The Faculty & Trainee Spotlight Series shines a light on the incredible people who make up the heart of UBC Department of Anesthesiology, Pharmacology & Therapeutics. Amidst the remarkable achievements and developments within the department, it is a pleasure to share the stories of the dynamic trainees and faculty who bring passion, curiosity, and insight that drive the areas of anesthesiology, pharmacology, and therapeutics forward.
Meet Dr. Sandy Kisilevsky!
Role: Clinical Assistant Professor
Dr. Sandy Kisilevsky spent four amazing years as an undergraduate at Queen’s University before travelling abroad, where she fell in love and married a Glaswegian doctor. After his passing, she became preoccupied with studying medicine. She went on to complete an MD-PhD in Calgary and was introduced to anesthesiology through a friend’s recommendation. Drawn to Vancouver for its climate and mountains, she pursued her residency there, and a key mentor sparked her passion for neuroanesthesiology. After completing a fellowship in San Francisco, Dr. Kisilevsky joined Vancouver General Hospital (VGH), where she has served as a consultant anesthesiologist for the past decade and as the co-head for the UBC division of neuroanesthesiology.
“It is exciting, intellectually stimulating, and immensely rewarding to care for some of the sickest patients in the province.”
— Sandy Kisilevsky, Clinical Assistant Professor, UBC
Responses have been edited for flow, clarity, and style.
What drew you to anesthesiology/pharmacology/therapeutics as a specialty or area of research?
My first direct exposure to anesthesiology came during a medical student elective in Hay River, Northwest Territories. My attending physician turned out to be a final-year anesthesiology resident on a rural locum, and I watched him alleviate the pain of a memorable emergency department (ED) patient using regional anesthesia. Later, my family practice preceptor, a late-career general practitioner (GP) anesthetist, described pursuing general practice anesthesia (GPA) training after delivering general anesthesia in an emergency rural setting, guided over the telephone by the on-call anesthesiologist who had not yet arrived. These individuals were particularly inspiring to me. Witnessing an above-knee amputation performed under spinal anesthesia, with the patient fully awake, ultimately solidified my decision: I needed to understand how this was possible.
What do you find most rewarding about your work?
As a mid-career anesthesiologist, I love all aspects of my work at VGH. It is exciting, intellectually stimulating, and immensely rewarding to care for some of the sickest patients in the province. I enjoy building rapport with them and safely guiding them through their perioperative journey. My anesthesiologist colleagues are another major source of enjoyment—they are an outstanding group who foster a sociable work environment filled with interesting and often humorous conversations. I feel incredibly fortunate to have a job I love that also allows me to raise my children in beautiful Vancouver, BC.
If you weren’t in this field, what do you think you’d be doing instead?
I would have been a forensic scientist. As a child, long before CSI popularized the field, my dad gave me books on real-life cases solved through forensics. The Arsenic Milkshake was my favourite. I went on to earn my Master’s degree from the internationally renowned forensic program at the University of Strathclyde in Scotland. During my degree, I conducted research with the RCMP Forensic Unit in Regina, and my thesis focused on DNA profiling of epithelial cells transferred to handled objects, now an established technique in crime scene investigation. After completing my training, I was offered a position with the RCMP forensic unit in Ottawa, but I ultimately turned it down to pursue medicine.
What’s one piece of advice you received early in your career that has stayed with you?
“Let learners try.”
As a consultant anesthesiologist in a large academic teaching centre, I have the pleasure of working with medical students and residents at all levels of training. It is my responsibility to strike a balance between providing learners with an appropriate level of independence while maintaining the highest standard of patient safety