munmed - Faculty of Medicine

MUNMED
Faculty of Medicine
winter 2012
vol. 24 no. 4
MUNMED news
Message from the Dean
Cover photo: The new building, which will house the medical education
expansion and the Genetics Centre, is going up rapidly.
2
MUNMED
In November 2011 we began the process of mapping out the direction
the Faculty of Medicine will take in the next three years. Our Strategic Planning
Retreat filled me with pride at what we’ve done so far and excitement about what
lies ahead.
Coming out of the retreat, some key objectives and requirements were
identified. An expanded MD class, starting in 2013 as our new building is
completed, will see class size grow from 64 to 84, including 60 seats for students
from Newfoundland and Labrador. In conjunction with this, there will be a major
expansion of rural medical student accommodations by 2015.
The postgraduate residency programs will need to be increased to 90 plus in
2017 to match the expanded output of the 84 medical graduates in 2017. In order
to produce more practice-ready physicians sooner we have already expanded the
residency program to 80 entry positions, with the help of new federal funding and
other sources.
Our target is to produce more physicians for Newfoundland and Labrador,
especially physicians who are willing and able to practice in rural areas. We
have already begun the process of enhancing rural medical education through
the Rural Medical Education Network (RMEN). We will
continue to have a high percentage of students from rural
areas being admitted to medical school, and to provide a rural
medical education component for each of the four years of the
curriculum.
We are in the process of developing a new curriculum that
will build on our strengths and will allow students in clerkship
MUNMED is published by the Division
to spend almost the entire year outside of St. John’s developing
of Marketing and Communications
stronger community relations. Our rural program also includes
and the Faculty of Medicine, Memorial
a stronger partnership with New Brunswick, which will allow
University of Newfoundland.
our New Brunswick students to spend almost their entire
clerkship in their home province.
Editor: Sharon Gray
We will work hard to develop a culture of scholarship in
Graphics and layout: Jennifer Armstrong
all that we do, from education to research. Our new building
Photography: John Crowell, Terry Upshall
will consolidate all the genetics programs under one roof, from
patient care to biomolecular research. As the move is made
ISSN: 0846-4395
to the new building, existing space in the Health Sciences
Centre will need to be redeveloped to allow expansion in other
Contact:
research areas.
Sharon Gray
There is no doubt that the next three years will require
sharon.gray@mun.ca
hard work to meet our goals, but I know that there is the
709 777 8397
willingness and ability among our faculty and staff to ensure
this happens. The plans are in place and we are moving ahead
Printed by MUN Printing Services
as quickly as possible. I want to thank everyone for their
010-595-02-12-3400
participation in our strategic planning process and encourage
you to stay involved in the important changes going on in the
www.med.mun.ca
Faculty of Medicine.
MUNMED news
Dr. Bob Miller was presented with the Family Physician of the Year Award by Dr. Norah Duggan, president of the Newfoundland and Labrador College of
Family Physicians, and Dr. Rob Boulay, past president of the College of Family Physicians of Canada.
Family Physician of the
Year
When Dr. Bob Miller first came to Newfoundland
for a three-month locum in Baie Verte, he didn’t suspect that
most of his career would be spent in this province.
Flash forward 36 years to September 2011 when Dr.
Miller was presented with the Family Physician of the Year
Award by the College of Family Physicians of Newfoundland
and Labrador.
“What’s special about this award is that it went to an
academic family medicine physician,” said Dr. Miller, who
recently stepped down after 10 years as chair of the Discipline
of Family Medicine. “It validates what I’ve been trying to do
for 40 years as a teacher and it is a credit to what we have
achieved as a group in the discipline.”
Bob Miller grew up in Timmins in Northern Ontario
and went to the University of Western Ontario with the idea
of pursuing an education degree. After two years studying
organic chemistry, he knew he didn’t want to work in a
laboratory and became interested in becoming a doctor. He
put his application in to medical school when he was 19 and
was in practice by age 24.
Growing up in the north, the only type of doctor he
knew was the family doctor, so that became the path he
followed. As a clerk he spent two weeks working with Dr. Bill
Frazer in Galt, Ont. (now the city of Cambridge), Western’s
first outreach medical clinic. After a rotating internship in
Western Canada, he returned and joined the new practice in
Galt.
“From day one we had students in the practice, we built
student accommodations and students from Western came
and lived there. We also had family medicine residents in the
building.”
As the city of Galt grew, Dr. Miller decided to move
his family to a more rural location at Sharbot Lake, 500 km
north of Kingston, an economically depressed area of rural
Ontario. “This was really a rural practice and we met Peter
Bell, also a graduate of Western, who was another visionary
in terms of rural practice. Dr. Bell developed one of the early
multi-service centres which later became the Sharbot Lake
Family Health Team.”
Meanwhile, Dr. Miller had applied for a faculty position
at Memorial, and when he came for an interview he was
impressed by the rugged beauty of St. John’s as well as the
vision of members of the Discipline of Family Medicine such
as Drs. John Lewis and John Ross.
Dr. Miller was originally hired to work at the Shea
Heights Community Health Centre, but when he arrived at
Memorial in August 1983 he ended up taking over Dr. John
Ross’ practice while Dr. Ross spent a year reviewing Cottage
Hospital placements. Meanwhile, the new chair of Family
Medicine, Dr. John Forster, was undertaking a redevelopment
of the Shea Height Centre, and hired Bob’s wife, Dr. Cheri
Bethune, who had a background in social work.
Continued on page 8
3
MUNMED news
Awards ceremony
honours family doctors
The Fall Medical Education Forum, which
combines the Family Medicine Community Preceptors’
Meeting with the annual Scientific Assembly of the
Newfoundland and Labrador Chapter of the College of
Family Physicians of Canada, was held from Sept. 28-Oct. 1
at Marble Mountain Lodge in Steady Brook.
The forum began with small group teaching workshops
for preceptors, followed by a Town Hall Meeting with Dean
James Rourke. Separate development sessions were held for
preceptors and for residents and students, with the groups
combining to give feedback.
An Awards Dinner was held Sept. 29. Dr. Bob Miller
received the Family Physician of the Year Award from the
College of Family Physicians of Newfoundland and Labrador
(see page 3).
Dr. Richard Lush (Class of 1999) of Grand FallsWindsor received the Dr. Craig Loveys Teaching Award, given
annually by the Discipline of Family Medicine to a specialist
in recognition of excellence in teaching family medicine
residents. In presenting the award to Dr. Lush, assistant dean
for the Rural Medical Education Network, Dr. Mohamed
Ravalia, recalled that when he first came to Newfoundland,
Dr. Loveys often presented continuing medical education and
he was a, “wonderful raconteur and great mentor.”
In Grand Falls-Windsor, Dr. Lush’s diverse portfolio
includes emergency medicine and dialysis, as well as being
the director of cancer care and an advocate for cancer care
in central Newfoundland. In accepting the Dr. Craig Loveys
Teaching Award, Dr. Lush said it’s a pleasure working with
family medicine residents, and he is pleased to now see some
on staff.
Dr. Lynette Power (Class of 1996) of Burin received
the Dr. Yong Kee Jeon Award, awarded annually to a family
physician for excellence in teaching family medicine residents.
In presenting the award, Dr. Mohamed Ravalia remembered
that in 1984, Dr. Jeon welcomed him to Newfoundland
with the words, “It is so good to see a fellow brown person.”
He said Dr. Power has been working in Burin for 13 years
and in, “her quiet and unassuming way she’s been a part of
Memorial.”
The Dr. Gus Rowe Teaching Award went to Dr. Peter
Rogers (Class of 2001). This award is presented each year by
the Family Medicine Residents to physician teachers in the
program who are exemplary physicians, laudable teachers, and
have an interest in sharing those aspects of his or her skills
and ideals which are particularly pertinent to good family
practitioners.
Dr. Graham Worrall of Glovertown and Dr. John Ross
(deceased) of St. John’s received Lifetime Achievement Awards
in Family Medicine Research from the College of Family
Physicians of Canada.
Two Awards of Excellence from the Newfoundland and
Labrador Chapter of the College of Family Physicians of
Canada went to Dr. Roxanne Cooper and Dr. Ian Simpson.
Dr. Cooper has brought cervical screening on the road in
rural Newfoundland with a Mobile Pap Clinic. The clinic is
a 31-foot mobile trailer which her husband Byron converted
into a two-room travelling pap clinic.
Dr. Simpson received an Award of Excellence in
recognition of his community involvement in environmental
activism and his leadership in fighting to ban cosmetic
pesticides in Newfoundland and Labrador.
Clare Bessell and the Newfoundland and Labrador
Provincial Perinatal Program received an Award of
Recognition in recognition of her passion and dedication in
teaching the Advanced Life Support in Obstetrics Course
for many years. This course has been given to many family
doctors, mid-wives, nurses, medical students, residents and air
ambulance employees and the course has been taken on the
road to Goose Bay, Grand Falls-Windsor and St. John’s.
Dr. Richard Lush, left, accepted the
Dr. Craig Loveys Teaching Award
from Dr. Mohamed Ravalia.
4
MUNMED news
Dr. Lynette Power of Burin received
the Dr. Yong Kee Jeon Award,
presented by Dr. Ravalia.
Dr. Ian Simpson of Corner Brook
accepted an Award of Excellence from
Dr. Charlene Fitzgerald, president elect
of the Newfoundland and Labrador
College of Family Physicians.
Clare Bessell, nurse educator with
the Provincial Perinatal Program of
Eastern Health, accepted an Award
of Recognition from Dr. Norah
Duggan.
Dr. Roxanne Cooper received an Award
of Excellence for her work in bringing
cervical screening on the road in rural
Newfoundland with a Mobile Pap Clinic.
5
MUNMED news
Special groups get together at forum
The Fall Medical Education Forum provided an opportunity to meet up with new and familiar faces. Among
the special groups attending the 2011 forum were doctors from Nunavut, members of the Rural Medical Education Network
and medical students with an interest in family medicine.
Memorial University is working with Nunavut to establish
the NunaFam program to help train family medicine
residents, in response to Nunavut’s ongoing challenges
to recruit and retain family physicians. Doctors from
Nunavut involved in this project were at the Fall Medical
Education Forum. From left: Dr. Tim Doty, family doctor;
Dr. Priya Gaba, director of maternal health; Dr. Sandy
MacDonald, director of medical affairs; Dr. Madeleine
Cole, director of medical education; and Dr. Tommy Hall,
a family doctor now in practice in Torbay, who worked for
two years in Nunavut.
Members of the Rural Medical Education Network
team include (from left): Minerva Cramm (Grand FallsWindsor), Tina Dwyer and Maureen Kent (St. John’s),
Dr. Mohamed Ravalia (Twillingate), Dr. Blaine Pearce
(Clarenville), Dr. Erin Smallwood (Corner Brook), Dr.
Karen Horwood (Happy Valley-Goose Bay), Lavinia
Chin (Corner Brook), Dr. Dennis Rashleigh (Corner
Brook), Dr. Carmel Casey (Gander), and Nancy Avery
(Clarenville).
Medical students took an active part in the 2011
Fall Medical Education Forum. Among those
attending (from left): Gordon Stockwell, Lesley
Smith, Chris Dwyer, Jillian Follett, Will Stokes,
Nicole Stockley and Andrew Baird.
6
MUNMED news
MUN med students
raise money for
national scholarship
Memorial’s Family Medicine Interest
Group (FMIG) tied for first place in raising money
for the 2011 Walk for the Docs, an annual event
sponsored by the Canadian Family Physicians of
Canada’s Research and Education Foundation.
Funds from the walk support The College of
Family Physicians of Canada (CFPC) Medical
Student Scholarship Program.
Four FMIG teams raised over $4,000 –
Memorial, Manitoba, Saskatchewan and McGill.
The competition was so close – less than $40
between the two top teams – that a decision was
made to split the $1,000 prize, awarding $500
each to Memorial and Manitoba. Trophy rights
will be shared also, with it having a home at each
university for six months before Walk for the Docs
2012 in Toronto. The trophy comes to Memorial
in May.
This year’s five km run/walk was held on Nov.
5 in Montreal, Que., as part of Family Medicine
Forum 2011. The event raised almost $40,000,
a third more than in 2010. A record 16 FMIG
Walk for the Doc participants took a hike up Marble Mountain during the Fall Medical
teams competed in this year’s event, with 238
Education Forum, raising money for the national event.
walkers. Six MUN students and three faculty
members participated in the national Walk for the
Docs.
Preparation for the Walk for the Docs began in September when medical students attending the Fall Medical Education
Forum in Steady Brook raised $3,500 – helped considerably when Dr. Marshall Godwin issued a challenge to participants at
the forum to donate at least $50.
“The amount we raised at the forum far surpassed my expectations,” said
Nicole Stockley, a second-year medical student and representative on
Memorial’s FMIG. “The medical students and interested doctors at the forum
held a hike up Marble Mountain in preparation for the Walk for the Docs.”
Family Medicine Interest Groups are groups run by medical students for medical students which offer a variety of student
activities to assist in providing improved awareness and understanding of the opportunities, roles and responsibilities of family
medicine. At Memorial, regular activities include Fridays with Family, hour long sessions with speakers.
“We get about 80 students at each session,” said Ms. Stockley. “We have excellent support from the Discipline of Family
Medicine and from our faculty advisers, formally Dr. Catherine Stringer, now Dr. Stephen Lee.”
