Black Med Mentorship Launched at University of Ottawa

Attendees and presenters in group photo

Thursday 10 September 2026

Black Med Mentorship Launches at University of Ottawa

by Asantewa Nkuah, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Thursday, September 10 was the official launch of Black Med Mentorship (BMM) at the University of Ottawa. Students, mentors and mentees, healthcare professionals, and members of the community gathered on Lees Campus to celebrate the new initiative. The evening included networking, the sharing of inspiring stories, dinner, and an official unveiling of BMM’s structure and resources.

Without question, black medical students face many challenges and obstacles. Dr. Salomon Fotsing, Principal Administrator of Black Med Mentorship, wanted to develop a program that lessens this burden. Black Med Mentorship offers 1:1 near-peer mentorship to black students before they attend medical school. What makes BMM unique from other mentorship programs is its staircase model. High school graduates are paired with 1st and 2nd year university students, 1st and 2nd year students are paired with students in their upper years of study, and upper year students are paired with medical students. All mentors in the program are trained in good mentorship and social skills so that they can provide the best possible guidance.

Meeting monthly from September to August, a mentor receives the opportunity to also be regularly supported as a mentee. During these meetings, mentors engage with mentees using a toolkit designed to guide their discussions. It is a unique system that reduces intimidation, experience gaps, and seniority between students. “The good and best mentorship for black students is peer mentorship where the gaps are reduced,” Dr. Fotsing shared. BMM is a chance to assess the needs of different pre-med students and ensure that they receive specialized attention.

Dr. Fotsing, who is an Assistant Professor and Clinical Researcher for the Faculty of Medicine, was inspired by his own experiences as a student mentor and panel speaker. Seeing a need for improvement, he collaborated with the Association of Black Aspiring Physicians (ABAP) and Black Med Collective (BMC) to develop an online platform that allowed for personalized pairings between mentor and mentee. Dr. Fotsing and his fellow Administrators Audrey Tatiotsop Kenou, Dr. Patricia Burhunduli, Kadidja Harbi Houssein, and Saredo Bouraleh were assisted by Platform Designers and Developers Prosper Jidjou and Nguini Franck Kevin Owona. Together, they created and launched Black Med Mentorship.

BMM is a response to something that was lacking in the black medical student community, Kadidja explained. “We need more black physicians and black medical students. We need organized mentorship.” In her eyes, BMM is just the beginning of something greater.

Launch night showed everything that Black Med Mentorship has to offer. As Dr. Fotsing said during his opening remarks: “Your dream matters. Your voice matters. Welcome to Black Med Mentorship.” Through BMM, black students will see that medicine is a path open to them and feel a sense of belonging. Speakers were invited to come up and share their stories about the importance of mentorship.

Dr. Awad Ibrahim, Vice-Provost for Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion at University of Ottawa is a full professor and curriculum theorist whose research interests include Hip-Hop and youth and Black popular culture. High school students know him as Dr. Dre. He declared that by “creating a program and being loud about it,” BMM is a continuation of history. Black people have always taken the margins they are relegated to and created cultural expression from it.

Dr. Kay Anne-Haykal, representing the Dean of Faculty of Medicine, expressed full support of BMM as a formalized network that connects black students with role models. Dr. Jude Mary-Cénat, Director of the Interdisciplinary Centre for Black Health and the Vulnerability, Trauma, Resilience and Culture (V-TRaC) Research Laboratory, reminded the audience that representation matters. “Mentorship creates a chain.” It opens doors.

Baudouin Burhunduli, father of two students at uOttawa shared his struggle to support his children in their dreams. He was not a doctor, and he did not have all the answers. He did not know that medicine was something his children could do. Mentorship helped bridge these gaps.

Lastly, Eva Sadiot who is both a mentor and mentee in Black Med Mentorship, shared her story. She moved from Cameroon to Canada in 2012. She had wanted to be a doctor since she was young and often found herself intimidated in networking situations. Mentorship helped her navigate her undergraduate program. She grew confident and comfortable. Now that she has completed her bachelor’s degree, she is currently working on a master’s in biomedical medicine.

These remarkable stories shine a light on the sort of community that BMM is going to build. Dr. Patricia Burhunduli and Audrey Tatiotsop Kenou broke down BMM’s staircase model of progressive mentorship. Having mentors become mentees ensures that the next generation of black medical students will be looked after.

BMM’s first official cohort has 55 mentees and 32 mentors. Registration has now closed, but if you are interested in joining next year’s group, applications will open again on May 15. Visit the BMM website for more information. Congratulations to Dr. Salomon Fotsing and his team for a successful launch. Black Med Mentorship will no doubt accomplish many great things.

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