Nima Alaeiilkhchi

Nima Alaeiilkhchi

Nima Alaeiilkhchi

Postdoctoral Research Fellow

Faculty Bio

Dr. Nima Alaeiilkhchi joined the TI in March 2024 as a postdoctoral fellow following the completion of his PhD in Neuroscience. His doctoral research was dedicated to exploring metabolic treatments for multiple sclerosis (MS) using murine models. This work reflects his passion for deepening his understanding of complex biological systems and his ambition to bridge the gap between laboratory research and clinical application as a future clinician-scientist. Moreover, with nearly a decade of experience working with the Cochrane Hypertension Group, Nima has developed a robust expertise in conducting systematic reviews.

Nima will collaborate with Dr. Wade Thompson and Dr. Anshula Ambasta, focusing on systematic reviews and evidence synthesis in the realm of deprescribing and the management of polypharmacy, particularly among older populations. His work under Dr. Thompson’s guidance involves employing a multi-methods approach to research, aiming to optimize medication use in alignment with patients’ healthcare goals and preferences. Concurrently, with Dr. Ambasta, he will contribute to qualitative research efforts targeted at enhancing healthcare quality and patient safety, with a keen interest in the reduction of low-value services. This collaborative work not only aligns with his passion for translating research into actionable clinical practices but also marks a significant step in his journey toward impactful translational research and clinician-scientist excellence.

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Fiona Chan

Fiona Chan

Postdoctoral Research Fellow

Faculty Bio

Fiona is a community pharmacist and health services researcher passionate about improving access to and promoting safe use of prescription medications. She obtained her PhD in Epidemiology from McGill University, following her pharmacy degree and a master’s in Population and Public Health from the University of British Columbia. Her doctoral research focused on how physician-related factors influence the use of potentially inappropriate medications and how, after using these medications, the patient’s health outcomes varied depending on the physician they saw. With pharmacists’ scope of practice being expanded rapidly across Canada, her postdoctoral work (under the supervision of Dr. Colin Dormuth) aims to evaluate the impact of these changes on patients’ health, as well as on the health system at large. Her work draws on methods from epidemiology, pharmacoepidemiology, health services research, and policy evaluation. She has substantial experience analyzing large, population-based administrative datasets from across Canada and the United States. She has also worked as a community pharmacist, specializing in care of older adults in assisted living and residential care settings.

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Research Interests

Pharmaceutical Care, Primary Care, Pharmacoepidemiology, Health Services and Policy Research

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Clinical Interests

Evidence-based prescribing of medicines


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Efthymios Kyriakis

Efthymios Kyriakis

Postdoctoral Research Fellow

Faculty Bio

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ORCID: 0000-0002-9183-8970

Google Scholar: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=Vif_G0MAAAAJ&hl=el


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Daniel Sastre Martinez

Daniel Sastre Martinez

Postdoctoral Research Fellow

Faculty Bio

I am a postdoctoral fellow investigating the regulation and pharmacology of the cardiac ion channel KCNQ1 with the aim of deciphering the biological mechanisms underlying cardiac arrhythmia and proposing improved therapeutic strategies. My research bridges molecular biology, neuroscience, and pharmacology, focusing on uncovering mechanisms that drive ion channel function. Combining patch clamp electrophysiology, voltage clamp fluorometry and ion channel simulations in Python, along with expertise in confocal microscopy and biochemistry, I integrate diverse methodologies to address complex biological questions. Throughout my career, I have been recognized with awards for 3 poster presentations, received 3 competitive fellowships, delivered 6 scientific presentations, and contributed to 14 published works.

