Rounds/Events: General Surgery

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• No new special events this time

The College of Physicians and Surgeons of British Columbia
announces recipients of the
2011 Award of Excellence in Medical Practice

• Now in its seventh year, the College's Award of Excellence Program is an annual peer recognition program that honours individual physicians who have made an exceptional contribution to the practice of medicine in teaching, research, clinical practice, administration or health advocacy. Other criteria include character, integrity, and ethics beyond reproach, demonstrated leadership, and collegiality in all interactions with patients and colleagues.

• M. Christo Wiggins, MB ChB, FRCSC - Chilliwack, BC
  Since 2007, Dr. Wiggins has held the position of chief of surgery at Chilliwack General Hospital. He is also the site director in the department of surgery at UBC's Chilliwack location. In his role as educator, Dr. Wiggins is consistently rated by residents as one of the best teachers they have ever had. They commend him for his ability to find teaching opportunities in every clinical encounter and helping residents to advance their knowledge and skill through hands-on learning. Dr. Wiggins is also regarded highly by his colleagues who consider him a natural leader, building a productive and supportive team even during difficult situations such as cut-backs in the OR. Dr. Wiggins moved to Chilliwack in 1999 after spending four years in Prince Rupert. Prior to arriving in Canada, he worked on two missions with Doctors Without Borders in Indonesia and Somalia, and more recently he participated in a mission to Haiti.

Media Release issued May 26, 2011, posted: 2011-July-21

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Kudos and Congratulations 57. - Triple Crown

"Kudos and Congratulations" recognizes achievements by faculty and trainees in the Department of Surgery. Please send items to be included to alice.mui@ubc.ca

Congratulations to:
Jonathan Han (supervisor, Megan Levings, General Surgery), who has received a CIHR Banting Doctorla Research award. Jonathan studies Type 2 diabetes (T2D) which accounts for 90% of diabetes worldwide. T2D happens when the body loses the ability to respond to insulin. Interestingly, there is also increased inflammation in T2D, especially in the fat.T2D patients are continually exposed to high levels of insulin, and Jonathan's work has suggested that exposure to high levels of insulin in T2D inhibits the anti-inflammatory function of regulatory T cells (Tregs The inhibition of Treg function then leads to excessive inflammation, which makes insulin resistance worse. Jonathan will investigate if Tregs would make an effective therapy for T2D since they have the ability to both suppress inflammation and reduce insulin resistance.

Malihe Poormasjedi (supervisor, Aziz Ghahary, Plastic Surgery), who has received a CIHR Vanier Scholarship. Vanier scholarships are awarded to international students who demonstrate both leadership skills and a high standard of scholarly achievement. Malihe's project focuses on incorporating anti-scaring drugs into nanofibers in order to develop novel bioactive wound care products to treat dermal fibrosis. These products include wound dressings for open wounds and inserts for closed wounds. She is also working on developing anti-scaring sutures.

Maggie Yu (supervisor, Megan Levings, General Surgery, and Ted Steiner, Division of Infectious Diseases, UBC), who has received a CIHR Banting Doctorla Research award for her work studying inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). The cause of IBD is unknown, but it is believed to be an abnormal inflammatory response that attacks the tissue in the intestinal tract. Normally, a type of white blood cells called regulatory T cells (Tregs) help suppress unnecessary inflammation, and boosting the activity of Tregs could prevent or treat IBD. However, Maggie has found that although Tregs generally shut off inflammatory responses, they enhance the activity of the an inflammatory complex found in certain inflammatory cells. Maggie's research will help provide a better view of how Tregs function in IBD and also evaluate their potential as a therapy to prevent or treat IBD.

Editorial note: all three were supported during their first 2 years of studies by scholarships from the CIHR Training program in Transplantation.

posted : 2012-May-7

Kudos and Congratulations 56. - There's an App for that

Congratulations to:
Dr. Eiman Zargaran (General Surgery, R2)
who has been accepted into the UBC Clinical Investigator Program to pursue a research program on injury surveillance in low resource settings. His work includes development of the electronic Trauma Health Record (eTHR), an iPAD App for trauma surveillance and care in low resource settings that has already attracted international awards.......
.......and which may also be implemented here at home.
His supervisors are Dr. Morad Hameed (General Surgery),
Dr. Robert Taylor (Branch for International Surgery)
and Dr Boris Sobolev (UBC School of Population Health).
Eiman is the 4^th General Surgery resident to be accepted into the CIP program in 4 years

posted : 2012-April-30

Kudos and Congratulations 55. - Hair raising idea

Congratulations to:
Dr. Garth Warnock (General Surgery)
and Dr. Kevin McElwee (Dept of Dermatology and Skin Sciences) who have received a Venture Grant from the Transplantation Research Foundation (www.trfbc.org) which provides seed funds for innovative new ideas related improving organ transplantation outcome. Hair follicles are one of the immune privileged tissues of the body and are resistant to immune cell attack. Dr. Xiaojie Wang (recent PhD graduate from Dr. Warnock's lab, pictured in the middle) will work under Drs Warnock and McElwee's direction to propagate hair follicle cells in culture to grow sufficient numbers to implant along with allogeneic pancreatic islet transplants. They predict that the follicle cells may protect the islet from immune rejection..