Ms. Stockley and Gordon Stockwell are the second-year representatives on Memorial’s FMIG. Sarah Small and Sara Dalley
are the first-year representatives; Liam Fardy and Shannon Rourke are the third-year representatives; and Matthew Ryan and
Kathie Thomas are the fourth-year representatives. Carolyn Arbanas is the first-year treasurer and Lesley Smith is the secondyear treasurer.
7
MUNMED news
Funding increased for MRF grants
It will be a banner year for grants from the Medical Research
Fund (MRF), thanks to top-up funding from the Faculty of Medicine.
Normally three development grants in the amount of $10,000 each
are distributed annually. This year Dean James Rourke has agreed that
the Faculty of Medicine will allocate money to the MRF in order to
increase this to five $20,000 research awards in 2012.
“The need for pilot project research grants was identified as one of
the keys in increasing research success during our Strategic Planning
Retreat,” said Dr. Rourke. “From this the Faculty of Medicine will be
working on an action plan to enable research success including increased
funding for pilot project research grants.”
Following the Strategic Planning Retreat, held Nov. 29-30, Dr.
Rourke met with the chair of the MRF board, Dr. Bruce Van Vliet, and
they discussed ways to make an immediate impact on research funding.
Dr. Van Vliet noted that the usual awards of $10,000 each do not
go far towards the costs of developing contemporary research programs. Dean James Rourke
“It is also a modest sum relative to tremendous resources that our faculty
puts into the process – in the past year applications were assembled by 13 teams and were subjected to detailed review by a
committee of five faculty members.”
The formal announcement of the 2012 competition for the development grants will be made in January, with the deadline
for applications in March.
The Medical Research Fund (MRF) is a research endowment fund established by Memorial University of Newfoundland
to assist the Faculty of Medicine in its objectives of developing and maintaining research excellence to meet the needs of
the province and its people. The MRF holds two research grants competitions each year and is dedicated to making quality
research and health initiatives a reality for our community.
Since 1992, the MRF has supported more than 50 research projects through Research Development Awards and the
Cox Award. More than $1 million in research funding has been disbursed. MRF awards provide critical support for the
development of health science research projects, often enabling new ideas and collaborations to be developed to a point that
they may attract major funding from external granting agencies such as the Canadian Institutes of Health Research.
For further information on MRF awards, or tax-free donations to the endowment, please visit www.med.mun.ca/mrf/.
Continued from page 3
“We saw the potential for Shea Heights to develop into a
model practice in primary health care and teaching, and that’s
what happened,” said Dr. Miller.
Meanwhile, the family medicine section of the first-year
medical studies program was under review and Dr. Miller
worked on changing the format of 10 one-hour lectures
to a program of small group teaching, based on the model
developed at McMaster University. He and Dr. Bethune also
revised the curriculum on sexuality.
Looking back over his career at Memorial, Dr. Miller
said he has done many jobs in the medical school, including
chairing the Clerkship Committee, and the Undergraduate
Medical Education Studies Committee, as well as serving as
assistant dean for Continuing Medical Education.
In 2001 he took over as chair of the Discipline of
Family Medicine. When Dr. James Rourke was hired as
dean of medicine in April 2004, it was an opportunity to
push forward with developing Memorial’s leadership in rural
8
medicine.
“We are recognized nationally for training rural doctors,
we are really good at what we do,” said Dr. Miller. “Now
we are expanding rural electives and residency training in
Newfoundland and Labrador and also helping to establish
family medicine residency training in Nunavut.”
Looking back at his time as chair of the Discipline of
Family Medicine, Dr. Miller is particularly proud that he was
able to get Dr. Marshall Godwin to return to Memorial and
establish the Primary Healthcare Research Unit.
Dr. Miller’s philosophy of family medicine centres on
patience. “As a family doctor you need two basic skills – the
patience to listen and the time to educate. Unlike surgeons
and emergency medicine doctors, the family doctor has to
sit back and not jump in too soon – we often have to work
at finding out what patients do have. You need the ability to
listen and form a relationship so you can learn what’s going
on.”
MUNMED news
Small investments lead
to large benefits
For the past two decades, the Medical Research
Fund (MRF) has supported researchers in the Faculty of
Medicine with operating grants and awards. Although the
amounts are not large – generally from $10,000 to $30,000
– these awards can lead to important results and success in
obtaining federal funds for further research.
Dr. Jane Green received a $25,000 Dr. A.R. Cox
Award in 2006 for a study on inherited juvenile macular
degeneration in Newfoundland and Labrador. “This
funding was used to identify mutations (gene changes) in
Newfoundland families with Stargardt Disease, a severe
early-onset hereditary eye disorder, and to interview family
members about the impact of this disease on their education,
employment, and family life.”
The MRF funding enabled Dr. Green and her research
team to partner with Genome Canada funding, which
substantially increased the research that could be done. The
results were significant. “We identified mutations in members
of 20 families in the province, who may now be able to
participate in up-coming trials for gene therapy to improve
their vision,” said Dr. Green.
Many other researchers in the Faculty of Medicine credit
the MRF funds with providing invaluable help just when it
was needed. Dr. Bruce Van Vliet, who has received several
MRF grants for his research, said the money has provided
critical support at many points. “The funding allowed us to
do important work at the time and also helped us build our
experience and expertise to a point where we can now make
our most exciting research findings.”
Dr. Guang Sun is enthusiastic about the benefit of the
Medical Research Fund. “I received MRF funding for my lab
in 2002, the second year of my faculty position. I desperately
needed seed funding to obtain preliminary data. The MRF
helped me in part to succeed in the success of my first CIHR
operating grant application in 2003. The CIHR funding
directly led to the discovery of 45 obesity related genes,
which has been highly valued by national and international
researchers in the field of obesity study.”
For Dr. Ken Kao, funding from the MRF in 1998 led to
publishing an important paper that was critical for renewal of
a Canadian Institutes of Health Research operating grant.
Other researchers have found MRF funding essential
early in their career. “The MRF funding helped to develop
my research in a new area and I was subsequently able to get
another $500,000 in CIHR funding,” said Dr. Sudesh Vasdev.
“The kind of bridge funding provided by the MRF is always
needed.”
Dr. John McLean knows from experience the value
of MRF funding. “In 1996 I received an operating grant
of $25,000, which provided me with bridge funding and
enabled me to keep my research going so I could obtain
preliminary data for my next external grant proposal.“
Dr. Christopher Kovacs also appreciates the value of
his MRF grant in 1998 in developing his career. “The MRF
award is not an amount that you could operate a lab on but
it is enough to get a smaller project done in a year, or to
get pilot data in order to justify a larger project and grant
application. Certainly data generated with the MRF was
used as preliminary data in my first – and successful – MRC
(now CIHR) grant application. And I’ve been continuously
funded by MRC/CIHR since then so the MRF definitely
helped to jump-start my independent work at a key time
in my early career. Without it, I could have been stuck not
getting my first MRC grant for lack of data, and running out
of start-up funds with little hope of getting additional data
for a resubmission. I wish there were more funding awards
available like MRF to enable pilot studies to be done, or to
use as bridge funding when an investigator’s grant doesn’t get
renewed but there’s a likelihood of renewal if a year or so can
be spent getting additional data.”
The Medical Research Fund (MRF) is an endowment
fund established by Memorial University of Newfoundland to
assist the Faculty of Medicine in its objectives of developing
and maintaining research excellence to meet the needs of the
province and its people. Dr. Van Vliet, chair of the board of
the MRF, said the awards from the MRF are providing payoffs
in the development of the Faculty of Medicine’s research
programs. “These awards increase our ability to develop our
programs and bring large grants into the institution and
province. The important results produced by these research
programs benefit us all.”
For further
information on MRF
awards, or tax-free
donations to the
endowment, please
visit www.med.mun.
ca/mrf/.
Dr. Jane Green’s
research on hereditary
eye disorders has been
supported by MRF
funding.
9
MUNMED news
Lessons from
down under
When it comes to rural medical
education, Newfoundland and Labrador has a
lot in common with Australia. Especially with
the Rural Clinical School at the University
of Western Australia, where innovative rural
medical education programs have been
developed that include the use of virtual
patients.
Dr. Moira Maley is a medical educator
with the Rural Clinical School at the University
of Western Australia and she spent six weeks
last fall at Memorial sharing information on
teaching methods and programs with members
Dr. Sharon Peters, Dr. Moira Maley and Steve Pennell.
of the Faculty of Medicine.
Like Newfoundland and Labrador, Australia faces problems with recruiting and retaining doctors in rural areas. “We’ve
found that long-term immersion for a full academic year in a rural area is most effective in drawing doctors back to practice,”
said Dr. Maley. “It gives them a positive experience so they know there are good opportunities and a good quality of life in
rural areas.”
The Rural Clinical School of Western Australia was established in 2002 with the explicit goal of attracting more doctors
to regional, rural and remote practice. Dr. Maley said the successful growth of the Rural Clinical School is largely due to Dr.
Campbell Murdoch’s vision and leadership.
“We can take a virtual patient scenario developed for Australia
or elsewhere and repurpose it for use in Newfoundland and
Labrador.”
“Professor Murdoch realized that rural doctors have a huge wealth of experience,” she said. “He kept about 40,000 file
cards during his career and developed a framework based on analysis of this data. His practice of collecting file cards for every
patient he saw is one of the reasons we’ve been able to follow communities over time.”
The program at the University of Western Australia delivers clinical education to medical students in a variety of rural
and remote settings. “The rural medical education context has provided unique opportunities to work with highly motivated
teachers and students,” said Dr. Maley.
During her time at Memorial, Dr. Maley worked with Dr. Sharon Peters, vice-dean, and Steve Pennell, manager (health
education technology and learning), with Health Sciences and Information Media Service. Of particular interest was the use of
virtual patients in medical education.
“Our goal is to create virtual patients based on rich data,” said Dr. Peters. “We can take a virtual patient scenario
developed for Australia or elsewhere and repurpose it for use in Newfoundland and Labrador.”
When using a virtual patient, a medical student or resident plays the role of a health care professional treating a computerbased simulated patient. “We are starting to work with the Integrated Study of Disease course for first-year medical students
and use narratives, based on the clinical experiences of the students in Australia, to write scenarios for virtual patients,” said Mr.
Pennell.
Dr. Peters noted that these scenarios can allow students to use problem-solving techniques. “Often you will see case studies
where the diagnosis is already given; we’re offering cases where there could be three diagnoses.”
Through collaboration with other universities like the University of Western Australia and participation in the
International Virtual Medical School, Memorial’s Faculty of Medicine is benefiting from research around the world that will
expand and improve the experience of distributed learning for medical students in Newfoundland and Labrador.
10
MUNMED news
Medical Teacher
Scholar Program
offers new
opportunities
For faculty interested in learning more
about teaching and scholarship in medical
education, the Medical Education Scholarship
Centre (MESC), in collaboration with
Professional Development and Conferencing
From left: Dr. Steve Shorlin, Patti McCarthy and Dr. Vernon Curran
Service (PDCS), now offers a Medical Teacher
“This program offers further formal education in the area
Scholar Program. Nine faculty members started
of
medical
education,” she said. “I think it is a very valuable
the one-year program last fall; after successful completion they
program.
It’s
informative with many practical applications for
will be appointed as a teaching scholar with MESC for two
the medical educator. The course is providing me with tools to
years.
enrich skills in medical education development and research.
The program was developed by Dr. Vernon Curran,
It also provides an opportunity to interact and share ideas
director of academic research and development and professor
with colleagues who are also interested in medical education. of medical education in the Faculty of Medicine, with Dr.
Dr. Barton Thiessen, Anesthesia, is also enrolled in the
Steve Shorlin of MESC and Patti McCarthy, formerly of
Medical
Teacher Scholar Program. “I decided to take this
MESC and now with the Discipline of Family Medicine.
“We held several focus groups with faculty from different program as I figured it would be a relevant extension of the
disciplines and also surveyed other similar Canadian programs earlier coursework I had taken in medical education,” he
said. “This series of workshops complements the theoretical
in developing our own program,” explained Ms. McCarthy.
underpinnings of the Certificate in Medical Teaching,
“There’s a growing appreciation for the importance of the
and allows us to bring our practical experiences teaching
scholarship of teaching and learning in medical education at
undergraduate and postgraduate students.”
a number of medical schools, many of which are adopting
Dr. Thiessen noted that since all nine participants come
the broader definition of scholarship that extends beyond
from different medical specialties, the shared experiences lend
teaching and learning to include discovery and knowledge
themselves to valuable teaching tips and suggestions, with Dr.
application in medical education as well.”
Curran’s scholarly direction tying it all together.
Dr. Curran said that the Medical Teacher Scholar
The Medical Teacher Scholar Program is designed to
Program has been incorporated with the existing Certificate
encourage
the professional development of clinical teachers
Program in Medical Teaching, which has been offered
and
increase
their expertise in developing educational
for a number of years under the auspices of Professional
programs
and
taking on leadership roles in medical education.
Development and Conferencing Services in the Faculty of
The appointment as a medical scholar with MESC does not
Medicine. Seminars for the scholar program are held once a
carry a stipend and the faculty member is not expected to take
month for two hours on topics such as educational research
on extra work, but they do have to continue to demonstrate
methods, designing a scholarly research project in medical
that they are engaged in scholarly activities in medical
education, clinical teaching techniques, and giving effective
education.
feedback. A number of faculty members are involved in
For the first offering of the program, discipline chairs
teaching the program based on their individual expertise.
were asked to nominate faculty members to participate.
