UBC Medicine magazine, fall 2010 by UBC Faculty of Medicine

learning 10 Peer-to-peer in BC’s emergency

UBC

departments

app 26 iPhone Clinical guidelines on the go

alumni news 34 Medical 60th anniversary reflections

MEDICINE V O L 6 | N O 2 F A L L 2 0 1 0 T H E M A G A Z I N E O F T H E U B C F A C U LT Y O F M E D I C I N E

CULTIVATING a culture of excellence — for better health NURTURING INNOVATION DISCOVERING NEW THERAPIES

ADVOCATING FOR CHANGE DEMONSTRA

BLY CARING

FA C U LT Y O F M E D I C I N E

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C U LT I VAT I N G A C U LT U R E O F E X C E L L E N C E — F O R B E T T E R H E A LT H

message from the vice provost health and dean

focus on: excellence in action The Faculty of Medicine’s continuous drive to improve health care, as embodied by four of its members

Beyond scapegoating: learning from adverse events

BC’s emergency departments learn to learn from each other

Investigations & Breakthroughs

Wheeling into the future

Enhancing excellence: new arrivals to the Faculty of Medicine

Exploring a new theory about MS

A student becomes party to a patent

Carrying on a physician’s good work

Charlotte Thomson: 1937 – 2007

First scholarship created for Southern Medical Program

Luring a promising researcher home

Making a mark: awards and honours

Yet another use for the iPhone — treating patients

medical alumni news

A publication of the University of British Columbia’s Faculty of Medicine, providing news and information for and about faculty members, students, staff, alumni and friends. Letters and suggestions are welcome. Contact Brian Kladko at brian.kladko@ubc.ca Director, Communications + Marketing Linda Bartz Communications Managers Brian Kladko Alison Liversage Communications Assistant + Events Co-ordinator Elizabeth Kukely Secretary, Communications Lorena Jara Diaz Contributors Anne Campbell Laura Laverdure Brian Lin Kyle Harland Laura Ralph Daniel Presnell Beverly Tamboline Design Signals Design Group Inc. www.signals.ca Photography Martin Dee Andy Fang Cornelia Naylor Kyle Harland Brian Kladko Evangelos Photography Ltd. Online at http://www.med.ubc.ca/ media/med_mag.htm

DEAN’S GREETING

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MESSAGE FROM THE VICE PROVOST HEALTH AND DEAN Academic health aspires to excellence in each of its key mandates of research, education, and service. This issue of UBC Medicine profiles exemplars of excellence across all three of these domains. A key aspect of the stories that you will read is not just the creation of knowledge, but also its translation into action. In the September 30, 1950 issue of the British Medical Journal, Professors Richard Dahl and Bradford Hill reported on the scientifically observed linkage of smoking with standardized death rates due to lung cancer. This seminal paper identified the correlation between the increased consumption of tobacco and the increased number of deaths attributed to cancer of the lung. However, it is only now, six decades later, that we see evidence of the impact of this knowledge on both public policy (with municipal by-laws, and provincial and federal campaigns) and social expectations, which are combining to reduce tobacco consumption. Indeed, the use of tobacco products remains a significant issue in 2010, particularly in specific demographic strata of our population, such as young women. The unmistakable but belated decline in tobacco use demonstrates that the creation of knowledge alone is not sufficient to make an impact on the health of the population that we serve. There are numerous other examples. We have seen over the years ample scientific evidence that mandatory vehicle seat belts and bicycle helmets save lives, and then we saw what it took for evidence to become policy. Today genetic testing is becoming more widespread and financially accessible for many people.

Yet the societal consequences of that knowledge are just beginning to be examined from the points of view of health and privacy. I am impressed with the work of our colleagues reflected in this issue: how new knowledge has been generated, how this knowledge has been disseminated and how a measurable impact on health can be reflected in much of their work. These stories serve as a reminder to all of us working in the domain of academic health that we have a responsibility in all three areas of research, education and service to generate new knowledge and then to ensure that its potential is understood and can be ultimately linked to health outcomes. There is much emphasis in the medical literature on “clinically relevant” outcomes and other patient-reported outcomes. Much of this is a tangible reflection of the expectations that knowledge alone is not sufficient, and that an impact on health is expected. I hope you will be inspired by reading these profiles, which demonstrate that our faculty, staff and students are working directly to improve the health of our population in a meaningful way.

Gavin C.E. Stuart, MD, FRCSC Vice Provost Health, UBC Dean, Faculty of Medicine

Excellence in academic medicine doesn’t just happen. It requires the right mix of curiosity, commitment to patients — and hard work.

FOCUS ON:

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EXCELLENCE IN ACTION

As the UBC Faculty of Medicine passes the 60-year mark, it’s worth taking a moment to reflect on how far it has come. Its faculty members routinely publish their research findings in high-impact peer-reviewed journals, and are quoted by scientific and media publications throughout North America and the world. Its 64 residency programs are magnets for the nation’s medical school graduates. Its distributed model for medical education — and the elaborate technical infrastructure that makes it possible — has established UBC as a world pioneer in diversifying the field and producing doctors for underserved areas. Such accomplishments are worth savouring. But the Faculty’s assiduous cultivation of excellence is not about rankings, media mentions or the respect of our peers. It’s about improving the health of British Columbians, Canadians and people throughout the world by translating knowledge into action in diverse arenas — improving medical devices, developing life-saving protocols in the ER, pursuing new treatments for stroke and spinal cord patients. The faculty members profiled in the following pages embody that purposeful pursuit of excellence, whether it’s through education, research, or the delicate combination of science and sensitivity that health professionals are expected to perform every time they see a patient. Yes, these people have been recognized, in BC, Canada and beyond, for their successful efforts. But we are highlighting them for making a difference — by cultivating better physicians, discovering new therapies, advocating for change, or simply by demonstrably caring.

Janice Eng, befitting someone who has dedicated her career to helping people move, is forever in motion herself — bouncing between offices at the G.F. Strong Rehabilitation Centre, the International Collaboration on Repair Discoveries (ICORD), UBC’s Department of Physical Therapy and the university’s Health Research Resource Office. When it’s suggested to her that such a routine is a tribute to her skills as a multi-tasker, she replies, “Either that, or I’m just going around in circles.” Hardly. The progress she is making is undeniable. And it probably explains why she has garnered several high-profile honours: the Jonas Salk Award from the March of Dimes Canada; the YWCA Vancouver’s Women of Distinction Award; UBC’s Killiam Research Prize and Outstanding Young Alumnus Award. She also is a Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences. Eng, a Professor in the Department of Physical Therapy, is responsible for an alphabet soup of projects that share a common thread: improving rehabilitation through systematic science, and working to ensure those improvements are adopted. “People don’t understand how we as researchers integrate with society,” she says. “That’s something that I see as important to my job — breaking down those barriers.” FAME (Fitness and Mobility Exercise), one of Dr. Eng’s earliest projects, was developed on her hunch that fitness and strength training for recovering stroke patients would reduce the risk of a second stroke by improving their cardiovascular system — an idea that ran counter to the prevailing conventional wisdom.

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FOCUS ON:

EXCELLENCE IN ACTION

Janice Eng

Dr. Eng started running exercise programs for stroke patients at G.F. Strong, then at community centres around Vancouver. Since then, 80 sites around the world have adopted it, not just for stroke patients but those with multiple sclerosis and Parkinson’s disease. More recently, Dr. Eng has focused on hand and arm function. GRASP (Graded Repetitive Arm Supplementary Program), developed with her former student Jocelyn Harris, is an exercise regimen for stroke patients performed on their own or with family members — instead of simply relying on the limited number of sessions with therapists. It not only improved patients’ ability to use their stroke-affected arms, but also reduced depression. Within a year of publishing their findings last year, the Canada Stroke Network changed the clinical practice guidelines to recommend supplementary arm exercise. In addition, GRASP is now standard treatment in the major rehabilitation centres in BC. Dr. Eng’s work extends beyond clinical trials to disseminating current research findings. Spinal Cord Injury Rehabilitation Evidence (SCIRE) is a website platform covering 25 areas, including bladder management, depression and pressure ulcers. The reports, many of them based on case studies, are not peer-reviewed; Dr. Eng heads an editorial team of researchers and clinicians that reviews everything and decides if it merits posting. “I did not imagine that SCIRE would be where it is today,” she says. “It has expanded, and expanded, and expanded. Spinal cord injury clinicians have told me it’s the first place they go to find out about current treatments and their evidence.”

When a colonoscopy revealed that one of Mark MacKenzie’s patients had a malignant tumour, he wasn’t about to make her wait to learn the news from a specialist. He wanted to be the one to tell her, and to do it right away. After all, he was her family doctor. “I was so grateful,” says the patient, Susan Booth. “It was much better coming from him.” Dr. MacKenzie, who wound up in Chilliwack for what he thought would be a short stay, has come to exemplify the ideal of the family doctor: rooted in the community, dedicated to patients.

“I’ve known a lot of my patients for 15 years,” he says. “And that’s a really satisfying thing, to know them not only as patients, but as people — knowing what journeys they’ve been on and what they’ve come through. It’s a real privilege, and not one you necessarily appreciate when you first start out.” Those sentiments probably explain why Dr. MacKenzie, a Clinical Associate Professor, was named the 2010 “Community Family Physician of the Year” by the BC College of Family Physicians. “We feel he’s our friend as well as our doctor,” says Booth, who became a patient of his 16 years ago after picking his name from the phone book. “He has a good sense of humour, and he gives you all the time you need. Honestly, I feel he is the standard against which all the other doctors should be measured.”

“I’ve known a lot of my patients for 15 years, and that’s a really satisfying thing.…It’s a real privilege.” — Mark MacKenzie

Dr. MacKenzie’s love of the job owes much to the diversity of patients he sees and conditions he treats, as well as Chilliwack’s 21-year-old family practice residency program — an unusual feature for a town of that size. “I saw early on how the program had improved the quality of care everyone was providing,” Dr. MacKenzie says. “Everybody’s practice had come up a notch.” Like his students, Dr. MacKenzie hasn’t stopped asking questions. He took a hard look at the residency program’s procedural skills workshop, in which trainees are taught a series of tasks that family doctors can perform, and concluded that the sessions — as popular as they may be — are ultimately ineffective. He also explored the connection between crystal methamphetamine use and methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) skin

Mark MacKenzie

Evan Wood

infections — a little-noticed correlation he observed during his emergency department shifts. In 2006, he took over the 3rd Year Integrated Clerkship, in which medical students are exposed to various specialties — emergency medicine, primary care, obstetrics, pediatrics — simultaneously. “It takes longer, and the learning curve is steeper,” he says. “But at the end of the day, you have someone who is practicing as a junior physician. And these programs, which have spread throughout the Western world, are very good at adapting to different communities.”

Evan Wood has authored more than 300 peer-reviewed papers, supervised 37 graduate students and sits on editorial boards of eight scientific journals. His groundbreaking research has resulted in major revisions to HIV treatment guidelines, demonstrated the benefits of supervised injection facilities and compelled pharmaceutical companies to offer free antiretrovirals to HIV-positive pregnant mothers in Africa.

Ravi Sidhu

PHOTOS BY MARTIN DEE, CORNELIA NAYLOR, ANDY FANG

Yet Dr. Wood, Co-Director of the Urban Health Research Initiative at the BC Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS (BC-CfE) and former Chief Resident of UBC’s Internal Medicine Residency Program, still finds time to engage in public discourse, having commented in nearly 300 news stories and written almost 30 editorials in the past decade, much of them in support of the “harm reduction” approach to illicit drug use. “The evidence to support harm reduction intervention is extremely clear — I would say even clearer than the science supporting climate change in many respects,” Dr. Wood says. “I feel it’s part of my responsibility as a scientist to communicate that to the public.” Dr. Wood believes in tackling drug addiction through prioritizing prevention and treatment. That would reduce demand for illicit drugs while treating people with dignity and respect, he says, and also makes economic sense — especially for a country with a publicly-funded healthcare system. Born and raised in Vancouver, he can’t imagine working anywhere else in the world, especially when one of the largest concentrations of expertise in HIV/AIDS is right here in his backyard.

That long list of accomplishments would be impressive for a senior “UBC and the BC-CfE have one of the most well-regarded research academic. Having all these achievements under his belt at the age clusters in the world when it comes to HIV/AIDS research,” he says. of 36 is why the BMJ Group — publisher of the prestigious British Medical Journal — conferred its inaugural “Junior Doctor of the Year Award” on Dr. Wood. The international award, chosen from more than 100 nominees and given to a young physician who has “done the most to improve the world we live in,” tops the list of other career honours already bestowed upon Wood by the Canadian Medical Association, the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, and the Canadian Association for HIV Research. All that for someone who, after earning a doctorate in epidemiology at UBC, didn’t get into medical school on the first try. A Clinical Associate Professor in the Department of Medicine’s Division of AIDS, Dr. Wood has established himself as a leading authority on HIV prevention and treatment issues among drugaddicted populations. His evaluations of Insite, North America’s only supervised injection facility, have demonstrated that the program reduces overdose deaths, lowers HIV transmission rates and increases uptake into addiction treatment.

Ravi Sidhu, who likes to run and play hockey, keeps a box of “protein snacks” under his desk. But the packages aren’t intended as refueling after a bout of mid-day exercise. He needs them just to get through the workday. “I get up early, I have coffee for breakfast, I go to the OR, come back here for meetings, and I realize it’s 3:30 and I haven’t eaten all day,” he says. Dr. Sidhu’s need for quick nutrition is understandable, given the roles he has taken on. Not only is he one of three vascular surgeons at St. Paul’s Hospital, but he is an Assistant Professor, the Director of Postgraduate Education in the Department of Surgery, and the Core Surgery Program Director. Along the way, he has served as the principal investigator on several studies of surgical education techniques and tools.

