Peter Choi

December 13, 2024

Peter Choi

Professor

Vancouver General Hospital

Faculty Bio

Peter Choi completed medical school at UBC in 1993. He then completed residency in anesthesiology (1998) and an MSc in clinical epidemiology at McMaster University before returning to UBC in 2003. He currently practices anesthesiology as a member of the VGH / UBCH Department of Anesthesiology and Perioperative Care. He is a Professor in the UBC Department of Anesthesiology, Pharmacology & Therapeutics and is the interim Department Head.

Social Media / Lab or Research Website

Website (or Lab):

Research Interests

Research Theme(s)

Evidence-based medicine and knowledge translation

Publication Link(s)

Clinical Interests

Services

Interim Head, UBC Department of Anesthesiology, Pharmacology & Therapeutics Department Head Representative, Faculty Development Council, UBC Faculty of Medicine Dean’s Representative, UBC Medical Alumni Advisory Council

Teaching

MEDD_V 411 Foundations of Medical Practice

MEDD_V 431 Clinical Clerkship

PCTH_V 400 Systematic Pharmacology

PHAR_V 426 Advanced Anesthetics and Analgesics

Sastry Bhagavatula

December 13, 2024

Sastry Bhagavatula

Professor

Email: sastry.bhagavatula@ubc.ca

Faculty Bio

Social Media / Lab or Research Website

Website (or Lab):

Research Interests

Synaptic plasticity, Neuropharmacology.

Research Theme(s)

Neurosciences and anesthesiology

Publication Link(s)

Presynaptic effects of morphine and methionine-enkephalin in feline spinal cord

Action of morphine and met-enkephalin-amide on nociceptor driven neurones in substantia gelatinosa and deeper dorsal horn

Methylation of hippocampal phosphatidylethanolamine and proteins during long-lasting potentiation

Associative Induction of Posttetanic and Long-Term Potentiation in CA1 Neurons of Rat Hippocampus

The involvement of nonspiking cells in long-term potentiation of synaptic transmission in the hippocampus

Postsynaptic mechanisms underlying long-term depression of GABAergic transmission in neurons of the deep cerebellar nuclei

Quantal release of transmitter at a central synapse

Gaba-ergic transmission in deep cerebellar nuclei

Activity-mediated shift in reversal potential of GABA-ergic synaptic currents in immature neurons

Theta bursts set up glutamatergic as well as GABA-ergic plasticity in neonatal rat hippocampal CA1 neurons

The involvement of GABA-C receptors in paired-pulse depression of inhibitory postsynaptic currents in rat hippocampal CA1 pyramidal neurons

Activity-mediated plasticity of GABA equilibrium potential in rat hippocampal CA1 neurons

Sleep-Deprivation Induces Changes in GABA_B and mGlu Receptor Expression and Has Consequences for Synaptic Long-Term Depression

Are presynaptic GABA-Cρ2 receptors involved in anti-nociception?

Regulation of GABA Equilibrium Potential by mGluRs in Rat Hippocampal CA1 Neurons

G-protein coupled receptors and synaptic plasticity in sleep deprivation

Clinical Interests

Services

Teaching

PCTH_V 400 Course Director

PCTH_V 402

PCTH_V 502

Alasdair Barr

December 13, 2024

Alasdair Barr

Associate Professor

Member, BC Mental Health & Addictions Research Institute / Member, Djavad Mowafaghian Centre for Brain Health

Email: al.barr@ubc.ca

Faculty Bio

The central focus of my research is mental health and addictions, with a particular emphasis on psychosis and the medications used in its treatment. My research program is based on a multidisciplinary and translational approach that spans from “bench to bedside,” as I maintain productive research programs in both clinical and related preclinical research.

Social Media / Lab or Research Website

Website (or Lab):

Research Interests

Psychosis; Addictions; Mental Health; Cannabis; Psychopharmacology

Research Theme(s)

Acute and Chronic Pain Management, Neurosciences and anesthesiology

Publication Link(s)

Google Scholar: https://scholar.google.com/citations?hl=en&user=boOfkM8AAAAJ

Clinical Interests

Services

Teaching

PCTH_V 325 Course Director

PCTH_V 548F Co-Director

Anshula Ambasta

December 13, 2024

Anshula Ambasta

Assistant Professor

Email: anshula.ambasta@ubc.ca

Faculty Bio

Dr. Anshula Ambasta is a general internal medicine physician, an assistant professor in the Department of Anesthesia, Pharmacology and Therapeutics at UBC’s faculty of medicine, and a member of the Therapeutics Initiative. She is an early career researcher who earned a Masters in Public Health at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health in Clinical Effectiveness. Her research focuses on improving the value of healthcare services using evidence-based implementation strategies. She has been awarded grants from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, University of British Columbia, Choosing Wisely Alberta, Alberta Health Services, and the University of Calgary. Most recently, Anshula has been awarded a Canadian Institutes of Health Research Project Grant to Re-Purpose the Ordering of Routine laboratory Tests in hospitalized medical patients (RePORT), using multi-modal evidence-based de-implementation strategies across 30 hospitals in British Columbia and Alberta. RePORT study will be implemented and evaluated in a cluster-randomized stepped-wedge design, in close partnership with a dedicated RePORT Patient Advisory Council.