posted : 2012-April-23

Kudos and Congratulations 54. - From the 23^rd Century

Congratulations to:
Dr. Scott Patterson
(supervisor, Dr. Megan Levings, General Surgery) who has received a national CIHR fellowship for his work focused on understanding the mechanism by which regulatory T cells (Tregs) moderates the immune response. This work provides insight into how treat autoimmune diseases such as diabetes, arthritis and colitis, as well as how to control the immune response in organ transplantation.

Dr. Patterson was recognized with a Michael Smith Foundation for Health Research Fellowship last year.
• A photo of Dr. Patterson could not be obtained at that time either
.

posted : 2012-April-16

Kudos and Congratulations 53. - A message from New York

Congratulations to:
Dr. Alison Wallace (General Surgery R1)
Dr. Robert Foronjy,(M.D. Director of Lung Research, St. Luke's Roosevelt Medical Center, Columbia University, New York) sends this message:
I am a lung researcher who has worked with Dr. Alison Wallace (PGY1 General Surgery) for the past several years on research focused on the genetic and molecular mechanisms of obstructive lung disease. The Department of Surgery would be proud to know that Dr. Wallace has recently published a study in Toxicological Sciences that establishes that protein phosphatase 2A induction by cigarette smoke modulates immune and proteolytic responses to cigarette smoke exposure. This is significant because PP2A activity could be manipulated to prevent the inflammatory and proteolytic injury that occurs in the lung in response to cigarette smoke. At the American Thoracic Society International Conference in May 2012 Dr. Wallace will present her latest data demonstrating that PP2A activity can indeed be successfully modulated in vivo and that increasing PP2A activity is a feasible means of regulating the immune and proteolytic responses in cigarette smoke mediated diseases. In fact, hers was one of only 40 posters that was selected for presentation at the 2^nd. Annual Canadian Thoracic Society Poster Competition.

posted : 2012-April-11

Kudos and Congratulations 52. - Global Surgery prize

Congratulations to:
Dr. Eiman Zargaran (General Surgery, R2)
who won first prize for a poster he presented at Center for Global Surgery:Extreme Affordability Conference in Salt Lake City, Utah.
The title of the poster was: "The electronic Trauma Health Record (eTHR): a novel tool for trauma surveillance and care in low resource settings". His supervisors, Dr. Morad Hameed (General Surgery) and Dr. Nadine Schuurman (Dept of Geography, SFU) are very proud!

posted : 2012-April-2

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Kudos and Congratulations 51. - Vernon Surgeon

Congratulations to:
Dr. Hamish Hwang (General Surgery)
who practises at the Vernon Jubilee Hospital, has published a study showing that colorectal cancer screening programs which target those over age 50, can reduce death rates by up to 83 per cent, and incidence by up to 81 per cent. His report suggests we should adjust our guidelines for who should undergo colorectal cancer screening.
• (Dr. Hwang pictured with Dr. Warnock at the 2006 UBC Surgery Graduation Day)

Dr. Hwang's paper was published in the BC Medical Journal, and featured on the front page of the March 13^th Vancouver Sun ( Read the full Vancouver Sun report ).

posted : 2012-March-19

Kudos and Congratulations 49. - from benches to bedsides

Congratulations to:
Dr. Jan Ehses, (General Surgery)
one of the pioneers in describing the role of inflammation in type 2 diabetes, has been contracted by Servier Pharmaceuticals to investigate the role of toll-like receptors 2 and 4 in islet inflammation, pancreatic beta cell function and type 2 diabetes. Servier is the 2nd largest French pharmaceutical company worldwide. They are currently investigating the potential of targeting chronic inflammation treat type 2 diabetes. This includes elucidating whether the TLR2 and/or TLR4 receptors which are part of our normal innate immune response can be targeted to treat diabetes and its associated complications.

posted : 2012-February-20

Kudos and Congratulations 48. - CIP, CIP, Hooray!

Congratulations to:

Dr. Siham Zerhouni (General Surgery, PGY3)
who was awarded a UBC Clinical Investigator Program Fellowship, for work she is doing on viral gene therapy at the University of Toronto.