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FOCUS ON:

EXCELLENCE IN ACTION

A crop of stellar faculty take root in the North and Island Ten years ago, 7,000 residents of northern BC gathered in an arena in Prince George, but they weren’t there for a concert or hockey match. It was billed as a “Health Crisis Rally” — a call for action to address the shortage of physicians in the region.

the recruitment and development of faculty members in both the North and Vancouver Island, many of whom are distinguishing themselves in UBC and beyond. They include: ≠≠

Lys Fonger, Clinical Associate Professor in Victoria and Course Director for the IMP’s Family Practice Continuum, who received a Certificate of Merit from the Canadian Association for Medical Education.

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Steven Chang, Clinical Instructor in Prince George and the NMP’s Clinical Course Director, who received a Certificate of Recognition from Rotary International for his volunteer work in the World Health Network, and who also received a Postgraduate Teaching Award from the Department of Family Practice.

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Bruce Crawford, Professor in the Department of Cellular & Physiological Sciences in Victoria, who received a Certificate of Merit from the Canadian Association for Medical Education and was named the Outstanding Educator by the MD Class of 2011.

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Oscar Casiro, Regional Associate Dean, Vancouver Island, who was elected President of the Medical Council of Canada.

From that event, the future of the UBC Faculty of Medicine was irrevocably altered. Six months later, an agreement was struck to create a distributed model of medical education with the University of Northern British Columbia and the University of Victoria. Since the first students enrolled in the Northern Medical Program (NMP) and the Island Medical Program (IMP) in the fall of 2004, the Faculty has solidified its role as a provincewide medical school. That evolution has inevitably involved

All of that activity has gotten noticed. Dr. Sidhu was named Program Director of the Year by the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons, and won the Outstanding Teaching Award from the Association for Surgical Education (covering North America). His determination to teach, and to make the whole teaching enterprise more effective, can probably be traced to his mother, who was a kindergarten teacher in the Yukon. As a surgical resident, he was bothered by the lack of ongoing, systematic assessment. “I went through an entire residency of five years, and my supervisors’ only formal assessment of me was a two-hour oral exam,” he says. “I remember thinking, after leaving the exam, ‘They know I can talk my way through a tough situation, but with enough studying and coaching, I could have gotten through it and not necessarily be a good surgeon. There must a better way to do this.’” Not surprisingly, Dr. Sidhu has focused on going beyond the “traditional slap on the back,” instituting a system of performance assessment in the operating room, the clinic and the ward. He

introduced two assessment tools — one, completed by supervisors after every procedure, that rates residents’ technical skills, and another that looks at patient interaction skills. Other improvements brought about by Dr. Sidhu: integrating an online, case-based learning program into the curriculum, coordinated with seminar topics; a hands-on skills lab in the Core Surgery rotation; and free “life coaching” from professional counselors for residents in the departments of Surgery, Urologic Sciences and Orthopaedics. “In surgery, it’s common to pooh-pooh such things as ‘soft stuff,’” says Dr. Sidhu, who earned a Master’s of Education after completing his residency. “Yet we have these highly trained people enduring a combination of physical, mental and emotional stresses that are notoriously tough on your personal life, and we give them little or no support. If there’s any way to make our residents better than they are now, why not?”

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RESEARCH

Sam Sheps

PHOTO BY MARTIN DEE

BEYOND SCAPEGOATING: EXPLORING HOW HEALTH CARE ORGANIZATIONS CAN BEST LEARN FROM ADVERSE EVENTS

An aide at a long-term care facility gives an intubated, 48-year-old quadriplegic patient a routine bed bath. When the ventilator alarm sounds, she turns it off, as she routinely does, and continues bathing. The alarm sounds again, she turns it off again; another aide arrives and the bathing continues. But the patient goes into cardiac arrest and dies. The aide, never trained how to handle intubated patients, loses her job. Punishing employees who are at the point of care during critical incidents is an almost reflexive reaction by health care organizations, given the push for accountability by policy-makers and the public. But Sam Sheps, a Professor in the School of Population and Public Health, is convinced it’s neither a solution, nor in most cases, fair. “It’s often a case of putting responsibility on people who haven’t been given relevant training and/or authority to make decisions,” Dr. Sheps says. “For senior management, noncompliance with rules and protocols is generally the end of the story. But this approach doesn’t make sense, since firing someone, without really understanding the problem, isn’t going to be very helpful in preventing that problem, or similar ones, again.” Dr. Sheps, former Head of the Department of Health Care and Epidemiology (forerunner of the School of Population and Public Health) and advisor to the Canadian Patient Safety Institute (CPSI), believes “organizational resilience” provides a deeper understanding of adverse events. A resilient organization, instead of relying solely on technology and elaborate rules and procedures to maintain safety, is highly selfaware and asks tough questions — at the highest levels — about why things go awry. Ideally, it anticipates unsafe situations before they arise. Resilience thinking also focuses on why things go well.

Dr. Sheps, along with Research Associate Karen Cardiff, have engaged in patient safety research with CPSI and Health Canada for a decade. They are now trying to understand how putting organizational resilience into practice can improve investigations of adverse events. Funded by a four-year, $421,000 grant from the Canadian Health Services Research Foundation and CPSI, they are exploring whether a resilience-based investigation approach developed by the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority affects how Vancouver Coastal Health and the Saskatoon Health Region conduct critical incident investigations — and whether it changes their understanding of how safety is achieved. Dr. Sheps and Cardiff are sampling adverse event reports from the two health care organizations to assess whether investigations become more system-oriented. Interviews and focus groups with front-line staff and senior management also will determine whether there are changes in organizational thinking about safety. Recent years have demonstrated the power of checklists to prevent critical incidents. (See Atul Gawande’s book, The Checklist Manifesto.) Such strategies are helpful, Dr. Sheps says, but checklists can’t fully address the complexity of health care, with its multiple competing goals, complex performance tasks, multiple players, and a constant influx of new patients with varied histories and conditions. “Human error, in any context, is not an explanation,” he says. “It requires an explanation. You have to ask questions about how the organization itself is functioning. Is it putting people in a bind by pushing them beyond the limits of safety?” One critical aspect of resilience, Dr. Sheps says, is “getting into the minds of the people involved when the adverse event was happening, and asking, ‘Why did the decisions they made make sense to them?’ That puts a whole new light on where responsibility lies.”

SERVICE

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LEARNING FROM PEERS: JULIAN MARSDEN FOSTERS KNOWLEDGE-SHARING BY BC’S EMERGENCY DEPARTMENTS

L– R: Julian Marsden; tending to a patient, Herb Morse, at St. Paul’s Emergency Department. PHOTOS BY ANDY FANG

Hospitals, like most institutions, have a hard time changing their ways. Even when new evidence is discovered that point to a new way of doing things, it often doesn’t reach the people who need it. Or it gets stymied by inertia and skepticism. Or people don’t know where to begin. Julian Marsden knows just how tough it can be. A Clinical Professor in the Department of Emergency Medicine and a physician in the emergency department of St. Paul’s Hospital in Vancouver, he saw how much effort it took his colleagues to develop and implement a new protocol for identifying and treating septic patients. But the payoff — in terms of lives saved — was worth it. So when the Ministry of Health Services asked a group of physicians, including Dr. Marsden, to help spread such improvements throughout the province, he embraced it. But he also realized that it carried the risk of top-down proselytizing. “If someone is working elsewhere in BC, their whole set-up is different,” he says. “It doesn’t make sense for me at St. Paul’s to be telling them, ‘This is how you should be doing it in your centre.’ That information should come from a similar centre in BC that has done it under similar circumstances.” Dr. Marsden’s solution was to create an “online community of practice,” in which physicians, nurses and front-line administrators share information through teleconferences, webinars and occasionally in person. He called it “Evidence to Excellence,” or E2E. “It’s essentially a way of coaching people through improvement,” he says. Building on his work as chair of St. Paul’s Emergency Medicine Update (a conference held every year at Whistler), and with help from Kendall Ho, then-Director of Continuing Professional Development and Knowledge Transfer, Dr. Marsden organized two collaboratives: one focused on sepsis, the other on triage and patient flow. They held online meetings every two weeks, and in-person conferences every few months.

It wasn’t long before some hospitals found the motivation to change — and managed to navigate the usual roadblocks. At Chilliwack General Hospital, the mortality rate of septic patients was running at 44 per cent in June 2008; since last January, it has fallen to 7 per cent. Brent Woodley, a Clinical Nurse Educator in the hospital’s emergency department, says it wouldn’t have happened without the “cross-pollination” of E2E. “We raised the profile of sepsis as a condition,” Woodley says. “If someone is septic, we need to work fast. It’s just a question of getting people up to speed and adhering to those guidelines.” Kelowna General Hospital, meanwhile, participated in the patient flow collaborative because “our waits were unacceptably long,” says Mike Ertel, the Chief and Medical Director of the emergency department. Bottlenecks resulted in two on-duty physicians sometimes having no patients to see, even while the waiting room was full.

“It’s essentially a way of coaching people through improvement.” — Julian Marsden

With guidance from E2E, the emergency department started “streaming,” whereby patients who don’t need to be put on a bed are tended to in chairs. The result: the waiting room is usually empty, and patient satisfaction has increased from 78 per cent to 92 per cent. “The communication throughout the province is key, because we can share with each other what’s going well, what’s not going well, and come up with a more unified approach provincially,” says Dr. Ertel, a Clinical Instructor in Emergency Medicine. “I think ultimately it’s going to enhance patient care. You tend to just live in your own little world and not know what’s going on in the rest of the province.”

RESEARCH

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INVESTIGATIONS & BREAKTHROUGHS 01 | An accidental discovery spawns a promising new investigation Professor of Neurology Neil Cashman is pursuing a link between two seemingly unrelated diseases: chronic wasting disease (CWD) in deer and elk, and common human cancers like melanoma and lymphoma. Dr. Cashman, Canada Research Chair in Neurodegeneration and Protein Misfolding Diseases, inadvertently discovered the similarity in 2003. He was looking for a cell line that could be used as a control in experiments on misfolded prion proteins, the main culprit in CWD as well as bovine spongiform encephalopathy (“mad cow disease”) and its human variant, Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease. The cancer line cells were useless as a control group because they turned out to have misfolded prion proteins on their cell surfaces. But that very fact pointed to the possibility of targeting them with the same immunological pathway Dr. Cashman was pursuing for CWD. If it pans out, one possible scenario might be a melanoma

vaccine that could be administered to people who have prolonged exposure to the sun. The new therapies are currently being tested on mice, with clinical trials expected to begin within four to five years. “This is the first time that the idea of treating cancer with antibodies against misfolded prion proteins is being subjected to scientific testing,” says Dr. Cashman, a neurologist at Vancouver Coastal Health. After rigorous review for scientific and industrial relevance, PrioNet Canada, of which Dr. Cashman is Scientific Director, is providing $350,000 over two years for the research. In addition, Amorfix Life Sciences (a company founded by Dr. Cashman) and the Saskatoonbased PREVENT (Pan-Provincial Vaccine Enterprise) are providing another $140,000. Dr. Cashman is collaborating with cancer experts Dawn Waterhouse from the BC Cancer Agency and Yuzhuo Wang, an Associate Professor in the Department Urologic Sciences and a researcher at the BC Cancer Agency and the Vancouver Prostate Centre.

02 | Graduate student’s discovery gets showcased by Nature A UBC doctoral candidate has discovered a previously unknown mechanism for silencing retroviruses, segments of genetic material that can lead to fatal mutations in a cell’s DNA. The findings, published in the journal Nature, could lead to new cancer treatments that kill only tumour cells and leave healthy surrounding tissue unharmed. Danny Leung, a 27-yearold graduate student in the laboratory of Assistant Professor Matthew Lorincz in the Department of Medical Genetics, has devoted his studies at UBC to the growing field of epigenetics — changes to the genome that don’t involve changes to the underlying code. Such changes determine whether or not a gene is expressed.

Leung, who was co-lead author with a graduate student at Kyoto University in Japan, found that a protein called ESET is crucial to preventing the activity of endogenous retroviruses in mouse embryonic stem cells. Distant relatives of such retroviruses are more active in the cells of testicular, breast and skin cancers in humans. If ESET can be blocked, retroviruses would become dramatically more active, thus either killing the cancer cells hosting them or flagging them as targets for the immune system. Leung’s findings with embryonic stem cells has direct bearing on cancer treatments because cancer cells are stem-like — they can differentiate into other types of cells. So blocking ESET holds the promise of affecting only cancer cells, allowing retroviruses to flourish to the detriment of their hosts.

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03 | UBC team identifies important predictor of cardiovascular death Coronary Artery Disease (CAD), the most frequent cause of heart disease, occurs when blood vessels become narrow or blocked, and thus cannot provide enough blood to meet the heart’s demand. It hospitalizes more than 160,000 Canadians every year, and almost one quarter of those patients die from it. A team of UBC researchers has identified an important predictor of mortality in CAD patients, signaling their need for more aggressive treatment. In an article published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology, PhD student Claire Heslop, Professor Jiri Frohlich, and Associate Professor John Hill from the

Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine and the Providence Heart + Lung Institute found that high levels of an enzyme, myeloperoxidase, in the blood of CAD patients more than doubled their risk for death over a 13-year period. Myeloperoxidase is an enzyme associated with oxidative stress, which damages arterial tissue. The research team, funded by the Heart and Stroke Foundation of BC & Yukon, analyzed blood samples and records from patients admitted to hospital over a 13-year period. Based on this work, the researchers were able to develop a new classification of risk for CAD patients based on their levels of myeloperoxidase.