“This program fulfills the need for clinical educators to
“The individuals work out how to get themselves engaged
get specialized training in scholarly teaching techniques and
and actively involved in educational research,” explained Dr.
scholarship in medical education,” said Dr. Shorlin.
Curran. “While the program is not mandatory, it will be of
Dr. Tanis Adey, Psychiatry, is one of the faculty members
help to clinical faculty interested in promotion and tenure.”
taking the Medical Teacher Scholar Program. She said she
For further information on the Medical Teacher Scholar
enrolled because she really enjoyed and benefitted from the
Program,
visit http://bit.ly/medicalteacherscholar.
Certificate in Medical Teaching (Medicine 6100) offered by
Dr. Curran.
11
MUNMED news
Scholarship and Awards Luncheon
On Nov. 22 the annual Scholarship and Awards Luncheon for first- and second-year medical students was held in the
Faculty of Business Administration Atrium. A total of 60 awards were presented, including two outstanding teacher awards.
Dean James Rourke brought greetings to donors and recipients and briefly described the upcoming expansion of the medical
education program and research growth.
Each academic year, first- and second-year medical students select the person they consider to be the most outstanding
teacher in that year. The Class of 2014 selected Dr. Shakti Chandra for the Outstanding Teacher Award. The Class of 2013
selected Dr. Alan Goodridge.
The following awards were presented at the luncheon. For photographs and full descriptions of the awards please visit
http://bit.ly/scholarships2011.
Medical Entrance Awards
Patrick Fleming – Frank and Pat
Fagan Family Scholarship for Academic
Excellence and Community Leadership.
Mr. Fleming also received the Morris &
Graham Wilansky Memorial Award.
Campbell, Troy Climans and Janet
Roberts.
Lee Horgan – Dr. Peter Grant
Memorial Scholarship.
Emily Copeland – Dr. H.D. Roberts
Prize in Pharmacology.
Shannon McCarter – Dr. Wulf Grobin
Memorial Scholarship.
Andrew Bennett – Dr. J.B. Roberts
Memorial Scholarship.
Marc Kawaja – Dr. J.H. King Memorial
Scholarship in Medicine.
Dayna Butler – Rural Community Visit
Prize.
Kelly Monaghan – Dr. Brian Gerard
Adams Memorial Bursary.
Katrina DeZeeuw – First-year recipient
of the Medical Practice Associates
Scholarship for Academic Achievement.
Jennifer LeMessurier – Ryan Family
Scholarship.
Megan Dawe – Gina Blundon
Memorial Scholarship.
Keelia Farrell – Dr. Leonard Miller
Award.
Julia Curtis – Gina D. Blundon
Memorial Bursary.
Megan Dawe and Chat Petten – Firstyear recipients of John M. & Elsa S.
Morgan Scholarships.
Cait Button – Dr. Peter and Mrs.
Deborah Collingwood Scholarship in
Medicine.
Heather Hoddinott – Dr. Abdalla M.
Hanna Memorial Bursary in Medicine.
Jamila Belhadjsahah – Dr. Kevin
Keough Medical Entrance Scholarship.
Erica Kelly – Gordon Mercer Rural
Medicine Bursary.
Preclerkship Awards
Alysha Sears – Dr. John M. Darte
Memorial Award for first year.
Tyler Mercer – Dr. John M. Darte
Memorial Award for second year.
Heather Stone –Walter Davis Award.
Kayla Churchill – Isidor Epstein
Memorial Scholarship.
12
David Harnett and Bolu Ogunyemi –
Newfoundland and Labrador Medical
Association Awards.
Chris Dwyer – Faculty of Medicine
Opportunity Fund Scholarship.
David Watton – Pathology Prize.
Dr. Mary E. Pederson Scholarships in
Medicine were awarded to Caroline
Barry, Beth Ellen Brown, Ross
Jessica Downing – Dr. Calvin N.
Powell Bursary in Medicine.
Sandra Cooke-Hubley – Inaugural
Studentship in Physician and Medical
Student Health and Well-Being.
Rebecca Titman – Surgery Prize in
Anatomy. Ms. Titman was also the
winner of the 2011 Medical Student
Research Forum.
First-year medical students on the
Dean’s List were: Chris Dwyer, Jennifer
LeMessurier, Keelia Farrell, Katrina
DeZeeuw, Rebecca Titman, Chad
Petten, Megan Dawe, Shannon
McCarter and Heather Stone.
Second-year medical students on the
Dean’s List were: Troy Climans, David
Watton, Patrick Fleming, Jessica
Downing, Beth Ellen Brown, Caroline
Barry and Alexandra Maher.
MUNMED news
Katrina DeZeeuw, right, was the first-year
recipient of the Medical Practice Associates
Scholarship for Academic Achievement,
presented by Sue Anne Oates on behalf of
MPA. The second-year recipient, Alexandra
Maher, was unable to attend the luncheon.
Ms. DeZeeuw also received the Centenary of
Responsible Government Scholarship.
Jennifer LeMessurier, right, received the
Ryan Family Scholarship, presented by Sister
Perpetua Kennedy. This scholarship, valued at
$1,000, was established by Mrs. Helen Ryan in
memory of family members, Mary B.H., Thomas
Sr., Thomas Jr. and Mary. The selection is based
on scholarship standing in undergraduate
medical studies.
David Harnett, left, and Bolu Ogunyemi
received Newfoundland and Labrador Medical
Association Awards, presented by NLMA
President Dr. Sandra Luscombe. Selection for
these awards is based on potential interest in
the organizational aspects of the profession of
medicine as demonstrated by participation in
leadership roles within the medical school.
Cait Button, centre, received the Dr. Peter and Mrs.
Deborah Collingwood Scholarship in Medicine,
presented by Peter Collingwood, left and Deborah
(Templeton) Collingwood. This scholarship has been
established through a generous gift from Peter and
Deborah Collingwood. The scholarship will be awarded
to students who are citizens of Canada and residents
of Newfoundland and Labrador, who are entering
their first year of the MD Program in the Faculty of
Medicine and meet the criteria of scholarship standing
as defined by the Faculty of Medicine. The scholarship
is renewable for one year provided the candidate
maintains scholarship standing.
13
MUNMED news
Childhood obesity: Do
gut hormones matter?
Two graduate students in the Faculty of
Medicine have received $5,000 from the Janeway Children’s
Hospital Foundation to investigate the role that appetite and
energy regulation gastrointestinal (GI) hormones play in the
development of childhood obesity.
PhD student Farrell Cahill and first-year M.Sc. student
Danny Wadden, under the supervision of Dr. Guang
Sun, are currently investigating the influence of the GI
hormones peptide YY, pancreatic polypeptide and ghrelin
in the development of obesity and diabetes within the adult
Danny Wadden and Farrell Cahill.
Newfoundland population. They are now widening their
research focus to the growing epidemic of childhood obesity and juvenile diabetes.
“The World Health Organization approximates that globally there are 43 million overweight children under the age of
five,” said Mr. Cahill. “This is especially relevant for the province of Newfoundland and Labrador considering it has one the
highest rates of obesity and diabetes in Canada.”
A 2010 report released by the Canadian Diabetes Association found that nine per cent of the population of Newfoundland
and Labrador was diagnosed with diabetes, resulting in a fiscal burden of $254 million per year. “By the year 2020 it’s
estimated that over 14 per cent of our population will be diagnosed with diabetes at a cost of approximately $325 million per
year,” said Mr. Cahill.
“Our interest in obesity is of critical importance considering that excess adipose (fat) tissue accumulation is associated with
various co-morbidities such as diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and various types of cancer which are being found at earlier
and earlier stages of life,” explained Mr. Wadden. “The GI secretes various hormones that regulate the functions of digestion,
absorption and appetite through the gut-brain axis. However, the role of these gut hormones in the development of childhood
obesity and diabetes is largely unknown.”
Mr. Cahill and Mr. Wadden believe their work may help to increase the understanding of childhood obesity and the
development of co-morbidities such as diabetes. A total of 200 families with at least one obese child will be recruited from the
Newfoundland and Labrador population.
For more information on participation in their study please contact Farrell Cahill or Danny Wadden at 709 777 8661 or
by email at genefind@mun.ca.
White Coat
Ceremony
The 10th annual White Coat
Ceremony took place Oct. 28 in the main
auditorium of the Faculty of Medicine. This
ceremony has become a formal tradition of
receiving new undergraduate students into
the medical profession by presenting them
with short white coats. Following speeches
and the presentation of short white coats, the
Class of 2015 recited the Oath of Geneva,
led by professor emeritus Dr. William PrysePhillips. For more detailed coverage of the
2011 White Coat Ceremony visit http://bit.ly/
whitecoatceremony2011.
14
First-year medical students reciting the Oath of Geneva, led by Dr. William Pryse-Phillips.
MUNMED news
Discipline of Emergency
Medicine established
Dr. Tia Renouf is chair
of the new Discipline of
Emergency Medicine and
she is enthusiastic about the
work ahead in building the
discipline.
As scientific chair for
the Canadian Association
of Emergency Physicians
(CAEP) 2011 in St. John’s
she brought together globally
renowned professors of
emergency medicine and for
the first time since CAEP’s
inception, rural medicine and emergency ultrasound were
dedicated tracks in the conference.
“I will use this enthusiasm for learning and research to
carry the momentum forward,” said Dr. Renouf. “Emergency
medicine has come a tremendous way from when we were
casualty officers at the Grace Hospital. It has grown and
matured to being an independent discipline.”
Dr. Renouf said an important goal is to develop a Royal
College program in emergency medicine as well as the
existing one-year of specialty training in emergency medicine
offered through the College of Family Physician’s Emergency
Medicine Residency Training Program.
An exciting new direction in emergency medicine is
the use of ultrasound. Dr. Andrew Smith has been working
closely with Dr. Renouf on training in the use of ultrasound
in emergency medicine. Both emergency departments in
the St. John’s region have recently obtained training centre
designation from the Canadian Emergency Ultrasound
Society and over the past year Memorial University has
partnered with Dalhousie University and the other Maritime
provinces to form the collaborative Atlantic Point of Care
Ultrasound research group. Over the past two years a
rigorous bedside ultrasound training program has been
implemented for local ER physicians and those working
outside St. John’s.
Dr. Renouf has always worn two hats: emergency
physician and rural physician, and she feels that urban
physicians often do not understand the unique pressures of
being on the front line as a rural doctor.
“The challenge for doctors working in rural areas is to
maintain proficiency. I know from my own background in
emergency and rural medicine that I was sometimes afraid of
forgetting my emergency skills. Now there are better ways to
serve rural physicians and their patients through innovations
like ultrasound.”
Another research project for ER is being conducted by
Drs. Kris Aubrey and Dick Barter. They are working on a
decision rule that will assist clinicians with the decision to
order a CT scan in patients with suspected renal colic.
Dr. Renouf (Class of 1984) has a solid background in
emergency and rural medicine. Following a residency in
internal medicine in Edmonton, she did locums on Bell
Island and in Happy Valley-Goose Bay in Labrador then
joined the staff at Western Memorial Hospital in Corner
Brook. She then moved to Nova Scotia; for several years
she was an associate of Quinpool Family Medicine, an
urban family practice in Halifax, while continuing to work
weekends as a rural physician in Guysborough, Nova Scotia.
“While associated with Quinpool Family Practice I
did regular locums in rural medicine,” she said. “I also did
locums in emergency medicine in Hamilton, Bermuda at the
King Edward VII Memorial Hospital.”
In December 1993 Dr. Renouf moved to Rota, on the
Northern Mariana Islands in Micronesia where she was solo
physician on an island of 5,000. “The nearest referral centre
was 45 minutes away by plane on the neighbouring island of
Saipan.” She has generally looked wherever the next challenge
presents itself, finding many opportunities practicing
medicine in unfamiliar cultures.
Dr. Renouf ’s career took her back to Halifax and
Bermuda as well as Nain and Iqaluit before she took a job
as an emergency physician at Alice Springs Hospital in
Australia. This led to her two-year job with the Royal Flying
Doctor Service in Central Australia. She then worked in
Halifax where she served as a staff emergency physician at
the QE2 and served as attending emergency physician for
refugees from Kosovo as they arrived at Greenwood Military
base.
Since 2001, before being appointed chair of the
Discipline of Emergency Medicine, Dr. Renouf was an
assistant professor in the Faculty of Medicine and assistant
director of the Emergency Residency Program. During this
time she spent a month as a locum emergency physician
in Jedda, Saudia Arabia, and twice served as the expedition
physician on Antarctic expeditions. In July 2003 she was
the expedition physician on Akademik Vavalov, a vessel
circumnavigating Newfoundland and exploring the coast of
Labrador. Subsequent jobs brought her to Greenland and
through the Northwest Passage. She was ship-board physician
aboard MV Keldysh as it brought travellers four miles down
to the site of Titanic via Russian Submarine. Most recently
she has trained with the Canadian Red Cross and anticipates
working for brief periods with their Emergency Response
Unit, a system of portable hospitals first deployed in Haiti
after the recent earthquake.
15
MUNMED news
New faces in administration
Dr. Scott Moffatt
Assistant dean
Student Affairs
Dr. Scott Moffatt is the new
assistant dean of Student Affairs.