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Research Interests

Cardiomyopathies, Cardiac Arrhythmia, Long and Short QT Syndromes, Atrial Fibrillation

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ORCID: 0000-0001-9471-9398

Google Scholar: https://scholar.google.ca/citations?user=DpSqAocAAAAJ&hl=en


Clinical Interests

Cardiac Arrhythmia


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Teaching


Stephan K.W. Schwarz

Stephan K.W. Schwarz

Portrait photo of Stephan K.W. Schwarz
Professor
Editor-in-Chief, Canadian Journal of Anesthesia
St. Paul’s Hospital

Faculty Bio

Dr. Stephan Schwarz obtained his primary medical degree as well as a postgraduate medical research doctorate from the University of Göttingen/Germany. In 1995, he relocated to Vancouver/Canada to pursue a PhD in Pharmacology & Therapeutics at The University of British Columbia (UBC), followed by a residency in anesthesia and completion of the Royal College of Physician and Surgeons of Canada Clinician Investigator Program (CIP). 

In 2004, he became member of the anesthesia staff at St. Paul’s Hospital/Providence Health Care, where he subsequently was appointed Anesthesia Research Director, a position he occupied for three terms. Simultaneously, he was appointed as Assistant Professor in the UBC Department of Anesthesiology, Pharmacology & Therapeutics, where he was promoted to Associate Professor with tenure in 2011 and full Professor in 2017.

In 2014, Dr. Schwarz was awarded UBC’s endowed Dr. Jean Templeton Hugill Chairship in Anesthesia. Since then, he has served as Director of the UBC Hugill Anesthesia Research Centre, a collaborative initiative within the UBC Department of Anesthesiology, Pharmacology & Therapeutics under the aegis of the Hugill Chairship. Nationally, Dr. Schwarz has served on the Canadian Anesthesiologists’ Society (CAS) Research Advisory Committee, the CAS Grant Adjudication Subcommittee, and the CAS Ethics Committee. 

A passionate lecturer, Dr. Schwarz has been an invited speaker at many national and international conferences and has won numerous research and teaching awards; in 2017, he was awarded a UBC Killam Teaching Prize, UBC’s most prestigious award in recognition of excellence in education.

Using in vitro and in vivo laboratory techniques as well as clinical studies, Dr. Schwarz’ research explores the neuropharmacology of anesthesia and analgesia and aims to build bridges between bench and bedside. A particular area of focus has been local anesthetic pharmacology. His CV lists over 230 published articles and abstracts. His areas of clinical interest are Adult Anesthesia, Regional Anesthesia, and Perioperative Medicine.

Taking advantage of his multidisciplinary training and activities that include clinical anesthesiology; basic neurosciences and pharmacology; evidence-based medicine; experimental design; and data analysis, Dr. Schwarz is a veteran, internationally recognized editorial peer reviewer. He has been presented with “Top Reviewer” awards from Anesthesiology and the Canadian Journal of Anesthesia and has served as a peer reviewer for The Lancet and the New England Journal of Medicine. In 2014, he was appointed to the Editorial Board of the Canadian Journal of Anesthesia and in 2020 was selected as its new Editor-in-Chief, a position which he has occupied since January 1, 2021.

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Research Interests

Using in vitro and in vivo laboratory techniques as well as clinical studies, Dr. Schwarz’ research explores the neuropharmacology of anesthesia and analgesia and aims to build bridges between bench and bedside. A particular area of focus has been local anesthetic pharmacology.

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Clinical Interests

General Adult Anesthesia; Regional Anesthesia; Ambulatory Anesthesia; Perioperative Medicine


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John Kipling Kramer

John Kipling Kramer

Associate Professor
Principal Investigator, International Collaboration on Repair Discoveries (ICORD)

Faculty Bio

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Darryl Knight

Darryl Knight

Portrait photo of Darryl Knight
Professor
Associate Dean, Research, Providence Health Care Research Institute
Vice President, Research & Academic Affair, Providence Health Care
St. Paul’s Hospital

Faculty Bio

Dr. Knight obtained his PhD at the University of Western Australia in 1993 and did post doctoral training at the University of British Columbia. From 1997 to 2001 he was a Senior Research Officer in the Asthma & Allergy Research Institute of the University of Western Australia and was Head of the Experimental Biology division of the Institute from 2002-2004. He was also an Adjunct Senior Lecturer in the Department of Medicine at the University of Western Australia.

