Resident Achievements & Community Involvement 2013

We are proud of residents’ contributions to the health of British Columbians. They are often recognized with numerous external awards and publications; here are a few of the achievements of our members.

Resident doctors spend the vast amount of their time in hospitals and clinics training in their specific areas of medical specialty, and Resident Doctors of BC focuses much of our attention in support of that training. However, both the association and its members appreciate the importance of looking outside the hospital and getting involved with the community, both medically and otherwise. Here are just a few of the things residents and Resident Doctors of BC is doing to support the healthcare community and the public.

Dr. Brett Mador – The Stevens Norvell Award

Dr. Mador was awarded the Stevens Norvell Award for the second highest score on the CAGS In-Training exam out of all R4s in Canada

Dr. Vikram Sabhaney – Outstanding Achievement

Dr. Sabhaney was awarded the Outstanding Achievement by a Clinical Subspecialty Resident of Fellow from the Child and Family Research Institute. This award recognizes the outstanding achievement of a clinical sub-specialty Resident or Fellow whose research initiatives have been pursued in a conscientious, original and competent manner, and who has the potential for academic excellence in their future career in their chosen specialty.

Dr. Gareth Eeson – Excellence in Teaching Award

Dr. Eeson was presented the 2013 Canadian Association of General Surgeons Excellence in Teaching Award at the annual Canadian Surgery Forum in September. The award is granted by each residency program based on their individual criteria.

Drs. Ilana Shawn and Kathryn Wynn – Brian Morris Award

Drs. Shawn and Wynn were awarded this award at the UBC Psychiatry Research Day for displaying compassion and empathy combined with clinical excellence.

Dr. Alan Bates – Dr. Robert Kitchen Memorial Award

Dr. Bates was presented the Dr. Robert Kitchen Memorial Award at the UBC Psychiatry Research Day for excellence in Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry.

Drs. Sebastien Chow and Faiza Somji – CanMEDS Award

Awarded annually at the Psychiatry Research Day; this peer selected award is presented to the Resident who best exemplifies the CanMEDS Competencies of Medical Expert, Communicator, Collaborator, Manager, Health Advocate, Scholar & Professional.

Drs. Chow and Somji were the first place finishers for 2013, for additional places please visit the UBC Psychiatry awards.

Dr. Tamara Salih – Postgraduate Psychotherapy Award

This award is presented at the UBC Psychiatry Research Day to a Resident who has a strong interest in psychotherapy; has exceeded standard expectations in acquiring psychotherapy skills and has demonstrated evidence of positive development as a psychotherapist.

Dr. Paul Blackburn – Resident Undergraduate Teaching Award

Drs. Blackburn received this award at the Psychiatry research day for his excellence in Clinical Teaching.

Dr. Kevin Wong – Significant Leadership Award and The Emily Ellingsen Prize for Significant Contribution to the UBC Psychiatry Residency Program

Dr. Wong was presented the Significant Leadership Award to recognize consistent and outstanding leadership within the residency program and/or in other community activities. He also received the peer nominated award, The Emily Ellingsen Prize to recognize outstanding contributions to the psychiatry residency program that have resulted in improvements in the training, professional development and/or camaraderie amongst residents.

Dr. James Saunders – Best Resident Teaching Award

Dr. Saunders was awarded the Best Resident Resident Teaching Award at the annual Surgery Graduation Ceremony.

Dr. Jonathan Misskey – Dr. H.D. Hildebrand Award for Excellence

This award is presented annually to a Junior Resident for outstanding service and with greatest promise as a vascular surgeon.

Dr. Tamir Ailon – Dr. I.B. Holubitsky Memorial Award

This award is presented annually to the surgical resident who demonstrates the highest qualities of surgical excellence and in recognition of outstanding clinical teaching of medical students and fellow residents.

Dr. Daniel Jenkin – Dr. C.H. Scudamore HPB Award

This award is Presented annually to the surgical resident who demonstrates the highest qualities of surgical excellence in Hepatobiliary and Pancreatic Surgery.