Originally from Fredericton, New
Brunswick he is a family doctor and an
associate professor at Memorial. He
is enthusiastic about continuing his
work with medical students in his new capacity and acting as
an advocate for them during their journey through medical
school.
“Medical school is an exciting and challenging time
for students, however it can also be a time when students
experience significant stress and at times personal difficulties.
Dealing with issues early and directly, whether they are
personal, academic or health related, often prevents these
issues from developing into bigger issues.”
Dr. Moffatt said, “We encourage students to take a
proactive approach in addressing personal issues or a life
circumstance and encourage them to contact us anytime if
they need help working through things. Our door is always
open”.
Dr. Moffatt graduated from Memorial medical school in
1987 and as a medical student remembers that ‘’the Student
Affairs Office, particularly Vera Griffin and Dr. Lloyd
Mussels, were very kind to me and helped me jump a few
hurdles along the way. I appreciated their genuine interest in
me – and hope I can return this to today’s medical students
here at Memorial.”
The major challenge he sees within Student Affairs is
maintaining a personal contact with students as the medical
school grows. “In 2013 we’re moving to an expanded entry
class of over 80 students, and with this increase in enrolment
it will be important to maintain the personal atmosphere
within the office where the students have a human face
attached to them and not just a student number.”
A second challenge on his radar is improving Memorial’s
ability to support medical students doing rotations in
distributed sites, both in Newfoundland and in New
Brunswick. With more students doing rotations throughout
Newfoundland and Labrador as well as New Brunswick,
he sees a need to have a system in place that ensures that
students are able to access support in learning environments
that are often a distance from their homes, family and
friends.
The Office of Student Affairs offers students a range of
personal, financial, academic and career counselling services
16
and support. “Through our Student Wellness Program
we promote the development of a healthy student – and
hopefully resilient future physicians – who lead healthy,
productive personal and professional lives,” said Dr. Moffatt.
Besides his clinical work as a family doctor and teaching
responsibilities, Dr. Moffatt holds a variety of administrative
positions in the Faculty of Medicine, including postgraduate
counselor and family medicine undergraduate director.
He has been the faculty lead at Memorial on the expanded
medical education program in New Brunswick.
Dr. Donald W. McKay
Associate dean
Undergraduate Medical Education
Dr. Donald McKay is now
heading up the Undergraduate
Medical Education (UGME) Office.
It’s a natural fit for him; he has a long
history working out of the UGME
office, serving as course chair many
times and as pre-clerkship co-ordinator from 1998–2001
and as second-year co-ordinator before that.
With the new curriculum being introduced in 2013,
there are many challenges facing Dr. McKay and the staff
of the UGME Office. “These challenges relate largely to
change management and working with staff, faculty and
students to achieve a high quality education program
for our students to the ultimate benefit of the people of
Newfoundland and Labrador,” he said. “Those visiting the
UGME Office will notice many new faces among the staff
and see a reconfiguration of the office space, a change that we
hope that the students and faculty will find welcoming and
usable.”
Dr. McKay said that although the recent large
turnover among the staff presents challenges with respect
to the learning curve for routine responsibilities of the
office, the turnover is beneficial in terms of office staff
members understanding and accepting that this is a time
of considerable change. “With the upcoming curricular
changes, upcoming accreditation processes, changes in
accreditation requirements, planned increase in class size,
the changing needs of our New Brunswick partners and the
increased expansion of our program beyond the overpass, our
office staff fully understand that change is our new normal.”
The UGME Office is a service office, noted Dr. McKay.
“We provide service for our students and faculty, but we
receive direction from the Undergraduate Medical Studies
MUNMED news
Committee (UGMS) and the Office of the Dean. Our office
is responsive to many of the LCME/CACMS accreditation
standards that guide our MD program – our job is to execute
the directions of UGMS within the confines of accreditation
requirements.” Dr. McKay earned his PhD in animal sciences
(physiology) at Michigan State University and first came
to Memorial in 1981 as a post-doctoral student. In 1983
he joined the Division of BioMedical Sciences, becoming
a professor of physiology in 1998. In 2007-2008 he served
as associate dean, Research and Graduate Studies, and from
2010-2011 he was first person to hold the position of assistant
dean, Graduate Studies (Medicine). For a brief period in
2011, he held the position as interim associate dean of
Research and Graduate Studies before taking on the role as
associate dean for Undergraduate Medical Education. Dr. McKay has served on the University Senate since
1996. His past administrative roles in the Faculty of
Medicine include pre-clerkship co-ordinator and chair of the
physiology subject committee and currently chair of the BSM
I course. He has served four times on the LCME/CACMS
Accreditation Survey team, twice as team secretary.
Dr. Proton Rahman
Associate dean
Clinical Research
As the new associate dean for
clinical research, Dr. Proton Rahman
wants to further enhance medical
research at the Faculty of Medicine
by establishing a core shared
infrastructure for health related
research and facilitate the development of numerous strategic
interdisciplinary research teams.
“This will be accomplished by working closely with the
dean, the associate dean for research and graduate studies and
various funding authorities and partners,” said Dr. Rahman.
“I also hope to engage more colleagues in scholarly activity,
especially that which is important to the local community and
of national and international caliber.”
Dr. Rahman is a clinician scientist at Memorial
University. He is a professor of medicine at Memorial and
staff rheumatologist at Eastern Health. He completed his
medical school and internal medicine training at Memorial
University and rheumatology fellowship at the University of
Toronto. His graduate training in genetic epidemiology was
also done at University of Toronto. He joined the Faculty of
Medicine at Memorial in 1999.
Dr. Rahman is very active in genetics research, and
has identified several novel susceptibility genes in psoriasis
and psoriatic arthritis, as well as new genetic markers for
disease progression and pharmacogenetics in inflammatory
rheumatic disease. Dr. Rahman has also initiated various large
scale interdisciplinary projects such as the Newfoundland
Genealogical Kit. This work was completed through
collaboration with the Government of Newfoundland and
Labrador, the Newfoundland and Labrador Centre for Health
Information, IBM, the Discipline of Genetics and numerous
investigators at Memorial.
His has published widely in top subspecialty based
genetics and rheumatology journals and his contribution to
rheumatology research has been recognized with regional,
national and international awards.
Dr. Atamjit Gill
Chair
Discipline of Obstetrics and
Gynecology
Dr. Atamjit Gill took over as chair
of the Discipline of Obstetrics and
Gynecology on Jan. 1 2012. He is an
associate professor and urogynecologist
and co-clinical chief of the Department of Obstetrics and
Gynecology with Eastern Health.
Dr. Gill said there are two main challenges facing the
discipline in the near future. “We need to expand our services
to accommodate the increasing number of students from the
medical school expansion. Our discipline has taken the lead
in the development of community satellite centers, such as
Grand Falls and Corner Brook – however a lot is still needed
to be done.”
The second major challenge Dr. Gill identified is
the introduction of simulator based learning to foster
professional development and enhance residents’ learning in
communication and collaboration skills. Since he joined the Faculty of Medicine at Memorial
in 1995, Dr. Gill has served in a number of administrative
capacities, including undergraduate co-ordinator for obstetrics
and gynecology (1995-1998); undergraduate clinical skills
co-ordinator for obstetrics and gynecology (1985-2001)
and clerkship co-ordinator (September-December 2006).
He served as residency program director for obstetrics and
Continued on page 23
17
MUNMED news
New faces of faculty
Dr. Cathy Murray
Assistant professor
Endocrinology
Dr. Cathy Murray has joined
the Discipline of Medicine after
completing an endocrine oncology
fellowship at the University of
Toronto. She earned her MD at
Memorial in 2005 and began her
internal medicine residency at Memorial from 2005-2008,
after which she did her final two years of residency training
in endocrinology and metabolism at the University of
Toronto. She is in the process of completing a M.Sc. in
clinical epidemiology at Memorial.
Dr. Murray’s research experience include a study of low
prolactin as an indicator of true growth hormone deficiency
in adults, and a 20-year single Canadian centre follow-up of
acromegalic patients.
Dr. Murray has also done research on the effect of
attending a Diabetes Education Centre on medication
utilization in the elderly in Ontario. While doing her
residency at Memorial she reviewed pancreatic tumours in
the MEN1 (multiple endocrine neoplasia type 1) Burin
kindred.
In 2010 Dr. Murray presented her work on diabetes
medication utilization at the Canadian Diabetes Association
Professional Conference. She is an author on numerous
publications, including a 2011 article on Overt immune
dysfunction after Cushing’s syndrome remission: a
consecutive case series and review of the literature, published
in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism.
Dr. PETER DALEY
Assistant professor
Medicine
Dr. Peter Daley is the new regional
medical microbiologist with Eastern
Health and an assistant professor
cross-appointed to the Disciplines of
Laboratory Medicine and Internal
Medicine. His specialties are infectious
diseases, tropical medicine, medical microbiology and
molecular microbiology.
Dr. Daley earned his MD in 1998 at Dalhousie
University and finished his residency training in 2002. In
2003 he earned a diploma in tropic medicine and hygiene at
18
the Gorgas Memorial Institute in Lima, Peru.
Dr. Daley’s first career was in research – he worked in
India on tuberculosis research from 2005-2009, while also
serving as a part-time assistant professor in the Department
of Pathology and Molecular Medicine at McMaster
University, Hamilton, Ont.
Epidemiology was a key aspect of his tuberculosis
research in India, and Dr. Daley is currently pursuing a
M.Sc. in clinical epidemiology at Memorial.
Dr. Daley is an author on numerous peer-reviewed
publications, largely in the area of tuberculosis. He is
a member of the Stop TB Partnership New Diagnostic
Working Group. He has also authored five book chapters in
four books in the areas of tuberculosis and infection control.
Dr. linda bohacek
Assistant professor
Surgery
Dr. Linda Bohacek is a general
surgeon with a special interest in
endocrinology. She earned her MD in
2004 from the University of Toronto
and did her general surgery residency
at Memorial from 2004-2010. The
following year she completed an endocrine surgery fellowship
at the Cleveland Clinic Foundation.
Dr. Bohacek is the first author on a paper published
in June of 2011 in the Annals of Surgical Oncology on the
diagnostic accuracy of surgeon-performed ultrasoundguided fine needle aspiration of thyroid nodules. She
has also published on robotic thoracoscopic mediastinal
parathyroidectomy for persistent hyperparathyroidism,
and on advanced laparoscopic training and outcomes in
laparoscopic cholescystemectomy.
She is interested in pursuing further research in
endocrinology, particularly the epidemiology of multiple
endocrine neoplasia (MEN), an inherited disease which
results in over activity and enlargement of certain endocrine
glands and eventually thyroid cancer. She would like to
develop a database for the population of MEN patients in
Newfoundland and Labrador. Her interests also include
endocrine surgery and devising systems for the national
standardization of surgical outcome data.
In her clinical work, Dr. Bohacek would like to
introduce ultrasound as a routine procedure in head and neck
clinics. In terms of teaching, she wants to see a curriculum
component introduced on endocrine surgery.
MUNMED news
Dr. Danielle O’Keefe
Assistant professor
Family Medicine
Dr. Danielle O’Keefe is a familiar
face around the Faculty of Medicine
but recently became a geographic
full-time faculty member, based at the
Family Medicine Clinic at the Torbay
Road Mall in St. John’s. She joined the
Family Medicine Program as a locum in July 2008 and has
been there since, taking on the role as program director for
family medicine in January 2012.
Dr. O’Keefe (Class of 2005) holds a diploma in clinical
epidemiology and is in the process of completing a M.Sc.
in clinical epidemiology. Her research, done through the
Primary Healthcare Research Unit, involves the ElderCare
Study. She is looking at whether the nursing intervention
utilized in this study resulted in a change in the use of
community resources and self-assessment of health. She has
accepted the Family Medicine Evidence Based Medicine
Scholarship for 2012, which will involve course work at
Oxford University and developing and conducting a research
project.
Dr. O’Keefe enjoys research. As a family medicine
resident she undertook a research project on childhood
obesity and the role of family physicians in helping to deal
with this growing problem. She also participated in medical
research through the Patient Research Centre on the impact
of health care restructuring in Newfoundland and Labrador.
She collaborates on ongoing research with the Primary
Healthcare Research Unit through her involvement with the
Discipline of Family Medicine.
Dr. O’Keefe’s postgraduate academic commitments
include teaching residents and being a member of the
Family Medicine Residency Postgraduate Executive. At the
undergraduate level she is involved with teaching clinical
skills to first- and second-year medical students. She is also
the co-ordinator for the Day in Violence teaching workshops
for second-year medical students.
Dr. Stephen LEE
Assistant professor
Family Medicine
As one of two geographical fulltime faculty members with the Family
Medicine Clinic at the Torbay Mall
in St. John’s, Dr. Stephen Lee is part
of the expansion of off-campus sites
that includes increased capacity for
residency training.
Dr. Lee said the clinic can take two residents at a time,
and he is excited about teaching and supervising residents.
The clinic also includes faculty member Dr. Danielle
O’Keefe and fee-for-service physicians Drs. Rosann Seviour
and Christine Bassler. Dr. Lee enjoys having a busy clinical
practice which includes house calls for palliative care patients.
Dr. Lee earned his MD at Memorial in 1989 and went
on to do a rotating internship at Dalhousie University
followed by locums in Newfoundland and New Zealand.
He worked as a generalist with the Waterford Psychiatric
Hospital from 1992-1993 then completed one year of a
general pathology residency at the University of Ottawa.
