News
Kudos and Congratulations 49. - from benches to bedsides
"Kudos and Congratulations" recognizes achievements by faculty, residents and trainees in the Department of Surgery. Please send items to be included to Alice Mui, PhD, Co-Director of Centre for Surgical Research, UBC Department of Surgery alice.mui@ubc.ca
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Congratulations to:
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.
Congratulations to:
Director of BCPFFs' Burn and Wound Healing Research Group) has received a CIHR proof of Principle (POP) grant entitled "Discovery of a Novel Anti-fibrogenic Factor and its Therapeutic Evaluation". Fibrosis seen in different organs such as skin, liver, lung, kidney and arteries is a serious pathologic disorder in which the properties of normal tissue are disturbed due to an alteration in the extracellular matrix (ECM) composition and organization. Skin fibrosis such as hypertrophic scarring and keloid are frequently seen following trauma, thermal injuries and surgical incisions. They are clinically raised, firm, red, itchy, bulky and inelastic quality and limit the mobility of joints and extremities. Current treatment modalities for this devastating condition still remain unsatisfactory. For example, neither pressure garment therapy, intralesional injections of corticosteroids and interferon nor surgical revision is effective. In an attempt to solve this problem, we have screened many potential antifibrogenic factors and identified one small molecule with a potent antifibrogenic effect in an in vitro and in vivo model. The therapeutic use of this factor for treatment of fibroproliferative disorders has been patented. The CIHR POP grant thus will allow us to conduct a series of experiments to validate its safety, effective time and dose and formulate its slow release at the wound sites.
posted : 2012-February-20
Kudos and Congratulations 48. - CIP, CIP, Hooray!
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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
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Congratulations to:
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
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Congratulations to:
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.
Congratulations to:
has been successful again with another CIHR grant entitled "Strategic configuration of cancer care services based on clinical, demographic and geographic considerations".
The objective of this proposal is to develop and evaluate a methodological framework to determine the strategic configuration of provincial cancer treatment services. The analyses will take into account current and future clinical practice, demographic characteristics and geographic considerations, and make use of evidence-based, analytical methodologies from the operations research field. Dr. Tyldesley has assembled an unique multi-disciplinary research team which includes researchers, clinicians, decision makers and health service leaders from the British Columbia Cancer Agency (BCCA) and researchers (faculty, PhD students and Post Doctoral Fellows) in operations research from the Sauder School of Business at UBC. These studies are essential to develop a system which efficiently coordinates services and utilization of resources in providing high quality diagnostic and clinical services.
posted : 2012-January-30
Kudos and Congratulations 45. -
Outstanding (and cold resistant at UNBC)
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Congratulations to:
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
Kudos and Congratulations 44. -
Award to the Branch for International Surgery
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Congratulations to:
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Dr. Robert H. Taylor, Director Branch for International Surgery and Clinical Associate Professor,
Surgery who has been chosen by the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada as the recipient of the 2012 Teasdale-Corti Humanitarian award.
The Teasdale-Corti award was established to acknowledge and celebrate Canadian physicians who, while providing health care or emergency medical services, go beyond the accepted norms of routine practice.
Dr. Taylor helped establish UBC's Branch for International Surgery to address surgical care in international health and has travelled to nearly every continent in the world to provide surgical care and teaching in the developing world, including working for the International Red Cross in conflicted regions. In addition to this Royal College award in 2010 Dr Taylor was made a Member of the Order of Canada for his humanitarian contributions to improving medical services and surgical care in underserved populations of the world.
posted : 2012-January-11
Kudos and Congratulations 43. - Educator Award
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Congratulations to:
the Association of Faculties of Medicine of Canada
2011 Young Educator Award.
Please read about it
in the UBC President's October letter
posted : 2011-November-3.
Kudos and Congratulations 42. - the best in Canada
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Congratulations to:
who was awarded the Dr. Paul Cartier Cardiac Surgery Resident Award at the annual Canadian Cardiovascular Congress (CCC). This award was created in honour of Dr. Paul Cartier, who was highly regarded as an outstanding Canadian Cardiac Surgeon. It is sponsored by the Canadian Society of Cardiac Surgeons (CSCS) and is presented annually to a Cardiac Surgery Resident who has made an outstanding contribution to the field of cardiac surgery through basic science or clinical research and who has demonstrated promise for a distinguished academic career in cardiac surgery.
posted : 2011-November-2, revised: November-8.
Kudos and Congratulations 41. - To suture or not to suture
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Congratulations to:
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
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Congratulations to:
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 39. - Radiotherapy X Immunotherapy
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Congratulations to:
who is working with Dr. Paul Blood (Division of Radiation Oncology and Developmental Radiotherapeutics) and others in the Trev & Joyce Deeley Research Centre at the BC Cancer Agency in Victoria.