She joins Dr. Zaheer Kanji and Dr. Connie Chiu as the third CIP recipient from the General Surgery program in the last 4 years.

posted : 2012-February-13

Kudos and Congratulations 47. - another CIHR success

Congratulations to:
Dr. Jan Ehses, (General Surgery)
who has received a CIHR grant to study "Targeting anti-inflammatory macrophages to treat type 2 diabetes". It has long been known that type 1 diabetes (classically juvenile onset diabetes) occurs when a patient's own immune system kills the insulin producing beta cells. Dr. Ehses' research suggests that the body's own immune system also contributes to beta cell malfunction in type 2 diabetes (T2D classically adult onset diabetes) via chronic inflammation, and that this involves the classic immune cell, the macrophage. Macrophages can hinder normal tissue function, or conversely promote the healing and regeneration of a tissue after it has been damaged. Since current therapies for T2D do not target the cause of beta cell failure and are not able to stop ongoing beta cell failure, this knowledge should assist in devising new strategies to halt and reverse beta cell failure in T2D.

posted : 2012-February-6

Kudos and Congratulations 46. - CIHR successes

Congratulations to:
Dr. Dan Luciani, (General Surgery)
who joined the Diabetes Research group at the Children's and Family Research Institute in July 2011 has received his first CIHR grant !!! His grant entitled "Control of beta-cell mitochondrial physiology by core anti-apoptosis proteins" studies the effect of high levels of fats and glucose on a group of pro-survival proteins in pancreatic islet cells. In particular, his lab is interested in the mechanisms by which beta-cells normally sense glucose and release insulin and we aim to clarify how these important cells fail under obesity-associated stress. His studies will help reveal important new ways to promote islet beta-cell survival and function. Such discoveries will help prevent the progression of diabetes in at-risk individuals and ultimately control the growing global diabetes epidemic in Canada and the world.

posted : 2012-January-30

Kudos and Congratulations 45. -
Outstanding (and cold resistant at UNBC)

Congratulations to:
Dr. Nadine Caron, (General Surgery)
has received an Outstanding Alumni Award from SFU for 2012 (.....she won UBC's Outstanding Alumni Award in 2003).
Nadine Caron, BSc '93 (Kinesiology)
- Professional Achievement
Surgeon, University Hospital of Northern BC
When describing Dr. Nadine Caron, extraordinary is a word often used. Even as a student Nadine was extraordinary, winning more than 20 major academic awards. She was a star basketball player at SFU and earned the Shrum Gold medal as the top undergraduate student. She became the first female First Nations student to graduate from UBC's School of Medicine, again as the top student, and was named one of Maclean's "100 Canadians to Watch". While completing her surgical residency, she completed her Masters of Public Health at Harvard. Today she continues to distinguish herself as an outstanding surgeon, researcher, mentor, educator, patient advocate and community leader. She is a faculty member in the Northern Medicine Program at University of Northern BC, an associate faculty member at John Hopkins Centre for American Indian Health, and an assistant professor with UBC's Faculty of Medicine. She is passionate about health policy and has served on many committees to help shape Canada's health agenda, including the BC and Canadian medical associations and the BC health ministry. She is internationally renowned for her advocacy work to address the special health needs and disparities of rural, remote, northern and Aboriginal communities. Through role-modeling and public speaking, she encourages First Nations youth to share her love of learning and further their education - an extraordinary legacy indeed.

posted : 2012-January-26

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Kudos and Congratulations 41. - To suture or not to suture

Congratulations to:
Dr. Carl Brown, (General Surgery)
who won the award for the top clinical paper at the Canadian Surgical Forum for his presentation: "Retrospective Comparison of Early Complications Rate in Open vs. Suture Closure Rectal Lesions Excised Using Transanal Endoscopic Microsurgery". Dr. Brown has also received a Canadian Society of Colorectal Surgeons Research Grant entitled - "A multi-centre randomized controlled trial of sutured vs. unsutured management of surgical defects in patients undergoing Transanal Endoscopic Microsurgery".

posted : 2011-October-31

Kudos and Congratulations 40. - Joining the CIHR governing council

Congratulations to:
Dr. Nadine Caron, (General Surgery)
The Honourable Leona Aglukkaq, Federal Minister of Health, has announced the appointment of Dr. Nadine Caron to the Governing Council of the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) for a three-year term. "CIHR's Governing Council will benefit from Dr. Caron's research focus and passion in Aboriginal health and Canadian health policy," said Minister Aglukkaq. "Dr. Caron's unique perspective and commitment to Aboriginal, rural, northern and remote health issues will make an outstanding contribution to the CIHR Governing Council." Dr. Caron is a general endocrine surgeon and an Assistant Professor of Surgery at the University of British Columbia, Northern Medical Program, in Prince George, British Columbia. Dr. Caron completed a Medical Degree at the University of British Columbia and completed postgraduate fellowship training in endocrine surgical oncology at the University of California, San Francisco. In addition, she holds a Masters of Public Health from Harvard University.