From 1993-1996 he was a family physician in Ottawa and
from 1997-1998 he was a drug reviewer for the AIDS/Viral
Diseases Division of the Health Protection Branch, Health
Canada. He obtained his Certificate of the College of Family
Physicians in 1997 and became a Fellow of the College of
Family Physicians in 2008.
In 1998 he moved to New Glasgow, Nova Scotia, where
he worked for seven years as a family physician. In 2007 he
moved to St. John’s where he worked as a family doctor, with
occasional locums in the Northwest Territories.
Dr. Lee said he is looking forward to doing some
research in family medicine; he is the lead author of the 1996
publication External Cardioversion-Related Cardiac Damage,
published in Cardiovascular Pathology.
19
MUNMED news
Members of Team Broken Earth on their last mission to Haiti.
Haitian relief efforts forging stronger bond with
Memorial
In February a group of 30 health care professionals from Memorial University and Eastern Health were in Haiti on a
continuing mission to provide medical assistance to a country ravaged by an earthquake two years ago. The earthquake levelled
the capital city of Port au Prince, killing 200,000 people and leaving more than a million people homeless.
Orthopedic surgeon Dr. Andrew Furey, an assistant professor of surgery at Memorial, headed up the team. The February
trip was his fifth medical mission to Haiti, and the fourth trip for Team Broken Earth, a volunteer team of physicians, nurses
and physiotherapists. In addition to medical care, Team Broken Earth wants to provide education to the Haitian people so that
they can develop their own health system towards a North American standard.
“We’re doing that by providing education on the ground, both formally and informally, and our plan is to bring some
Haitians to Memorial’s medical school as well for two or three weeks,” said Dr. Furey. “We’d like this to be an ongoing
partnership where we’re able to provide education and ultimately they’ll be able to advance their own healthcare system.”
Memorial’s dean of medicine, Dr. James Rourke, joined Team Broken Earth, for a week during February.
“We’ve had phenomenal support from Dr. Rourke,” said Dr. Furey. “The Faculty of Medicine helps fund any resident or
professor we take.”
And now MUN’s medical students want to take it further by having a formal elective set up for Haiti. Dr. Furey said once
this is approved, one or two medical students per year could apply and spend a week in Haiti after preparing by doing various
rotations in St. John’s. The Haiti elective could also be used as an epidemiology research project.
Dr. Furey said as far as he knows, this relationship between Memorial and Haiti is the only one in Canada.“Of all of the
medical schools in Canada there is none that we are aware of that have developed this relationship with a third-world nation to
the point where the medical school is looking at making this a formal elective for some of the medical students so that they will
go down and use this as time to train. As we develop this program and continue to lead medical schools across the country, we
look forward to others, like the University of Calgary Medical School, following our model.”
For further information on Team Broken Earth, visit www.brokenearth.ca/about.html.
20
MUNMED news
Faculty bookshelf
Belle Maro
By Marshall Godwin
Imagine that the Beothuk people did not entirely die
out, but lived among Newfoundlanders and had children.
What would those children think about their mixed
heritage?
Author Marshall Godwin, a family doctor and professor
in Memorial’s Faculty of Medicine, uses the setting of
his home town of Belleoram to weave a fascinating story
around the question of whether or not Beothuk blood flows
in the veins of Newfoundland people.
Belle Maro is a sweeping historical novel that traces
three centuries of cross cultural contact and relations
between the Beothuk and the European settlers who came
to Newfoundland.
The story is largely set in the community of Belle
Maro, now known as Belleoram, in Fortune Bay. Starting
in 1966 in Belleoram with the discovery of a skull by two
boys, the story travels back to 1812 and the arrival of some
early settlers, one of whom is connected to a Beothuk
woman who was abducted and brought to England at the
age of 10 in 1758. The story also encompasses the lives of
a small group of Beothuk in the 19th century, the rape and
pregnancy of a Beothuk woman by a white man, and the
fate of that child and his ancestors.
Belle Maro is a story of love, a story of struggles and
conflicts and a story of vengeance. It is also a story of a
sacred mountain, of two treasure chests, and how the
treasures of two peoples reflect the difference in their values.
Belle Maro is published by DRC Publishing, St. John’s.
edge of time
by Susan M.
MacDonald
This dynamic
science fiction
novel is aimed at
young adults, but
it’s a good read for
anyone who enjoys
fantastic adventures.
For two teenagers,
their lives are
turned upside down
when they find
themselves being
hunted to death by
pan-dimensional
beings that travel the
universe and devour weaker worlds.
But help is at hand from the Tyron Collective – a secret
intergalactic agency concerned with maintaining the balance
between self-direction and interference. For teens Alex and
Riley, the rescue initially seems more like imprisonment as
they learn to harness power they didn’t know they had. It’s a
race against time to save themselves and the world.
Author Susan MacDonald is an associate professor
of family medicine, and she obviously had a great deal of
fun writing this first novel. Newfoundland serves as home
base for the group trying to protect Earth from destruction
because it is situated between the two main locations of
Potentials: Ireland and Canada. The Potentials are humans
with a genetic mutation that enables them to resist the mind
control the Others employ.
One of the leading writers of science fiction and fantasy,
Orson Scott Card, praises this novel. “It’s the best kind
of story – kids with troubles of their own suddenly find
themselves the targets of assassins while even weirder people
claim to be protecting them. And Susan M. MacDonald
is the best kind of writer – she drops you into the middle
of the action and makes you care what happens so you can
hardly stand to put the book aside until you’ve finished.”
Edge of time is published by Breakwater Books.
21
MUNMED news
Alumni news
Class of 1987
Dr. Ann Colbourne has been selected by the Mayo Clinic as the latest recipient of
its Plummer Society Award for Excellence. The division chief of General Internal Medicine
in the Edmonton Zone of Alberta Health Services was honoured for her outstanding
and unique contributions to practice, education, research and administration in internal
medicine. Dr. Colbourne’s clinical passion is diabetes care with an emphasis on health
promotion and disease prevention. Since 2007, the Mayo Clinic has presented a Plummer
Society Award for Excellence every two years to an outstanding member of its alumni
association; Dr. Colbourne is the first Canadian physician to receive it. She currently leads
an initiative that uses e-technology to deliver health services, expertise and information to
insulin pump patients in Newfoundland.
Class of 1988
Dr. Carmel Casey was the doctor for the Canadian team at the 2011 Special Olympics World Summer Games in
Athens, Greece, which ran from June 25 to July 5. She shared some photos from the trip with MUNMED.
Dr. Casey with the two Newfoundlanders on Team Canada. In the middle
is Jackie Barrett, a power lifter from Corner Brook, who won three gold
and one silver medals and set a world record in the squat. On the right
is Michael Harris of Gander who competed in athletics and won a silver
medal as part of the men’s 4x100m relay team.
Dr. Casey and Gander track athlete Michael Harris sightseeing at the
Parthenon in Athens.
Class of 1993
Dr. Ian Dawe has been appointed physician-in-chief at Ontario Shores Centre for
Mental Health Sciences (Ontario Shores). Dr. Dawe joins Ontario Shores from St. Michael’s
Hospital where he was the medical director of the Psychiatric Emergency Service and a
research associate with the Keenan Research Centre of the Li Ka Shing Knowledge Institute
of St. Michael’s Hospital and the Arthur Sommer Rotenberg Chair in Suicide Studies at the
University of Toronto. After earning his MD at Memorial, Dr. Dawe did his residency in
psychiatry, two years of fellowship training (suicide studies, emergency psychiatry and mental
health systems research), and a master’s degree in health administration, all at the University
of Toronto. His clinical and research areas of interest include emergency psychiatry, quality
and patient safety, population health, health advocacy, and the design and evaluation of
mental health delivery systems.
22
MUNMED news
private Scholarship funds being set up for son of alumni
Last August Christopher Davis, the 11-year-old son of Dr. Kay Bennett (Class of
1996) and Dr. Randy Davis (Class of 1987) died when he fell over a cliff in Bay Roberts.
Kay’s sister Kelly is also an alumni (Class of 1992). The family has established two
scholarship funds. To donate to the Christopher R. Davis Memorial Foundation, which will
make annual charitable donations to registered charities to help save and enrich children’s
lives, contact McEachnie Group Private Wealth Management at Suite 201-80 King St.
South, Waterloo On N2J 1P5; or call 1 888 886 2360 ext. 232 or email russell.mceachnie@
investorsgroup.com. To donate to the Christopher Davis Memorial Fund within the
St. John’s-Kilmarnok School, which will support a scholarship and bursary, literacy and
outreach, contacting Kathryn Jeffrey, director of development at 519 648 2183 ext. 21, or
by email to kjeffrey@sjkschool.org or go online to make your tax-deductible donation to
canadahelps.org, search SJK.
iN MEMORY
Dr. Gordon Hutchings, Class of 1977, died Nov. 10, 2011. He leaves to mourn his wife, Carmel Flynn-Hutchings
and children Michelle Hutchings-Jiwa (Dr. Al Jiwa), Mary Andrea Hutchings and Gordon Flynn-Hutchings. Also grandsons
Shakil and Rafik Jiwa, brother Dr. Reg Hutchings (Gillian) in PEI and sister Sylvia Cumby (Reg) in NL. After medical school,
Dr. Hutchings worked at hospitals in Buchans and Grand Falls then spent three years in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab
Emirates, working in Arab hospitals. Back in Canada he worked in the French community of Kapuskasing in Northern Ont.
In 1993 he became diplomat with the Canadian Embassy in Hong Kong. In the fall of 1997 he moved to Trenton, Ont. and
worked in the Emergency Department at the Trenton Hospital.
Continued from page 17
gynecology from June 1998-Sepbember 2001 and resumed
this responsibility from January 2009-December 2011.
Dr. Gill has received numerous awards including the
2007 D.W. Ingram Award from the Class of 2007; the 2006
Educator of the Year Award from the Association of Professors
in Obstetrics and Gynecology of Canada; the 2004 Excellence
in Teaching Award from the Association of Professors in
Gynecology and Obstetrics and Department of Women’s
Health at Memorial; and the 1996 Excellence in Resident
Education Award from the national Council on Resident
Education in Obstetrics and Gynecology.
Dr. Gill has contributed to curriculum development
and education in numerous ways. Since 2010 he has been
the organizer and preceptor of a suture workshop for the full
class of clinical clerks during orientation week. He arranged
finances to have software purchased for photo colposcopy
capture, and collaborated with the Department of Pathology
to develop combined colposcopy/pathology rounds to
enhance resident learning. He started laparoscopy teaching
labs for resident learning in minimally invasive surgery and
introduced teaching associates in training clerks for pelvic
exams.
Dr. Gill is an active researcher. He designed a reusable
pubovaginal sling device for minimally invasive pubovaginal
sling procedures and has a patent in process for this device.
He is continuing research on the pubovaginal sling, and is
also involved in a pilot project with Dr. Daniel Fontaine on
self pap using a self-collection device.
23
MUNMED news
Local health research benefiting from library’s
Open Access Author’s Fund
By Shannon Gordon
Public services librarian
Health Sciences Library
In the fall of 2011, MUN Libraries launched the Open Access Author’s Fund. Available to all MUN faculty,
instructors, staff and graduate students, this initiative is relevant to MUN researchers in disseminating their findings in open
access (OA) journals having author processing fees.
To date, several articles written by faculty in the Faculty of Medicine, and schools of nursing and pharmacy have benefited
from this fund. Examples of where these colleagues are publishing include: BMC Emergency Medicine, BMC Family Practice,
BMC Pharmacology, Hereditary Cancer in Clinical Practice, Human Resources for Health, and Journal of Medical Case Reports.
Can you benefit from the fund?
You too may be able to benefit from this recent initiative. Author processing fees, which largely exist as a way to recover
publication costs, exist for some OA journals. Major OA publishers charging this fee include BioMed Central (BMC),
Hindawi, and Public Library of Science (PLoS). Also known as author processing charges, or page fees, author processing fees
range from $150 to $3,000, and are charged to the author when a paper has been accepted for publication. Fortunately, MUN
Libraries has special memberships with BMC, Hindawi, and PLoS, and if your manuscript is accepted by one of them, MUN
Libraries will be invoiced directly for your author’s fee. This means no financial cost to you as the author. If your manuscript is
accepted by another publisher’s open access journal, your article may still quality for funding.
Learn more
Several OA workshops took place across campus during the fall of 2011. Scheduling a customized OA workshop for
your department or group is possible. To learn more, contact Shannon Gordon at sgordon@mun.ca, or visit http://tinyurl.
com/88o4n76.
Med students think
globally
Medical students at Memorial have formed
a Global Health Interest Group. The group has
ambitious goals, including implementing a global
health elective into the medical school curriculum
and establishing a partnership with a developed
country for overseas electives for students in third
and fourth year. Activities so far include holding
a student-run symposium last November and
participating in activities to raise money and
publicize World AIDS Day on Dec. 1. Two documentary screenings are planned for the winter semester on issues in global
health. They plan to implement an advocacy campaign for pertinent issues affecting refugee and immigrant health and have a
fair trade advocacy campaign in collaboration with the Fair Trade Campus Coalition, a coalition between social justice groups
on campus whose main purpose is to advocate towards fair trade on campus.
Some of the medical students involved in the Global Health Interest Group are: sitting (from left) Megan Richards, Emilia
Bartellas, Theresa Lee and Will Stokes; standing (from left) Allison Pridham and Paula Cooper.