04 Kevin Gregory Evans

PHOTO BY MARTIN DEE

04 | A quest to find molecular therapies for retinal diseases A team from the Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Science has received $1.5 million from the Canadian Institute for Health Research to develop novel molecular approaches to treat diseases of the retina — the tissue most commonly damaged in blinding diseases such as macular degeneration and retinitis pigmentosa. They aim to identify new molecules that will inhibit cell death, protein misfolding, and inflammation in the retina. They will also investigate new ways to deliver these therapies via a single injection into the eye. This program is unique because it’s assessing the effectiveness of these new molecular therapies in combination. While drug combinations are common in the treatment of diabetes,

hypertension, and cancer, it has yet to be assessed in retinal diseases. The team is led by Professor Kevin Gregory-Evans, the Julia Levy B.C. Leadership Chair in Macular Research. His position is funded by BC’s Leading Edge Endowment Fund, UBC and QLT Inc., a UBC spinoff company co-founded by Dr. Levy, a Professor Emerita. QLT developed Visudyne, the first macular degeneration breakthrough, which uses a combination of drugs and laser therapy to treat patients around the world. The other members are Joanne Matsubara, Professor and Assistant Director of the Centre for Macular Research; Cheryl Gregory-Evans, Associate Professor, whose recruitment was supported by the late Sharon Stewart; and Orson Moritz, an Associate Professor.

03 Researchers found an important predictor of mortality in patients with Coronary Artery Disease, which hospitalizes more than 160,000 Canadians a year.

RESEARCH

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WHEELING INTO THE FUTURE THERAPISTS, PHYSICIANS AND ENGINEERS UNITE TO IMPROVE MOBILITY

At the end of World War II, his mission as a navigator for the Royal Canadian Air Force in World War II all but complete, Don Miller contracted polio. He was put in an iron lung for a month, spent three years recuperating at the old Shaughnessy Hospital, then re-entered “normal life” — becoming an accountant and raising a family, including a son, Bill. Having watched his father navigate everyday tasks on four wheels, Bill Miller, an Associate Professor in Occupational Therapy & Occupational Science, aimed to improve life for wheelchair users, who number about 250,000 in Canada. Now he has his chance. Dr. Miller is leading a six-year project, dubbed CanWheel, to investigate how older adults use power wheelchairs, how they can use their chairs better, and how the chairs themselves can be improved. The CanWheel team includes Bonita Sawatzky, an Assistant Professor in the Department of Orthopaedics whose research focuses on the biomechanics of wheelchair propulsion, as well as a dozen other experts in computer science, robotics and wheelchair training at UBC and five other Canadian universities. Their proposal

garnered a $1.5 million Emerging Team Grant from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, and additional funding from Quebec’s Fonds de la Recherche en Santé. Power wheelchairs, which range in price from $6,000 to $35,000, can provide enormous benefits, but they are often abandoned because of the users’ declining cognitive abilities, or simply for lack of proper training. Among the project’s goals is a “collaborativelycontrolled” wheelchair. “Ideally, the chair would recognize when its user needs more help, and would kick in with more automation, but in an integrated way, so it’s not a total takeover, but an effort to maximize the person’s independence,” Dr. Miller says. Some of those automated functions include voice commands, collision avoidance, route-planning, even object recognition. It could avoid places where construction is taking place, gravitate to areas where there are ramps and curb cuts, open speciallyequipped doors through radio signaling, or interact with an automated teller machine. “It’s not taking over their life, but promoting the functionality of the individual,” says Dr. Miller, a researcher at ICORD (International Collaboration on Repair Discoveries), a UBC-Vancouver Coastal Health centre.

The CanWheel team trying out wheelchairs at the Blusson Spinal Cord Centre. PHOTOS BY BRIAN KLADKO

A merging of art and science

The team has decided that any technology emerging from their effort will be put in the public domain, to increase the likelihood that it’s put to use by wheelchair manufacturers. But CanWheel isn’t just focused on nuts, bolts and circuits. Other projects include: ≠≠ Measuring

with specially-built “data loggers” how different cohorts of wheelchair users (experienced users, experienced users with new equipment, and novice users) utilize and handle the devices over a two-year period.

≠≠ Evaluating

the effectiveness of a wheelchair skills program developed by researchers at Dalhousie University.

≠≠ Exploring

the needs and experiences of older adults and caregivers with power wheelchairs, and investigating the perspectives of health care providers, policy-makers and funding agencies.

CanWheel’s findings will likely become increasingly important as the baby boom generation ages and a growing number of people grapple with declining physical or cognitive skills. “We have a pretty political aging population who are very vocal,” Dr. Miller says. “So I think they will drive the need to fund increasingly more complex technology that enables them to maintain their mobility longer. Hopefully, government will listen.”

For the second consecutive year, the soaring glass atrium of the Blusson Spinal Cord Centre will be filled with the voices of the Vancouver Cantata Singers. Spinal Chord, to be held the evening of Saturday, Nov. 6, will feature traditional and modern pieces in a space whose acoustics have been likened to a Gothic cathedral. Rather than performing on a fixed stage, the singers will be arrayed throughout the atrium, for a “surround-sound” experience. The event, which also will include a jazz ensemble, silent and live auctions and hors d’oeuvres, raises funds for the Cantata Singers and ICORD (International Collaboration on Repair Discoveries), a UBC-Vancouver Coastal Health centre. Tickets, which are $100, are available by calling 604-730-8856. Tax receipts for a significant portion of the ticket cost will be issued. For more information, visit www.spinalchordgala.org.

ENHANCING EXCELLENCE NEW ARRIVALS TO THE FACULTY OF MEDICINE

GOAL: Identify the optimal combination of blood pressure control and anti-clotting therapy that will prevent recurrent strokes and cognitive decline

OSCAR BENAVENTE

GOAL: To study the molecular origin of Parkinson’s disease and other neurodegenerative disorders, and find new strategies for early detection and improved treatments

MATTHEW FARRER

AGE: 55

AGE: 42

POSITION: Professor, Department of Medicine, Division of Neurology; Research Director, Stroke and Cerebrovascular Health Program

POSITION: Professor, Department of Medical Genetics; Canada Excellence Research Chair in Neurogenetics and Translational Neuroscience

EDUCATION: MD from University of Cordoba, Argentina; residency and fellowships at University of Western Ontario, University of Ottawa and University of Texas Health Science Center, San Antonio, Texas PREVIOUS POSITION: Professor

of Neurology, University of Texas Health Science Center, San Antonio; Director of Stroke Program

DISTINCTIONS: The Ross J. Sibert

Distinguished Endowed Chair (University of Texas Health Science Center); Principal Investigator of Secondary Prevention of Small Subcortical Strokes (SPS3) study, a $66 million project funded by the U.S. National Institutes of Health

“Small subcortical strokes (S3), also known as lacunar strokes, comprise more than 25% of brain infarcts, and are one of the most common causes of cognitive impairment. How to optimally prevent stroke recurrence and cognitive decline in this population is unclear. The aim of the Secondary Prevention of Small Subcortical Strokes (SPS3) study is to define strategies for reducing stroke recurrence, cognitive decline and major vascular events. SPS3 will address several important clinical and scientific questions by testing two interventions in patients with recent MRI-defined lacunar infarcts likely due to small vessel disease. The results will inform management of millions of patients with this common vascular disorder.”

EDUCATION: Bachelor’s degree in biochemistry, King’s College, London, U.K.; PhD in human genetics from Imperial College, London PREVIOUS POSITION: Professor of Molecular Neuroscience, Director of the Neurogenetics Division, Mayo Clinic, Jacksonville, Florida

DISTINCTIONS: Named the Mayo Clinic’s Distinguished Investigator in 2008, one of the youngest investigators to receive that honour; member of Michael J. Fox Foundation’s Scientific Advisory Board DID YOU KNOW?

He was born in an English pub

“Despite remarkable discoveries throughout the last century about the brain’s anatomy and functions, we know far less about how best to intervene when these functions become disordered or diseased. We have achieved some remarkable insights, thanks in part to the hundreds of families who donated their DNA, thus enabling us to identify the genes involved in devastating nervous system disorders such as Parkinson’s disease, the most prevalent age-associated movement disorder. However, finding gene mutations is not enough. If we are to successfully intervene, we have to understand the role of the encoded protein and the network that is perturbed, or at least be able to model these processes. My objective is to use these insights to protect the brain and nervous system. For the first time since the 60s, there is hope for a Parkinson’s treatment that goes beyond ameliorating a patient’s symptoms, and actually reverses the disease. I’m confident that the multidisciplinary collaborations at the Centre for Molecular Medicine and Therapeutics and the Brain Research Centre, coupled with UBC’s enviable track record of successful knowledge transfer, will speed this process along, so that our renewed hope will be realized.”

UBC MEDICINE 17

NEWLY PUBLISHED Cardiovascular Physiology: a Clinical Approach

GOAL: Epidemiologic research in obstetrics and gynaecology; teaching fundamentals of medical research at the School of Population and Public Health

K.S. JOSEPH

AGE: 50

POSITION: Professor, Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, and School of Population and Public Health; Scientist Level 3, Child and Family Research Institute; Consultant, Perinatal Services BC

EDUCATION: Bachelor of Medicine and Surgery (MB;BS) and MD degrees from Christian Medical College, Vellore, India; PhD from McGill University; fellowship at McGill University-Montreal Children’s Hospital Research Institute PREVIOUS POSITION: Professor, Dalhousie University (Obstetrics and Gynaecology, and Pediatrics) DID YOU KNOW? He had 15 seconds of fame on CBC’s The National while shoveling a driveway during a blizzard in Halifax

DISTINCTIONS: CIHR Peter Lougheed New Investigator Scholar Award; Dalhousie Medical University’s Clinical Research Scholar Award; Dalhousie Medical Research Foundation Award for Excellence in Population Health Research; Geoffrey C. Robinson Award of Canadian Pediatric Society; Associate Editor and member of the editorial board for BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth; member of editorial board of Pediatric and Perinatal Epidemiology; former Associate Editor of Canadian Medical Association Journal

“The world of obstetrics has witnessed unprecedented change in recent decades both with regard to maternal characteristics and medical intervention. Whereas these changes have occurred against a backdrop of declines in maternal, fetal and infant mortality, significant theoretical and practical challenges remain. Perhaps the most intriguing conceptual issue that plagues the perinatal literature is the paradox of intersecting perinatal mortality curves — the fact that small babies born to mothers who smoked during pregnancy have a survival advantage compared with small babies whose mothers did not smoke. The opposite finding is seen among larger babies. This paradoxical observation is in fact a general phenomenon seen in contrasts across parity, race, plurality, infant sex, etc. Clinicians and researchers in UBC’s Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology work together to address both the theory and practice of this discipline. A close relationship with provincial institutions such as Perinatal Services BC, and support from the Child and Family Research Institute, create the ideal set-up for productive research, and I am delighted to be a part of this collegial environment.”

Authors: Carol-Ann Courneya (Associate Professor, Cellular & Physiological Sciences) and Michael Parker (Harvard Medical School). Editor Richard Schwartzstein (Harvard Medical School). Publisher: Lippincott, Williams & Wilkins

A clinically-oriented exposition of the essentials of cardiovascular physiology for medical students, residents, nurses and allied health professionals, written in a lecturestyle format and conversational tone to offset the difficult and intimidating nature of the subject. Detailed illustrations and online animated figures help students truly understand key cardiovascular concepts most relevant for patient care. Learning objectives, thought questions, clinical cases, and review questions challenge students and help them master the material. Dr. Courneya was the primary writer. The book will be used in the cardio block in the UBC MD Undergraduate Program starting in 2011.

A Child in Pain: What Health Professionals Can Do to Help Author: Leora Kuttner (Clinical Professor, Department of Pediatrics). Publisher: Crown House Publishing

A follow-up to A Child in Pain: How to Help, What to Do — A Book for Parents, Dr. Kuttner’s latest book outlines the latest discoveries on pain management and provides practical strategies for physicians, dentists and hospital personnel who care for children. Blending research findings with clinical examples from her 30 years of practice, she suggests ways that health professionals can better communicate with children and help them become a part of their own pain management team. The book uses explanatory yet scientifically accurate diagrams to introduce medical concepts to children in pain.

PHILANTHROPY

18 UBC MEDICINE

Anthony Traboulsee

PHOTO BY MARTIN DEE

MOBILIZING QUICKLY ON A NEW THEORY ABOUT MS Faculty of Medicine researchers have taken a leading role in exploring a provocative theory about the cause of multiple sclerosis. If validated, it could point the way to a revolutionary treatment. The theory, called chronic cerebrospinal venous insufficiency (CCSVI), posits that the veins draining blood from the brain and spinal cord might be narrowed in MS patients, causing congestion of blood in the brain, deposits of iron, and ultimately triggering attacks of inflammation. The theory, put forward by Paolo Zamboni, an Italian vascular surgeon, includes what he calls “liberation treatment” — a dilation of the narrowed veins with catheters or stents. Dr. Zamboni’s claims, which were publicized by The Globe and Mail and CTV News in November 2009, triggered demands by many MS patients that government and the medical research community redeploy resources to explore its validity and potential as a treatment. Some patients, not content to wait for the painstaking process of scientific confirmation, are undergoing ultrasound or magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) at private, for-profit imaging clinics, or even getting the diagnosis and treatment in countries where physicians are permitted to perform the procedure. Faculty of Medicine researchers, sensitive to the newly-raised hopes among MS patients, assembled a team to investigate CCSVI. As a result of its speed and its constellation of expertise in MS, MRI and endovascular therapy, UBC received one of seven $200,000 grants from the MS Society of Canada and the U.S.-based National MS Society to test the validity of the theory. Their expertise garnered an additional $270,000 in funding from the Lotte & John Hecht Memorial Foundation, $5,000 from the Wolrige Foundation, and support from Philips Healthcare Canada toward a $15,000 upgrade of the 3T MRI system at the UBC MRI Research Centre.