posted : 2011-October-24

Kudos and Congratulations 37. - Sweet Success

Congratulations to:
Dr. Merce Obach , Postdoctoral Fellow
(supervisor Dr. Bruce Verchere General Surgery), has received a Children's and Family Research Institute (CFRI) postdoctoral fellowship. Dr. Obach will examine the mechanism by which engineering pancreatic islet beta cells to express a protein called XIAP protects the beta cells from death and prevents the development of Type I Diabetes. Her project is one component of a CIHR funded, multidisciplinary program in Regenerative Medicine of which Dr. Verchere is a member.

posted : 2011-August-29

Kudos and Congratulations 35. - Dynamic Duo

> Congratulations to:
Jonathan Han and Kate MacDonald (supervisor, Dr. Megan Levings, General Surgery) have been awarded CIHR Banting and Best Masters Awards. These national awards are the most prestigious for Masters students in Canada. Jonathan and Kate study the biology of T regulatory cells, and ways to manipulate these cells for therapeutic purpose in diabetes and organ transplantation.

posted : 2011-August-17

Kudos and Congratulations 33. - a Young Scholar

Congratulations to:
Darya Habibi, PhD

(supervisor, Dr. Chris Ong, General Surgery; co-supervisor - Dr. Aziz Ghahary, Plastic Surgery) has successfully defended her PhD thesis. Darya has been studying the mechanism(s) of selective immunosuppressive effects of indoleamine 2,3 dioxygenase (IDO) and borrelidin. The findings of her Ph.D. studies pave the way towards application of IDO as an immunosuppressive factor in development of long-lasting non-rejectable allografts. Her findings also reveal the potential application of borrelidin in treating acute lymphoblastic leukemia.

Darya has been awarded various prestigious awards and scholarships, including VCHRI Rising Star Award, Roman M. Babicki Fellowship in Medical Research, University of British Columbia Graduate Fellowship, CIHR/MSFHR Transplantation Scholarship, and CIHR/Skin Research Training Centre Scholarship. She has published three first-author papers during her Ph.D. studies and has had multiple oral and poster presentations in local and international conferences.

posted : 2011-August-17

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Kudos and Congratulations 31.

Congratulations to:

Dr. Nadine Caron, Assistant Professor

(General Surgery, UBC Northern Medical Program) and associates
including Dr. Rob Olson (Radiation Oncology, Northern Medical Program) and Dr. Scott Tyldesley (Radiation Oncology, Vancouver) were awarded a grant from the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation, BC/Yukon Division titled: "Breast Cancer in British Columbia's Northern Communities: the Cancer Care Spectrum" The overarching aim of this project is to enhance understanding of the population, tumor and treatment spectrum of Breast Cancer in northern BC by constructing a Northern Breast Cancer Database to complement the BCCA's pivotal Breast Cancer Outcomes Unit Database. This will improve the capacity for provincial-level breast cancer research to include BC's northern population.

posted : 2011-July-14

Kudos and Congratulations 30.

Congratulations to:

Dr. Tim Kieffer, (Associate Member, General Surgery)
has received a CIHR grant to study the "Effects of early over nutrition on beta-cell function". While the association between obesity and diabetes is well-recognized, emerging evidence suggests that overnutrition and rapid growth in early life may also increase diabetes risk. Dr. Kieffer's research aims to identify hormonal alterations in response to early over nutrition which may affect life-long blood sugar control and may even affect subsequent generations.

Dr. Megan Levings, (Associate Professor, General Surgery)
has received a CIHR grant to study the "Molecular and cellular biology of T regulatory cells". Dr Levings studies a type of white blood cells, known as T regulatory cells. T regulatory cells represents an ideal candidate for an innovative therapy that could specifically control undesired immune responses. Dr. Levings aims to address basic questions about the biology of these T regulatory cells which will lead to the development of more rational therapies for the diseases the in which natural mechanisms regulating the immune system go awry.

posted : 2011-July-4

Kudos and Congratulations 25.

Congratulations to:


Dr. Sandra Jarvis-Selinger
(General Surgery), who has received a Faculty of Medicine Distinguished Achievement Award for excellence in education. Dr. Jarvis-Selinger is Michael Smith Foundation Scholar who directs her research and teaching to pedagogical innovations in health through the examination of learning technologies. During the past year, she succeeded in securing in excess of $1,000,000 in educational research funding for several key initiatives including a CIHR grant to look at e-Health mentoring to develop health professional careers for aboriginal youth, and a CIHR Grant to develop home based tele-health help for chronic disease management. She also recently co-developed and taught two new courses: (i) Surgical Residents as Teachers, for the Departments of Surgery, Orthopaedics and Neurosurgery, and (ii) e-health for the UBC School of Population and Public Health.


