May 10, 2023
I wish to take this opportunity to bring the recent successes of our graduate students to everyone’s attention:
- Ms. Aileen Hsieh and Ms. Alexandria Evans are recipients of CIHR doctoral awards – only 38 such awards have been awarded to UBC phd students. APT is greatly over-represented here considering the footprint of our grad program.
- Ms. Janet Zhang is the recipient of CIHR master’s award.
- Ms. Cassandra Choles and Ms. Kauna Usman are co-recipients of the 2022/2023 Dr. K. Leighton PCTH graduate award for their progress and productivity.
Congratulations to our trainees and we wish them all the best!.
Dr. Pascal Bernatchez.
May 9, 2023
We are pleased to announce that Dr. Terri Sun has been awarded an SCA/IARS Starter/Diversity and Inclusion Grant by the Society of Cardiovascular Anesthesiologists (SCA) and the International Anesthesia Research Society (IARS).
May 5, 2023
We are very pleased to announce that Ms. Himali Bergeron-Vitez and Mr. Zeren Sun are the joint winners of the Dr Stephen Sacks Award for this year.
They are recognized for receiving the highest scores in audience surveys, and also for their contributions to the seminar discussions.
Congratulations to Himali and Zeren.
April 27, 2023
Congratulations to Dr. Khaled Abdelrahman who was awarded a Michael Smith Health Research BC Health Professional-Investigator Award to support his research focussed on The contribution of metabotropic glutamate receptor 5 (mGluR5) to impaired control of brain blood flow in Alzheimer’s disease
Alzheimer’s disease is a major crisis and a huge burden on healthcare system. It causes a decrease in memory and affects women more than men. The memory decline in Alzheimer’s is linked to poor blood supply to the brain. The causes for poor supply are unknown but it starves brain cells of essential materials leading to improper function. I will study how a molecule present in the cells of the brain called metabotropic glutamate receptor 5 (mGluR5) contributes to the poor blood supply to the brain and the development of Alzheimer’s symptoms. My group at UBC is interested in mGluR5 because it attaches to the “toxic molecules” commonly found in Alzheimer’s brain. I will use mice sick with Alzheimer’s and samples from Alzheimer’s patients to study how the attachment of the “toxic molecules” to mGluR5 can lead to the short supply of blood to the brain and memory loss. I will also study if the role of mGluR5 in Alzheimer’s is different between males and females. In addition, I will test if the drugs that act on mGluR5 can help Alzheimer’s patients by correcting blood supply to the brain and improving memory. I also will work with patient and community partners to help interpret and communicate my findings and guide future work
April 27, 2023
Congratulations to Dr. Anshula Ambasta who was awarded a Michael Smith Health Research BC Health Professional-Investigator Award to support her research focussed on Re-purposing the ordering of ‘routine’ laboratory tests in hospitalized medical patients (RePORT)
Blood tests can help diagnose diseases and monitor health status. However, overuse of blood testing, particularly in hospitals, leads to patient discomfort, loss of sleep, contributes to blood loss leading to blood transfusions, and wastes health care dollars. We previously developed and tested a multi-part healthcare provider (HCP) engagement strategy to safely reduce overuse of six target laboratory tests that make up 40 percent of costs on laboratory testing in hospitalized medical patients. In collaboration with a Patient and Family Advisory Council (PFAC), we have co-designed a patient engagement strategy that includes an infographic, video and website. Our team, made up of clinicians, researchers, patient partners and policy makers, proposes to launch the HCP and patient engagement strategies across 16 hospitals in British Columbia and 14 hospitals in Alberta in a cluster randomized stepped-wedge design. We will evaluate the impact of this strategy on number of laboratory tests done, patient experience, patient safety, costs and HCP experience, using administrative data systems and patient and HCP interviews. We will work with the PFAC to design implementation evaluation, particularly of the patient engagement strategy.
April 27, 2023
Congratulations to Dr. Wade Thompson who was awarded a Michael Smith Health Research BC Health Professional-Investigator Award to support his research focused on Making medications fit for older adults: advancing the science and implementation of deprescribing guidelines.