The UBC researchers — led by Anthony Traboulsee, Assistant Professor in the Division of Neurology and Medical Director of the MS Clinic at UBC Hospital (part of Vancouver Coastal Health) — teamed up with the University of Saskatchewan College of Medicine and the Saskatoon MS Clinic on a two-year study. The team also is pulling together a diverse group of researchers: Alex MacKay, Professor in Radiology as well as Physics and Astronomy, and Director of the UBC MRI Research Centre; David Li, Professor in Radiology and Director of the UBC MS/MRI Research Group; Alex Rauscher, Assistant Professor in Radiology and the UBC MRI Research Centre; A. Dessa Sadovnick, Professor in the Department of Medical Genetics; and Judy Illes, Professor in the Division of Neurology and Director of the National Core for Neuroethics. The study is recruiting 300 participants — 100 with MS, 100 unaffected relatives, and a healthy control group without MS to verify the condition and determine the usefulness of non-invasive techniques to screen for CCSVI. It’s the only team among the seven grant-winners that will use catheter venography, an imaging technique considered the “gold standard” for diagnosing and evaluating blocked veins. The study is also unique in its inclusion of family members of MS patients, such as identical twins and other immediate relatives. “The unique inclusion of a family member control group in this study may allow us to gain further insight into the possible role of CCSVI in the mechanisms leading to MS and to determine if there is a genetic link to the condition,” Dr. Traboulsee says.

Find out more about UBC’s research into CCSVI, including updates, at www.med.ubc.ca/research/CCSVI_research.htm.

E D U C AT I O N

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Will Guest

PHOTO BY ANDY FANG

ON THE WAY TO AN MD AND PHD

WILL GUEST BECAME PARTY TO A PATENT To hear the list of accomplishments Will Guest has racked up in his first three years of the MD/PhD program, you might think he had cloned himself. Guest, 23, has helped formulate an algorithm to target misfolded proteins, become an inventor in a worldwide patent application, co-organized a biophysics symposium, created new teaching modules for Radiology students, and has held positions with the Clinician Investigator Trainee Association of Canada and the Faculty of Medicine Research Council. That ingenuity and industriousness earned Guest the prestigious Vanier Graduate Scholarship from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research. The award of $50,000 per year, for up to three years, is given to world-class doctoral students who demonstrate leadership skills and a high standard of scholarly achievement in doctoral studies. “I have never met a trainee with more promise than Will Guest,” says Neil Cashman, Professor in the Division of Neurology and his PhD supervisor. “He is mathematically gifted, and also scientifically creative.” Guest plans to use his scholarship to purchase equipment and pursue his studies without the typical financial burdens of medical education. In September, he traveled to Austria for the world’s top conference on prion research, presenting a poster on the proteins involved in neurodegenerative diseases, such as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). The Faculty of Medicine has 20 MD/PhD students, who interrupt the traditional MD undergraduate program after their second year to focus exclusively on research, typically for three years. Following the thesis defence, they return to the MD program to complete their clinical training.

Guest came to the program from the University of Manitoba, where his straight A+ average in Honours Physics and Biochemistry earned him first ranking in his graduating class and the University Gold Medal. He also graduated in three years. Upon coming to UBC, Guest’s expansive intellect and curiosity brought together Dr. Cashman and theoretical physicist Steve Plotkin, Associate Professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy — a partnership that Dr. Cashman calls “incredibly productive and gratifying.” Working with Dr. Cashman and Dr. Plotkin (his co-supervisor), Guest identified regions of proteins that become exposed in the process of misfolding. When misfolding occurs in prion proteins, one of the unfortunate outcomes is bovine spongiform encephalopathy (otherwise known as “mad cow disease”) and its human variant, Creutzfeld-Jacob disease. The exposed regions, however, could be targets for antibody generation. “What you want when targeting a misfolded protein is a handle that you can grasp onto,” Guest says. “What’s holding onto the handle is an antibody. If that antibody can label a misfolded protein by binding to it, this can help the immune system clear away that protein and hopefully improve the course of the disease.” Dr. Cashman and Dr. Plotkin made Guest their partner in the patent application for the algorithm. Amorfix Life Sciences, a company founded by Dr. Cashman, has agreed to spend at least $500,000 on antibody development and testing to determine whether protein misfolding regions could be targeted in neurodegeneration and cancer. Guest will begin testing the specially-designed antibodies in cellbased systems this fall. But even if a cure remains elusive, Guest is thrilled by the pursuit. “To contribute to the body of medical knowledge in a way that will outlast your own career is a very precious thing,” he says.

UBC MEDICINE 21 PHILANTHROPY

L-R: Kerry Morrissey (Telford) with her daughter, Sarah; Dr. Telford in Peru.

CARRYING ON A PHYSICIAN’S GOOD WORK WITH DONATIONS FROM CLASSMATES, COLLEAGUES AND FRIENDS

Kerry Morrissey (Telford) devoted her career to caring for the most vulnerable people — whether they were new arrivals to Vancouver or lifelong residents of remote jungle villages. A Clinical Instructor in the Department of Family Practice, she spent part of her time seeing patients at Vancouver’s Bridge Clinic, helping refugees make the transition to life in Canada. And, when she needed a break, she would spend a few months in Santa Clotilde, Peru, combining her skills as a physician, her knowledge of Spanish and her profound compassion for the underserved. That work came to a sudden end on November 29, 2009, when Dr. Telford and her six-month old daughter Sarah Morrissey died in a seaplane crash near Saturna Island. Within days of the accident, fellow members of the UBC medical class of 1993 began exchanging e-mails expressing their devastation and fond memories of her. The idea of creating a memorial award to honour her legacy quickly took shape. “I think the class saw certain qualities in Kerry, and recognized that we lost somebody very special,” says Joan Bratty, a close friend of Dr. Telford’s and member of the class. “She was a very inspiring person. We wanted to carry on something that she was working on.” The result was the Kerry and Sarah Morrissey (Telford) Award, created to support two of Dr. Telford’s main passions: global health and teaching. Dr. Bratty set the bar high, aiming to create a self-sustaining fund that will last for years to come. To date, $64,450 has been raised. The award will support third-year medical residents in UBC’s Global Health program. The six-month program gives Family Practice residents the extra skills needed to work with vulnerable populations. The award will fund the program’s overseas field study component. “The travel expenses with an overseas placement can be daunting or discouraging to someone who under different circumstances

might consider global health as a career path,” says Richard Currie, who worked with Dr. Telford at the Bridge Clinic while completing the program in 2007 and now works for Médecins Sans Frontières (Doctors Without Borders). “Anything that can help physicians get skills in this area is a great thing.” The program accepts two residents per year, but hopes to expand to meet the growing demand for training in international medicine. Dr. Bratty hopes the award will be “a small catalyst” to the field of global health at UBC and beyond.

“We lost somebody very special. She was a very inspiring person. We wanted to carry on something that she was working on.” — Joan Bratty

“We want people who take on international health work to know that there is a huge cohort of physicians and other people who are really behind them,” she says. Videsh Kapoor, Director of the Division of Global Health and member of the Class of ‘93, says the award is a fitting legacy for Telford because it “passes the torch” of her dedication to the underserved. “That is very much what Kerry was about,” says Dr. Kapoor, a Clinical Assistant Professor in the Department of Family Practice. “Kerry believed in helping vulnerable people, and this award will support future physicians doing the same thing.” Contributions may be sent to UBC Annual Giving, 500 – 5950 University Boulevard, Vancouver, BC, V6T 1Z3; by visiting www.supporting.ubc.ca/kerrytelford; or by contacting the Annual Giving office at 604-822-8900.

PHILANTHROPY

L-R: Charlotte Thomson, with her brother Adrian (on left) and husband Richard Borgen (on right); Dr. Thomson in her 1962 graduation photo. PHOTOS COURTESY OF ADRIAN THOMSON

CHARLOTTE THOMSON, 1937–2007: SHE OVERCAME GENDER BARRIERS, THEN HELPED OTHERS TO FOLLOW HER LEAD Today, women routinely outnumber men in the medical undergraduate program at UBC. But in 1958, when Charlotte Thomson enrolled, she was just one of three women in a class of 57 men. The three of them were regularly singled out as the target of jokes — sometimes good-natured, sometimes inappropriate. “It was very interesting, because we were certainly treated differently than the fellows,” says Heidi Tobler,

Thomson’s classmate and close friend. “It was hard in a way, but fun in another way.” Those memories never faded for Dr. Thomson, eventually prompting her to make a bequest of $40,768 in her estate to create an endowment benefiting third-year MD students — the Dr. Charlotte Thomson Memorial Scholarship. “I think my sister’s desire to donate money to a fund was prompted by the difficulty women had getting into medicine,” says Adrian Thomson, Thomson’s brother. “Plus, she always had a desire to help people.”

After graduating from UBC, Dr. Thomson attended Oregon Health and Science University, where she completed her residency in anesthesiology, one of the few specialties open to women at the time. In 1977, she was diagnosed with a particularly debilitating form of multiple sclerosis that forced her to stop practicing medicine just two years later. As medical students in the class of 1962, Dr. Thomson and Dr. Tobler quickly formed “a good togetherness,” instigating a range of MD class firsts, including designing a student crest, decorating and furnishing

the first MD student lounge and starting a memorial fund for their classmate Richard Owen, who died in a plane crash in the summer of 1960. “Looking back, med school was the most interesting, educational and enjoyable years we had in our lives,” Dr. Tobler says. “Every time we got together we talked about the people in our class and how much fun everything had been.”

FIRST SCHOLARSHIP CREATED FOR SOUTHERN MEDICAL PROGRAM The B.C. Medical Association and the B.C. Medical Foundation have created the first endowed student award for the Southern Medical Program (SMP) at UBC’s Okanagan campus. The Dr. Gary Randhawa Memorial Scholarship in Medicine was established in honour of Gurmeet Singh “Gary” Randhawa, a past member of the BCMA Board of Directors and president of the Kelowna Medical Society. Dr. Randhawa, who died of cancer in January 2008, was a pathologist in

Kelowna and recognized by colleagues as a leader in the medical community, always advocating for patient care. “The establishment of this first scholarship will contribute to our goals of ensuring that highly-qualified candidates will continue to have access to medical education, and consequently contribute to the advancement of quality care within our communities — local and global,” says Allan Jones, Regional Associate Dean, Interior. The first class of SMP students will be admitted in May. The

program will offer 32 seats to incoming students, who will complete their first four months of training in Vancouver before moving to their new home in the Interior. Preference for the $1,000 annual award will be given to those with a record of community service in health care. “The B.C. Medical Foundation is honoured to establish this scholarship as a tribute to Dr. Randhawa’s life-long work and vision in furthering health education and health promotion in local

communities,” says Brian Brodie, President of the B.C. Medical Association. “His energy, enthusiasm and commitment to multicultural health and wellness were widely recognized, particularly through the establishment of health fairs in many communities with the help of local physician volunteers, other healthcare professionals and community leaders. “Supporting a medical student at UBC Okanagan, in the community where Gary lived and worked, is an appropriate and meaningful legacy.”

UBC MEDICINE 23 PHILANTHROPY

LURING A PROMISING RESEARCHER BACK HOME Vancouver-raised Cathie Garnis had given up on her dream of working at a Canadian university. Her genetics research was impressive — she was completing post-doctorate training with Nobel laureate Phil Sharp at MIT — but given the small number of positions at Canadian universities, the prospect of finding the right job in her native land remained slim. Then in 2008, with the help of the Pacific Otolaryngology Foundation, she found herself returning home as an Assistant Professor at UBC.

The low survival rates are due to two reasons: head and neck cancers are often diagnosed late, and there’s a high rate of recurrence. To change this, Dr. Garnis has been evaluating dysplasias — the earliest stages of disease development — in head and neck samples. A dysplasia can be a signal of cancer in an early stage, and often cancers of the head and neck originate in the sinus, nose or mouth. But dysplasias are common, and most don’t become cancerous. “You don’t want to be treating everybody who has a dysplasia, so the key is really to identify those who are at high risk of progression,” Dr. Garnis says.

“If we can take what we’ve learned in the lab to the clinic, then we can save these people from having to go through this awful disease.”

The Dr. Patrick Doyle and Dr. Quentin Jacks Professorship, in the Division of Otolaryngology (disorders of the ear, nose and throat, including head and neck disease), became available. The position, created in 2003 and named for the two UBC professors who created the Pacific Otolaryngology Foundation, was made possible by a $1 million gift from the charitable organization and other partners, including the Rotary Hearing Foundation, to pursue ENT research. Each year, the endowment is enhanced by further — Cathie Garnis contributions from the 32-year-old foundation. When the previous Doyle and Jacks Professor, Dietrich Schwarz, retired, the board made a unanimous decision to pursue a researcher in genetics. “When we got Cathie’s résumé on our desks, saying this was somebody who wants to come back to Vancouver who’s doing genetic research in the ENT area with a Nobel laureate at MIT, that was a pretty good fit for us,” says Bob Doyle, the foundation’s president and son of Dr. Doyle. For the past two years, Dr. Garnis and her lab team have been using DNA and RNA to find new ways to diagnose and treat head and neck cancer. Dr. Garnis says that while it’s not one of the “big cancers” — and thus not as well-funded — it’s debilitating. This year, more than 4,300 Canadians will be diagnosed with it, and approximately 1,600 of them will die.