Dr. Yasmin Halwani
(General Surgery PGY3), who won the first place prize for a podium presentation entitled "Assessing Residents' Surgical Skills in the Operating Room: Utility of a Universal Global Rating Scale" at the 34th Annual Resident's Research Day for General, Pediatric General, Thoracic and Vascular Surgery.

Dr. Elaine Lam
(General Surgery PGY3), who was awarded the 2^nd. place prize for her podium presentation entitled "Thyroid Pathology Reporting at a Canadian Centre: A Critical Appraisal" presented also presented at Resident's Research Day.

Dr. Lisa Aird
(General Surgery PGY2), who won the best poster prize at Resident's Research Day for her proposal entitled for "A Radomized Controlled Trial Comparing the Cosmetic Outcome of Electrocautery vs Scalpel for Surgical Skin Incisions".

Megan Himmel
(PhD student with Dr. Megan Levings, General Surgery), who won the prize for the top basic science podium presentation
"Human CD4+FOXP3+ T regulatory Cells Produce IL-8 Recruit Inflammatory Immune Cells" at Resident's Research Day.

posted : 2011-May-25

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Kudos and Congratulations 24.

Congratulations to:
Xiaoxie Wang (supervisor Dr. Garth Warnock, General Surgery) successfully defended her PhD thesis on May 9th. The newly minted Dr. Wang was the first to show, during her PhD studies, that the inhibitory action of the T-cell co-signalling molecule B7-H4 can be used to prevent pancreatic islet rejection during allogeneic transplantation. Amazingly, the recipients become tolerant of their grafts and do not require any further immune suppression.

Andrew Ming-Lum (supervisor Dr. Alice Mui, General Surgery) has won the first place prize of $1500 in UBC's inaugural Three Minute Thesis (3MT) competition. Participants have just three minutes to explain the breadth and significance of their thesis project to a non-specialist audience. Over 100 graduate students from all disciplines competed in series of elimination heats, and the university-wide final was held May 10th. For the occasion, Andrew wore a tie (something that he said he only ever wears at weddings and funerals).

posted : 2011-May-18

Kudos and Congratulations 23.

Congratulations to:
Dr. Megan Levings, (Associate Professor, General Surgery) has received a recognition award from the Roche Organ Transplant Research Foundation on her work with Dr. Bruce Verchere (General Surgery) on their work "Manipulating FOXP3 to induce transplantation tolerance in humans" which was recently presented at the American Transplant Congress.

Jonathan Han (supervisor Dr. Megan Levings, General Surgery) has received a Children and Family Research Institute (CFRI) Graduate Studentship. These scholarships are given to highly qualified individuals are pursuing a research career in health related research that has direct relevance to the health of children, adolescents or women. Jonathan studies the role of T regulatory cells in type 2 diabetes, a metabolic disorder that is on the rise among younger populations as the obesity epidemic continues.

Dr. Scott Patterson (supervisor Dr. Megan Levings, General Surgery) has CFRI Postdoctoral Fellowship. These fellowships are given to highly qualified individuals are to pursuing a research career in health related research that has direct relevance to the health of children, adolescents or women. Scott did not provide a project title, but being in Dr. Levings' lab, must be working on T regulatory cells.

posted : 2011-May-10

Kudos and Congratulations 22.

Congratulations to:
Dr. Megan Levings, (Associate Professor, General Surgery) and Canada Research Chair in Transplantation has been awarded a Venture grant from the Transplantation Research Foundation of BC. These grants support pilot projects to test innovative approaches to problems in organ transplantation. Dr. Levings will collaborate with
Dr. Bruce Verchere (Professor, General Surgery) on a project entitled "Tailoring Tregs: a novel approach to generate alloantigen specific T cells". The hope is to develop a procedure to make patient specific, protective Treg cells which protect organ grafts from immune mediated rejection.

posted : 2011-May-2

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Kudos and Congratulations 21.

Congratulations to:
Clara Westwell-Roper a MD/PhD student with Dr. Bruce Verchere ,
(General Surgery), who has won a CIHR Banting and Best Doctoral Research Award who has won a Vanier Canada Graduate Scholarship. These are the most prestigious scholarships available to PhD students in Canada with only several awarded to UBC students every year in all disciplines including biomedical, natural sciences and social sciences. Clara is studying the role of pancreatic islet amyloid polypeptide in islet inflammation and type II diabetes.