Social Media / Lab or Research Website

Website (or Lab): https://www.ti.ubc.ca/

Research Interests

Optimization of laboratory testing and testing algorithms; Medication effectiveness and safety; Quality Improvement and Patient Safety

Research Theme(s)

Clinical Outcomes and Patient Safety, Evidence-based medicine and knowledge translation, Pharmacoepidemiology

Publication Link(s)

ORCID: 0000-0002-0211-8654

PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/?term=ambasta+anshula

Clinical Interests

Evidence based and rational use of testing and medications

Services

Co-Chair, Education Working Group, Therapeutics Initiative; Chair, Portrait Committee, Therapeutics Initiative; College of Reviewers, Canadian Institutes of Health Research

Teaching

PCTH_V 400

PCTH_V 548F

Dr. Matthias Gorges awarded a Michael Smith Health Research Foundation Convening & Collaborating award

November 27, 2024

Congratulations to Dr. Matthias Gorges, Associate Professor who was awarded a MSHRF Convening & Collaborating Award to support his proposal entitled “Co-developing a needs-derived research strategy toward forming a Digital Health Research Centre at BC Children’s and Women’s Hospital”

MSHRF Convening & Collaborating (C²) Program supports teams of health researchers and research users to co-develop research that can have direct impacts on people, including patients, health practitioners and policy makers.

A lay summary: Digital health combines technology like smartphones and artificial intelligence, data from personal devices and hospital systems, and people like doctors, nurses, patients, and families to improve the health and well-being of the population. Digital health improves access to care and quality by providing the right information at the right time. Our team’s digital health research focuses on improving care for women, children, and their families in BC. There are existing successes and challenges to using digital health research in BC hospitals. To learn from these lessons and listen to the needs of our community, we will partner with people with lived experience (patients), healthcare workers, and hospital leaders. We aim to develop a shared research strategy and plan for a new Digital Health Research Centre spanning BC Children’s and Women’s Hospitals. In this project, we will identify gaps and opportunities, define priorities and co-develop research strategies that address current challenges to improve our health system with digital technology. The partnerships we form will allow us to advance the digital health research field and better serve the needs of the BC children’s and women’s health community.

Malcolm Maclure

November 26, 2024

Malcolm Maclure

Email: malcolm.maclure@ubc.ca

Faculty Bio

Dr. Malcolm Maclure was appointed BC Research Chair in Patient Safety in 2009 and held the position until his retirement in June 2025. The position issupported by an endowment from the BC Ministry of Health. Raised in Victoria in the 1960s, he studied biochemistry at Oxford and epidemiology atHarvard in the 1970s. While teaching research methods at Harvard School of Public Health, 1984-1994, he invented the case-crossover study design,now a standard tool of epidemiology that began to be used in the 2000s to investigate triggers of patient-safety incidents. He held the position of AdjunctProfessor of Epidemiology at Harvard from 1994 to 2019. In 1991, on leave from Harvard, he joined the BC Ministry of Health’s Research Branch andbegan applying epidemiologic methods to health services research, particularly randomized trials of prescribing education programs. On leave from theMinistry, he was Michael Smith Foundation for Health Research Distinguished Scholar and Professor in the School of Health Information Science atUniversity of Victoria, 2002-2006. One of his research projects evolved into a Ministry-sponsored program called Education for Quality Improvement ofPatient care (EQIP), co-sponsored by BC Medical Association. His last permanent position in the Ministry of Health was Co-Director of Research andEvidence Development in Pharmaceutical Services Division, 2009-2012, which provided partial support for his position as Chair in Patient Safety. Hereturned to the Ministry part-time in 2018-2020 as the inaugural Research Scholar in Residence. Dr. Maclure joined the Therapeutics Initiative (TI)Executive Committee as evaluator in 1995-97, continued to be informally affiliated with the TI until formally rejoining in 2018, focusing on the TI’s Portraitprogram. In his role as Co-Lead of the Patient Safety and Quality Theme in the UBC Medical Undergraduate Program, 2011-2024, he co-designedlectures with Ms. Carolyn Canfield, the Canadian Patient Safety Institute’s inaugural “Canada Patient Safety Champion” (2014).

Social Media / Lab or Research Website

Website: www.uactive.org/about

Social Media: www.linkedin.com/in/malcolm-maclure-7a440a44

Research Interests

Case-crossover studies. Randomized policy trials. Pharmaceutical safety. Pharmaceutical program impacts. University Sustainability and Climate Action.