Dr. Stephanie Vandenberg – Family Medicine Resident Award for Scholarly Achievement

Dr. Stacey Erven – Leadership Award for Family Medicine Residents (College of Family Physicians of Canada)

Dr. Piotr Klakowicz – Research Award for Family Medicine Residents (College of Family Physicians of Canada)

At the 2013 Family Medicine Forum, Dr. Klakowicz was presented with a Research Award for his work “Decreasing the mortality gap between HIV positive Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people in Vancouver inner-city centre — 2007-2012.”

The Research Award is presented annually to recognize family medicine residents for excellent research.

Dr. Arun Jagdeo – Kristin Silvertz Resident Leadership Award (International Conference on Residency Education)

Dr. Arun Jagdeo was awarded the 2013 Kristin Silvertz Resident Leadership Award at the International Conference on Residency Education.

This award is presented annually to residents who have demonstrated leadership in specialty education and encourages the development of future leaders.

Dr. Asher Mendelson – Associate Abstract Competition Research poster award (American College of Physicians)

Dr. Mendelson received the award in San Fransisco for his work The Efficacy and Biocompatability of a Novel Polymer-based Solution in a Rodent Model of Peritoneal Dialysis, which was selected in the basic research, Internal Medicine division.

Dr. Adam Weathermon – The Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery

Dr. Weathermon was a part author on “EOS Low-Dose Radiography: A Reliable and Accurate Upright Assessment of Lower-Limb Lengths“, an article published in the December 2013 edition of The Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery. The article found that upright EOS protocols that utilize a faster speed and lower current are more accurate than CT scanograms and conventional radiographs for the assessment of length and also are associated with a significantly lower radiation exposure. In addition, the ability of this technology to obtain images while subjects are standing upright makes this the ideal modality with which to assess limb alignment in the weight-bearing position. This method has the potential to become the new standard for repeated assessment of lower-limb lengths and alignment in growing children.

Dr. Will Guest – Maclean’s Magazine

Dr. Guest was profiled in Maclean’s Magazine, for his work on patenting an algorithm “that could have implications for Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS).”

Dr. Annie Chou – Crisis Centre

For 15 rewarding years, Dr. Annie Chou has been involved at The Crisis Intervention and Suicide Prevention Centre of BC, also known as the Vancouver Crisis Centre (www.crisiscentre.bc.ca). Initially a volunteer on the distress line, Dr. Chou helped callers deeal with issues ranging from a small disagreement to a suicide in progress. Dr. Chou branched out to the Community Education Program and provided countless workshops on stress management and suicide awareness to high schools in Vancouver. Dr. Chou added volunteer training to her repertoire by providing expertise and instilling confidence to new volunteers. After volunteering more than 1,000 hours on the lines for more than 10 years, Dr. Chou stepped up to join the Board of Directors and eventually served as 2nd Vice President, and then 1st Vice President, before her career got busy. Dr. Chou remains supportive in her role as a Director.

Dr. Nathan Hoag – Canadian Association Journal

Dr. Hoag with Drs. Hamidizadeh and MacNeily had their original research, “Undergraduate exposure to urology: impact of the distributed model of medical education in British Columbia“, published in the Canadian Journal of Urology. Their research found that 56% of students felt their exposure to urology was adequate. They concluded that the exposure was also comparable across distributed sites, based on the information provided by the students.

2013 Resident Awareness Day Volunteers

As part of Resident Awareness Week 2013, residents connected with the community by volunteering at the Dugout, a drop-in centre in Vancouver They assisted with serving breakfast and had the opportunity to interact with the public in a non-medical setting.

The Dugout serves soup as their first hot meal of the day at 7:15am sharp to community members. The process for the breakfast meal can almost be described as regimented, and the resident physicians tapped into their training to expertly ladle the exact amount without any wastage. In the span of an hour, 213 members of the community were served with hot coffee, soup, and bread. This occurs every day of the week for the Dugout, and on this particular Saturday morning, resident doctors were able to be part of a different team of experts.

Dr. Tiffany Winstone – CHEST
Dr. Winstone was published in the February edition of CHEST for her article on the Epidemic of Lung Cancer in Patients with HIV Infection. It found that the high-rate of cigarette smoking in the HIV population and the aging of the population increased the risk of lung cancer. Smoking cessation and prevention programs were recommended.

