March 2022

As the COVID global health crisis reached its second anniversary and finally seemed be subsiding, this should have been a time to reflect and rejoice. However, the world, and in particular Europe, is now facing other tragic and devastating events.  The CCMG stands in support of all of those who did not wish for war, and of our friends and colleagues who are either directly affected by the situation in Ukraine, or whose family members and loved ones are.

As uncertainty about the possible evolution of the COVID pandemic remained a significant concern to the security and safety of our members, again this year the CCMG scientific meeting and the annual general meeting will be taking place virtually. In-person examinations have also been replaced with written exams at local CCMG-accredited training centres to minimize as much as feasible traveling and potential exposure of candidates.

All our members are likely to be very much looking forward to an in-person reunion. This will be possible at the 2023 scientific meeting that will take place in Winnipeg, in collaboration with the Canadian Society of Clinical Chemists as initially planned for 2020. Special celebrations are planned for this much anticipated event. Suggestions on how to highlight this occasion are welcome, and can be directed to Meredith Slack, the CCMG scientific meeting planning manager.

In the meantime, the 2022 scientific meeting, which will take place virtually on June 6-10, 2022, will offer many opportunities to network virtually through an exciting program that will be presented via an interactive event platform. It will also be the occasion to participate to the worldwide celebrations surrounding Gregor Mendel’s birth bicentennial.  Please see https://www.mendel22.cz/conference/  and https://2022.eshg.org/programme-at-a-glance/ for more details on some of these events.

In the fall of 2021, the board of directors met for a full day meeting, to advance a long-term strategic plan aimed at enhancing the college’s educational initiatives. The board of directors also delved deeper into projects that were identified by the membership as priorities for the CCMG.

Several projects have since been put in motion:

Continuing Professional Development Committee – The CCMG is in the process of submitting an application to the Royal College of Physicians & Surgeons to become a CPD accredited provider. Royal College-accredited CPD providers are organizations that have been assessed against a defined set of accreditation standards. Becoming a Royal College of Physicians & Surgeons CPD accredited provider will benefit the CCMG, which will, if accreditation is granted, be able to confer credits under Section 1 (group learning) or Section 3 (self-assessment programs or simulation-based assessment activities) for programs that have been developed or co-developed by physician organizations. To attain this accreditation, the CCMG needed to develop an Education Program organization and standards. This will be attained through the creation and work of the newly formed CPD committee.

The CPD committee will focus for the first year on the application components, and creation of policies, procedures and educational goals. Once the CCMG application is completed and submitted, the committee will expand its membership and turn its efforts towards elaboration of educational offerings and resources that our College could develop for the use our members and the Medical Genetics’ community at large.

Restructuring of the CCMG website – A working group was established to review the CCMG website’s design and content, in collaboration with a professional website designer. Thank you to the working group members Afia Hasnain, Lindsay Brown, David Sinasac, Hilary Vallance, Michelle Siu, Andrea Vaags, Danielle Bourque, Resham Ejaz and Isabelle De Bie who contributed a significant amount of time, leading up to the holidays, to review website content, structure, ease of access, and submit suggestions on design, structure and functions. It is expected that the new CCMG website will be fully tested and released before the 2022 Annual Scientific Meeting.

Partnerships with GECKO, ESHG and CIHR on educational resources. With the long-term aim of becoming a centralized access to Medical Genetics educational resources for Canadian healthcare professionals, the CCMG board of directors reached out to several professional associations hoping to establish partnerships on current and future educational projects. Meetings with these partners have been ongoing since 2021 and several projects are now in progress, with the common goal of providing quality resources & education in Medical Genetics to the healthcare community.

Educational Resources – The CCMG board of directors is considering the possibility to hold a full day retreat to brainstorm with members on the type and format of educational resources that would be best suited to our community. The participation of our younger colleagues and fellows in training would be essential to the success of this event. More information regarding this initiative will be circulated in the next months.

As you can see, the board of directors is keen to increase the accessibility and visibility of the CCMG within the Canadian Healthcare community, and will continue to work towards this goal, starting with a bilingual and user-friendly website.

Stay tuned and consider collaborating to these educational projects, that will benefit both our members and the community we serve.

— Dr. Isabelle De Bie, President, CCMG-CCGM.

The CCMG Annual Meeting is a unique gathering of individuals from academic  and community medical centres who are interested in education and promoting best practices in clinical and laboratory genetics. Through presentations, discussions, educational workshops and networking with industry partners, the meeting advances clinical practice, science and excellence in all areas of genetics in Canada, and fosters an environment of collaboration and education. This year is the birth bicentennial of Gregor Johann Mendel.  As we celebrate his seminal contributions to our field, the 2022 conference will have multidisciplinary symposia that reflect his impact on human genetics.

There are many excellent speakers lined up for this event including our keynote speaker Professor Sharon Plon presenting June 6th on he Rapid Evolution Of Pediatric Cancer Genetics And Genomics.

For full details on our speakers and the program, visit the CCMG-CCGM 46th Annual Scientific Meeting website.