Dr. Jennifer Bruin a post-doctoral fellow with Dr. Tim Kieffer,
(associate member, General Surgery) has been awarded a CIHR postdoctoral fellowship. These fellowships are available to both PhD and MD's and recognize outstanding achievements in research. Jennifer is developing ways to produce pancreatic islets from stem cells. Her work has been published in the leading journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Dr. Kieffer will be presenting their work as the keynote speaker at the annual Transplantation Research Day this Dec 5^th ( www.transplant-training.ca ).

posted : 2011-April-28

Kudos and Congratulations 20.

Congratulations to:
Sylvia Cheung (PhD student with Dr. Alice Mui, General Surgery), who has won a CIHR Banting and Best Doctoral Research Award to support her studies into the mechanism of action of the anti-inflammatory cytokine Interleukin-10 (IL10).
Among other things, IL10 is responsible for the immune suppression induced by surgical procedures. Sylvia ranked 39^th out of 941 students from across Canada.
Her scholarship comes with a $5000 travel allowance which pleases the Sylvia the most.....since her supervisor is somewhat stingy with travel funds.

Andrew Ming-Lum (PhD student with Dr. Alice Mui, General Surgery) has won the Faculty of Medicine's heat in UBC's inaugural 3 Minute Thesis (3MT) competition. In the 3MT competition, students are given 3 minutes and one slide to communicate their research in plain language to a general audience. 3MT competitions are held at universities around the world and UBC hopes to host the international competition in 2 years. Andrew (who also holds a CIHR Banting and Best Award) will now represent the Faculty of Medicine in the UBC wide competition. He is also trying to convince his supervisor that since students can explain their entire thesis research in 3 minutes..... that lab meetings should also be much shorter.

posted : 2011-April-18

Kudos and Congratulations 19.

Congratulations to:
Dr. Rona Cheifetz (General Surgery) who has been awarded the UBC Faculty of Medicine, Division of Continuing Professional "Distinguished Service to CME/CPD" award in recognition of her substantial long term contributions to UBC FoM sponsored CME/CPD activities. Dr. Cheifetz will receive her prize at the Faculty of Medicine Awards Reception in May. More details

and to Dr. Lucy Marzban (General Surgery) who has been awarded a 2011 DMD Sessional Teaching Award for her outstanding contributions to the educational progress of the students in the DMD program, in particular in their PBL education. Dr. Marzban will be acknowledged at the Graduation Ceremony in May.

posted : 2011-April-11

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Kudos and Congratulations 18.

Congratulations to:
Dr. Timothy Kieffer (General Surgery, associate member)
and his co-investigators (Drs. Jim Johnson , Francis Lynn and Bruce Verchere from General Surgery; Dr. Jamie Piret, from Chemical and Biological Engineering) were one of 7 teams across Canada to be awarded a 5 year CIHR Regenerative Medicine and Nanomedicine team grant.

Dr. Kieffer's team will focus on the "Generation of Transplantable Beta-Cells from Human Embryonic Stem (hES) Cells". The majority of patients with type 1 diabetes, and approximately one third of those with type 2 diabetes require daily insulin injections to survive. Unfortunately this therapy seldom achieves optimal control of blood glucose levels, leaving millions of patients susceptible to the devastating complications of diabetes (including kidney failure and blindness), reduced quality of life, and decreased lifespan. They hope to develop a protocol for the differentiation of hES into insulin-producing pancreas cells, which could then transplanted into diabetes patients, reversing the disease.
BTW, mark your calendars...Dr. Kieffer is our keynote speaker for the 15^th Annual Transplantation Research Day on Dec 5^th, 2011 (www.transplant-training.ca)

posted : 2011-March-21

Kudos and Congratulations 17.

Congratulations to:
Dr. Francis Lynn (General Surgery) has been recognized by the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF) with a Career Development Award.
The JDRF awards only 2-4 of these each year worldwide to the best and brightest of young, independent investigators who bridge the gap between the bench and bedside. During the 5 year term of this award, Dr. Lynn will study the how the transcription factor Sox4 regulates the development and growth of pancreatic beta cells. These studies will give insight into the potential use of Sox4 for generation of beta cells from stem cells for the treatment of type I diabetes.

Congratulations to:

  Dr. Reza Jalili , who recently completed his PhD

  with Dr.Aziz Ghahary (Plastic Surgery) and is now
  a postdoctoral fellow with Dr. Garth Warnock (General Surgery),
  has received a JDRF post doctoral fellowship.
  This is a highly prestigious and very competitive international award designed to assist highly promising scientists in transitioning from a fellowship to an independent position. Dr. Jalili has developed a novel matrix in which to embed pancreatic islet cells prior to transplantation that both provides a immunoprotective microenvironment and prevents beta cell death. This will improve islet graft survival and obviate the need for systemic immunosuppressive drugs.

posted : 2011-February-14

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Kudos and Congratulations 16.

