The Emerging Scholar Podcast features host and producer Dr. Jonathan McGavock, a professor of pediatrics and child health at the Max Rady College of Medicine, speaking with a variety of experts in the health sciences research field. The Podcast is produced and supported by UMFM with the help of co-producer Jared McKetiak.

 McGavock, also a researcher with the Children’s Hospital Research Institute of Manitoba, says each episode is a conversation that will take students through the scientific process of generating ideas, testing a clinical hypothesis and sharing the results.  

“The amount of information available to residents getting started in research is enormous and could be super intimidating. We are providing a starting point and map to simplify the process,” said McGavock. 

The first two episodes focus on ‘how to develop a research question’ with episode one featuring a dialogue with pioneering pediatric researcher and professor Dr. Peter Rosenbaum of McMaster University.  Other early episodes give insights into topics like choosing a mentor, an introduction to various types of clinical research designs and incorporating race and anti-racism into a research project. 

McGavock said this podcast will also provide residents with a set of tools and resources they can easily access when they are working on their own (here). Since each episode is only 30 minutes, it allows those with limited time an opportunity to listen while on their commute or during other daily activities. 

“Every episode has a guest scientist in a different domain and should help fast-track the learner’s project. They will benefit from this interplay of discussion and Q & A with an expert, and then they can go right to the resource that they need, so they can do this independently.” 

While the podcast is geared towards residents, McGavock said graduate students and scientists at every level could also benefit from it. 

“Any graduate student launching into a project that involves humans could enjoy and learn from these interviews. There’s a big pool of students wanting to get into clinical research and I think they can use this as an entry level resource and learn what is expected at the highest level.”  

McGavock has three seasons of the podcast mapped out, as that is the typical length for a residency research project, but said he has no plans to stop making new episodes once the three seasons are complete.  

“This podcast has been a dream of mine for years and without the incredible support and production from UMFM station manager Jared McKetiak it would not be possible,” said McGavock. The first of 14 episodes was released in early 2025 and will drop weekly until mid April.  Episodes can be found on all streaming platforms along with the companion website and UMFM website.  

“As a northern remote physician, you wear many different hats – from pediatrician to emergency doctor to psychiatrist because you might be the only doctor in a community. I thought that was exciting,” said Anderson, a graduate of the Max Rady College of Medicine Class of 2024.  

Dr. Emma Anderson

Before the placement in Norway House four years ago, Anderson had no idea that physicians could specialize in working in remote northern communities. Today, she’s in her first month as a resident in the Max Rady College of Medicine department of family medicine’s Northern Remote Stream residency program.  

Over the next two years, Anderson will spend four- to six-week rotations in small First Nations and Inuit communities only accessible by air, and also train at hospitals in Winnipeg. 

Residents in the program are trained in several fields, including family medicine, pediatrics and emergency medicine. Anderson is beginning her residency in obstetrics at Winnipeg’s Health Sciences Centre.  

Residents also have the opportunity to take electives in areas like anesthesiology and addictions.  

“We’re training residents to become future physicians in any sort of set up – whether it’s private practice or a northern fly-in community,” said Dr. Soujanya Chavali, first-year education director of the Northern Remote Stream. “The aim of the program is to get physicians to love, appreciate and practice in northern communities.” 

As well as becoming a versatile physician, Anderson was motivated to enter the program because she wants to learn more about Indigenous health and traditional medicine.  

“I’m Indigenous myself, so there’s always been a draw to work specifically with Indigenous communities more closely and intimately,” said Anderson, who is Métis and grew up in Winnipeg. 

Of the six new Northern Remote Stream residents that started earlier this month, five are Indigenous.  

“It’s so important to have Indigenous physicians living and working in northern communities,” said Dr. Peter Nickerson, vice-provost (health sciences) and dean, Max Rady College of Medicine. “One of our goals as a college is to represent the populations we serve so it’s quite positive that five Indigenous students from the MD Class of 2024 will be training in northern communities over the next two years. I am eager to see the positive impact their passion for health care makes.”  

Dr. Tobi Morakinyo

Like Anderson, Dr. Tobi Morakinyo’s interest in working in northern Manitoba began when she was on a rotation in Norway House during medical school.  

“As a remote resident, in addition to primary care and hospitalist work, you get to practice a lot of emergency medicine,” said Morakinyo, who immigrated to Canada from Nigeria when she was 19 years old. “It’s essentially the perfect fit for me and my goals in terms of what I wanted to do as a physician.”  

Morakinyo, a member of the UM medicine Class of 2024, said she is fortunate that she will have the opportunity to be immersed in Indigenous communities and have the chance to understand the social determinants of health for each community in which she works.  

“A big part of the population in Manitoba is Indigenous and being able to provide competent and culturally safe care is very important to me as a physician, because you want to establish that trust to enable community members to keep coming back to receive care and take control of their health,” said Morakinyo, who is starting her residency at the Northern Connections Medical Centre at Seven Oaks General Hospital in Winnipeg. 

“I’m very excited to be starting this program.”