She received a research award from the Canadian Uro-Oncology Group/Abbott for "A Pilot Project to Examine CD4+ T Cell Responses Induced by Radiation Therapy in Men with Prostate Cancer". This project will examine the CD4+ T cell response in a sub-group of patients previously observed to have a radiation-therapy induced auto-antibody responses to poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase-1 (PARP1), outer dense fiber 2 (ODF2), and serologically defined colon cancer antigen gene 1 (SDCCAG1).
This information may allow improved effectiveness of radiation therapy by specifically targeting these immune responses for cancer immunotherapy.
posted : 2011-October-18
Kudos and Congratulations 38. - Flying in the information age
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Congratulations to:
who was recently awarded a CIHR operating grant to explore, for the first time, the incidence and outcomes of two birth defects (Congenital Diaphragmatic Hernia and Gastroschisis) in the Canadian Aboriginal Population. The study will also investigate the epidemiology of gastroschisis in Canada using case control methodology and spatial mapping techniques which will enable exploration of environmental and other factors contributing to causation.
Dr. Skarsgard leads a multidisciplinary team (L. Arbour, UVic (Genetics and Aboriginal Health) K. Bassil, UofT (Epidemiology, Geographic Information Systems) M. Brindle, UofC (Pediatric Surgery) M. Greenwood, UNBC (Aboriginal Research) R. Moineddin, UofT (Biostatistics) who will merge data from their the CIHR-funded Canadian Pediatric Surgery Network (CAPSNet) Database with population data from Statistics Canada.
posted : 2011-October-13
Kudos and Congratulations 37. - Sweet Success
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Congratulations to:
(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 36. - Landmark for Northern BC
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Congratulations to:
(Radiation Oncology), and his collaborators for the acceptance by the 'Canadian Journal of Public Health', of their research manuscript: Effect of Community Population Size on Breast Cancer Screening, Stage Distribution, Treatment Use, and Outcomes. This is the first manuscript from the developing collaboration between BCCA-CN, Northern Health and the Northern Medical Program. This work assesses health care issues directly applicable to the northern communities that our Centre for the North serves.
Dr. Olson, his co-investigators, the NMP staff, the RT & ST programs at BCCA, the Breast Cancer Outcomes Unit, the Cancer Control Research staff, and the Northern Cancer Control Strategy staff should be proud of this achievement, and we look forward to this being the first amongst many…
posted : 2011-August-22
Kudos and Congratulations 35. - Dynamic Duo
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Congratulations to:
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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 34. - Doctor, Doctor
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Congratulations to:
(supervisor, Dr. Aziz Ghahary, Plastic Surgery)has successfully defended her PhD thesis. Claudia is originally from Toronto and graduated from medical school at the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México. She trained two years in Plastic Surgery until she moved to Vancouver BC, due to her husband (Omar) being accepted at UBC for his PhD in Mechanical Engineering. Claudia worked on her PhD under Dr. Ghahary's supervision in the Burn and Wound Healing Research and during her studies had received many prestigious awards from institutions such as CIHR, MSFHR, UBC and VCHRI. During these 5 years she was able to publish or submit 11 papers as first author or co-author. Her passion for burn patients and the field of wound healing has taken her to pursue a Post-Doc Fellowship, at Northwestern University, Chicago IL under Dr. Thomas Mustoe, in the field of wound healing and burns, starting this September.
posted : 2011-August-17
Kudos and Congratulations 33. - a Young Scholar
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Congratulations to:
(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
The Branch for International Surgery Research Awardee 2010
and team win innovation's Grand Challenges Canada
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CONGRATULATIONS to Mark Ansermino, Jacqueline Hudson Excerpt from The Globe and Mail -
Among the two Canadian winners was a University of British Columbia invention that transforms a simple cell phone - common even in the poorest parts of sub-Saharan Africa - into a portable blood-oxygen tester; the second home-grown winner was a Hospital for Sick Children creation of "pre-natal sprinkles" to get critically needed, but unusually terrible-tasting, calcium into the diets of pregnant women.
The "Phone Oximeter," was developed by a team led by Mark Ansermino, a scientist and associate professor at the University of British Columbia. It will be field-tested in Stellenbosch, South Africa, where partners in the project are already working to identify mothers at risk because of high blood pressure.
"Midwives will use this to screen women during pregnancy," Mr. Ansermino said, shortly after the winners were announced. He said the call for innovative ideas, partially funded by Grand Challenges Canada was "just a fantastic thing for researchers in Canada."
The 77 finalists were winnowed down from more than 600 original entries in an unconventional attempt to gather bold ideas from around the globe and create a "pool of innovators" to address one of the most persistent development tragedies. Called "Saving Lives at Birth: A Grand Challenge for Development," it is jointly funded by Grand Challengers Canada, the United States Agency for International Development, Norway's Foreign Ministry, the World Bank, and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
"We wanted to mobilize a global community of innovators," said Ms. Clinton, who has taken a personal interest in the effort.
