Northumberland Hills Hospital welcomes medical students for Rural Ontario Medical Program (ROMP) Week 2026
Northumberland Hills Hospital (NHH) is pleased to collaborate with the Rural Ontario Medical Program (ROMP) for their January 2026 ROMP Week!
The ROMP Week program is an elective opportunity that gives first-year medical students a chance to meet and shadow local family physicians, while spending time working in multiple hospital departments over the course of one week. This valuable hands-on clinical experience is also meant to highlight the medical and geographical benefits of practicing medicine in rural communities.
For ROMP’s January 2026 event, NHH was very pleased to welcome four first-year medical students—Ravni Bomra, Morgan McKeown, Sierra Stokes-Heck and Karina Wilk—who are all currently enrolled in the Queen’s-Lakeridge Health MD Family Medicine Program.
The students began their ROMP Week experience on January 12 at Northumberland Hills Hospital with a welcome reception organized by Dr. Fraser Cameron, local family physician and the Ontario Health Team of Northumberland’s Primary Care Network Physician Lead. In addition to support from NHH staff and Dr. Cameron, as their ROMP Medical Education Lead, the students have also been paired with local family physicians--Dr. Kathy Barnard-Thompson, Dr. Marcus Cunningham, Dr. Mohamed Lebbe and Dr. Michelle Long—who are acting as the students’ preceptors for the week.
“I want to thank my colleagues who have generously given of their time to create a very fulsome experience for these students and helping us to showcase our Northumberland hospitality,” says Dr. Fraser Cameron.
“I want to recognize Dr. Cameron, NHH medical and administrative staff and our 2026 preceptors, for taking time from their own busy work weeks to educate and inspire the next generation of family physicians,” says Dr. Pavel (Paul) Ketov, NHH Chief of Staff.
“NHH has been a longtime participant in the ROMP program, and we recognize its positive impact on physician recruitment in rural communities. ROMP not only provides a unique opportunity for medical students to gain hands-on clinical experience very early on in their programs, but it can also foster what may well be lasting connections to our community and the physicians who work here today. Past ROMP Week students have returned to Northumberland and NHH later in their NEWS RELEASE 2 training or professional careers, demonstrating the benefit of ROMP for the students, the hospital and the community at large,” says Susan Walsh, NHH President and CEO.
In addition to their clinical activities, the visiting students have also taken part in several social events during the week-long program, further helping to build their networks and connections to the region.