MD/PhD Program - Seminars
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MD/PhD "Building Bridges Seminar Series" - ALL ARE WELCOME
Location: Medical Student Alumni Centre (Basement), 12th Avenue & Heather Street, Vancouver, BC
This seminar series is aimed at illustrating the relationship that exists between clinical practice and medical research. The meetings offer a casual and relaxed atmosphere in which to profile individuals who have successfully combined both clinical and research aspects into their medical careers.
Presentation is videoconferenced and will be broadcast to the Island Medical Program (room MSB 107 at the University of Victoria Medical Sciences Building) and the Northern Medical Program (room NHSC 9-374).
Date and Time: Monday, 12 April 2010, 6:00 - 7:00 pm
Invited speaker: Dr. Poul Sorensen
Johal Chair in Childhood Cancer Research
Professor, Department of Pathology & Laboratory Medicine, UBC
Senior Scientist, BC Cancer Research Centre
Dr. Poul Sorensen undertook his undergraduate, medical, and PhD degrees at UBC. After completing postdoctoral training at the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis and Children's Hospital in Los Angeles, he returned to UBC in 1993 to start his own laboratory.
Dr. Poul Sorensen is currently the Johal Chair in Childhood Cancer Research, based at UBC/BC Cancer Agency. His research focuses on the aberrant signaling pathways that are involved in the development of childhood and breast cancers. The pathways responsible for these changes in childhood tumours have not received as much attention as their counterparts in cancers that tend to affect adults. However, Dr. Sorensen’s laboratory has identified numerous proteins that are specifically altered in a range of childhood cancers, and is in the process of determining how these molecules transmit the signals that cause cells to become cancerous. This will allow rapid implementation of strategies to target these proteins therapeutically, which is already underway.
Dr. Sorensen will make a presentation about his active research, discuss his training background and how he combines teaching, clinical work and research, and share his advice for clinician-scientist trainees.
Date and Time: Monday, 7 December 2009, 6:00 - 7:00 pm
Invited speaker: Dr. Sam Wiseman
Assistant Professor, Department of Surgery, UBC
Dr. Sam Wiseman graduated from medical school at the University of Manitoba in Winnipeg and also completed his residency training in General Surgery at the same institution, obtaining his Fellowship in Surgery from the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada in 2000. He subsequently moved to Buffalo New York where he spent three years in subspecialty fellowship training at Roswell Park Cancer Institute (RPCI). At RPCI he completed an American Head and Neck Society Advanced Training Council approved Head & Neck Surgery Fellowship, a Society of Surgical Oncology approved Surgical Oncology Fellowship, and an oncology research fellowship that was focused on studying the molecular biology of cancer. After completing his training Dr. Wiseman joined the staff at St. Paul's Hospital in 2003 and is currently an Assistant Professor in the Department of Surgery at the University of British Columbia.
Dr. Wiseman's surgical practice is concentrated on the treatment of thyroid tumors and parathyroid disease, he still also carries out other cancer surgeries (such as sentinel node biopsy and lymph node dissection), and General Surgery operations (such as laparoscopic cholecystectomy and hernia repair). While his clinical and basic research are especially focused on thyroid and parathyroid disease, Dr. Wiseman has also continued to study other human cancer types in the laboratory including; breast, colon, rectal, and lung cancers. His research has taken a translational approach, or applied new knowledge/discoveries learned in the laboratory to address important clinical diagnostic, prognostic and treatment questions. Dr. Wiseman has many research collaborators (both clinicians and scientists) and is involved in the training and supervision of many undergraduate, graduate, and postgraduate students.
Dr. Wiseman has published many clinical and scientific research papers and his research has been presented at countless meetings locally, nationally and internationally, and has been recognized with many honours and awards. In 2005 Dr. Wiseman was the first surgeon in the history of British Columbia to receive the prestigious Michael Smith Foundation for Health Research Scholar Award. In 2007 Dr, Wiseman was selected from surgeons world-wide to receive the prestigious American College of Surgeons Travelling Fellowship to Japan. In 2008 Dr. Wiseman was a recipient of a Canada’s Top 40 Under 40 Award -- a prestigious national award program that annually honours 40 Canadians in the private, public and not-for-profit sectors under the age of 40.
