[img_inline align=”right” src=”http://padnws01.mcmaster.ca/images/waterloo_open_house1.jpg” caption=”From left: David Johnston, president of the University of Waterloo; Gerry Thompson, former vice-president, University of Waterloo; John Kelton, dean and vice-president, Faculty of Health Sciences, McMaster University; Susan Denburg, associate vice-president, academic, and associate dean, education, Faculty of Health Sciences, McMaster University; John Milloy, MPP and Minister of Training, Colleges and Universities; Wanda Richardson, University of Waterloo; Karl Stobbe, regional assistant dean, Niagara Campus, Michael G. DeGroote School of Medicine; Roberta Shaw, administrator, Faculty of Health Sciences; Alan Neville, assistant dean, Michael G. DeGroote School of Medicine and Cathy Morris, regional assistant dean, Niagara Regional Campus, Michael G. DeGroote School of Medicine.”]The first home for the Waterloo Regional Campus of the Michael G. DeGroote School of Medicine was celebrated with an open house last week to show off its space in an office tower at 50 Queen Street North, Kitchener.

“Institutions plant their roots deeply in a community,” said John Milloy, MPP for Kitchener Centre and the Ontario Minister for Training, Colleges and Universities. “I'm proud of the success the province is having increasing medical school enrolments while putting an emphasis on innovations like McMaster which has students out in the community learning first hand.”

The school includes meeting rooms, tutorial rooms, offices, as well as a clinical learning room and a student lounge. Visitors at the open house had the demonstration of new technology, with a short lesson on anatomy from professor Bruce Wainman, speaking from a Hamilton classroom. The technology allows professors and student groups in Waterloo and the school's main campus in Hamilton to see and hear each other in open discussions.

The first 15 students of the medical school began classes in September at the Hamilton campus, moving into the new school in Kitchener in mid-December. They will have practically all the rest of their training in Kitchener, with their clinical learning at the hospitals and health care facilities in the regions of Waterloo and Wellington.

The school is expected to move to a new building on the Downtown Kitchener Health Sciences Campus of the University of Waterloo after construction is finished in about two years.

“This is our starter home,” said Dr. John Kelton, dean and vice-president of the Faculty of Health Sciences at McMaster University. “Our partnership with the University of Waterloo to set up both this temporary residence and our permanent home is a good example of top quality collaboration to provide the best for the community.”

Dr. Cathy Morris, regional assistant dean for the Waterloo regional campus, said the realities of the need for training of physicians in community centres, and the population and vision of the Waterloo region and the city of Kitchener allowed the school to become a reality.