Recently, the Garnis lab did just that. “We found the genomic signatures of progression,” she says. “That means that we can distinguish the progressive from the non-progressive. If we can take what we’ve learned in the lab to the clinic, then we can save these people from having to go through this awful disease.” Thanks to the foundation’s endowed professorship, Dr. Garnis is able to focus on seeing her research through. By the time she retires, she believes survival rates for head and neck cancer will be significantly higher than they are today. “I think it is a totally treatable disease if caught early and with the right therapy,” she says.

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MAKING A MARK: ACHIEVEMENTS & AWARDS

01 | Robert Brunham, Marco Marra and Julio Montaner received the Order of British Columbia, the highest honour bestowed by the province. Dr. Brunham, a Professor in the Department of Medicine, is Head of the B.C. Centre for Disease Control. His research centres on the immunology, genomics and epidemiology of sexually transmitted diseases and the origins of emerging infectious diseases, and much of his research has dealt with developing a vaccine for chlamydia. Dr. Marra, a Professor in the Department of Medical Genetics, is Director of the Genome Sciences Centre of the BC Cancer Agency, which has attained two historic achievements during his tenure: decoding the genetic sequence of a lobular metastatic cancer, and sequencing the SARS virus in 2004. The Secretariat called him “a world leader in the field of genomics.” Dr. Montaner, a Professor in the Department of Medicine, Director of AIDS Research, and Director of the BC Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS, helped pioneer the gold standard treatment for HIV, called Highly

Active Antiretroviral Therapy, which has saved thousands of lives in Canada and around the world. He also has helped establish and evaluate the effectiveness of Vancouver’s supervised injection site.

02 | Clinical Assistant Professor Gurdeep Parhar was awarded the Family Practice Teacher Award from the BC College of Family Physicians. Dr. Parhar, the Associate Dean, Equity and Professionalism, is Course Director for the first- and second-year family practice courses. The BC College of Family Physicians also gave Exceptional Contribution to Family Medicine Awards to: Associate Professor Ian Scott, Director of Undergraduate Family Practice Programs and former interim Head of the Department of Family Practice; Professor Jack Taunton, co-founder and Director of the Allan McGavin Sports Medicine Centre; and Clinical Assistant Professor Joanne Young, who has been working in the geriatrics program at the Strathcona Mental Health Team in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside for over 16 years.

03 | Abraham de Klerk, Clinical Assistant Professor in the Department of Family Practice, has been named a Member of the Order of Canada. Dr. de Klerk is Medical Director of the department’s Inuvik site in the Northwest Territories (two degrees north of the Arctic Circle), as well as Medical Director of the Beaufort-Delta Health and Social Services Authority. He has served as a rural preceptor affiliated with UBC, the University of Alberta and McGill University. Dr. de Klerk was recognized for “his contributions to health care as a physician, teacher and administrator,” and for his continued advocacy for the needs of rural and remote populations in Canada’s North.

04 | John Gill, an Associate Professor in the Division of Nephrology, won the Clinical Science Investigator Award from the American Society of Transplantation. The award is given to a researcher at the associate professor level who has made a “substantial contribution” to transplantation medicine and “shows signs of a bright future ahead in transplantation.”

A Research Scientist at the Centre for Health Evaluation and Outcome Sciences, Dr. Gill is President-elect of the Canadian Society of Nephrology and President of the Canadian Organ Replacement Register. His focus is on clinical outcomes in kidney transplant patients, access to kidney transplants, living donor transplantation and cardiovascular risk in transplant patients.

05 | Two Associate Professors in the Department of Occupational Science and Occupational Therapy — Bill Miller and Lyn Jongbloed — received the Canadian Association of Occupational Therapy (CAOT) Fellowship Awards for their outstanding contributions and service to the profession. Dr. Jongbloed’s research focuses on understanding the interrelationships between disability and the social, economic and political environment. Over the last 20 years her research has focused on disability policies and their impact on the lives of people with disabilities.

01 | 01

02 | 02

08 | 08

TOP ROW L– R: Robert Brunham, Marco Marra, Julio Montaner, Gurdeep Parhar, Ian Scott, Jack Taunton, Abraham de Klerk BOTTOM ROW L– R: John Gill, Lyn Jongbloed, Videsh Kapoor, Amina Zoubeidi, Barry Kassen, Virginia Anthony, David F. Hardwick

Dr. Miller’s research focuses on the interaction and measurement of mobility disability and participation in daily life, for which he recently received a $1.5 million grant from the Canadian Institute for Health Research to develop and test a collaboratively-controlled, powered wheelchair. (See article, page 14.) He is the first male to ever receive the award.

06 | Videsh Kapoor, a Clinical Assistant Professor in Family Practice, won the Velji Faculty Award for Teaching Excellence in Global Health at the Global Health Education Consortium conference in Mexico. Dr. Kapoor, Director of the Division of Global Health, has been instrumental in establishing and maintaining the success of the Global Health Initiative, which has grown to offer 50 students every year a safe, ethical, and meaningful international health experience in Kenya, Uganda, India and Honduras.

07 | Amina Zoubeidi, an Assistant Professor in the Department of Urologic Sciences, won a Young

Investigator Award from the U.S.-based Prostate Cancer Foundation. Designed to encourage the most innovative minds in cancer research to focus their careers on prostate cancer, the awards provide recipients with three years of funding to support specified research programs. These awards are matched by the recipients’ institutions. Dr. Zoubeidi, a Research Scientist at the Vancouver Prostate Centre, has focused on a molecule called Heat Shock Protein 27 (Hsp27), which has been implicated as a promoter of tumour cell movement, invasion and metastasis in various cancers, including prostate cancer. Hsp27 supports cell survival during stress conditions, such as cancer treatment.

08 | UBC Killam Teaching Prizes ≠≠ Martha

Donnelly (Family Practice and Psychiatry) ≠≠ Jan Friedman (Medical Genetics) ≠≠ Kenneth Gin (Medicine) ≠≠ Patricia Janssen (School of Population and Public Health)

Awards for Initiatives in Promoting Healthy Faculty, Staff and Learners ≠≠ Linda Kompauer and Department of Medicine Health & Wellness Group ≠≠ Michael Lee (Occupational Science and Occupational Therapy) and Mental Health Awareness Group ≠≠ Barbara Fitzgerald and UBC Wellness Initiative Network Awards for Excellence in Mentoring Early Career Faculty Recognizing formally identified mentors who exemplify a deep commitment to fostering the professional and personal development of faculty members in the early stages of their careers. ≠≠ Ross

MacGillivray (Biochemistry) ≠≠ Janice Eng (Physical Therapy) ≠≠ Timothy O’Connor (Cellular and Physiological Sciences) Continuing Medical Education/ Continuing Professional Development Awards ≠≠ Sue Stanton (Occupational Science and Occupational Therapy) — Innovation in CME/CPD Award ≠≠ William Schreiber (Pathology & Laboratory Medicine) — Distinguished Service Award in CME/CPD

Clinical Faculty Award for Career Excellence in Clinical Teaching ≠≠ Barry Kassen (Medicine) Clinical Faculty Award for Excellence in Teaching ≠≠ Jeff Beckman (Medicine) ≠≠ George Pawliuk (Psychiatry) ≠≠ Graham Wong (Medicine) Clinical Faculty Award for Excellence in Community Practice Teaching ≠≠ Lachlan Macintosh (Family Practice) Applegarth Staff Service Award ≠≠ Virginia Anthony (School of Population and Public Health) ≠≠ Penny Woo (Pathology & Laboratory Medicine) Bill & Marilyn Webber Lifetime Achievement Award ≠≠ David F. Hardwick (Pathology & Laboratory Medicine)

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L– R: Kendall Ho; BC Guidelines on the iPhone.

PHOTO BY MARTIN DEE

YET ANOTHER USE FOR THE iPHONE — TREATING PATIENTS Among the 200,000 iPhone apps that include Hello Cow (emits a variety of mooing sounds), Hang Time (calculates the precise amount of time the device spends falling to the ground), or Haircaster (predicts what kind of hair day it will be), the UBC Faculty of Medicine has added one more — with a somewhat less catchy name, but a decidedly more useful purpose. “BC Guidelines” enables health professionals to get information about diagnoses and treatments without ever having to leave the examining room. Exploiting the iPhone’s seductive interface, its list of ailments can be easily scrolled and its images enlarged with a swipe of the fingers. (The program is available at the iTunes store, at http://itunes.apple.com/) The guidelines, developed by the British Columbia Medical Association (BCMA) and the Ministry of Health Services, give health professionals advice about 30 different conditions, including ankle injury, cataracts, mammography, methadone maintenance and rheumatoid arthritis. “We’re providing the latest evidence, vetted by medical experts in B.C., on demand,” says Kendall Ho, Director of the eHealth Strategy Office in the Faculty of Medicine, and an Associate Professor of Emergency Medicine. “Wouldn’t you want a health professional who wants to check out the latest evidence when treating you?” Among the nuggets of information available from BC Guidelines: medication dosages for asthma patients; the recommended body mass index and waist size for a patient diagnosed with hypertension; how to interpret test results when screening a patient for kidney disease. The software grew out of a project, funded by the Ministry of Health Services, aimed at helping physicians keep track of their diabetes patients’ conditions using the Palm, the original mobile computer. Physicians weren’t so taken with the monitoring part — entering

patients’ weight and glucose levels and viewing the resulting graphs on a tiny screen wasn’t a big hit, especially when they had to track down the information from a nurse. But they really liked having treatment guidelines so readily available. The eHealth Strategy Office, created under Dr. Ho last year, obtained additional funding from the ministry and the BCMA to adapt all of BC’s Clinical Practice Guidelines for the Palm and Windows Mobile devices. In late 2009, it launched a BlackBerry version. But the iPhone version, which took eight months to develop, gave the project a turbo boost of popularity. One thousand copies of the program were downloaded within the first two weeks of its release last month. “I use it to make sure I’m following the proper management protocols — that I’ve checked what I need to check, that I’ve ordered the right blood work, things like that,” said Sara MitchellBanks, a chronic disease nurse in Powell River who is studying to become a nurse practitioner. “I’m sure most clinicians have not memorized most things that need to be known.” BC Guidelines is intended for the province’s health professionals, so the eHealth Strategy Office provides technical support only to people in that category. But anyone, anywhere can download the software and use it as a handy reference tool. “It’s quite unique that the province and the BCMA chose to do this, and continues to support it,” says Noreen Kamal, the Assistant Director, Technology & Innovation, for the eHealth Strategy Office. “It shows that, working together, British Columbia is a leader in using technology to disseminate medical knowledge.”

FALL 2010: MEDICAL ALUMNI NEWS President’s Report Honorary Alumni Events Jack Taunton MSAC/MUS Report

CLOCKWISE FROM TOP: UBC Medicine’s first Dean, Dr. Myron Weaver, with two of the first students in 1950; G. Stuart, M. Dahl, R. Chen, D.F. Hardwick, C. Stringer, M. Lam PHOTO BY EVANGELOS PHOTOGRAPHY ; J. Taunton, D. Mackesy; MAA AGM — May 8, 2010; MAA Golf Tournament — June 24, 2010; C. Naus, C. Boucher, M. Dahl PHOTOS BY KYLE HARLAND

28 30 33 35 37

Wallace Wilson Leadership Award Silver Anniversary Award 60th Anniversary Alumni Activities Graduates

29 32 34 36 38

28 UBC MEDICINE | ALUMNI NEWS

MEDICAL ALUMNI ASSOCIATION BOARD 2010 – 2011

President Marshall Dahl, MD ’86 President-Elect Jack Burak, MD ’76 Past-President Jim Lane, MD ’73 Treasurer Harvey Lui, MD ’86 Island Medical Representative Ian Courtice, MD ’84 Northern Medical Representative Don MacRitchie, MD ’70

MEDICAL ALUMNI ASSOCIATION PRESIDENT’S REPORT

Southern Medical Representatives Tom Kinahan, MD ’84 Mike Golbey, MD ’80 Newsletter Editor Beverley Tamboline, MD ’60 Admissions Selection Committee Jim Cupples, MD ’81 Admissions Policy Committee David W. Jones, MD ’70 Directors Bob Cheyne, MD ’77 Bruce Fleming, MD ’78 Ron Warneboldt, MD ’75 Nick Carr, MD’83 Ex-Officio Members Dean, Faculty of Medicine Dr. Gavin Stuart (Hon.) Alumni Affairs Office Anne Campbell Kira Peterson Faculty Representative Barbara Fitzgerald, MD ’85 MUS Representative Diane Wu. MD ’12 Advisors Arun Garg, MD ’77 David Hardwick, MD ’57 Charles Slonecker. DDS, PhD