Throughout his career Dr. Wiseman has contributed to his profession and society in many different ways (other than clinical, research, and teaching contributions) including serving as a reviewer and editor for many medical journals, acting as a grant reviewer for several granting agencies, member of the Executive Council of the British Columbia Cancer Agency Surgical Oncology Network, department of surgery representative for the University of British Columbia Clinical Investigator Program, Director of Research for General Surgery at St. Paul's Hospital, and Director of Research for General Surgery in the Department of Surgery at the University of British Columbia.
Dr. Wiseman will make a presentation about his active research, discuss his training background and how he combines teaching, clinical work and research, and share his advice for clinician-scientist trainees.
Date and Time: Monday, 5 October 2009, 6:00 - 7:00 pm
Invited speaker: Dr. Jane Buxton
Physician Epidemiologist, BC Centre for Disease Control
Associate Professor, School of Population & Public Health, UBC
Dr. Jane Buxton received her medical degree from the University of London, UK. Dr. Buxton completed an MHSc and FRCPC in Community Medicine at the University of British Columbia. Dr. Buxton is a Physician Epidemiologist at the BC Centre for Disease Control. She is also an Assistant Professor and Director of the Community Medicine Residency Program (2001-2008) in the School of Population & Public Health at UBC. Her areas of interest include: communicable disease control, outbreak investigation, breast cancer risk, hepatits A, B and C, transfusion transmissible diseases, illicit drug use epidemiology and harm reduction, and social context of health behaviour.
Dr. Buxton will make a presentation about her active research, discuss her training background and how she combines clinical work and research, and share her advice for clinician-scientist trainees.
Date and Time: Monday, 6 April 2009, 6:00 - 7:00 pm
Invited speaker: Dr. Ken Bassett
Professor, Family Practice, Anaesthesiology, Pharmacology and Therapeutics, UBC
Associate member, School of Population & Public Health, Anthropology & Sociology, UBC Chair, Drug Assessment Work Group, Therapeutics Initiative, UBC
Director, BC Centre for Epidemiologic and International Ophthalmology
Dr. Bassett directs the Drug Assessment Working Group of the Therapeutics Initiative, in the Department of Anaesthesiology Pharmacology and Therapeutics at UBC. He serves on the Canadian Expert Drug Advisory Committee, the principal committee of the Common Drug Review program which is designed to centrally review all newly approved prescription drugs in Canada. Supported by the UBC Department of Ophthalmology, Dr. Bassett maintains an international teaching program (health services methods, epidemiology & anthropology) focused the prevention and treatment of blindness in Tibet, Tanzania, Nepal, India and Egypt. As Director of the BC Centre for Epidemiologic and International Opthalmology, UBC, he works closely with eye care program methods, data management, and report production.
Dr. Bassett's research focuses on the systematic review of drug therapy and drug funding policy. He has received recognition for his skill in the critical appraisal of drug therapies, and has considerable background in the practical issues impacting public plan formularies. He is also conducting several pharmaco-epidemiologic studies of serious adverse events associated with prescription drug therapy in British Columbia and Ontario.
Dr. Bassett is a practicing physician with a PhD in medical anthropology from McGill University. He will make a presentation about his active research, discuss his training background and how he combines clinical work and research, and share his advice for clinician-scientist trainees.
Date and Time: Monday, 1 December 2008, 6:00 - 7:00 pm
Invited speaker: Dr. Dianne Miller
Associate Professor and Division Head, Gynaecologic Oncology, Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, UBC
Dr. Dianne Miller is the Division Head of Gynaecologic Oncology in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology at the University of British Columbia. She is also the Provincial Gynaecology Tumour Group Chair for the Province of British Columbia. Dr. Miller obtained her BSc. in Microbiology and Immunology at UBC in 1976, her MD at UBC in 1980. She then interned at the Toronto Western Hospital prior to working as a Family Doctor in Yellowknife NWT. In 1988, Dr. Miller completed her Royal College certification in Obstetrics and Gynaecology at UBC. This was followed by completion of a Royal College Fellowship in Gynaecologic Oncology in Toronto in 2000. Dr. Miller has been employed at BCCA/UBC since that time. Dr. Miller is actively involved in both clinical trials and in collaborations with translational and basic scientists. She is particularly interested in looking potential screens for early diagnosis and in targeted therapies.