24
MUNMED news
Of note
Canagasundram Anandakrishnan of Grand
Falls-Windsor was honoured as the Canadian Dermatology
Foundation Practitioner of the Year 2011 at the Canadian
Dermatology Association’s annual meeting in Edmonton,
Alta., June 2011. Dr. Ian Landells, president of the Canadian
Dermatology Association, said that Dr. Anandakrishnan,
“… embodies all that is good in Canadian dermatology.
His desire to maintain his clinical acumen and academic
knowledge base has been exceptional. For over 20 years Dr.
Ananda, as we call him, has delivered excellent clinical care in
the Central Health Region of Newfoundland and Labrador,
primarily in a solo practice. He is an example to us all.”
After immigrating to Canada in 1984, Dr. Anandakrishnan
completed his residency in dermatology at the University
of Toronto in 1989. By December of that year, he was an
active member of the College of Physicians and Surgeons
of Newfoundland and Labrador and, to this day, is a highly
respected and popular lecturer at Memorial University.
commitment to the welfare of patients and to high standards
of excellence in clinical care and ethical conduct. In addition,
the award recognizes physicians who have acted as role
models to both medical residents and colleagues alike. Dr.
Bartellas moved to Canada in 1974 after the Turkish invasion
in Cyprus in 1974 and repeated his residency in obstetrics
and gynecology at Memorial University. Since 1981 he has
been teaching and practicing obstetrics and gynecology in St.
John’s.
From left: Dr. Neil Shear, president of the Canadian Dermatology
Foundation, recipient Dr. Anandakrishnan, and Dr. Ian Landells,
nominator.
Former MUN grads in the audience managed to get a picture with Dr.
Bowmer. From left: Drs. Karen Fung Kee Fung, Meredith Marks and Anne
McCarthy. Unavailable for the photo was Dr. Barbra Power.
Dr. Elias Bartellas,
associate professor of obstetrics
and gynecology, has been
selected by the Royal College
of Physicians and Surgeons
of Canada as Mentor of
the Year for 2011 for the
Atlantic Region. The Mentor
of the Year award, conferred
annually in five regions
across Canada, acknowledges
medical specialists who have
demonstrated a long-standing
Dr. Ian Bowmer, current president of the Medical
Council of Canada and former dean of Memorial’s Faculty
of Medicine, presented the first annual Ian Hart Lecture
on Nov. 23, 2011 at the Department of Medicine Grand
Rounds at the Ottawa Hospital. His talk was titled
International Medical Graduates – a National Resource; are
we assessing the right competencies?
Dr. Kara Laing, a
medical oncologist at the
Dr. H. Bliss Murphy Cancer
Centre and associate professor
of oncology, has been named
by the Royal College of
Physicians and Surgeons
as Specialist of the Year for
Newfoundland and Labrador.
Dr. Laing received her MD
from Memorial University
in 1993, completed an
internal medicine residency
25
MUNMED news
Of note
at Memorial, medical oncology training at the University of
British Columbia, and a fellowship with the National Cancer
Institute of Canada, Clinical Trials Group. She is currently
involved in the treatment of patients with breast cancer and
central nervous system malignancies. She is the clinical chief
of the Cancer Care Program, head of the Provincial Systemic
Therapy Program, co-chair of the local Medical Advisory
Committee of Eastern Health and is the president-elect of
the Canadian Association of Medical Oncologists.
Dr. Melissa Langevin, who completed her pediatrics
residency at Memorial in June 2011, was selected as one of
two recipients of the 2011 Resident Leadership Award from
the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada.
The leadership award was for her significant contribution
to Memorial’s Pediatric Simulation Program during her
residency. Dr. Langevin was one of two recipients of the
2011 Resident Leadership Award, established to recognize
a resident who has demonstrated leadership in Canadian
specialty education and encourage the development of future
leaders in medicine. As the recipient of this award, Dr.
Langevin attended the National Resident Leadership Summit
in Quebec City and was presented with the award Sept.
24. Dr. Langevin is presently doing a pediatric emergency
fellowship at CHEO, a pediatric health and research centre
in Ottawa.
From left: Dr. Jonathan Sherbino, Dr. Melissa Langevin, Royal College
President Dr. Louis Hugo Francescutti; and Royal College Director of
Education Dr. Ken Harris.
26
Dr. Sandeep Mangat of
Placentia received the Dr. Irwin
Bean Award at the College of
Family Physicians of Canada
(CFPC) Family Medicine Forum
in Montreal in November 2011.
The award, named in memory of
the late Dr. Irwin Bean, CFPC
president (1962-63) and the first
chair of the CFPC’s Committee
on Examinations, recognizes
the individual who achieved the highest standing among
practice-eligible candidates in the CFPC¹s Certification
Examination in Family Medicine. Dr. Mangat, who has
worked in Placentia for five years and is active in teaching
medical students, is an international medical graduate who
did her training in Canada through Memorial’s Clinical Skills
Assessment and Training Program.
Amit Negandhi, a master’s
student in the Discipline of
Genetics, received a travel
award from the Canadian
Institutes of Health Research
Institute of Cancer Research.
The award allowed him to
attend the Canadian Cancer
Research Conference held in
Toronto Nov. 27-30 2011. At
the conference, Mr. Negandhi
presented his poster titled The Glu429Ala polymorphism
in the MTHFR gene is an independent prognostic marker
in colorectal cancer: Analysis of two independent cohorts
from Newfoundland. Other authors in this study were
Angela Hyde, Dr. Patrick Parfrey and Dr. Roger Green. Mr.
Negandhi is supervised by Dr. Sevtap Savas, Genetics.
Dr. Nigel Rusted, was
among the 66 recipients of the
Order of Canada announced
in January. Memorial’s oldest
living alumnus at the age of
104, he received the award for
his contributions as a physician
and surgeon in Newfoundland
and Labrador over the course of
seven decades. Dr. Rusted was in
MUNMED news
the inaugural class of Memorial University College in 1925
and received his diploma in arts and sciences in 1927. He
attended Dalhousie medical school in Halifax, serving as
health officer for two summers aboard the S.S. Kyle, which
visited more than 50 communities along the Labrador coast.
During his career in surgery he worked and held executive
positions at all four hospitals in St. John’s and served
Memorial University on its first Board of Regents and its
building committee.
Dr. Marlene Shehata,
who did her M.Sc. in medicine
at Memorial, was presented
with a Certificate of Excellence
Award at the 2011 annual
general meeting of Hypertension
Canada. This award recognizes her
efforts in promoting awareness
of hypertension, managing and
educating health professionals
and the public on strategies
to maintain blood pressures on target values. In 2007 she
received the Horizon Award, the highest honour bestowed
by Memorial University on young alumni with a record of
extraordinary professional, community, alumni or academic
achievement.
Kerri Smith, a PhD student
supervised by Dr. Ann Dorward,
was awarded a $3,000 Teal
Heart Scholarship in a national
competition. This fellowship
is awarded by Ovarian Cancer
Canada for graduate students
engaged in ovarian cancer
research. Ms. Smith also received
a travel award from the Canadian
Institutes of Health Research
Institute of Cancer Research to attend the Inaugural
Canadian Cancer Research Conference held in Toronto in
November 2011.
Youlian Tzenov, a PhD
student supervised by Dr. Ken
Kao, received a travel award
valued at $1,000 from the
International Papillomavirus
Society to attend the 27th
International Papillomavirus
Conference held in September
2011 in Berlin, Germany. He
gave oral and poster presentations
on his research related to the
regulation of human PYGOPUS2 by HPV16 and 18. He
also gave a poster presentation on his research regarding the
genes responsible for each stage of cervical adenocarcinoma.
Mr. Tzenov said research presented at the conference spanned
all 200 types of papillomavirus and all the diseases caused by
these viruses.
Mike Wahl, a PhD graduate
student in the Faculty of
Medicine, and co-founder of
Definitions Wellness Safety
Services, was named the
Graduate Student Entrepreneur
Global Champion by the
Entrepreneurs Organization. The
award was given as a specialized
category within the 2011 Global
Student Entrepreneur Awards.
Mr. Wahl’s doctoral supervisors are Drs. Christopher Kovacs
and Gerry Mugford. His thesis is on hormonal response to
lifestyle in middle-aged overweight men. Over eight years
ago, Mike Wahl and his business partner Mike O’Neil saw
an opportunity to bring personal training services to the
St. John’s market. They opened a fitness facility and built a
respected brand and a solid client group. Many of his clients
worked in the oil and gas sector and as they started seeing
positive results, they asked him to bring his services to their
offices and industrial sites including offshore oil rigs. Over
the years the company’s focus has shifted to specializing
in individual health, safety and wellness concerns for both
individuals and companies. Mr. Wahl said the Graduate
Student Entrepreneur Global Champion Award is a validation
of the company and the teamwork that has gone into building
a successful company.
27
MUNMED news
MEDICOR papers being processed for Founders’
Archive
The Faculty of Medicine Founders’ Archive is currently processing the papers of the Centre for Offshore and Remote
Medicine (MEDICOR) collection, which came to the archive in early 2008. The material includes, but is not limited to,
information about laboratory air and gas analysis, cold water immersion research, near drowning, hypertension, anaesthesia,
the hyperbaric chamber, the royal commission on the ocean Ranger marine disaster, styrene, cilazapril, epinephrine, and
various research projects.
With the support of a National Archival
Development Program grant (NADP), the archive has
hired a contractual archival assistant, Sarah Farewell,
to arrange and describe the collection to make it
available for research use. As well as being relevant to
those connected to offshore and remote medicine, the
collection will be of particular interest to researchers in
the areas of marine medicine, environmental medicine,
offshore oil industry, occupational medicine, diving,
related education and training, and environmental gas
analysis.
“The archive is grateful for the financial assistance,
which provides contribution funding for archival projects
to archival institutions,” said archivist Stephanie Harlick.
“This funding is administered by the Canadian Council
Sarah Farewell with some of the boxes of documents making up the collection of of Archives on behalf of Library and Archives Canada.
MEDICOR papers.
The project will be completed by March 31, 2012.”
Retirement News
George Beckett, associate university librarian (health sciences), had retired after 30
years of service. A well-attended retirement open house was held Dec. 7 at the Health Sciences
Centre.
George grew up in Burnaby, BC, and earned a bachelor of history degree from Simon
Fraser University and a master of library science degree from McGill. In 1981, he began
working in academic libraries at Memorial University in areas such as government documents,
computer searching and systems before moving to the Health Sciences Library as systems
librarian in 1989. In 1991, he became head of the Health Sciences Library as associate
university librarian (health sciences). During his time as head of the HS Library he also served
as acting director of the Marine Institute Library (1993-1994) and director of the Faculty of
Medicine’s Health Sciences Information and Media Service from 1995 until 2008.
In 1999, he led the creation of the Newfoundland and Labrador Health Knowledge
Information Network (NLHKIN) and remained involved in developing library services for
Newfoundland and Labrador and dealing with information resources in the digital age. He
was actively involved with the Canadian Health Libraries Association from 1991 to 2004 and received that association’s 2004
Margaret Ridley Charlton Award for Outstanding Achievement and an Honorary Life Membership in 2010.
In his spare time, George has a long history with the MUN Judo Club, and holds a second degree black belt.
28
MUNMED news
Laboratory Medicine
Resident Research Day
Residents in the Discipline of Laboratory
Medicine presented their research on Oct. 7, 2011. All
residents in the program participated, many with both poster
and platform presentations. There was a strong laboratory
quality theme running through the presentations.
Poster presentations included: Retrospective Analysis of
Sign Out Times and Blocking for Autopsies by Dr. Robin
Wirth; Immunohistochemistry Utilization at the Department
of Pathology by Dr. Reza Alaghehbandan; Assessment of
Gross Examination and Tissue Submission in Hysterectomy
Specimens with Leiomyomata by Dr. Luis Gai; Evaluation
of Block Numbers Submitted for Breast Specimens by Dr.
Sarab Mohamed; Specimens of Limited or No Clinical Value
by Dr. Terry Finch; Retrospective Analysis of Sign Out Times
and Blocking for Autopsies by Dr. Robin Wirth and Placenta
Submissions: Are The Appropriate Indications Being Met? by
Dr. Kathryn Whelan. All poster submissions were under the
supervision of Dr. Stephen Raab.
The adjudicators for the platform portion of Resident
Research Day were Drs. Sheila Drover, Jon Church and Ed
Randell. Awards were received by Dr. Terry Finch for his
presentation titled Cytological-Histological Correlation of
Pulmonary Specimens at Eastern Health and Dr. Robin
Wirth for his presentation titled Case Series: Reporting Two
Cases of Accidental Deaths from Bench Pressing Weights in
Home Gyms. Dr. Finch’s research was conducted under the
supervision of Dr. C. Ghosh and Dr. Wirth’s research was
conducted under the supervision of Dr. S. Avis.
Most of the research has been submitted to international
conferences for presentation.
From left: Drs. Terry Finch, Beverley Carter, resident research co-ordinator,
Simon Kirby, Reza Alaghehbandan, Kathryn Whelan, Robin Wirth, Luis
Gai, Simon Avis, chair of the Discipline of Laboratory Medicine, Andrea
Simmonds, Sarab Mohamed and Jane Barron, program director.
