PATHOLOGY

DEPARTMENT OF PATHOLOGY & LABORATORY MEDICINE MAGAZINE

After the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic and last year’s online version of the event, Pathology Day was back as an in-person event for 2022 at the Holiday Inn on Broadway. Over 200 department members participated in the conference attending oral presentations, viewing posters and reuniting with their colleagues. The day’s events provided an opportunity to experience the latest work from researchers throughout our diverse department, both at junior and established levels, highlighting the quality and innovation in research that has occurred in last year or so, all in our own backyard.

Dr. Gao kicked off the proceedings by welcoming everyone and setting up the concurrent sessions from graduate students and residents which happened throughout the day, spotlighting the contributions of trainees across UBC department sites.

Several students with poster presentations boldly gave their Power Pitches to generate interest and drive traffic to their posters. We also heard from our guest speakers Dr. Naveena Singh and Dr. Natalie Prystajecky. Our Research Associate presentation was given by Dr. Sophie Stukas, who specializes in fluid biomarkers.

Dr. Gao introduced this year’s James Hogg lecturer Dr. Dana Devine and our Keynote speaker, Dr. Ralph Hruban, both of whom presented via a live virtual presentation.

Dr. GAO INTRODUCED DR. DANA DEVINE, THIS YEAR'S JAMES HOGG LECTURER

Dr. Dana Devine is a Professor in the Department of Laboratory Medicine at the University of British Columbia. She serves as the Chief Scientist at Canadian Blood Services.

Dr. Devine has dedicated her career to blood research; she is also a founding member of the University’s Centre for Blood Research where she is currently the Centre Director.

Drawing on her vast experience, Dr. Devine gave an excellent talk entitled, "The Impact of Blood Donor Variation on Transfusion Product Quality" which was relevant to all listeners. The lecture was very well received and generated thoughtful questions and discussion from the audience.

KEYNOTE ADDRESS GIVEN BY DR. RALPH HRUBAN

The Keynote lecture for 2022 was given by Dr. Ralph Hruban, presenting his lecture entitled “The World is Not Flat! A ‘Clearer’ Three-dimensional View of Pancreatic Cancer” .

Dr. Hruban from John Hopkins Medicine is the Baxley Professor and Director of the Department of Pathology, and the Director of the Sol Goldman Pancreatic Cancer Research Center. Dr. Hruban has devoted his academic career to the study of tumors of the pancreas. He has made significant contributions to our understanding of the genetic drivers of all types of pancreas tumors and he helped translate these genetic discoveries to patient care.

It was a captivating lecture that facilitated tremendous interest, discussion and several dropped jaws from the audience.

PATHOLOGY DAY 2022 SHOWCASED THE PROGRAMS OF TWO UBC FACULTY AND THE WORK OF A RESEARCH ASSOCIATE

Dr. Naveena Singh a UBC professor and Anatomic Pathologist at VGH discussed her work entitled “The Shifting Landscape of Endometrial Carcinoma”. Dr. Singh has a specialist interest in Gynaecological cancer.

Dr. Natalie Prystajecky from Environmental Microbiology at BCCDC shared her very current research entitled “At the Intersection of Research and Clinical Laboratory Service - COVID-19 Experience”.

A talk on "Neurofilament light and glial fibrillary acidic protein are biomarkers of acute spinal cord injury" was discussed this year by Research Associate with the top ranked abstract Dr. Sophie Stukas.

TRAINEE AND STAFF PRESENTATIONS

Over 75 abstracts were submitted by trainees and staff, highlighting the broad spectrum of research topics throughout the department; from these a number were selected for presentation during either the Resident or Graduate and Undergraduate Student Oral Platform Sessions. The poster session was the busiest and main focus of day as attendees wandered around the poster hall, checking out posters and asking questions to the presenters. This also afforded the opportunity to talk spontaneously with colleagues, networking and catching up with people for social and scientific discussion.

AWARD RECEPTION

Pathology Day concluded with an awards session led by Dr. Cedric Carter, Chair of the Pathology Department Awards Committee. While brief, this afforded the opportunity to recognize the achievements of many of our trainees, faculty and staff as indicated below. As well as the long-standing David Hardwick Lifetime Achievement Award, we also had several new departmental awards to present this year, including several Trainee awards and the Community Engagement and Philanthropy Award.

The drinks flowed and to conclude the networking reception event, we heard music from the Alex Flock Trio. Overall, the day was a success and we look forward to next year’s conference which will hopefully also be a successful event with food, drinks, music and another great lineup of presentations!