Dr. Miller will make a presentation about her active research, discuss her training background and how she combines clinical work and research, and share her advice for clinician-scientist trainees.
Date and Time: Monday, 12 May 2008, 6:00 - 7:00 pm
Invited speaker: Dr. Peter Rieckmann
Professor, UBC Department of Medicine (Neurology)
Director, Multiple Sclerosis Program at Vancouver Coastal Health Research Institute and UBC
Regional Director (Pacific Northwest), endMS National Research and Training Network
Dr. Peter Rieckmann is a renowned clinician scientist and international expert in Multiple Sclerosis (MS) and neuroimmunology. Treating and studying multiple sclerosis as a multidimensional disease and bringing more recognition to the impact of MS on patients are cornerstones of his vision.
Dr. Rieckmann’s research is focussed on the pathophysiology of multiple sclerosis and related diseases of the central nervous system (CNS). This includes regulation of immune cells, functional aspects of the blood brain barrier and extended phenotype/genotype interaction during the course of disease. Multiple sclerosis is still a leading course for permanent disability in young adults. An imbalance of auto-aggressive immune reactions and impaired endogenous repair mechanisms is one likely explanation, but we still do not completely understand the relevant components and their interactions in this scenario.
Studying disease modifying genes in MS, his research group identified co-stimulatory molecules, like CTLA-4 and PD-1 as potential candidates having an impact on the course of the disease. The neurotrophic factor, CNTF, was demonstrated to be associated with better recovery after attacks and in the EAE model was associated with better outcome and less axonal damage. Currently, Dr. Rieckmann’s research is orchestrated around the blood brain barrier - the important interphase between immune system and CNS. His research group has identified specific genes in cerebro-endothelial cells as mediators of immune cell migration and potential modulator of regenerative processes within the brain.
Dr. Rieckmann will make a presentation about his active research, discuss his training background and how he combines clinical work and research, and share his advice for clinician-scientist trainees.
Date and Time: Monday, 10 March 2008, 6:00 - 7:00 pm
Invited speaker: Dr. Rusung Tan
Professor, UBC Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine
Head, Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, BC Children’s and Women’s Hospital
Dr. Tan was raised in the Okanagan Valley and finished high school at Vernon Senior Secondary. He completed a B.Sc. (Honours) in Physiology (1982) and an MD (1986) at the University of British Columbia. Following an internship at St. Mary’s Hospital in Montreal, his medical career has been varied. He began by practicing family medicine in Toronto, Northern Ontario and British Columbia before returning for residency training in pathology (Medical Microbiology). He subsequently obtained research training with Professor Hung Sia Teh of the University of B.C. and Professor Andrew McMichael of the University of Oxford, where he completed a Ph.D. Since returning to Vancouver, Dr. Tan has been engaged in academic pathology, teaching and basic research as a medical microbiologist at C&W Hospital.
Dr. Tan’s research interests are in childhood immunity and autoimmunity, particularly the role of T cells, natural killer cells and natural killer T cells in protection from viral infection, and pathogenesis of type 1 diabetes. He is the finder of a novel mutation in the protein responsible for X-linked lymphoproliferative disease (XLP). This discovery solved a longstanding mystery of young male deaths in a large first nations family, led to some basic immunological findings, and has been used for prenatal diagnosis in the family. Clinically, this has led to early cord blood transplantation, and better prognosis.
Dr. Tan will make a presentation about his active research, discuss his training background and how he combines clinical work and research, and share his advice for clinician-scientist trainees.