OBJECTIVES

To support the Faculty of Medicine and its programs directly and through advocacy with the public and government; To ensure open communication among alumni and between the alumni and the Faculty of Medicine; To encourage and support medical students and residents and their activities; To organize and foster academic and social activities for the alumni. The Medical Alumni News is published semi-annually and this edition was produced by the UBC Faculty of Medicine. We welcome your suggestions, ideas and opinions. Please send comments, articles and letters to: Beverley Tamboline, MD ’60 Alumni Affairs Faculty of Medicine 2750 Heather Street Vancouver, BC V5Z 4M2 Ph: 604 875 4111 ext. 67741 Fax: 604 875 5778 med.alumni@ubc.ca

“Your Town” 2010 Your town is sixty years old. What’s this about? The total number of MD graduates from the UBC Medical School is now approximately 5,500. That’s the size of a small town. The day that you and UBC chose one another for Medical School is the day that you became a life-long member of this medical community. Our town was founded in September of 1950. Like other small towns, almost everyone knows everyone else. You may have daily contact with alumni in your past or present medical practice. You have close ties with some of our colleagues, recognize others by name only, and can often find a fellow graduate in communities around the world. We have had a number of fine “mayors” in our Deans

of Medicine and a number of distinguished and famous citizens. Some are noted for their medical achievements, some for teaching, and others for philanthropy. One graduate, “Dr. Peter” Jepson-Young (MD ‘85) was fondly remembered in September on the occasion of the twentieth anniversary of his CBC diaries and the 25th anniversary of his graduation from UBC Medicine. Our graduates have formal and informal get-togethers and reunions. Whether or not you attend, you still share a bond with your fellow alumni through your practice of medicine and your past experiences at UBC. The Medical School opened 60 years ago and the UBC Medical Alumni Association (MAA) will mark this anniversary with many celebrations over the next twelve months. The calendar of events is available at www.med.ubc.ca/alum. Do you want to be a part of strengthening our community? Your Medical Alumni

Association raises funds to help support medical students by furnishing facilities in medical sites across the province and supporting activities such as the rural medical program and the Hooding Ceremony. The MAA still continues the tradition of giving cedar shingles to each graduating student. You can help by joining the UBC Medical Alumni Association (www. med.ubc.ca/alum/medalumni) because the $65 fee is used for these purposes. You can also help by taking part in fun(d)raising activities like the annual golf tournament (June 23, 2011). I hope that you can join our town’s anniversary celebrations this year in person or in spirit. If you do, then welcome home! Yours, Marshall Dahl, MD ’86 President UBC Medical Alumni Association

L– R: Morris VanAndel; Gord McFadden, Morris VanAndel, Marshall Dahl

PHOTOS BY KYLE HARLAND

WALLACE WILSON LEADERSHIP AWARD MORRIS VANANDEL, MD ’68

I have known Morris for 40 years, shared a practice with him and continued to work with him after he left practice and joined the College of Physicians and Surgeons of British Columbia (CPSBC). In preparation for this presentation, I reviewed some of the testimonials given to Wallace Wilson. The recurring themes of his personality were his humanity, wisdom, and sense of responsibility to his community and the medical profession. Morris was born in Arnhem, Netherlands in 1943. His family immigrated to Canada in 1954 and settled in New Westminster. As with many immigrants at that time, they came from significant hardship and needed to make considerable adjustments. These challenges can shape one’s life and encourage thrift, hard work and a sense of community. In addition, Morris’ father was a Dutch reform minister and it is apparent that this influence would shape his character and behaviour.

Morris took his undergraduate studies and MD degree at UBC and graduated in 1968. He completed his internship at the Royal Columbian Hospital. He was in family practice until 1992 when he joined the CPSBC as a Deputy Registrar. Morris’ accomplishments are on a large and small stage. He was a hard-working and respected family physician. He provided service to the public, the local hospital and his colleagues. He accepted positions without consideration of honours, money, or notoriety. He accepted these positions as a matter of responsibility and duty to the profession and community. Morris’ CV documents his continued service and advancement to increasing important positions of responsibility. Some of the more notable parts of his CV include: Chairman of the credential committee RCH ≠≠ President of the Medical Staff ≠≠ Chairman of the Medical Advisory Committee ≠≠

Chief of the Department of Family Medicine ≠≠ Acting Medical Director of the Fraser Burrard Hospital ≠≠ Founding member of the committee on Office Medical Practice Assessment ≠≠ Member of the Small Hospital Clinical Appraisal Program ≠≠ Deputy Registrar of the College of Physicians and Surgeons, then Senior Registrar and finally Registrar ≠≠ Member of the Executive Committee of the Federation of Medical Regulatory Authorities of Canada ≠≠ Member of the Medical Council of Canada and the President of the Medical Council of Canada ≠≠ College representative to the Audit and Inspection Committee of the Medical Service Plan

Congratulations to a very deserving physician — Dr. Morris VanAndel.

The time and effort involved to accomplish his CV is considerable.

Presented by Gord McFadden, MD ’69

≠≠

Despite retiring from the College, he continues to support the College on a parttime basis providing advice and service.

The Wallace Wilson Leadership Award is intended for physicians from UBC who have demonstrated outstanding service and leadership. Morris has demonstrated these characteristics. The award also honours physicians who have demonstrated high ethical standards. Morris’ integrity, honesty, fairness and dedication to the welfare of the public and the profession have been clearly demonstrated. In addition, Morris is well respected by those who have had contact with him on a professional and personal level. He is an honourable and decent man.

30 UBC MEDICINE | ALUMNI NEWS

D. Stogryn, R. Warneboldt, M. Dahl

PHOTO BY KYLE HARLAND

HONORARY ALUMNI AWARDS Honorary Alumnus — Dr. Dale Stogryn This award is presented to a committed clinician, an excellent teacher, a revered mentor, or a skilled administrator. Dr. Stogryn has won this award for all of these categories. As a clinician he is very respected in British Columbia. He was drawn to clinical medicine while studying for his Masters of Pharmaceutical Chemistry at the University of Alberta, having enjoyed the shared medical courses and patient contact. While doing his clerkship in Spirit River, Alberta, at which time he was planning on specializing, he worked with a family physician mentor, Dr. Art Laventure, who changed his career path. Dale has been committed to family practice since that time. He has now been a practicing family physician in Coquitlam for 34 years, loving the challenges, diversity and opportunities that family practice provides. He was awarded his Fellowship in the College of Family Physicians of Canada in 2004. Dale loves teaching and has taught from day 1 of practice.

He describes this as his first love among all work that he does. In his early years of practice he joined the Medical Education Committee at Royal Columbian Hospital. His skill and commitment led to his appointment as the Medical Education Director at Royal Columbian Hospital in his ninth year of practice, a position he has held continuously since 1985, although the position morphed in 2002 to encompass the Directorship of Medical Education for the entire Fraser Health region. Dale has been a mentor to almost a thousand residents who have passed through the Royal Columbian’s top rated residency program and also to over a hundred residents and medical students who have attended his office. He is a frequently requested preceptor by students from all across Canada. He was awarded a full Clinical Professorship at UBC in 2005, was voted as the Mentor of the Year by the residents at the Royal Columbian Hospital in 2008, and last year was awarded the Exceptional Leadership Award by the residents at that hospital.

His administrative accomplishments are not just limited to Medical Education at Fraser Health. He has served on many university committees such as the Post Graduate Planning Task Force and the Dean’s Review Committee, and has served on at least five different BCMA committees, most recently as the chairman of the Pharmacy and Therapeutics Committee. He has been a peer assessor and hospital appraiser for the BC College of Physicians and Surgeons and a national team member for the Federation of Medical Licensing Authorities of Canada. He is most proud of the development of the academic training space at the Royal Columbian Hospital, the hospital’s partnership with UBC, and the perception of the Royal Columbian Hospital as an excellent training centre. Dale is also very proud of his three children. His older daughter, Krista, is a rural Family Physician in Ahousat and Tofino; his son, Ross, is entering a Masters of Counseling Psychology at UBC; and his younger daughter, Shannon, is in her third year of medical school in Sydney, Australia.

It gives me great pleasure to present Dr. Dale Stogryn, a committed clinician, an excellent teacher, a revered mentor, and a skilled administrator, as an Honorary Medical Alumnus of UBC. Presented by Ron Warneboldt, MD ’75

Honorary Alumnus — Dr. Bill Nelems Bill Nelems is well known as a larger than life fellow who qualifies for Honorary Alumnus under all of the previously mentioned spheres of accomplishment — clinician, teacher, mentor, and administrator. Bill was born in South Africa and did his basic medical training there. He trained in London and Toronto, finally doing his thoracic surgery training in Canada. He is well known around the world for pioneering work in Thoracic Outlet Syndrome and did basic science research including cadaver research describing the path of physiology of that entity. Bill is so full of energy I don’t know whether he is a wave or a

L– R: B. Nelems; D. Ostrow and M. Dahl

particle. He is an amazing man who has accomplished so much and we are extremely fortunate to have him in the Okanagan. He spent years here clinically in the 1970’s before coming to UBC and teaching in the thoracic surgery program for many years. He then changed his career and did a Master’s degree in Psychology and came to Kelowna to open the Cancer Centre for the southern Interior, which was a pioneer position for a surgeon in BC. He then went into clinical practice here and carried on as the Head of thoracic surgery and has been instrumental in bringing the UBC medical school to the Okanagan and continues on in that role through UBC-O. Bill’s latest iteration, his latest redevelopment of himself now, is as the leader of a group called OkaZHI, which is the Okanagan Zambia Health Initiative, which Bill has spearheaded in an effort to bring modern medical teaching and services to the country of Zambia through which he has multiple connections. Bill has done this through convening a wonder group in the Okanagan — beginning a volunteer organization for

PHOTO BY KYLE HARLAND

medical services, medical teaching, nursing services and all sorts of aspects of health care. To highlight this, Bill was involved in a long distance bicycle tour in Africa, Tour d’Afrique which was a total of approximately 4,500km. He has since returned home successful, happy and healthy. Bill has brought the whole health initiative to the forefront through his efforts and it is an absolutely fantastic achievement. I’m very happy to present Bill as an Honorary Alumnus. Presented by Tom Kinahan, MD ’84

Honorary Alumnus — Dr. David Ostrow It is an honour and a pleasure to introduce one of this year’s Honorary Alumni, Dr. David Ostrow, to the UBC Medical Alumni Association. Dr. Ostrow is a respirologist and a Professor in the Department of Medicine. He received his MD from the University of Manitoba in 1968, which was followed by postgraduate training in Montreal, Winnipeg, and

Michigan. He has been a faculty member at UBC since 1979, which means that he has provided over three decades of service in BC. He became a full professor in 1994. I remember David as one of my teachers when I was a medical student from the Class of ‘86. He was always very clear in his respirology teaching sessions, and I could tell that he was sincerely interested in helping us learn. Years later when I became a faculty member I had the opportunity to work alongside him in teaching Problem Based Learning to the second year students. I am now the course director for the Integument Block, and David has been one of our tutors for this block which involves an introductory course to dermatology. I was very impressed that even though he was teaching in an area outside his usual expertise, he still took great pains to make sure that his tutorial group became fully proficient with the content of the block. Moreover he was very forthcoming with advice and feedback about how we could improve our block. I am sure that my own

positive, personal experiences with David in medical school can be mirrored by countless other students and colleagues, and that these contributions are typical of his involvement with our medical school. In terms of his medical expertise, Dr. Ostrow was the founder of the lung transplantation program in BC and has also been involved with pulmonary infections in the immunocompromised host. As you know, we are fortunate that David has gone on to have a major role in health care administration, serving in a multitude of roles at VGH and the Regional Health Authority. This has culminated in his current role as the Chief Executive Officer for the Vancouver Coastal Health Authority, undoubtedly one of the most challenging jobs in the country. David’s involvement with UBC Faculty of Medicine and his commitment to health care, sustained over 30 years, clearly merits distinction for the Honorary Medical Alumnus award. Prepared by Harvey Lui, MD ’86 and presented by Marshall Dahl, MD ’86

L– R: D. Money, H. Oetter, M. Dahl

PHOTO BY KYLE HARLAND ; Peter Jepson-Young

with classmates Stacy Elliott, Deborah Money and Richard Bebb

SILVER ANNIVERSARY AWARDS Heidi Oetter I am pleased to announce Heidi Oetter as the joint recipient of the UBC Class of 1985 Silver Anniversary Medical Alumnus Award. I have known Heidi since 1978. She was and remains one of the most energetic and logical, clear thinking people yet has still managed to retain a gentle, humanitarian attitude. We all have benefitted from her dedication, commitment and accomplishments. Heidi has a vast store of medical knowledge and wealth of experience in general practice and administration. She has managed to steer the medical profession through government legislation, health policy changes, and self-governance issues during her tenure as Secretary-Treasurer, and then as President of the BCMA, BC Rep in the CMPA Council, Deputy, and then Registrar of the BC College of Physicians and Surgeons.

As a staff member at Royal Columbian Hospital, Heidi worked with a number of GP colleagues and Dr. Isomura to create a shared care program for inpatient and outpatient psychiatric services. She helped ensure compensation for on-call services for physicians and a mechanism for arbitration with the government. And she has fought to preserve the profession’s autonomy and selfregulation, while maintaining a consistently high standard of medical care for patients. In 2006, Heidi was awarded the Dr. David Bachop Gold Medal for Distinguished Medical Service. For her untiring efforts, she has our profound gratitude and respect. Please join me in thanking Heidi for all the time and effort she has spent for the benefit of the medical profession and patients of BC. Submitted by Martin Gerretsen, MD ’85

Peter Jepson-Young Our class of ’85 got the chance to know Peter before he became Dr. Peter. We knew him as a handsome, athletic, outgoing classmate who was our friend. What we didn’t know was that Peter’s medical career was going to be cut much too short. He was diagnosed with AIDS in 1986. Peter’s family was extraordinary and showed courage and bravery. I was so impressed at their ability to step up and to be there for him. The public “Dr. Peter” was born when David Paperny, a CBC producer, approached Peter with the idea to do a diary to put him out there in the public and tell his story. The Diaries were small snippets in the news once a week. In the first installment Peter stood in front of the camera and said, “I’m a physician, I’m a gay man, and I have AIDS.” Little by little he revealed the honest truth about AIDS and his circumstances.

