EDUCATION

Written by: Jong Wook Kim, Program Assistant, IPC Certificate Program

Infection Prevention and Control Certificate Program

The Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine’s Infection Prevention and Control (IPC) Certificate program is a continuing education certificate designed to meet the basic educational needs of frontline healthcare professionals in, or considering a career in the field of infection prevention and control.

Needless to say, 2020 was an extraordinary year for this program that has had two key successes. We are thrilled to announce that Infection Prevention and Control (IPAC) Canada, the national IPAC association, renewed its three-year endorsement of the program. As the importance of infection prevention and control continues to grow amid the COVID-19 pandemic, the health authorities urgently needed to train more infection prevention and control professionals. Under the leadership of Drs. Aleksandra Stefanovic, Ghada Al-Rawahi, and Titus Wong, the online courses were quickly expanded in size to accommodate more health authority staff. Clinical faculty members from five of the BC health authorities and LifeLabs, stepped forward to teach the additional students.

The Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine would like to express its deep gratitude and appreciation to the following clinical faculty members for their tremendous dedication to ensure that British Columbia has the required number of IPAC qualified professionals during the pandemic.

  • Dr. Aleksandra Stefanovic (Providence Health),
  • Dr. Amir Hadzic (Interior Health),
  • Dr. David Harris (Providence Health),
  • Dr. Diana Whellams (LifeLabs),
  • Dr. Elisa LloydSmith (Vancouver Costal Health),
  • Dr. Ghada Al-Rawahi (Provincial Health Services Authority),
  • Dr. Inna Sekirov (Provincial Health Services Authority),
  • Dr. Jocelyn Srigley (Provincial Health Services Authority),
  • Dr. Monika Naus (Provincial Health Services Authority),
  • Dr. Nancy Matic (Providence Health),
  • Dr. Shazia Masud (Fraser Health),
  • Dr. Titus Wong (Vancouver Coast Health),
  • Dr. Victor Leung (Providence Health)
  • Dr. Catherine Hogan (Provincial Health Services Authority)

A very special thanks to Drs. Aleksandra Stefanovic, Ghada Al-Rawahi, and Titus Wong for leading the certificate program and collaborating with the Ministry of Health and the Health Authorities to expand the certificate program. This expansion would not have been possible without the Program Assistants, Joanne Wouterse’s and Jong Wook Kim’s organization, coordination and student support. We would also like to thank Dr. Roger Wong, Associate Dean Postgraduate Medical Education; Cindi Valensky, the Dean’s Special Advisor on Government Relations; Shilpa Samji, Administrative Director, Postgraduate Medical Education Program; Louise Zhao, Senior Financial Analyst; and Chi Huang, Senior Finance Manager, who greatly assisted to the faculty with the expansion.

We are also grateful for the tremendous support of Jocelyn Micallef, and Marie Krbavac, Educational Consultants from Centre for Teaching, Learning and Technology, for establishing and ensuring the online platforms for the courses were updated to meet students’ needs, and to Ines Belic, Enrolment Services Advisor, and Stephanie LePage, Coordinator Team Lead from Enrolment Services, for their support with students’ enrollment. Finally, we would like to thank the Ministry of Health for providing funding for the program expansion.