Congratulations to:

our 14^th Annual Transplantation Research Day award winners.
We look forward to seeing everyone at next year's Research Day
on December 5. 2011 (mark your calendars)!!

Pictured from the left: Dr. Molly Shoicet (Keynote speaker, U. Toronto),

Maggie Yu Yao (Steiner lab, 3rd prize poster),
Megan Himmel (Megan Levings lab- General Surgery, Tx Trivia contest),
Ryan Hartwell (Aziz Ghahary lab- Plastics, 1^st prize poster),
Ben Paylor (Rossi lab, 2^nd prize poster),
Peggy Assinck (Tetzlaff lab, 2^nd prize oral),
Clara Westwell-Roper (Bruce Verchere lab- General Surgery, 1^st prize oral),

Dr. Stephen Chung (Founding director- General Surgery, Tx Training Program),
Dr. Mark Siegler (Keynote speaker, U. Chicago).

posted : 2010-December-20

Kudos and Congratulations 14.

Congratulations to:

Dr. P. Terry Phang (Associate Professor in General Surgery) and his collegaues
Dr. Rona E. Cheifetz, Dr. Carl J. Brown, Dr. Manoj J. Raval for

"Treatment methods slow rectal cancer relapses;
Education about proper surgical techniques,
radiation before surgery are key factors, experts say"

Read MORE

posted : 2010-December-12

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Kudos and Congratulations 13.

Congratulations to:

Dr. Tim Kieffer (Associate member in General Surgery) who was awarded the Canadian Diabetes Association (CDA)Young Scientist Award this year. The CDA established the Young Scientist Award in 1987 for the purpose of encouraging, by appropriate recognition, outstanding research conducted in Canada by young scientists (not past their 45th birthday) in the field of diabetes. Dr. Kieffer was presented with the Young Scientist Award at the 2010 Professional Conference and Annual Meetings in Edmonton, Alberta
by Dr. Bruce Verchere (a past winner of the CDA Young Scientist Award, a full member of General Surgery) where gave his award lecture, Cell-based Insulin Replacement for Diabetes on Friday, October 22, 2010.

posted : 2010-December-6

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Kudos and Congratulations 9.

Congratulations to:

Dr. Megan Levings (General Surgery) who was recognized by a "New Key Opinion Leader" Award from the International Transplantation Society.

posted: 2010-October-18

Kudos and Congratulations 7.

Congratulations to:

Dr. Nathaniel Bell, a postdoctoral research fellow within the Section of Trauma Services, was awarded the very prestigious CIHR Fellowship in the July 2010 competition. Dr. Bell's research will focus on quality of care following injury in British Columbia and the Yukon and the use of linked administrative data sources to evaluate care. Dr Bell's application ranked within the top 4% of this year's application pool of 768 entries. This is an exciting step in the maturation of research within the Department of Surgery and in building long-term research capacity in understanding the determinants that increase risk of injury and prolong recovery during reintegration back into work and society.

Dr. Bell received his Ph.D. from Simon Fraser University, where he applied health geomatics and population health approaches to the study of injury epidemiology. During his fellowship, Dr. Bell will work under the mentorship of Professor Boris Sobolev and Dr. Richard Simons (General Surgery). If you would like information on this project or are interested in contact Dr. Bell he can be reached at nathaniel.bell@vch.ca

posted: 2010-September-13

Kudos and Congratulations 6.

Clara Tan-Tam (General Surgery, PGY5) who gave an oral presentation on her work on the use of mesenchymal stem cells to improve islet transplant survival at last week's XXIII International Congress of the Transplantation Society. This meeting is the largest gathering of clinicians and scientists focused on organ transplantation and occur every two years.

Two of Dr. Bruce Verchere (General Surgery) students, Kate Potter (MD-PhD) and Jacques Cortades (MSc) who worked together to submit an entry to the Canada-wide Transplantation Grand Challenge essay competition. Kate and Jacques shared the $4000 first prize with a General Surgery PGY3 resident, Jon Yeung, from the University of Toronto. Both teams addressed the problem of endogenous retroviruses in porcine tissue/organ grafts. (The third prize of $1000 was also won by a General Surgery resident, Minh-Tri Nguyen, from McGill University. No entries were received from UBC residents. Perhaps next year?)

Drs. Bin Zheng, Adam Meneghetti, Neely Panton and Karim Qayumi (General Surgery and CESEI) for their Royal College Medical Education Research Grant entitled "Eye-tracking as an Educational Tool for Improving Laparoscopic Performance for Surgical Residents". [ Aka....keeping an eye on residents? :-) ]

first posted : in NEWS page 2010-August-24, archived here: August-26

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Kudos and Congratulations 3.