Now, the term “knowledge translation” is used all the time in med school but knowledge translation wasn’t even a phrase we used in the 80s and 90s. Peter took knowledge translation a quantum leap forward and he truly taught about medicine and humanity and that legacy lives on. He also left us another legacy. As he was aware of his own imminent death he said, “I want to have a place that will provide comfort care for people with AIDS because I have this amazing family and the means to plan my comfortable death in my own home and other people don’t have that.” That was the beginning of the Dr. Peter Centre, and it began as a palliative care facility, which has evolved into a much more comprehensive day centre. We were fortunate to have known Peter as PJY, as a classmate, and as a friend, before he became Dr. Peter and before this amazing legacy. Presented by Deborah Money, MD ’85

ALUMNI NEWS | UBC MEDICINE 33

L– R: D. McCarthy, B. Turchen, B. Cheyne, B. Fritz; E. Philips, H. Oetter, G. Wilson, J. Burak; D. Blackman, P. Chan-Yan, L. Sent, M. VanAndel PHOTOS BY KYLE HARLAND

ALUMNI EVENTS UBC Medical Alumni & Friends Golf Tournament This year’s Medical Alumni & Friends Golf Tournament held on June 24, was a huge success! Returning to the tournament’s roots at the University Golf Course, we had double the number of participants over last year come out to play. Sixtyeight alumni, colleagues, and medical students came out to enjoy the day. Although rain was predicted, for us, it was a sunny, beautiful day and we were out on the course enjoying the company, the game and the sun. The afternoon was spent connecting with friends, colleagues, former classmates, and teachers. Between laughing and conversations, we even managed to find time to get in some great shots on the course. Continuing tradition, Brad Fritz, MD ‘75 was the golfer with the lowest net score. And to top it off, we raised over $15,000 for the Medical Alumni Association to support student programs! After the round of golf, we enjoyed a fabulous dinner together in the clubhouse before the prizes were awarded.

Special thanks to Ron Warneboldt, Bob Cheyne, David Jones (Alumni), Anne Campbell (Faculty Alumni Relations) and Patty Scrase (Scotiabank) for organizing this year’s tournament. Next year’s tournament will be even more fun as we celebrate the Faculty of Medicine’s Diamond Anniversary, and we hope to have even more of our alumni come out. Please mark your calendars for Thursday, June 23, 2011 at University Golf Club! We would like to extend a heartfelt thank you to our sponsors for continuing to support our current and future medical community. Title Sponsor Scotiabank Gold Sponsors CBI Health Group Clinical Sleep Solutions Physician Health Program of BC Silver Sponsors Haslett Financial MedRay MD Management AIM Medical Imaging Meyers Norris Penny Bronze Sponsors BC Biomedical EMIS Inc Sport Med/Paris Orthotics CEI Architecture EFG Wealth Management Wolrige Mahon Schmunk Gatt Smith Morrey Infiniti BCMA False Creek Surgical Centre London Drugs

CLASS REUNIONS Class of 1985 Sept 9 – 12, 2010 Organizer: Consuelo Kinahan Class of 2000 Sept 11, 2010 Organizer: Talsim Hameer Class of 1970 Oct 1 – 3, 2010 Organizer: John Campbell Class of 1960 Oct 15 – 17, 2010 Organizer: Lynn Ledgerwood Class of 1956 May 18 – 19, 2011 Organizers: Lee & Thais Kornder For more information on class reunions, please contact the UBC Medical Alumni Affairs Office at marisa.iuvancigh@ubc.ca or 604-875-4111 ext. 62031

ALUMNI EVENTS Celebrating the Life and Legacy of Dr. Peter. The Broadcast Tapes of Dr. Peter: Screening and Talkback Sept 9, 2010 6:30 – 09:30 PM Please note this event has sold out. 3rd Annual Okanagan Alumni Endowment Fund Gala Sept 29, 2010 6:30 – 09:30 PM University Centre Ballroom, UBC’s Okanagan Campus We would like to recognize Richard Hooper, MD ’68, who will receive the Okanagan Community Builder Award. Congratulations Dr. Hooper!

Celebrating Achievement: The UBC Blue and Gold Review Save the Date! Nov 29, 2010 More information can be found on the Alumni Affairs website (www.alumni.ubc.ca) soon. We would like to recognize Jack Taunton, MD ’76, who will receive the Outstanding Faculty Community Service Award. Congratulations Dr. Taunton!

UBC DIALOGUES UBC Dialogues – London, UK Oct 1, 2010 Theme: Coalition Governments UBC Dialogues – Toronto, ON Oct 5, 2010 Theme: Advocacy and Activism UBC Dialogues – North Vancouver, BC Oct 13, 2010 Theme: Aboriginal Land Development UBC Dialogues – Calgary, AB Oct 19, 2010 Theme: Clean Energy UBC Dialogues – Vancouver, BC Oct 26, 2010 Theme: Eco-density UBC Dialogues – Coquitlam, BC Nov 16, 2010 Theme: Mental Health UBC Dialogues – Ottawa, ON Nov 18, 2010 Theme: TBC

L– R: UBC Faculty of Medicine building 1950; UBC Life Sciences Centre c. 2009

WHAT IT MEANS TO BE AN ALUMNUS/A Morton Dodek, MD ’54 Sixty years ago, Morton Dodek, MD ’54 walked nervously into his first class as a medical student at UBC not knowing exactly what to expect over the next four years. From the temporary white huts, which were the medical classrooms in the 1950’s, Dr. Dodek learned the pressures of being a medical student, but also recognized that it was a honour to be a part of this program with an outstanding faculty, which included Dr. Sydney Friedman, Dr. Harold Copp, Dr. William Boyd, and many other notable professors. What stood out for Dr. Dodek was that this small class of 60 students, consisting of three women and 57 men, was that they would be the first graduating class from the Faculty of Medicine at UBC and the first medical alumni. Four years of medical school passed and Dr. Dodek and his classmates built camaraderie which keeps them bonded today as they go on to celebrate their reunions. Over

half of the graduating class went into Family Practice and even includes an Olympic athlete, a Surgeon General, Dean of Medicine, and an Order of Canada member. UBC Faculty of Medicine’s Diamond Anniversary is a special milestone for them — 60 years, 60 students, 60 doctors. Now, as medical technology and teaching advances and class sizes and faculty grow, Dr. Dodek is pleased to see that one thing has remained the same; understanding the value of being part of your alumni. As a 56-year alumnus, Dr. Dodek still feels that special connection toward UBC and continues his commitment to support the university and its students. Dr. Dodek is very proud and honoured to be a part of the medical alumni, which include his brother, Arthur Dodek, MD ’67, his daughter, Gail Dodek Wenner, MD ’81, and will soon include his grandson, Joshua Wenner, MD ’12.

Jaspreet Khangura, MD ’10 This past spring, Jaspreet Khangura, MD ’10 proudly walked across the stage at UBC’s hooding ceremony and received her wooden shingle that showcased her name and the letters “MD.” She was now part of the exceptional alumni who had come before her in the previous 60 years. Dr. Khangura recognizes that it is a privilege to be part of alumni who are well recognized, and notes that being a part of this community is a milestone in her career. This year, Dr. Khangura was awarded with the prestigious Rhodes Scholarship and is now attending Oxford University to complete her DPhil in Primary Health Care. Upon graduation, she plans to carry out her residency and pursue a PhD. Throughout her student years, Dr. Khangura held a strong interest in social justice and committed herself to local and global volunteerism and advocacy projects. She juggled

numerous initiatives while being a full-time medical student and is very grateful for the support that she received from the UBC medical community. As an alumna, Dr. Khangura knows that it will be important to be an active participant in a community which gave her many opportunities. She looks forward to creating a path which will allow her to benefit others, always include learning, and continue a lifelong relationship with the UBC Medicine community.

ALUMNI NEWS | UBC MEDICINE 35

J. Taunton and D. Mackesy

AN OLYMPIC GOLD FOR MEDICINE As Chief Medical Officer (CMO) during the 2010 Winter Olympics, Jack Taunton, MD ’76, spent four and a half years creating the medical juggernaut that ensured VANOC was prepared to handle any medical incident leading up to and throughout the games.

throat services and public health services. The integrated medical team approach allowed patients to have access to physiotherapy, massage therapy, chiropractic and sports acupuncture, podiatry, orthotics, bracing and prostheses, wheelchair repair and other services such as interpretation services, doping control and a regeneration and recovery centre all within the same facility.

From the opening of the media centre on January 12 to the closing of the Paralympics village on March 24, Taunton and his team provided medical coverage to every Olympic site between Vancouver and Whistler. Their prospective patients included 5,500 Olympic athletes and team officials, 1,350 Paralympic athletes and team officials, 25,000 volunteers, 10,000 media personnel and up to 1.6 million potential spectators at the events.

Thanks to the integrated and extensive medical support available at these polyclinics, hospitalizations declined exponentially. Of nearly 9,200 Olympic and 2,910 Paralympic medical encounters, only 14 were hospitalized during the Olympic Games and seven during the Paralympics — a huge decline compared to the Torino Games, where 1,198 were hospitalized.

Most of the medical care during the games was located in two 10,000-square-foot polyclinics in the Vancouver and Whistler Olympic villages. These clinics included primary care services, sports medicine, emergency medicine and trauma care, surgical consultations, imaging, lab services, pharmacy, dentistry, vision services, ear nose and

The Mobile Medical Unit in Whistler was another innovative form of medical care during the games that helped save lives and reduce hospitalizations. The unit was a fixed part of the polyclinic and provided life, limb and organ salvage for up to four days. After the games were complete, the unit was sold to the province to be used in different communities.

A team of 700 carried out the anti-doping program that Taunton supervised. The state of the art anti-doping facilities, located in the Richmond Ice Oval, also allowed officials to conduct tests in greater numbers. In Vancouver, 2,400 anti-doping tests were done — over a thousand more than recent Olympic Games.

(including $7.2 million dollars worth of supplies and equipment) and medical expertise during his Olympic tenure. Of the 1,560 Olympic and 871 Paralympic medical staff, Taunton estimates that approximately 1,000 were volunteers, while other volunteers received honorariums for their services.

The goal of Taunton and the entire VANOC medical team was to leave a lasting legacy to sports medicine and the citizens of British Columbia. Some of the medical legacies include the number of staff now available with hands-on medical training in every sport; 225 defibrillators from Medtronics distributed across Canada; 10,000 CPR Anytime training kits plus Rescue Breathers from the Heart & Stroke Foundation; and over $120,000 medical, pharmacy, dental and bracing supplies sent to Haiti. A CT Scan, a Mini c-arm, five portable ultrasound devices, and three brand new hand held ultra sounds were also donated to sites in Vancouver, Squamish and Whistler after the games, courtesy of GE.

Many of Taunton’s volunteers came directly from the Faculty of Medicine, including medical and Human Kinetics students who participated as First responders, and Dean Gavin Stuart, who volunteered as a venue medical officer.

Taunton is most thankful for how the medical community and UBC Faculty of Medicine rallied behind him with resources, funding, donations

“The IOC and IPC said that this was the best ever medical and anti-doping services at any summer or winter Olympics,” Taunton says. “That was because of the team of people and companies that worked with me and supported me. “ This fall, Jack Taunton will receive a UBC Alumni Achievement Award for Outstanding Faculty Community Service Award. For more information visit the website at http://www.alumni. ubc.ca/events/awards/index.php. Written by Laura Laverdure

L– R: L. Warren; I. Gillespie; A. Garg; K. Gin

ALUMNI AWARDS, ACHIEVEMENTS AND ACTIVITIES Several alumni were honoured at the BCMA Annual Awards Ceremonies on June 12, 2010. Linda Warren, MD ’68 was one of the recipients of the BCMA Silver Medal of Service, the Association’s highest honour. Joyce Wonmi Choi, MD ’07 was the recipient of the Dr. David M. Bachop Silver Medal in General Medical Practice. CMA Honorary Membership was conferred on David Harder, MD ’59, Ray Karjala, MD ’56, Garson (Gary) Romalis, MD ’62, and Jean Swenerton, MD ’69. Ian Gillespie, MD ’71 was installed as BCMA President for 2010-2011. Arun Garg, MD ’77 received an Honorary Doctor of Technology degree from BCIT — BCIT’s highest award.

Wesbrook Scholars Twenty- three UBC Students received the designation of Wesbrook Scholar for 20092010. This recognizes top undergraduate students, based on academic performance and demonstrated ability to serve, work with and lead others, on and/off campus. Four of these students were from the Faculty of Medicine: Alison Lee and Namrata Jhamb, both Med I, and Bippan Sangha, who was also the recipient of the John H. Mitchell Memorial Scholarship, and Jennifer Smitten, both Med IV. Bippan is now doing a residency at UBC in Diagnostic Radiology and Jennifer a residency at UBC in Pediatrics. Congratulations to all.