Dr. Knight’s research program consists of complementary projects centered on understanding how the respiratory system repairs itself after inflammatory insult and why in susceptible asthmatics, inflammation results in ongoing and abnormal remodeling rather than a self-limited healing process. The particular focus of this program is the epithelial cell and fibroblast in modulating the repair process.

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Research Interests

The current objectives of Dr. Knight’s research program are centred on investigating the mechanisms of airway epithelial repair following damage induced by a variety of stimuli focusing on 3 key objectives: (1) Characterize the phenotype of epithelial-resident progenitor cells involved in repair in human airways (2) Determine whether bone marrow derived progenitor cells play a role in epithelial repair, and if so, what is the relative contribution of these cells to tissue resident progenitor cells under normal conditions and in the presence of underlying allergic disease (3) Examine whether airway progenitor cells have potential for both epithelial and mesenchymal differentiation.

Dr. Knight is also actively investigating the role of the IL-6/gp130 in the pathogenesis of pulmonary fibrosis. The specific goal of this project is to identify novel molecular mechanisms for the treatment, diagnosis and prognosis of IPF focusing on our insights that cytokines that signal through gp130 may be critical determinants of disease susceptibility and progression. gp 130 is a shared component in the receptor complexes for the IL-6 family of cytokines that also includes IL-11, Leukemia Inhibitory Factor (LIF) and Oncostatin M (OSM) which are important regulators of both the phenotype and proliferation of fibroblasts in health and in response to injury.

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Andrew Horne

Andrew Horne

Associate Professor of Teaching
Vice Chair, Education – Anesthesiology, Pharmacology & Therapeutics

Faculty Bio

Faculty Member in the Department since 2011. Holds his BSc (Pharmacology) and PhD (Physiology) from UBC.

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Research Interests

Neurosciences and anesthesiology

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Services

Vice Chair, Education


Teaching

PCTH_V 201 (Course Director)

PCTH_V 404 (Course Director)

PCTH_V 201

PCTH_V 301

PCTH_V 302

PCTH_V 303

PCTH_V 325

PCTH_V 400

PCTH_V 402

PCTH_V 404


Joanne YT Leung

Joanne YT Leung

Instructor

Faculty Bio

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Teaching

MIDW_V 125

PCTH_V 201

PCTH_V 301

PCTH_V 302

PCTH_V 303

PCTH_V 325

PCTH_V 400


David Fedida

David Fedida

Portrait photo of David Fedida
Professor
Principal Investigator, Life Sciences Institute (LSI)

Faculty Bio

David Fedida obtained his B.Sc. and Ph.D. degrees at the University of Leeds in England in cardiac electrophysiology and his medical Degree (BM, B.Ch.) from Oxford University. After a brief period spent in residency training in General Surgery and Cardiovascular Medicine in the UK, he spent postdoctoral periods at Oxford with Denis Noble, Wayne Giles in Calgary, and Arthur Brown at Baylor College of Medicine in Texas where he first identified Kv1.5 as the molecular basis of the delayed rectifier, IKur, in human atrium.

Presently he is a Professor in the Department of Anesthesiology, Pharmacology & Therapeutics with funding from the Heart and Stroke Foundation of BC and Yukon and The Canadian Institutes for Health Research. This funding is to study molecular mechanisms for the gating of voltage-activated potassium channels, trafficking of potassium channels in the heart and for the discovery of small molecule inhibitors of viral ion channels, viroporins, for treatment of viral infections.

David Fedida is also a consultant for Cardiome Pharma Corp in Vancouver where he has been involved in the design and electrophysiological testing of Cardiome’s agents for the treatment of supraventricular arrhythmias – notably Vernakalant, which has been shown to be successful in the conversion of recent onset atrial fibrillation (AF) in Phase II and III trials and has European approval for the IV treatment of AF.

Social Media / Lab or Research Website

Website: http://www.ionsgate.com/

Lab: https://crg.lsi.ubc.ca/primary-members/fedida-lab/


Research Interests

Voltage-activated potassium channels, Trafficking of potassium channels in the heart and for the discovery of small molecule inhibitors of viral ion channels, Viroporins, For treatment of viral infections

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PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/?term=david+fedida


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