"Seed" grants of roughly $250,000 each were awarded to 19 of the finalists Thursday. -
Read the
FULL ARTICLE:
Interested in learning more about Mark's work?
Download his 2010 BIS ROUND presentation
media release issued & also posted here: 2011-July-28
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Congratulations to:
(Radiation Oncology and Developmental Radiotherapeutics) for leading a team that recently won an HEABC Excellence in BC Health Care Award for the top innovation in a Health Authority. The award was for "a project, initiative or best practice by one of BC's six health authorities that has brought fresh ideas, ingenuity or superior problem-solving skills to the health field." Dr. Tyldesley is the Principal Investigator of a CIHR-funded Operations Research for Improved Cancer Care (ORICC) team, that is a collaboration between the Radiation Therapy Program at the BC Cancer Agency and the Sauder School of Business at UBC. The award was granted for the team's work in changing the process by which Chemotherapy appointments are booked, and for developing, implementing and evaluating "Chemo SmartBook," a new software tool the team developed that uses mathematical modeling to create and optimize a daily schedule for chemotherapy appointments that maximizes the use of available resources. This software is now in regular clinical use at the BC Cancer Agency.
(Radiation Oncology and Developmental Radiotherapeutics) who hhas been awarded The Glen P. Kong Award, presented each year at graduation to a resident for the best research project presented both at the P.J. Doyle Research evening and also at the annual Canadian Society of Otolaryngology - Head and Neck Surgery meeting.
(Otolaryngology, - Head and Neck Surgery) who has just started her Head & Neck Fellowship at University of Alberta, Edmonton. She has been awarded the Lavell H. Leeson Award, awarded each year at graduation for the UBC OTL resident achieving the highest academic standing throughout the year. (Head & Neck Fellowship, University of Alberta, Edmonton) who has been awarded the Lavell H. Leeson Award, awarded each year at graduation for the resident achieving the highest academic standing throughout the year.
posted : 2011-July-18
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Congratulations to:
(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.
(Plastic Surgery) has been awarded the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation Research Grant to study the Use of Botulinum Toxin-A in Two-stage Tissue Expander/Implant Reconstruction. The research team includes Dr. Peter Lennox, Dr. Nancy Van Laeken, and Dr. Sheina Macadam.
(Division of Radiation Oncology and Developmental Radiotherapeutics) has received the 2011 ASCO Breast Cancer Symposium Merit Award for his fellowship work on the role of locoregional treatment for women with metastatic breast cancer.
(Radiation Oncology, UBC Northern Medical Program) and Dr. Amanda Ward (BCCA, Sociobehavioural Research Centre) have received a grant from the Public Health Agency of Canada to develop and pilot a "Survivorship Care Plan" for cancer survivors in Northern British Columbia. The ultimate goal of this research is to
(1) understand the unmet needs of northern, rural, and First Nations survivors of adult cancer, including medical surveillance, psychosocial support, and rehabilitation resources and
(2) to design and pilot a SCP within 6 rural communities in Northern BC.
posted : 2011-July-12
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Congratulations to:
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.
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
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Congratulations to:
posted : 2011-June-20
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Congratulations to:
Division of Radiation Oncology and Developmental Radiotherapeutics for receiving a 2011 competitive grant from the Brain Tumor Foundation of Canada. His group will be conducting a phase II study to assess the value of functional imaging (PET/CT scanning) with F-18 labeled FDOPA in the planning of neurosurgical resections and the post-operative assessment of the completeness of excision prior to radiation therapy planning. It is anticipated that more individualized targeting of local therapies will improve control and survival rates for patients with malignant brain tumors while reducing the side-effects of treatment.
posted : 2011-June-19
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Congratulations to:
who has received the Professional Association of Residents of British Columbia Resident's Advocate Award for 2010. Nomination were accepted from Residents to recognize an individual who is respected in the community and through his or her advocacy has improved Residents' well-being personal, professionally and educationally. Since he took on his current role as the General Surgery Residency Program Director in 2007, Dr. Hameed has consistently advocated on behalf of his residents. His efforts in restructuring the academic half day program, in designing and implementing a surgical CRASH co urse for dents, and in advancing the research agendas of his residents have been unparalleled. Dr. Hameed has also reliably supported his residents outside of the academic and clinical environments. For these reasons, the residents of BC have chosen to award Dr. Hameed with their Residents' Advocate Award for 2010. Past recipients have gone on to be appointed as Associate Deans within the Faculty of Medicine and other leadership positions within the university.
posted : 2011-June-17
Academic Gowns 2011 - Dr. Ross Brown
From left to right
Dr. Warnock
Dr. Brown
and Dr. Stuart
Dean Gavin Stuart hosted a dinner reception on April 12, 2011 to recognize individuals who have been promoted to either Clinical Professor or Professor. Each individual being honoured was presented with an Academic Gown for their achievements.