Research Theme(s)

Clinical Outcomes and Patient Safety, Pharmacoepidemiology

Publication Link(s)

PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/?term=maclure%20m&

Clinical Interests

Safer prescribing

Services

Ex-officio member of Council of Health Quality BC (formerly the BC Patient Safety and Quality Council)

Teaching

Co-Lead of Patient Safety Theme in Medical Undergraduate Program

Pascal N Bernatchez

November 26, 2024

Pascal N Bernatchez

Associate Professor

Email: pascal.bernatchez@ubc.ca

Faculty Bio

Dr. Bernatchez received his PhD from the Montreal Heart Institute and University of Montreal in 2002. His Mentor was Dr. Martin Sirois, with whom hetrained in the field of endothelial biology, angiogenesis, permeability and restenosis. Dr. Bernatchez received multiple awards for his PhD dissertation,including distinctions from the Academy of Great Montrealers and ADESAQ (Association des doyennes et des doyens des études supérieures auQuébec), to name a few. After a short stint at Harvard University, he trained In the laboratory of Professor William Sessa at Yale University where he wasa Canadian Institutes of Health Research-, Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada- and American Heart Association-supported fellow. He returned toCanada in 2007 as a Scholar of the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada and the Michael Smith Foundationfor Health Research and a junior faculty at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver. He leads 2 research laboratories at St. Paul’s Hospital andPoint Grey Campus that focus on lipid and cholesterol abnormalities in muscular dystrophy, as well as endothelial function in atherosclerosis, Marfansyndrome, aortopathies and diabetes. As a Fellow of the American Heart Association (FAHA; 2020), Genetic Aortic Disorder Association (GADA) Canada(2022) and recipient of a Jain Foundation Contribution award (2024) for his pioneering discovery in the field of limb-girdle muscular dystrophy type2B/R2, he leads a UBC-funded research excellence cluster called AATHEN – the Advanced Angiotensin Therapeutics Network – a drug discoveryincubator at UBC. He sits on the executive of the Canadian Society of Pharmacology & Therapeutics, the Heart & Stroke Foundation of Canada as wellas the Canadian Society of Atherosclerosis, Thrombosis & Vascular Biology and Montalcino Aortic Consortium.

Social Media / Lab or Research Website

Website (or Lab):

Research Interests

endothelium, Atherosclerosis, Diabetes, Nitric Oxide, Marfan, Aortopathies, Aneurysm, Cholesterol, Muscular Dystrophy

Research Theme(s)

Cardiopulmonary Sciences and anesthesiology, Neurosciences and anesthesiology

Publication Link(s)

PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/?term=bernatchez+p&sort=date

Clinical Interests

Pharmacotherapy of heritable aortic diseases, Clinical trials, Dyslipidemias and Muscle diseases.

Services

Director, PCTH Graduate program

Teaching

PCTH_V 400

PCTH_V 404

PCTH_V 548F

MEDD_V 421

PATH_V 521

MEDI_V 570

Diana Su-Yin MacDonell

November 26, 2024

Diana Su-Yin MacDonell

Clinical Assistant Professor

St. Paul’s Hospital

Division Head-Perioperative Medicine, UBC Dept of Anesthesiology, Pharmacology & Therapeutics; St. Paul’s Hospital Physician Lead, Perioperative Medicine; St. Paul’s Hospital: Perioperative Medicine Fellowship Director

Email: dmacdone@interchange.ubc.ca

Faculty Bio

Dr. MacDonell started her career as a professional ballet dancer before completing her BSN at UVIC followed by medical school and Anesthesiology residency at UBC. Following residency, Dr. MacDonell had additional training in Perioperative Vascular Medicine in Hamilton, Ontario, Critical Care Ultrasound Certification through the American College of CHEST physicians, a MSc in Perioperative Medicine, through the University College of London and a Certification in Inclusive leadership through Centennial College. She is an active member of the research group at PHC and has a research interest in noise in the operating room. As a staff Anesthesiologist at St. Paul’s Hospital, she is the physician lead of Perioperative Medicine and the Anesthesia Perioperative Medicine Fellowship. In May 2022, Dr. MacDonell was appointed the Division Head of Perioperative Medicine within the Department of UBC Anesthesiology, Pharmacology and Therapeutics. She is currently both an executive and planning committee member for the Society for Perioperative Care and Research in addition to being the co-creator of a Perioperative Medicine educational site: sphpom.com. She is the Co-Chair of the annual Whistler Anesthesiology Summit.