Dr. Katrine Khatchadourian – Pediatrics and Child Health

Dr. Katchadourian and colleagues published a case in Pediatrics and Child Health “Pimples in prepuberty: A five-year-old with an unusual cause of facial comedones“

Dr. Annie Chou – Journal of the American College of Cardiology

Dr. Annie Chou with additional authors had their retrospective study; Different ST-Segment Recovery Measures on ECGS Before and After Primary PCU Pedict In-Hospital Adverse Outcomes in an STEMI Population  published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology Volume 61 Issue 10 Supplement in March 2013.

Dr. Christina Luong – American College of Cardiology

At the annual American College of Cardiology conference in March 2013, Dr. Christina Luong presented a poster on her study that found RAVI (right atrial volume index) to be a better predictor of cardioversion (a minor electric shock used to revert irregular heart rhythms to normal) than the commonly used LAVI (left atrial volume index).

Her study included 73 patients from Vancouver General Hospital and found that RAVI was superior to LAVI in predicting who will stay in sinus rhythm after cardioversion, providing 80% accuracy, compared to LAVI’s 67% accuracy.

Her research is also profiled in UBC Medicine Vol 9 No 1 (Spring 2013)

Resident Library 2013

On March 12th, 2013, Resident Doctors of BC, in partnership with the Medical Undergraduate Society, hosted Resident Library. This event gives medical students the opportunity to ask residents questions about potential areas of specialty they may want to pursue. Over 40 medical students attended the event to meet residents and learn more about studying and practicing medicine in BC.

Dr. Rui Jun Lin – Journal of Otolaryngology

Dr. Lin and colleagues were published in the Journal of Otolarynogology, for their article noting the association of Clyclin D1 overexpression with poor prognosis in oropharyngeal cancer. The full article is available here.

Dr. Marie-Eve Pelletier – USTOP

Dr. Pelletier was a part of the April 2013 USTOP trip. USTOP or Uganada Sustainable Trauma Orthopaedic Program is a partnership between the UBC Faculty of Medicine and Makerere University. It began in 2008 to improve the education of surgical trainees, nurses and paramedical personnel in the care of individuals with traumatic injury, from entry to full rehabilitation. Read the trip report from the visit.

Dr. Pelletier returned later in the year on the September 2013 trip to continue working with the partnership. Read the trip report here.

Dr. Amanda Johner – Canadian Journal of Surgery

Dr. Johner along with many colleagues published a survey of handover practices in acute general surgery in the Canadian Journal of Surgery. Their survey found that handover skills must be taught in a systematic fashion. Improved resident communication will likely decrease loss of patient information and therefore improve ACS patient safety.

Drs. Alexandra Shingina and Michael Suen – Canadian Journal of Gastroenterology and Hepatology

Drs. Shingina and Suen with their co-authors were published in the Canadian Journal of Gastroenterology and Hepatology reviewing the BC experience with sorafenib to assess its effectiveness and tolerance in a ‘real-world’ clinical setting. They found that a ‘real-world’ community setting, a sorafenib dose of 400 mg/day was better tolerated and had similar efficacy compared with a sorafenib dose of 800 mg/day with respect to survival and outcomes. The full article is available here.

Dr. Annie Chou – Canadian Journal of Cardiology

Dr. Annie Chou with Dr. Jaqueline Saw was published in December 2013 in the Canadian Journal of Cardiology for her article Basis for Sex-Specific Expression of Takotsubo Cardiomyopathy, Cardiac Syndrome X, and Spontaneous Coronary Artery Dissection.

She was also published in the Canadian Journal of Cardiology as part of a case review involving technology for a patient device related emergency. The Article: Real-time Transmission to Real-time Patient Care: A Tale of 4 Devices

Dr. Julianna Cheng – The Pediatric Journal of Infectious Diseases

Dr. Cheng et al were published in the December 2013 edition of the Pediatric Journal of Infectious Diseases describing a case of a twelve year old with Drug Reaction with Eosinophilia and Systemic Symptoms Syndrome Associated With Antituberculosis Medications.