Addressing a shortage of primary-care providers in the Province of Nova Scotia in Canada, LAU has signed a five-year Memorandum of Understanding with the province to annually sponsor two medical graduates’ residencies, their licensing exams, immigration and relocation costs, in exchange for their relocation to practice in Nova Scotia for a minimum of three years.

Describing the agreement as a step toward “building a healthcare workforce with intent,” Dean of the LAU Gilbert and Rose-Marie Chagoury School of Medicine Sola Aoun Bahous hailed the partnership as an innovative approach to addressing the universal challenge of the shortage of primary-care physicians, and “a model for the mutual benefit and shared responsibility of supporting workforce migration in a structured, ethical and responsive way.”

The pilot program will see 10 ready-to-practice family physicians from LAU move to the Canadian province over the next five years. The government has already supported two physicians from the American University of Beirut (AUB), who have now relocated to Nova Scotia, with two more set to arrive in the near future.

Honorary Consul of Lebanon in Halifax Wadih Fares, who contributed to brokering the agreement, said that the initiative is “a testament to what can be achieved when governments, institutions and communities come together with purpose.” This will not only address urgent healthcare needs, but also help build a more inclusive, resilient and compassionate Nova Scotia, he added.

Echoing this thought, Executive Vice Dean of the Faculty of Medicine at AUB Kamal Badr, who is also the founding dean of the LAU school of medicine, noted how “when a government and an institution unite with a shared vision, they transform ambition into lasting impact. The common good becomes the common goal.”

The partnership between the province and the two universities is rooted in a 2023 recruitment mission to Lebanon. These meetings came to fruition thanks to a streamlined licensure process for Lebanese physicians, executed by the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Nova Scotia.

For Registrar and CEO of the College and Physicians of Nova Scotia Gus Grant, the partnership recognizes “the excellence of family medicine training at LAU, while reflecting the strength of the Lebanese-Nova Scotian community and the willingness of the provincial government to invest in innovative solutions to address our access to care challenge.”

Ultimately, as Dean Bahous put it, the partnership is an expression of LAU’s school of medicine’s mission “to train outstanding physicians who are not only clinically excellent but globally aware and socially accountable. We are very proud to contribute to Nova Scotia’s healthcare system, while building our graduates’ meaningful path to grow, serve and lead.”