Social Media / Lab or Research Website

Website:

https://www.sphpom.com

Social Media:

https://twitter.com/macdonellsu

https://www.instagram.com/suyin.mac/?hl=en

Research Interests

Perioperative Medicine Noise in the operating room and perioperative areas

Research Theme(s)

Publication Link(s)

Noise in the operating room during induction of anesthesia: impact of a quality improvement initiative

Current Recommendations for Perioperative Brain Health: A Scoping Review

Functional Improvement Trajectories After Surgery (FIT After Surgery) study: protocol for a multicentre prospective cohort study to evaluate significant new disability after major surgery in older adults

Association Between Anesthesiologist Sex and Patients’ Postoperative Outcomes: A Population-based Cohort Study

Clinical Interests

Perioperative Medicine has emerged as a distinct subspecialty that continues to evolve. Research is blossoming and literature continues to be published on new guidelines and recommendations. Traditionally it was believed that intraoperative complications were the major cause of morbidity and mortality. With advances in anesthesia technique, the intraoperative complication rate has decreased significantly. However, postoperative complications remain common and under recognized. The etiology of postoperative complications are multifactorial and rarely due to surgical intervention alone. Early detection and management of complications can decrease mortality, hospital length of stay and long-term morbidity. Perioperative medicine begins from the decision to proceed with surgery until the patient is discharged and ideally returns to his or her or their baseline. As our specialty continues to grow, we are expanding our presence in the surgical experience and moving beyond the operating room. My vision is that we continue to expand this subspecialty through collaboration, innovation and education.

Services

Division lead: UBC Perioperative Medicine; Chair, UBC Perioperative Training Committee Lead; UBC Perioperative Medicine Journal Club/Academic day Member; Perioperative Care Alignment and Digital Screening Committee Executive; Member: Society for Perioperative Research and Care

Teaching

UBC Dept of Anesthesia Academic day; Perioperative medicine UBC Dept of Anesthesia Academic day; Equity, Diversity and Inclusion UBC Dept of Anesthesia Journal Club Supervisor; Perioperative Medicine Canadian Journal of Surgery Podcast: Noise in the Operating Room

Mark J Ansermino

November 25, 2024

Mark J Ansermino

Professor

BC Children’s Hospital

Faculty Bio

I am a Professor in the Department of Anesthesiology, Pharmacology & Therapeutics at the University of British Columbia (UBC) and the Executive Medical Director for Global Health at British Columbia’s Children’s Hospital, Vancouver Canada. I was a Michael Smith Foundation for Health Research Scholar and the Brockhouse Canada Prize for Interdisciplinary Research winner in 2011. I lead an interdisciplinary research team of engineers and clinicians who develop and evaluate novel technical solutions (devices and smart applications) to improve women’s and children’s health outcomes worldwide. As a team, we combine science and engineering to create cutting-edge technology that uses clinical data, automation and smart physical sensors to improve outcomes. Our focus is on extracting important data features from devices and using predictive and machine learning models based on large population datasets to provide accessible decision-making support at all levels of healthcare in every area of the world.

Social Media / Lab or Research Website

Website: https://www.bcchr.ca/mansermino

Social Media: https://www.linkedin.com/in/markansermino/

Research Interests

Sepsis, Digital Health, Global Health, AI in Health

Research Theme(s)

Clinical Outcomes and Patient Safety, Equity in Medicine, Pediatric anesthesiology, Peri-operative technology integration

Publication Link(s)

Clinical Interests

Services

Teaching

Khaled S. Abdelrahman

November 8, 2024

Khaled S. Abdelrahman

Assistant Professor

Member, Djavad Mowafaghian Centre for Brain Health

Email: khaled.abdelrahman@ubc.ca

Faculty Bio

Dr. Khaled Abdelrahman holds a BSc in Pharmaceutical Sciences and an MSc in Pharmacology from Alexandria University. He earned his PhD in 2015 from the University of Calgary, where he researched the molecular basis of altered cerebrovascular function in type 2 diabetes. Following his PhD, he joined the University of Ottawa’s Departments of Cellular & Molecular Medicine and Neuroscience to investigate novel G protein-coupled receptor (GPCR) candidates for pharmacological targeting to slow the progression of Alzheimer’s and Huntington’s diseases. During his postdoctoral tenure, Dr. Abdelrahman was supported by prestigious salary awards from Canadian Institutes of Health Research and Alberta Innovates. He also received the Canadian Society of Pharmacology and Therapeutics Postdoctoral Award and several young investigator awards from the American Society for Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics. With over 12 years of clinical experience, he is a registered pharmacist dedicated to providing patient care. Currently, Dr. Abdelrahman is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Anesthesiology, Pharmacology, and Therapeutics at the University of British Columbia (UBC) and a full member of the Djavad Mowafaghian Centre for Brain Health. Since joining UBC, he has been awarded the Michael Smith Health Research BC Health Investigator Award. His research program is supported by grants from the Alzheimer’s Society of Canada and the Canadian Institutes of Health Research.