For the late Dr. Lee-Anna Huisman, family and community are at the heart of medicine. A compassionate family physician and researcher, Dr. Huisman devoted her career to improving community-based research and patient care.
Inspired by the tragic and sudden loss of her sister from what seemed to be a heart arrythmia in 2005, Dr. Huisman worked with the Gitxsan First Nation in northwestern British Columbia to better understand the social and psychological impact of living with Long QT Syndrome (LQTS) – an electrical heart disorder that can cause fast, irregular heartbeats that can lead to fainting, seizures and, in some instances, sudden death.
Roughly one in 2000 people worldwide live with the disorder, but inherited genetic variants have pushed that number higher in some communities across the world. Within the Gitxsan First Nation, LQTS affects approximately one in 125 people.
Seeing the profound impact of LQTS on Gitxsan families motivated Dr. Huisman’s research. And, while the majority of previous studies had focused on the biological aspects of the disorder, Dr. Huisman focused on how LQTS affects the lives of community members and the factors that help build resiliency when faced with a sudden loss, or the knowledge that one carries the predisposition. Factors, such as positive family relationships, spirituality and biological knowledge about the condition and its management all facilitated resiliency according to her research.
Dr. Huisman helped shape how genetic counsellors provide more culturally informed care for Indigenous patients. A study she published in 2020, which was one of the first to use the medicine wheel from a genetic counselling perspective, highlighted the importance of balancing the interconnectedness between physical, mental, spiritual and emotional aspects of well-being.
Her research also informed genetic counseling within the Silent Genome Project, which is being led by UBC professor of medical genetics Dr. Laura Arbour, in partnership with Indigenous organizations and communities across Canada. The project’s aim is to create the first Indigenous DNA reference library to ensure that Indigenous communities have the same access to genetic care that other populations have.
Dr. Arbour was also Dr. Huisman’s Master of Science supervisor in the UBC Medical Genetics graduate program.
“Each time I present on LQTS, I speak about Lee-Anna’s work and how it has vastly benefitted how we approach genetic counselling,” says Dr. Arbour. “We were very saddened to learn of her passing and will continue to share this legacy of information to further improve research and patient care.”
After receiving her graduate degree from UBC in 2010, Dr. Huisman stayed on with the university, completing both her M.D. at the Island Medical Program and medical training through UBC’s Indigenous Family Practice Residency Program.
An extremely humble person, Dr. Huisman also brought intention and compassion to her practice as a family doctor.
“Patients were immediately drawn to her,” says Dr. Cassandra Felske-Durksen, interim director of the Indigenous Family Practice Residency Program and colleague of Dr. Huisman’s. “She spent incredible amounts of time with them and, we as colleagues, saw the transformation in them from when they entered the room with Lee-Anna to when they left.”
“She was absolutely devoted to family and community and that was clear throughout her life and work.”
Remembered as an extraordinary, kind and compassionate doctor, Dr. Huisman touched the lives of countless colleagues and patients across B.C. and Canada.
A celebration of life was held for Dr. Huisman in Terrace B.C. on Nov. 14, 2022. Dr. Huisman was also recently honoured with the Gitxsan name, ‘Ama ‘nii yeet lax̱ sga’nist’ which translates to ‘walked the good walk on mountains’ by Dr. Jane Smith (Xiswis), an author and member of the Gitxsan First Nation.