News from pathology
Dr. Nik Makretsov, an assistant professor of pathology
at Memorial from 2008-2011, is first author on a landmark
study in breast cancer biomarker immunohistochemistry
quality control improvement, published in the Archives of
Pathology & Laboratory Medicine in July 2011. This was a panCanadian study led by the Canadian Immunohistochemistry
Quality Control Program which also included pathologists
and technologists from the University of British Columbia,
University of Saskatchewan, McGill University and the
University of Toronto. Two students from Memorial
University were part of the national research team: Dr. Reza
Alaghehbandan, pathology resident, and Joel Mercer, medical
student.
This study is about developing quantitative measuring
of accuracy in breast cancer predictive markers testingsteroid hormone receptors (estrogen and progesterone) by
immunohistochemistry – the pathology tests which define
whether breast cancers patients will benefit from systemic
endocrine therapy or not.
There were 31 participating laboratories, four of
which were previously designated as expert laboratories.
Each participant tested a tissue microarray slide with
44 breast carcinoma samples for estrogen receptor and
progesterone receptor and submitted it to the Canadian
Immunohistochemistry Quality Control Program for
analysis. There was a blind central panel assessment of all the
laboratories against the proposed multiple reference values.
Dr. Makretsov said the study demonstrated that the
application of multiple reference methods allows for an
objective assessment of estrogen and progesterone tests
performance across the country. “The developed method
allows measuring not only agreement, but also to obtain a
snapshot of sensitivity and specificity of hormone receptor
tests in the individual practical laboratories, which has never
been done before in a systematic evidence-based way. It
demonstrated that the most common disagreement with
the standard results was due to a variable sensitivity of the
estrogen receptor test, and not due to the test interpretation
or test specificity. Dr. Makretsov said the study showed that an
overwhelming majority of pathology laboratories nation-wide
are able to achieve high level of agreement between each other
and the expert laboratories, which exceeds the recommended
threshold of 90 per cent agreement. “This also means that
there is a potential to reduce currently acceptable 10 per
cent disagreement rate between the participating laboratories
through the revision of current practices and implementation
of protocols from the best performing laboratories.“
29
MUNMED news
Study of rare
patients yields
important results
One of the leading genetics researchers
in the world, Dr. Michael Hayden, gave the
2011 Gairdner Lecture on Oct. 19 at the
Faculty of Medicine. His presentation, Black
Swans, Genetics and Drug Discovery, offered a
fascinating journey through the world of genetic
discovery.
The black swan refers to the widely-held
belief that all swans are white – until a black one
appeared. The metaphor captures the concept
that the event is a surprise to the observer and
has a major impact.
Dr. Hayden referred to the black swan as
From left: Dean James Rourke, Dr. Michael Hayden and Dr. John Dirks, president and
an outlier, lying outside the realm of regular
scientific director of the Gairdner Foundation.
expectations. In genetics, the black swan is the
exceptional patient, the rare phenotype that allows the researcher to study genes that have a major effect.
Dr. Hayden is the world’s most cited author on Huntington’s disease and he won the 2011 Canada Gairdner Wightman
Award for his groundbreaking contributions to medical science. His work focuses on understanding the genetic roots of illness
and using that understanding to develop better approaches to treatment for patients. He researches diabetes, coronary artery
disease, and is part of a large collaboration to determine the genetic basis for adverse drug reactions in children. His lab has
identified a gene, called ABCA1, which is critical for the production of high density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol, also known
as the good cholesterol.
In Newfoundland, Dr. Hayden has worked with geneticist Dr. Jane Green to identify patients with congenital indifference
to pain. He has been able to identify genetic variants unique to those individuals, resulting in understanding how pain
sensitivity, and other functions, are regulated. The hope is that this pain research will soon yield a new drug that can target the
gene to stop pain.
New Family Medicine Clinic
opens
The Family Medicine Clinic located in the Torbay Road Mall,
St. John’s, had its official opening Nov. 8, 2011. This is the fourth clinic
operated through the Discipline of Family Medicine, joining the network
of clinics at Shea Heights, the Ross Family Medicine Clinic at the Miller
Centre, and the Family Practice Clinic at the Health Sciences Centre.
The official opening provided an opportunity for everyone to
celebrate. Dean James Rourke spoke about the expansion of the Faculty
of Medicine and the importance of the new clinic in being part of that
expansion. Dr. Marshall Godwin, interim chair of the Discipline of Family
Medicine, said the clinic provided another place to teach residents.
Cutting the cake (from left) are the doctors at the new Family Medicine Clinic: Drs.
Danielle O’Keefe, Rosann Sevior, Christine Bassler and Stephen Lee.
30
MUNMED news
Historical trials with LSD
Although the drug LSD is known most widely as a
recreational drug of the 1960s, it was used in the 1950s as a
treatment for mental illness and alcoholism. Many of these
experiments took place at the Provincial Mental Hospital in
Saskatchewan.
In November, Dr. Erika Dyck, Canada Research Chair in
History of Medicine at the University of Saskatchewan, presented
the Dr. Nigel Rusted lectureship in Medical Humanities on the
topic Psychedelic Psychiatry: LSD Experimentation and the PostSecond World War Pharmacological Revolution.
LSD was first synthesized by the Swiss chemist Albert
Hoffman in the Sandoz (now Novartis) laboratories in Basel,
Switzerland in 1938, although it was another five years before its
Dr. Nigel Rusted and Dr. Erika Dyck.
psychedelic properties were found. Dr. Dyck described coming
across research about experiments in Saskatchewan – where she grew up – with LSD as a drug to understand schizophrenia and
later, to treat alcoholism.
Psychiatrists, including Humphry Osmond who coined the term psychedelic while working in Saskatchewan, believed that
the successful treatment of alcoholism with biochemical means would scientifically prove that the condition was a disease and
not the result of a weak or immoral character.
Initial experiments demonstrated unprecedented rates of abstinence among alcoholics treated with LSD. The approach
gained support from the provincial government, local chapters of Alcoholics Anonymous and the Bureau of Alcoholism, all of
which collaborated in a public campaign that supported LSD treatments.
In the course of her research Dr. Dyck interviewed three men who had stayed sober for 40 years after being treated with
LSD. She cautioned that the process of choosing patients, the settings and the clinical practice all played a part in these
experimental successes.
But as LSD spread out from the clinical setting onto university campuses and then into the wider population of North
America, the media and the public began to turn against the drug. From promising early news stories about the great
possibility of LSD, they turned to horror stories.
Sandoz halted LSD production in August of 1965 after growing governmental protests at its proliferation among the
general populace. Scientific study of LSD ceased around 1980 as research funding declined, and governments became wary of
permitting such research fearing that the results of the research might encourage illicit LSD use.
Dr. Dyck is the author of Psychedelic Psychiatry: LSD from Clinic to Campus.
Clarification
In the summer/fall issue of MUNMED, Dr.
Bridget Picco’s column said that “This year’s
CME had official Mainpro credits for the
first time ever, for both specialist and family
docs.” This should read: “The CME portion
of our reunion is fully accredited for both
Maintenance of Certification and Mainpro
study credits for both specialist and family
doctors. As well, Memorial has a reciprocity
agreement between the Accreditation Council
for Continuing Medical Education of the
United States (ACCME) and the Committee
on Accreditation of Canadian Medical Schools
(CACMS) which allows Category 1 credits
toward the American Medical Association of
Physicians Recognition Award (AMA PRA).”
Nhu Ho, left, a master’s
student in the cancer and
development program,
received the Mary O’Neill
Award for the most
outstanding research
presentation at the M.Sc.
level. Ms. Ho is supervised
by Drs. Hélène Paradis and
Robert Gendron. Philip
Andrews, right, received the
Mary Pater Award for the
most outstanding research
at the doctoral level. He is
supervised by Drs. Ken Kao
and Cathy Popadiuk.
31
MUNMED news
Newfoundland CODING
study has big impact at
international conference
It is hard not to be impressed by the performance of
the research team of Dr. Guang Sun, professor of genetics in
the Faculty of Medicine. They presented nine posters at the
29th Obesity Society annual meeting which took place Oct.
1-5 in Orlando, Florida.
PhD student Farrell Cahill had three first author,
two second author and three third author posters. Danny
Wadden, an honours turned M.Sc. student, also attended
with one first author poster and three second author
contributions. Investigators in the team who made significant
contributions include Drs. Ed Randell, Sudesh Vasdev, Wayne
Gulliver and Yanqing Yi.
Dr Sun’s Complex Diseases in the Newfoundland
population: Environment and Genetics (CODING) study is
an ongoing investigation regarding the endocrine, genetic and
nutritional factors associated with obesity and diabetes. The
discoveries presented covered a number of aspects of obesity.
“The first aspect regards the appetite regulating hormones
secreted by the gastrointestinal tracts – peptide YY and
ghrelin – on the variations of human body fat accumulation,
macro-nutrient intakes and insulin sensitivity,” said Dr. Sun.
“Most findings are the first reports of their kind in the field.”
A second aspect is the powerful effect of essential amino
acids on human body composition. “The findings provided
strong evidence about the possibility of lowering the rising
prevalence of obesity in this province by simply increasing the
percentage of essential amino acids to improve the health of
Newfoundlanders and Canadians,” said Dr. Sun.
The third aspect is the evaluation of a novel method
to estimate body fat. Recently a new method called Body
Adiposity Index (BAI) to evaluate body fat based on
height and hip circumference was suggested by a group of
researcher in University of Southern California. Dr. Sun’s
team performed extensive analysis using the Newfoundland
population based CODING study consisting over 2,400
adults. The study discovered that the bone system-based BAI
equation generally performed better than BMI in people
of normal and overweight. However the new BAI method
performed poorly than BMI in obese people.
“This is a serious problem for the BAI to be used in obese
evaluation,” said Dr. Sun. “Our team is currently developing
our own new method using the data from the CODING
study. The new method is simple to use but more accurate
than the traditional BMI method. “
32
Back left to right: Farrell Cahill, Daniel Wadden, Dr. Edward Randell; front
left to right: Hongwei Zhang, Peyvand Amini, Dr. Sudesh Vasdev and Dr.
Guang Sun.
The large number of presentations and findings from Dr.
Sun’s team attracted numerous conference attendees. “Many
researchers from U.S. and other countries expressed strong
intention for potential collaborations,” he said.
The Obesity Society’s Annual Scientific Meeting is
one of the largest congregations of clinical and laboratory
obesity researchers in the world. “This conference allowed
us the opportunity to share our experience with laboratories
from around the globe while also building new collaborative
relationships for future research,” said Dr. Sun.
In addition to their individual research project
productivity, both Mr. Cahill and Mr. Wadden have made
significant recruitment contributions to Dr. Sun’s CODING
study. This study is one of the largest studies of its kind in the
world, and has reached over 3,000 participants.
“Although recruiting volunteers for research is difficult,
it is an essential part of any research project,” said Dr Sun.
“Our research could have never been recognized without the
participation of our Newfoundland and Labrador volunteers.”
The CODING study is presently exploring the genetic,
endocrine, and nutritional links to obesity and diabetes
within the province. Participation in this study involves
participants giving a small blood sample and undergoing
a Dual Energy X-ray Absorptiometry (DXA) scan which
measures bone density, muscle mass, body fat distribution.
In addition to the CODING study, Dr. Sun and
Mr. Cahill have begun a collaborative obesity treatment
studying with the School of Human Kinetics and Recreation
investigating the effects of resistance training on appetite
regulating hormones.
“Collaboration within and outside the province has
always been an important aspect to my laboratory,” said Dr.
Sun. “We currently have over 20 active collaborations, 15 of
which are at Memorial University.”
MUNMED news
Stories from family Medicine
Thump: the first lesson
By Dr. Paul Patey
The 10-year-old boy watches and listens intently.
Thump, thump, thump, is the sound he hears coming from
his slightly younger brother who is calmly sitting on my
examination table. It’s a sound doctors often make and listen
to when examining patients. It’s called percussion.
Thump was also how today’s little medical mystery
started. Yesterday, while wrestling, Barry’s foot unexpectedly
struck Donald firmly in the belly. The thump knocked the
wind out of Donald for a moment, but soon thereafter they
resumed their wrestling, an activity they enjoyed and in which
they often engaged. But now, a day later, Donald was still
bothered by pain in his belly. His concerned parents sought
my help as a family doctor.
After listening to their story and acknowledging their
concerns, I had, by this point in the visit, also finished much
of the examination. I’d shown them how Donald’s belly wall
in one spot was tender when tensed when he lifted his legs,
but much less tender when relaxed, even when I pushed
deeper. This indicated yesterday’s thump had bruised a bit
of muscle. The rest of the examination was to rule out other
troubles and document normalness.
Now I say, “Lie down again Donald.” Turning to look
toward his brother, who I know wants to someday be a
doctor, I wiggle my finger and say, “Come Barry. Stand near.
Listen. Watch.” He does.
Barry observes as I place the middle finger of one of
my hands flat against Donald’s chest on the right side. He
observes how, by flexing my other wrist, I thump the middle
bone in that flat finger with the tip of the middle finger of my
other hand. We hear the thumps.
Moving my hand down the patient’s chest I percuss
another area nearer to the bottom edge of his rib margin.
“Barry, can you hear that sound. Donald’s liver is under there.
It has no air in it. Now let’s compare the sounds.”
I make three thumbs over the liver, then three over
the lung, and say, “Did you notice the difference in the
sound over lung and over liver?” The boy nods. I repeat the
percussions. He nods again.