As people age, they can end up taking many medications. Certain medications might have made sense when they were started. But as people get older, some medications may no longer be needed, or may be unsafe. It makes sense to consider stopping such medications. It can be tough for prescribers and patients to decide when and how to stop a medication. From 2014 to 2017, we developed guidelines and resources to help patients and prescribers make decisions about stopping medications. Our guidelines and resources are used in Canada and across the world. However, guidelines and resources need to be up to date with the most current evidence. There also needs to be ongoing strategies to ensure guidelines are used in the real world. This project, led from UBC Vancouver, will first survey patients and prescribers to assess needs and priorities for guidelines on stopping medications. We will then update our guidelines based on needs and current evidence. Finally, we will design knowledge translation materials together with patients and prescribers (called “co-design”), and spread the word about our updated resources. We strive to help patients/prescribers decide when and how to stop medications and improve well-being of older adults.
March 20, 2023
We would like to congratulate two of our BSc Pharmacology students who have just being awarded UBC’s Wesbrook Scholar Awards (2022-23). “The Premier Undergraduate Scholarships and Wesbrook Scholars are UBC’s most prestigious designations given to senior students with outstanding academic performance, leadership, and involvement in student and community activities. Awards range from 20 Wesbrook Scholar designations each worth $1,000 to renewable scholarships worth $20,000 over two years.”
In addition to being awarded the Wesbrook Scholarhip, Daniel Shirvani was also the recipient of the Carl Bradford Robertson Scholarship valued at $15,000 and
Katherine Feng was the recipient of the HSBC Emerging Leader Scholarships valued at $5,000.
March 8, 2023
Congratulations to Dr. Pascal Bernatchez and team on the successful renewal of their University of British Columbia Research Excellence Cluster – The UBC Advanced Angiotensin Therapeutics Network. Initially funding in 2022/2023 as a new emerging cluster, this unit has now been renewed. Research Excellence Clusters are interdisciplinary networks of researchers addressing societal and cultural problems, and working together to solve challenges that transcend traditional boundaries associated with departments, institutions, and funding agencies
AATHEN – The UBC Advanced Angiotensin Therapeutics Network
Angiotensin receptor blockers are well-established anti-hypertensive medications with a long list of therapeutic effects in non-blood pressure-related diseases. The multi-Centre, tri-Faculty UBC Advanced Angiotensin Therapeutics Network (AATHEN) was created to facilitate collaborations aimed at optimizing the pleiotropic properties of angiotensin receptor blockers and develop non-blood pressure lowering analog compounds.
Cluster Lead: Pascal Bernatchez
https://angiotensin.ubc.ca/
March 8, 2023
Congratulations to Dr. Mark Ansermino and team on the successful renewal of their University of British Columbia Research Excellence Cluster – Action in Sepsis. Initially funding in 2020/2021 as a new emerging cluster, this unit has now been renewed for an additional 2 year period as an Established Cluster. Research Excellence Clusters are interdisciplinary networks of researchers addressing societal and cultural problems, and working together to solve challenges that transcend traditional boundaries associated with departments, institutions, and funding agencies
Action on Sepsis
Sepsis occurs when an infection results in vital organ damage, and can result in death or disability. Sepsis has huge clinical, social, economic, and political impacts. Thus reducing the impact of sepsis cannot be achieved without cross-cutting, interdisciplinary collaborations. Action on Sepsis fosters diverse and inclusive partnerships across biology, medicine, population and public health, and policy to effectively prevent, diagnose, and manage the deadly condition of sepsis. We aim to create innovative, targeted interventions that will minimize death and disability and improve outcomes for people with sepsis in BC and across the globe.
Cluster Lead: Mark Ansermino
https://sepsis.ubc.ca/
February 23, 2023
Congratulations to Fatemeh Aminazadeh (PhD student in Dr. Tillie-Louise Hackett’s laboratory) who was awarded a 1 year Canadian Lung Association / CIHR Institute of Circulatory and Respiratory Health Research Studentship to support her research project entitled “The contribution of sex differences to small airways disease in Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD)”.