of 4.6 - 4.9 / 5.

VISCO FUTURE PERSPECTIVES

The VISCO team is working hard to ensure that all content is available online through interactive modules on Bricks by Scholar Rx and recordings.

Moving forward the team will be reinventing VISCO to offer new and interesting learning opportunities for students.

VISCO PARTNERS

CARMS POST-MATCH TALK

The Post CaRMS Match is a yearly COSIG event attended by over 100 students. This event is an opportunity for newly matched residents to share their experiences applying to CaRMS, preparing for "The Match" and how they like their program thus far.

At this event, students have the opportunity to learn from recently matched students in panel and breakout room settings. Students can participate by asking questions verbally, in the chat, or through anonymous messages. Every year, students report this event as being insightful and a good opportunity to learn from and network with near-peers.

Nguyen AX-L, Pur D-R, Lo C, Gottlieb C, Hardy I. Experiences from a national webinar with recently matched Canadian ophthalmology residents for medical students. Canadian Journal of Ophthalmology. 2022;57(4). doi:10.1016/j.jcjo.2021.10.004

CARMS POST-MATCH TALK

2021

In 2021 there were 165 registrants and 112 unique attendees. After the event, 13.5% of attendees who complete the survey said they were much more interested in applying to ophthalmology and 35.1% stated that they were slightly more interested. Attendees also stated being less stressed after the talk, with the pre-event average stress score being: 3.24 and decreasing to: 2.78 post-event.

2022

This year the Post-Match event featured six residents and over 100 medical student participants. Questions focused on CV preparation, online interviews, and what each program was like due to lack of visiting electives.

2023

Our most recent Post-Match event featured 12 incoming ophthalmology residents and over 150 attendees. The session was split up into rotating small group rooms and large group discussion. Students commented on enjoying the more intimet setting to meet incoming residents and ask their burning questions.

UPCOMING PROJECTS

BEHIND THE SLIT LAMP

Moving forward COSIG is starting an initiative called Behind the Slit Lamp (BTSL). This initiative seeks to centre the voices on people in ophthalmology from equity-deserving groups and/or those doing work to support equity-deserving groups through ophthalmology. Recruitment is currently ongoing as we interview volunteers about their experiences, lessons learnt, and goals for the future.

INTERPROFESSIONAL EVENTS

As many national interest groups have formed since COSIG's founding we seek to innovate through collaboration. Currently, event planning is underway to create collaborative events to showcase different routes to similar careers and how these specialties work together in the workplace.

UPCOMING PROJECTS

RESEARCH DATABASE

COSIG is in the process of developing a research database that will provide students with information on projects, grants, labs, and fellowships that may be available for those with an interest in ophthalmology. Currently, the team is sending out surveys to medical school ophthalmology residents and programs to collect opportunities to present on the website. As well, a webpage is being developed that can be easily updated as opportunities arise and are filled over time. The project will hopefully be launched on the COSIG website in Fall 2023.

JOURNAL CLUB

With a goal to increase exposure to research, research literacy,, and the opportunity to engage with science and medical education related to vision health. COSIG is establishing an Ophthalmology Journal Club. This journal club will allow student to engage with the literature with their peers and authors of articles. Students can take turns being leads, bringing forward article and hosting informative discussions.

Themes such as medical education, global health and ophthalmology, innovation as well as EDI will be explored. The project will launch this August 2023.

COSIG NEWSLETTER

The COSIG Newsletter is a monthly update for Canadian medical students and interested parties, providing information on COSIG initiatives, resources, and changes. The bilingual newsletter also allows for student contributions, such as sharing ophthalmology opportunities. Currently, we have over 450 subscribers. The newsletter team plans to showcase more student work in the future through blog articles and reflective pieces

Moving forward the newsletter team is hoping to feature more student work through blog articles or reflective pieces.

SPONSORS

Our work is made possible by the grant funding ($10,000+) from the following organizations, which goes towards our online platforms, the material costs of our conferences, educational materials, and honorariums for our speakers. We are grateful for their continued support and confidence in our mission.

SOCIAL MEDIA

One of COSIG's most important outreach profiles is our social media platforms. Over the past few years our prescence has grown greatly - reaching learners all across Canada and beyond!

Our social media is mostly viewed by those from Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa and Edmonton but has significant viewers in the USA, Saudia Arabia, India, and Brazil.

WEBSITE

COSIG takes pride in providing a digital hub where all our events, opportunities, and crucial notices are centralized, ensuring effortless accessibility.

Our website provides a comprehensive overview of all the services that COSIG has to offer, including access to our blog, mentorship program, national interest group directories, research database and our frequently updated events calendar.

We are pleased to have the ability to offer versions of our site in both French and English!

The website team continually works to keep everything up to date to ensure our audience is receiving accurate information at all times

BLOG

We provide unofficial summaries for CaRMS events and conferences across the country, accessible to everyone on our website

STUDENT RESOURCES

Our website curates resources and FAQs, which can be useful for all medical students of different years in their ophthalmology journey

COLLABORATIONS

Orbis Canada

COSIG has successfully collaborated with Orbis Canada to fundraise money to restore vision in Rohingya refugees living in Cox’s Bazar (Bangladesh). Since they have been screened and diagnosed, these individuals have been desperately waiting for their cataract surgery during the pandemic, which has caused a significant backlog of 2000 patients.

COSIG has helped Orbis Canada raise $5,000 among the NGO’s goal of $25,000 in order to contribute to providing $2,000 sight-saving cataract surgeries.

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Canadian National Institute of the Blind

The collaboration between the CNIB and COSIG is still in its early stages. A COSIG representative has begun meeting with CNIB staff to discuss potential fundraising opportunities, and a follow-up meeting will tentatively take place in mid-late fall 2023.

PUBLICATIONS

To date, COSIG has published two peer-reviewed publications as collaborative team efforts based on the response received from endeavours such as COMP and our annual post-CaRMS match webinar.

Tanya, S. M., Nguyen, A. X., Pur, D. R., Nguyen, M., Kherani, F., Costello, F., & Kohly, R. (2022). Bridging gaps in access to ophthalmology mentorship with the virtual Canadian Ophthalmology Mentorship Program. Eye, 36(9), 1848-1849.

Nguyen, A. X. L., Pur, D. R., Lo, C., Gottlieb, C., & Hardy, I. (2022). Experiences from a national webinar with recently matched Canadian ophthalmology residents for medical students. Canadian Journal of Ophthalmology, 57(4), e131-e133.

COSIG-GECIO 2020–23

Report created by Sloane Kowal, Anne Xuan-Lan Nguyen, Nicole Costanzo, Maggie Hou, and Ninglu Weng.

Excerpts from Sloane Kowal, Anne Xuan-Lan Nguyen, Andrew Samuel, and Daiana Pur, Lucy Yang.

Report reviewed by all active COSIG members.