2010 UBC Faculty of Medicine Awards Kenneth Gin, MD ’85 was a recipient of a UBC Killam Teaching Prize. Barbara Fitzgerald, MD ’85 received the Award for Initiatives in Promoting Healthy Faculty, Staff and Learners. George Pawliuk, MD ’95 and Graham Wong, MD ’95 each were recipients of the Clinical Faculty Award for Excellence in Teaching. David Hardwick, MD ’57 received the Bill & Marilyn Webber Lifetime Achievement Award which recognizes extraordinary members of the Faculty of Medicine who have sustained distinguished careers at UBC.

MSAC is having a 20th Birthday Weepers on Friday, March 18, 2011. Plan to come to MSAC and enjoy a Friday night tradition with classmates, students, and alumni.

The Great Weep Chris Cunningham, MD ’93 recently visited MSAC to view the facility which had grown substantially since his graduation. He noticed that the plaque — The Big Weep — which listed him and Rob Waite, MD ’92, as award recipients was no longer displayed. This was awarded in honour of their “flawless” Friday Night Weepers attendance over four years of medical school. Before MSAC was built, Weepers had been held in the nurses’ residence and the basement of the Health Pavillion. “I hope they still hold such high regard for Friday Weepers as we did! As they say, a good history is the key, but Weepers is paramount!” If you long for another Weepers, here’s your chance! MSAC is having a 20th Birthday Weepers on Friday, March 18, 2011. Plan to come to MSAC and enjoy a Friday night tradition with classmates, students, and alumni.

ALUMNI NEWS | UBC MEDICINE 37

L– R: D.F. Hardwick, D. Wu, M. Berg; G. Stuart, M. Dahl, R. Chen, D.F. Hardwick, C. Stringer, M. Lam PHOTO BY EVANGELOS PHOTOGRAPHY

THE MUS INSTALLS A STATUE AT MSAC The MUS installs a statue at MSAC The Medical Undergraduate Society is comprised of elected student representatives such as Class Presidents, Distributed Site Vice Presidents, an IT Officer, and other administrative positions. However, there is one vital elected representative that connects the students with the Faculty of Medicine: the Faculty Advisor to the MUS. In order for the Faculty of Medicine community to thrive, communication among students, faculty, administration, and alumni must be strong and open. The

history of policy decisions and past agreements must be clear, so that the MUS Executive can move expeditiously during each year. The Faculty Advisor to the MUS attends MUS meetings, and is the liaison and policy advisor to the student government. This role is an elected two-year term. For the last 20 elections, since 1972, the same person has been elected and has served as Faculty Advisor to the Medical Undergraduate Society: Dr. David Hardwick. The MUS Executive of 200910 decided to honour Dr. Hardwick’s commitment to the MUS and UBC medical students. Their idea of

creating a bronze statue was ambitious and beyond the MUS budget. However, the UBC Medicine alumni and academic community stepped in, and the project received the green light. Once again, Dr. Hardwick’s influence created a cooperative and collaborative effort among students, alumni, administration and faculty. At the Medical Ball 2010, Mattias Berg, MUS President, revealed the newly-minted statue. Over the summer of 2010, it was given a home in MSAC’s Medical Alumni Meeting Room. Members of the community can visit MSAC to view the statue which celebrates the strong and supportive relationship the Faculty of

Medicine enjoys among its members and affiliates. Diane Wu, MUS President in 2010-11, states, “Over the years, Dr. Hardwick has been the cornerstone of the medical student community, and I’m thrilled that this acknowledgement pays tribute to his tremendous service.” Dr. Hardwick reaches out to the Faculty of Medicine community, creating a model of collaboration with members at all levels. His statue is also interactive: his hand is outstretched in friendship and welcome.

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38 UBC MEDICINE | ALUMNI NEWS

CONGRATULATIONS TO THE CLASS OF 2010!

Please join us in welcoming our newest graduates as they pursue their residency programs. On behalf of the UBC Medical Alumni Association, we are proud to welcome you as alumni and colleagues.

Anatomical Pathology and General Pathology Neelam Sandhu University of Alberta Ian Garber University of British Columbia Lien Hoang University of British Columbia

Cardiac Surgery

Family Medicine

Vincent Lau University of Alberta

Keith Martin University of Alberta

Dermatology Megan Isaac-Renton University of Calgary Christina Scali University of British Columbia

Anesthesiologyy Yaryna Bychkivska University of Manitoba

Diagnostic Radiology

Brendon Chung University of Alberta

Carola Behrens University of British Columbia

Fiorenzo Cusano University of Western Ontario

Yatin Chadha Queen’s University

Zhe Amy Bian Fang University of Alberta Claire Fast University of British Columbia Patrick Hecht University of British Columbia Jeffrey Lau McGill University Mark Lipsett Memorial University Ken Mast McGill University Perseus Missirlis University of British Columbia

Bryn Runkle University of Toronto Lindi Thibodeau University of British Columbia Brock Wilson University of Ottawa Jason Wilson University of British Columbia Kevin Yee University of Calgary Paul Zakus University of British Columbia

Farah Ali Barrie-Newmarket University of Toronto Wesley Clayden Barrie-Newmarket University of Toronto Haneen Abu Remaileh Calgary University of Calgary Tiffany Chong Calgary University of Calgary

Christina Marie Chingkoey University of Toronto

Matthew Frey Calgary University of Calgary

Steven Co University of British Columbia

John Han Calgary University of Calgary

Behrang Homayoon University of British Columbia

Devin Herbert Calgary University of Calgary

Kristy Lee University of British Columbia

Robin Masson Calgary University of Calgary

Bippanjyot Sangha University of British Columbia

Brock Rawstron Chilliwack University of British Columbia

Gillian Shiau University of Calgary Peggy Yen Dalhousie University

Annie Pang University of Ottawa Robert Rideout Dalhousie University

Martha Koehn Abbotsford University of British Columbia

Emergency Medicine Jesse Godwin University of Toronto Pearlly Ng University of Toronto Patrick Oxciano University of British Columbia Sarah Scott University of Ottawa Kathryn Toews University of Manitoba

Sandip Gandham Edmonton University of Alberta Michael Graff Edmonton University of Calgary Chelsea Greenwood Edmonton University of Alberta Nancy Scheer Edmonton University of Alberta Jed Shimizu Edmonton University of Alberta Ian Williamson Edmonton University of Alberta Brian Yong Edmonton University of Alberta Aaron Pelman Grande Prairie University of Alberta

Kenny Choi Greater Toronto Area University of Toronto Idy Ko Greater Toronto Area University of Toronto Meghan O’Mara Greater Toronto Area University of Toronto Peter Orth Greater Toronto Area University of Toronto Laura Ambrose Greater Vancouver University of British Columbia Anita Holtham Greater Vancouver University of British Columbia Farah Ramji Greater Vancouver University of British Columbia Waqar-Un-Nissa Ressl Greater Vancouver University of British Columbia Keri Ruthe Greater Vancouver University of British Columbia Jennifer Wall Greater Vancouver University of British Columbia Minsang Yoon Greater Vancouver University of British Columbia Rojyar Yousefi Greater Vancouver University of British Columbia Jason Lew Halifax Dalhousie University Elise Roberts Halifax Dalhousie University Julia Pottinger Hamilton McMaster University Susan Judith Anderson Kingston-1000 Islands Queen’s University James Grant Kingston-1000 Islands Queen’s University Mark Tessaro Kingston-1000 Islands Queen’s University

Tristan Walker London University of Western Ontario

Mohsin Waqar Prince George University of British Columbia

Ross Taylor Moncton Dalhousie University

Alexander Lecky Saskatoon University of Saskatchewan

Emma Galloway Nanaimo University of British Columbia Aoibhinn Grimes Nanaimo University of British Columbia Simon Moore Nanaimo University of British Columbia Lisa Van Aerde Nanaimo University of British Columbia Ben Williams Nanaimo University of British Columbia Annie Gornall Norther-Rural Prince George University of British Columbia

Alanna Leverrier Saskatoon University of Saskatchewan Sarah Peters Thunder Bay Northern Ontario School of Medicine Emily Botting Vancouver-St. Paul’s University of British Columbia Kimberley Cottick Vancouver-St. Paul’s University of British Columbia Sarah Olson Vancouver-St. Paul’s University of British Columbia Judy Tang Vancouver-St. Paul’s University of British Columbia

Lisa Howard Okanagan Rural University of British Columbia

Robyn Wiens Vancouver-St. Paul’s University of British Columbia

Bruce Rebner Okanagan Rural University of British Columbia

Matthew Carroll Victoria University of British Columbia

Aaron Williams Okanagan Rural University of British Columbia

Jacqueline Cooper Victoria University of British Columbia

Susan Butow Prince George University of British Columbia

Sukhjeet Dhillon Victoria University of British Columbia

Erin Carlson Prince George University of British Columbia

Jessica Fry Victoria University of British Columbia

Ali Ghanipour Prince George University of British Columbia

Heather Caitlin Harmon Victoria University of British Columbia

Shu Fung Ho Prince George University of British Columbia

Steven Lipari Windsor University of Western Ontario

Daniel Penman Prince George University of British Columbia

Tung Siu MOTP/Calgary University of Calgary

L– R: W. Claydon & M. Dahl; H. Abu-Remaileh & G. Stuart; MD Graduating Class of 2010

General Surgery Julie Brown University of Saskatchewan Sandra Jenneson University of British Columbia Yi Man (David) Ko University of Alberta Kristel Lobo Prabhu University of British Columbia Angus Murray Dalhousie University Heather Stuart University of Calgary Megan Thwaites University of British Columbia Ayça Toprak Queen’s University

Internal Medicine Ahmed Abdi Ali University of Calgary Keith Ahamad University of British Columbia Sina Alipour University of British Columbia Siu Him Chan University of British Columbia Melanie Chin University of Calgary Wai-Lan Carol Chung University of Alberta Kaethe Clarke McGill University William Connors University of Calgary Wendie Denbrok University of British Columbia Sumandeep Dhesi University of Alberta Iman Hemmati University of British Columbia Joanna Holland Memorial University Manstein Kan University of British Columbia

PHOTOS BY EVANGELOS PHOTOGRAPHY

Jenny Ko University of British Columbia

Stephanie Tsang University of British Columbia

Sarah Saunders University of British Columbia

Clement Kwok University of Calgary

Tiffany Winstone University of British Columbia

Jacqueline Wood University of Western Ontario

Frank Wong University of British Columbia

Andrea Ryan Saskatoon University of Saskatchewan

Shirley Lam University of Manitoba Andrea Lee University of British Columbia

Pediatrics Benetta Chin University of British Columbia Alexey Litvinov University of Manitoba Dianna Louie University of British Columbia

Grace Leung University of Toronto

Ravi Varshney University of Saskatchewan

Stefanie Leung University of Western Ontario

Laboratory Medicine

On sabbatical

James Loh University of Alberta

Stephanie Nolan Dalhousie University

Clairessa Keays

Birinder Mangat University of British Columbia

Martin Wlodarski Dalhousie University

William Schlamp

Michelle Simonelli University of Toronto

Ophthalmology

Jennifer Smitten University of British Columbia

Christine McDonald University of Toronto Kina Merwin University of Manitoba Mikhyla Richards University of British Columbia Sarah Roberts University of Saskatchewan Kirandeep Saini University of Calgary Supna Sandhu University of British Columbia Sadra Sharifi Saber University of British Columbia Gursteven Sra University of Saskatchewan Clare Sun Loyola University Medical Center - Illinois Muxin (Max) Sun University of British Columbia Heather Taddy University of British Columbia

Medical Biochemistry Sophia Wong University of British Columbia

Neurology Mandeep Mann University of British Columbia Christine Stables University of British Columbia Alina Webber McGill University

Neuropathology Mark Ballard University of Calgary

Obstetrics and Gynecology

Kristi Kyle University of Alberta

Jacqueline McMillan

Tony Lin University of Western Ontario Kaivon Pakzad-Vaezi University of British Columbia Peng (Paul) Yan University of Ottawa

Orthopedic Surgery Ashlee Dobbe University of Alberta Richard Ng University of Calgary Robert Petretta University of British Columbia Jason Strelzow University of British Columbia Reina Yao University of Western Ontario

Jeffery Campbell University of Alberta Jason Kim Dalhousie University

Otolaryngology

Michael Tan Dalhousie University

Genevieve Lennox University of Toronto

Rui-Jun (June) Lin University of British Columbia

James Tessaro University of British Columbia

Kimberley Louie University of British Columbia

Derrick Randall University of Calgary

Karen Tran University of British Columbia

Katherine Pernarowski University of Manitoba

Kathryn MacKinlay University of Calgary Katherine Marquardt University of Toronto Diana Murray University of Calgary

Laura Weingarten University of Alberta

Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Ross Davidson University of British Columbia Nicola Hahn University of British Columbia Catherine Ho University of Toronto Jay Joseph Queen’s University

Psychiatry Brian Banno University of British Columbia

Georgia Walton University of Toronto Shaghayegh Bozorg Fraser Region University of British Columbia Charlena Chan Fraser Region University of British Columbia Kourosh Edalati Fraser Region University of British Columbia Debra Yew Fraser Region University of British Columbia Jeanine Marshall Island University of British Columbia Nicole Martin Vancouver Island University of British Columbia

Radiation Oncology Angela Lin McMaster University Michael Peacock University of British Columbia Rosanna Yeung University of Calgary

Rhodes Scholarship Jaspreet Khangura Oxford University England

Urology

Rachel Bell Dalhousie University

Reza Hamidizadeh University of British Columbia

Jennifer Laidlaw University of Toronto

Ian Wright McMaster University

Pouya Rezazadeh-Azar University of British Columbia Jennifer Scott University of British Columbia Warren Sun University of British Columbia

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