While separated we can come together over the great innovations happening in the field and celebrate upcoming leaders.

Deadline is MARCH 31, 2022

The CCMG is incorporating Mendel into our 2022 Annual Scientific Meeting.

We will keep you updated on any planned events in our community.

Credentials Committee – Libin Yuan
E2P2 Committee – Karla Bretherick
Exam Advisory Committee – Paula Waters , Andrea Vaags, Kristin Kernohan, and Melanie Lacaria
Metabolics Committee – Danielle Bourque
Continuing Professional Development Committee (NEW) –  Jillian Parboosingh, Barbara Morash, Anahita Mohseni Maybodi

The CCMG appreciates the hard work all our committee members do throughout the year. A special thank you to our outgoing committee members!

If you would like to volunteer to join a committee, the next round of volunteer applications will be requested in the autumn of 2022. Please watch for our email notification or keep an eye on the CCMG website.

• Tuesday, May 31^st for the General Exam
• Wednesday, June 1^st for the Written Specialty Exam
• Thursday, June 2^nd for the OSLEs

Where possible, these three examinations will be held at the local CCMG accredited training centres. Further information has been sent to candidates that registered for the 2022 CCMG examinations.

Molecular Pathology Working Group
Under the leadership of Dr. Tracy Tucker and with the support of Dr. Harriet Feilotter and the Ontario Molecular Pathology Research Network (OMPRN), this working group is creating a series of five online training modules to support the development of expertise in molecular pathology for CCMG fellows with an interest in cancer genetics. The development of these modules is well on its way.  The first four modules are designed to provide both didactic and interactive activities in the following four areas:

• Foundations of Cancer Genetics, including histological origins of different tumour types;
• Core Molecular Techniques and their Application in Molecular Pathology;
• Biomarkers in Molecular Pathology;
• Principles of Quality and Lab Management.

The final, fifth module is interactive with a focus on case-based result interpretation and report writing.  The projected completion of these modules is the beginning of 2023.  We are excited to see these modules completed and to share them with interested CCMG members.

Committee Members

• Dr. Tracy Tucker
• Dr. Harriet Feilotter
• Dr. Ken Craddock
• Dr. Tanya Gillan
• Dr. Kyster Nanan, Project Manager, OMPRN
• Dr. Shamini Selvarajah
• Dr. Beth Spriggs
• Dr. Adam Smith

Clinical Laboratory Scientists Working Group
Clinical Laboratory Scientists, including Clinical Laboratory Geneticists, Clinical Biochemists and Clinical Microbiologists, represent a professional group who hold post-doctoral specialty training in their disciplines, are recognized by national credentialing bodies (CCMG, Canadian Society of Clinical Chemists and Canadian College of Microbiologists, respectively) and whose professional responsibilities directly impact patient care.  Despite this, their activities in Canada remain unregulated. Several provincial efforts to advocate for regulation of laboratory scientists as health care professionals are ongoing. A Clinical Laboratory Scientist Working Group has been founded to facilitate and support ongoing provincial applications for health professional regulation. The working group includes representatives from across Canada and from each of the three relevant disciplines.

Joint CCMG-CAGC Commentary to proposed Ontario Bills 225 and 304 (Harvey and Gurvir’s Law).

The Canadian Association of Genetic Counsellors (CAGC) and the Canadian College of Medical Geneticists (CCMG) Boards of Directors have jointly released an organizational commentary to proposed Ontario Bill 225: An Act to amend the Regulated Health Professions Act, 1991 respecting the provision of information respecting Down syndrome by regulated health professionals  and to proposed Ontario Bill 304: An Act to amend the Regulated Health Professions Act, 1991 respecting the provision of information about Down syndrome to expectant parents, regulated health professionals and the public (Harvey and Gurvir’s Law 2020 and 2021, respectively). The first readings of Bill 225 and Bill 304 were carried by the Ontario Legislative Assembly on November 2, 2020 and June 2, 2021, respectively. Please refer to the website of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario for more information about these Bills and the Ontario Legislative Process.

While our understanding is that this specific proposed legislation is not under active consideration by the OLA following conclusion of the previous legislative session in September 2021, its introduction has prompted our organizations to provide our perspective in the event that other similar legislation may be introduced in the future, whether in Ontario or another Canadian jurisdiction.

This commentary was developed by a joint CAGC-CCMG working group and has been endorsed by the CCMG and CAGC Boards of Directors. The commentary can be found here.

The CPS Bioethics Committee has been working on a position statement about guidelines for genetic testing in children. The CCMG reviewed and endorsed the statement, along with our Fetus and Newborn Committee.

The statement, along with a news release, was published on February 16th 2022. CLICK HERE to view the statement.

The revised Ontario Laboratory and Specimen Collection Centre Licensing Act (revised Jan 31, 2022) now recognizes persons who have obtained a doctoral degree and certification through the CCMG, CACB or CCM as being qualified to be a laboratory director. CLICK HERE to read more.