Group photo
of Gown recepients -
Dr. Brown
is in the 2nd. row on the far right
posted : 2011-June-6
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Congratulations to:
Division of Radiation Oncology and Developmental Radiotherapeutics and the Practice leader at the BC Cancer Agency Centre for the Southern Interior in Kelowna who has has been elected to the position of President-Elect of the Canadian Association of Radiation Oncology. Ross trained in Edmonton and St. Louis and has been practicing in Kelowna since May 2003 and has been the Radiation Oncology leader in Kelowna since December 2005.
posted : 2011-May-30
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Congratulations to:
who has received a Faculty of Medicine Distinguished Achievement Award for excellence in service to the University and Community. Dr. Cochrane has made outstanding contributions to our understanding of safety in health care. He was a recipient of a grant from the Canadian Patient Safety Institute to investigate incidents and types of adverse events in children in large community hospitals. He led British Columbia participation in the National Advanced Study in Paediatrics and for this, he was presented with the Family Centered Award from the British Columbia Children's Hospital. Dr. Cochrane also chairs the BC Patient Safety and Quality Council which implements and measures safety for the Ministry of Health Clinical Care Management. This has fostered the safety curriculum in the Faculty of Medicine by providing input for both the new curriculum and the Doctor Patient and Society course.
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.
(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.
(General Surgery PGY3), who was awarded the 2nd. 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.
(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".
(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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Congratulations to:
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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
Dr. Graham Bryce wins Courage to Come Back award
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| Graham Bryce |
The Courage To Come Back Awards honour British Columbians who have overcome seemingly insurmountable challenges and reach out to help others --
"individuals who offer hope and inspire us with their courage, strength, and drive to give back to their communities."
One award is given in each of these categories: Addiction, Medical, Mental Health, Physical Rehabilitation, Social Adversity, and Youth.
All the recipients have their stories told in The Province newspaper, in an interview with Deborra Hope on Global BC’s News, and in stories
on News1130 radio.
Dr. Bryce now spends his time advocating for hearing health, mostly on a volunteer basis. He helped launch the early hearing program in B.C. that ensures that every baby's hearing be screened at birth and another program designed to prevent the epidemic of noise-induced hearing loss, according to The Province.
Dr. Bryce also became a board member for the Western Institute for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing, where he worked to help the hard of hearing improve their communication and access to society.
Despite left-side paralysis and loss of vision in his left eye, Dr. Bryce continued work he had begun before his stroke, chairing the fundraising committee for the B.C. Family Hearing Resource Society, became involved in the Balance and Dizziness Society and joined the Faculty of Medicine, teaching ethics and the community. He is also on the board of directors for the Greater Vancouver Community Services Society.
"I've had to build a whole new life," he told The Province. "It was a change in my identity. My life is very different from what I anticipated. People don't anticipate this happening and until you're there and you face whatever challenges, you don't know how you're going to respond."
Read the complete article here.
posted : 2011-May-13
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Congratulations to:
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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
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Congratulations to:
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Dr Juanita Crook, (Professor- pending, Radiation Oncology and Developmental Radiotherapuetics) and a Radiation Oncologist at the BC Cancer Agency's Sandi Hawkins Center for the Southern Interior in Kelowna, has been elected President of the American Brachytherapy Society (ABS). Dr Crook is an international leader in the development and application of permanent prostate seed implants as an alternative to radical prostatectomy for men with early to intermediate stage prostate cancer. She has been on the ABS Board of Directors and a valued teacher at the ABS Brachytherapy Schools since 2007.
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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Congratulations to:
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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 5th ( www.transplant-training.ca ).
posted : 2011-April-28
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Congratulations to:
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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 39th 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
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Congratulations to:
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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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Congratulations to:
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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 15th Annual Transplantation Research Day on Dec 5th, 2011 (www.transplant-training.ca)
posted : 2011-March-21
Dr. Nancy Van Laeken was astonished by the resilience of women at Indian hospital
posted : 2011-March-8; on the 100th International Women's Day
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Congratulations to:
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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:
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
Member of the Order of Canada to ...
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... Dr. Robert H. Taylor, for his humanitarian contributions to improving medical services and surgical care in underserved populations
of the world.
See announcement also at the Faculty of Medicine home page.
Recipients of the award will be invited to a ceremony at Rideau Hall early 2011.
A full list of recipients is available at the Governor General's website
posted : 2011-January-5
News page 1st. released : 2010-July-12