Date and Time: Monday, 21 January 2008, 6:00 - 7:00 pm
Invited speaker: Dr. Alan So
Assistant Professor, UBC Department of Urologic Sciences
Research Scientist, Prostate Centre, Vancouver Coastal Health Research Institute
A graduate of the University of Alberta, Dr. So came to the Prostate Centre as a Clinical Fellow in 2002, following completion of his residency at Dalhousie University. He worked with Dr. Martin Gleave on the mechanisms of development of hormone resistance, bone metastasis of prostate cancer, and in the development of novel intravesical therapeutics for bladder cancer.
During his post-doctoral fellowship he has published more than 10 peer-reviewed papers. He is a recipient of many awards, including the Vancouver General Hospital Foundation’s “In It For Life” Clinician Scientist Award, an ASCO “Young Scientist Award”, and a prestigious Michael Smith Foundation Post-Doctoral Fellowship Award.
Dr. So’s current research focuses on the study of development of novel therapeutics for bladder cancer and determination of the functional role of GLI1/2 in the progression of prostate cancer to its lethal stage of androgen independence. He has characterized the functional role of different survival genes (including clusterin and Hsp27) in different tumor models (prostate, breast, lung, and bladder) in cancer progression. He is active in clinical trials across Canada and is a member of National Cancer Institute of Canada GU Clinical Trials Group and Canadian Uro-Oncology Group.
Dr. So will make a presentation about his active research, discuss his training background and how he combines clinical work and research, and share his advice for clinician-scientist trainees.
Date and Time: Monday, 19 November 2007, 6:00 - 7:00 pm
Invited speaker: Dr. Youwen Zhou
Associate Professor, UBC Department of Dermatology and Skin Science
Director, Chieng Genomics Centre and Laboratory of Predictive Medicine and Therapeutics, Vancouver Coastal Health Research Institute
After completing his Bachelor of Science at Nankai University, China, and his Masters of Science at Tulane University, New Orleans, Dr. Zhou earned his PhD in Molecular Genetics at the State University of New York, followed by his medical degree at the University of Toronto. He completed his residency in dermatology at the University of British Columbia.
In his clinical practice, Dr. Zhou specializes in medical dermatology, skin oncology and laser skin surgery. He is active in scientific research on melanoma, skin pigmentation, rosacea, hyperhidrosis and psoriasis.
Dr. Zhou will make a presentation about his active research, discuss his training background and how he combines clinical work and research, and share his advice for clinician-scientist trainees.
Date and Time: Monday, 22 October 2007, 6:00 - 7:00 pm
Invited speaker: Dr. Del Dorscheid
Associate Professor, UBC Department of Medicine, The James Hogg iCAPTURE Centre for Cardiovascular and Pulmonary Research
Dr. Del Dorscheid grew up in Alberta, and was the first graduate from the formal combined MD/PhD program at McGill. He graduated from Medicine in 1993, and completed his PhD thesis in Experimental Medicine. He moved onto the University of Chicago where he completed his Internal Medicine residency and subsequently a fellowship in Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, including post-doctoral research with Dr. Steve White. After one year on the Faculty at the University of Chicago, he relocated with his family to Vancouver in 2000 to take a position in Critical Care Medicine at UBC.
Dr. Dorscheid is a member of the Divisions of Critical Care Medicine and Respirology at St. Paul's Hospital. He attends in the medical intensive care unit at St. Paul's and is a researcher at the iCAPTURE Centre, leading an active research group investigating inflammatory airway diseases including asthma and ARDS. He is also an MSFHR Scholar.
Dr. Dorscheid will make a presentation on his current research, and discuss his training background and advice for prospective clinical scientists.
Date and Time: Monday, 17 September 2007, 6:00 - 7:00 pm
Invited speaker: Dr. Andrew Weng
Assistant Professor, UBC Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine
Senior Scientist, Terry Fox Laboratory, BC Cancer Research Centre
Dr. Weng received his PhD and MD degrees at the University of Chicago and joined the UBC faculty in 2005. His research focuses on signal transduction via the Notch receptor in lymphoid cells. By understanding the role of Notch in cancer development, he hopes to develop methods for manipulating Notch activity to shut down the growth of established cancer cells, and perhaps also to prevent it from occurring in the first place.
Dr. Weng has a background in hematopathology, and in addition to talking about his research, he will also talk about his experiences and opinions on career development options for clinician-scientists.