It has been a good month for research in General Surgery. Congratulations to:

Mani Roshan Moniri (supervisor Dr. Garth Warnock, General Surgery)
and Nadya Ogloff (supervisor Dr. Chris Ong, General Surgery) who have received CIHR Banting and Best Masters Studentships. These studentships are awarded to the top M.Sc. students in any discipline across Canada.

Dr. Jan Ehses (General Surgery) who has received a Catalyst Grant from the Canucks for Kids Fund to study the role of the pancreatic α cell gp130 receptor in α cell expansion and the progression of type 1 diabetes(T1D). The insufficient pancreatic β cell derived insulin in T1D patients is exacerbated by overproduction of cell derived glucagon. Dr. Ehses will study the possibility that elevated glucagon levels are due to an increase in pancreatic α cell numbers induced by gp130 receptor stimulation.

Dr. Brad Hoffman (General Surgery) who also received a Canucks for Kids Fund Catalyst Grant to study the role of Baf45d and nucleosome remodeling in endocrine cell specification.

first posted : in NEWS page: 2010-July-19, archived here: August-26

Kudos and Congratulations 2.

Congratulations to

Dr. Sandra Jarvis-Selinger (General Surgery, Associate Director, Education eHealth Strategry Office) and her team who have just received a CIHR grant from the special call operating grant on Aboriginal Health Interventions. This grant entitled "Building pathways to health careers for Aboriginal youth" was one of only 3 awarded across Canada, will support developing an eMentoring program which connects health science students to rural, remote and First Nations youth with the hopes of increasing their numbers acrosee all health science programs.

first posted : in NEWS page: 2010-July-12, archived here: August-26

Kudos and Congratulations 1.

Congratulations to

Dr. Cathie Garnis (Otolaryngology, BCCRC Lung Cancer Group)
Dr. Alice Mui (General Surgery, Transplantation Research)
and Dr. Garth Warnock (General Surgery, Ike Barber Islet Laboratory)
for their success in the recent CIHR operating grant competition.

first posted : in NEWS page: 2010-July-12, archived here: August-26

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City Wide Rounds

Rounds are an accredited group learning activity as defined by the Maintenance of Certification Program of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada.

Unless otherwise specified, Wednesday mornings 0700 - 0800 hrs
at the Centre of Excellence for Surgical Education & Innovation
CESEI Seminar Room 3600 (JPPN, 3rd Floor)

Monthly Schedule: 2012 May

  Open or Download Document

posted: 2012-April-24

• May 16


• "NSQIP: Some updates about what is happening"


• Invited Presenters:
• VCH NSQIP Team

last revised: May-15

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Archived Monthly Rounds: 2012 - 2007

Year 2012 - in reverse chronological order

   April  March  February  January

Year 2011 - in reverse chronological order

   December  November  October  September

  June  May  April  March  February  January

Year 2010 - in reverse chronological order

  December  November  October  September

  May  April  March  February  January

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Year 2009 - in reverse chronological order

  December  November  October  September

  May  April  March  February  January

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Year 2008 - in reverse chronological order

  December  November  October  September

    May April March February January

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Year 2007 - in reverse chronological order

  December  November  October  September

  May  April  March  February  January

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Monday

Vancouver General Hospital

• Location CESEI, Room 3600, 3rd Floor, JPN
• 7:00 - 8:00 AM see schedule below


• M & M Rounds
• Preliminary Schedule: 2010 June - 2011 June
•   Open or download document

last revised: 2011-January-7

St. Paul's Hospital

• 8:00AM
• GI Conference Room, Level 2, Providence Building
• SPH Division of General Surgery Chief Resident Teaching Session

• 9:00AM
• GI Conference Room, Level 2, Providence Building
• SPH Pathology/General Surgery Rounds

• 10:00AM
• GI Conference Room, Level 2, Providence Building
• SPH Division of General Surgery Rounds

• 11:00AM
• GI Conference Room, Level 2, Providence Building
• SPH Division of General Surgery Team Rounds

• 1:00PM
• OPD 3^rd Floor, Burrard Building
• General Surgery Clinics

• 4:30PM
• GI Conference Room, Level 2, Providence Building
• General Surgery Teaching Round

last revised: 2011-April-1

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Tuesday

Vancouver General Hospital

• 7:00AM
• Taylor Fidler Auditorium
• GI Medical/Surgical Rounds

• EVERY SECOND TUESDAY | 4:30PM
• West 8A Conference Room, Centennial Pavilion
• HBP Rounds

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Wednesday

Vancouver General Hospital

• 7:00AM
• (see schedule above)
• City Wide Rounds

• 4:00PM
• W8 Conference Room, Centennial Pavilion
• Trauma Rounds

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Thursday

UBC Site

• 8:00AM
• F476, Koerner Pavilion
• General Surgery Rounds

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