With a swift series of percussions running down the chest
I identify where lung and liver meet and keeping my middle
finger just below that level, to my student I say, “Listen how
the sounds change when your brother takes a big breath.”
I start percussing, ask the patient to take a big slow breath
in and out, and continue percussing. The note changes during
the breath cycle. To my student I say, “Did you notice how
the sound changed?”
Again the boy nods. I continue. “Before he breathes in
I am thumping over liver. As your brother breathes in his
lung gets bigger and his liver moves further down and then
I’m thumping over lung. Then when he breathes out his lung
gets smaller, and the liver moves back up, at which time I’m
once more thumping over his liver. Listen again. ‘Donald take
another big breath slowly in and out.’”
I percuss continuously as the patient’s diaphragm muscle
moves the interface between lung and liver down and then
back up. The very young, very alert, medical student watches
my percussing fingers and listens as the thumping sound
changes during the breath cycle.
“Now, Barry, go sit. I have a bit more to check yet.
Donald, stand up on the floor, turn toward me.” As he does, I
throw a little sheet over his shoulders, where it hangs down to
the floor as he stands with his back to the audience.
I say: “I need to look at your boy parts. Pull down your
trousers.” He does. To mom I say: “Examining these parts is
better done with the boy standing. Important causes of belly
pain can arise from hernias or other troubles in this area. All is
normal here.”
My brief exam has found no hernias, testicular masses,
congenital abnormalities and especially no torsion of the
testicle.
Turning to the reassured parents I say: “Normal. And
the urine sample we obtained earlier is also normal. The pain
should be no worse. The bruised muscle will heal in a few
days.”
To Donald I say, “Continue your normal activities,
including wrestling next week with your brother. If you get
the pain again, tell your parents. “
Turning to them I say, “Bring him back if necessary.”
Finally, to the very young medical student I say, “Today
you had your first lesson.”
Comments
• When he learns percussion in medical school will the
scholar remember to percuss continuously through a breath
cycle, rather than only at extremes as some physicians do? For
me the continuing percussion gives better information.
• During the visit, the little scholar learned many other
lessons, including respecting the patient’s privacy and the
parents’ concerns.
• This visit was joyful for doctor, patient, parents and the
medical student.
• All names changed.
33
MUNMED news
A frontwards view
Ten years
By Dr. David Keegan
It is almost unbelievable that 10 years have gone by
since I left Placentia. Ten years since I last staffed Placentia’s
truly excellent three-bed emergency department, did my
inpatient rounds in the 10-bed in-patient wing, saw patients
on the secure dementia long-term care ward, and closed up
my cherished Fort Frederick Medical Clinic, saying goodbye
to my great staff and patients.
In another way, I look back and think what has happened
in those 10 years and it’s been a lot. I did a year of emergency
training, worked in tertiary adult and pediatric emergency
departments in London, Ont., and engineered my return to
family medicine (I began missing long-term patient contact
just a few short months into full-time emergency work). I
got married to the love of my life, and we’ve had three great
kids come into our lives. We decided on a new adventure and
moved to Calgary. I started playing hockey and learned to ski.
So in some sense, it seems that it was long, long ago that I
practiced in Placentia.
I remember Dr. Roger Butler (Class of 1977) teaching us
interviewing skills almost 20 years ago and talking about his
initial practice in Botwood and how it was a foundation for
his whole career. I didn’t quite get what he meant then. But
now I know what he was talking about.
Those four years in Placentia were something truly
special. It was in those years that I learned how to work in an
interprofessional climate long before it was called that. The
things I learned from Pat Careen, our outpatient nurse, were
incredible – from wound care to how to discretely reflect
back what I’ve heard a patient say. The unit we formed for
our chemotherapy patients, our palliative patients, and a
whole bunch of others was based upon respect for and the
maximization of each others’ scope of practice.
It was in Placentia that I got my 10,000 hours of
reflective practice in; though I didn’t keep perfect track,
I worked a range of 60–100 hours each week. It was in
Placentia that I was faced with a wide variety of clinical
challenges (typically in the ER) with only the cottage-hospital
level of support, and then found myself building customized
networks with specialist colleagues in St. John’s and
Carbonear, who were not only supportive and helpful, but
helped drive the expansion of my clinical skills and evidencebased practice in numerous ways.
It was in Placentia that the patient-centred clinical
method came to vibrant life in which each patient’s context
had a massive impact on my assessments and in the
34
The Keegan family on top of the Columbia Ice Field in Jasper National
Park. From left: Nora Keegan, Susan Bannister, John Keegan, David
Keegan and Sarah Keegan.
negotiation of an investigation and management plan. It was
in Placentia that I experienced helping people with deeply
hidden problems about which they finally felt comfortable to
speak after being my patient for a few years, and the immense
privilege and therapeutic power of the doctor-patient
relationship was made so real to me.
It was in Placentia that I learned a lot from my colleagues
who were trained at Memorial and abroad. I learned tricks
of the trade, as well as some crucial real world wisdom. (You
can check out The Wisdom of Dan Malone, one of my
previous articles published in the winter/spring 2010 issue of
MUNMED.) It was in Placentia that I had the opportunity
to work in so many different ways, including my own solo
practice in which I got to work with great staff, particularly
Laura Lannon, the licensed practical nurse in my clinic.
It was also in Placentia that I think I became a true
Newfoundlander/Labradorian and not just a townie. I have
always loved St. John’s, but it was great to live outside it and
smell (even more) the salt in the air and talk to people who
had been resettled, and it was crucial to see first-hand the ugly
impact of the collapse of the cod fishery. I felt so privileged to
see the determination and spirit of the people in and around
Placentia and the Cape Shore to make something happen.
When I think back, those four years packed a punch and
whatever doctor I am today, it is because of them. When I
get in front of medical students, as I often do in my role as
undergraduate director here at the University of Calgary, my
best clinical stories are from Placentia. Students are on the
edge of their seats whenever I teach about the wiry 70-yearold man who got swept off the Cape Shore during a gale into
the ocean and got swept back up with seawater, spiders and
twigs in his lungs. Not a pin drops when I talk about the
patient with pneumonia for whom the best care was to just
keep her comfortable (see my column in the spring 1998 issue
of MUNMED titled The Rosary). And they are amazed at
Continued on next page
MUNMED news
A backwards view
An inside view
By Dr. Bill Eaton
I got a taste of bitter medicine early this January. I was
home alone with a cold; I didn’t want to spread it around.
While at the computer I suffered a central field visual defect in
my right eye, a headache in my right temple and woozy head. I
said to myself, “I better lie down,” so I did.
Just after hitting the couch I said to myself, “I better get
up,” but I couldn’t. My left arm and leg were useless. Out loud,
but with a slur, I said, “I’ve had a stroke.”
I slipped myself to the floor and wriggled to the cell
phone. I guess I must have been upset or something because it
took me four tries to get the thing unlocked. I was able to call
my daughter to open the door so the 911 guys could get in and
save me.
Up to the HSC emergency, wheeled right into the CT
room, rushed right back for bloods and the thrombolytic drug
tPA (tissue plasminogen activator), a clot buster. Within 15
minutes my paralysis disappeared. Miracle drug that tPA. I
apparently was the fastest person ever to get in for tPA at the
HSC.
Protocol dictates an ICU stay for 24 hours after tPA.
Meaning you get woken up every hour for neuro testing.
“Where are you?” “Bed five, ICU, HSC St. John’s.” “What day
is it?” “Tuesday January 10, 2012.” After a few of these, when
dragged up to consciousness, I would just give the answers
without prompting. We patients make our own fun in the
ICU.
The nurses were like angels floating by in the permanent
twilight. The doctors came by to give reports of tests and
inquire about symptoms. The other patients were really sick
and the privacy screens were anything but. I found it difficult
to empty my bladder with the hustle and bustle a mere 10
cm from my personal exposure, standing up attached to
monitor lines, tubes of the cyclically-inflating anti-embolic calf
enclosures, and IVs. Fortunately for all concerned urine was
my only ICU effluent.
The monitor alarms blast out in seven different ways. All
are designed, of course, to bypass the brain’s natural instinct to
acclimatize. Sleep and toilets don’t coexist with ICU protocol.
It’s no place for someone who’s not sick, like me, who post tPA
felt fine. I apparently was the best looking patient in the ICU.
At the bewitching hour: that time between lucidity and
IV haldol, the patients around me articulated their location
conclusions. One guy loudly irritated that he was in a funeral
home. Another bemoaned his being in jail. I concluded they
were both right. Timing is everything. At change of shift the
relative calm shattered into a clamour and clatter of reports
and administration, like who’s on first. The lights came up and
the day begins. Enter the stroke team. The physiotherapists
pushed and pulled my arms and legs and had me stand up.
The occupational therapist did a rapid screening test for the
detection of mild cognitive impairment and asked me to say as
many words as I could beginning with F that weren’t naughty
or names. I began with fiduciary and ran through fenestrate
and funicular. The OT remarked she had never heard as many
F words in one minute.
Eventually the speech pathologist came by and had me
swallow puddings and biscuits. I resisted the urge to fake a
cough as she was my ticket to lunch. I can’t recall the last
time I hadn’t eaten in 24 hours. In the interim lunch had
come and gone without me so I ate an HSC egg sandwich
on a hamburger bun. Never in my life have I savored such a
wonderful sandwich. Hunger makes a great sauce.
Later that day I’m out and home and now must come to
grips with what happened, what could have been, and what
might yet be. I confess I’m scarred and scared. Timing is
everything. I now take a statin and palvix, both of which cause
nausea, dizziness and myalgias and I can’t drive for a month. I
think I’ll buy a new guitar.
I was treated with courtesy, caring, and respect by everyone
I met. Dietary and housekeeping staffs were pleasant and
supportive. Professional and efficient was the byword of my
stay. The nurses were a bit offended when I suggested they were
so nice to me because of who I am. “No we treat everybody
like that.” I always knew it. I’m proud of the HSC staff. I can’t
find the words to thank them all enough.
Continued from previous page
how I could continue to provide care to my patients whether they were in my clinic, in the emergency, or as in-patient.
So while I am thrilled with the things I get to do as an academic family doctor here in Calgary, and we are delighted with
how our kids have thrived (who knew I would have kids in ski racing at the ages of 4 and 6?), I am nevertheless grateful for my
time in Placentia – it is where my clinical journey started and is the foundation upon which I continue to grow as a doctor.
Dr. David Keegan (Class of 1995) is an associate professor and undergraduate director at the University of Calgary’s Faculty of
Medicine.
35
ALUMNIMATTERS
The Medical
Graduates’ Society
(MGS) is looking forward to
enjoying another good year
providing opportunities for many
of us to reconnect.
For the local crowd, plans are
underway for our annual winter
“tasting event”. This has normally
been a wine tasting event and
for this year we will be hosting a
beer tasting event at Yellowbelly
Brewery. We hope the wine tasters will come again and that
the change in beverage will bring some newcomers. Check
the MGS alumni website at www.med.mun.ca/alumni/ for
more news on this exciting midwinter alumni social.
Of course, the annual
MGS reunion will
be a big highlight, ideally
timed in mid-summer, from
July 27-28 and by pure
coincidence, coinciding with
the George Street Festival.
Come a week earlier and
you can also enjoy the Jazz
Festival or stay a little longer
and bring your kids to the St.
John’s Regatta. This year the MD Classes of 1976, ’82, ’86,
’92, ’96 and 2002 are celebrating their reunion milestones.
Another priority of the MGS (we aren’t only about
parties) is to encourage support to the medical school by
alumni. A key initiative established by the MGS is the
Ingram Award, providing support for MUN medical faculty
to undertake research and scholarly activity in medical
education. The recently established Medical Education
Scholarship Centre (MESC) provides a great resource
for faculty interested in the scholarly aspects of medical
education and will no doubt be of great value to the Ingram
Award winners.
Many of our alumni have been very generous in their
support and this will be of life long value to the future
graduates of our medical school. The 2011 Ingram Award
winner in 2011 was Dr. Jim Connor for his project titled
Medical Professionalism in the Canadian Context: Learning,
Teaching and Doing It. Dr. Leigh Anne Newhook was also
given an award for a project titled Development of WebBased Research Skills Training for Medical Residents. The
winners for 2012 will be announced at the MGS reunion on
July 27, 2012.
36
After four successful years as president of the MGS,
Bridget Picco has graduated to past president and passed the
reins of president on to me. I know all of you share with me
enthusiastic thanks to Bridget for her commitment, energy
and initiatives on our behalf. I am pleased to welcome Lynn
Dwyer as a new board member along with existing members,
John Martin, Ford Bursey and John O’Keefe. Others are
encouraged to be involved and feel free to contact us with
your suggestions for other alumni events or initiatives. Please
contact us at alumni@med.mun.ca.
Alan Goodridge
President
Medical Graduates’ Society
MORE NEWS
2012 is a big year for reunion events! Memorial University
is holding an all faculties, all years reunion.
Havin’ a Time is happening Aug. 8-12, 2012 and of
course the Faculty of Medicine will be involved. We will be
having our first-ever Graduate Studies All-Programs reunion.
All alumni of graduate programs in the Faculty of Medicine
are invited to attend. Planning is underway: Special guest
speakers have been invited; a Facebook page has been
established (MUN Medical Graduate Students Reunion);
and we will post details on www.munalum.ca. We are also
planning several Postgraduate Medical Studies Reunions, so
if you graduated from any program at Memorial’s Faculty of
Medicine, we want to see you this summer.