Pathology Day 2017
Pathology Day 2017 was a terrific success this year, bringing together students, staff, fellows and faculty at the Paetzold Education Centre at Vancouver General Hospital.

More than 170 department members participated in the various sessions throughout the day. This demonstrates once again that Pathology Day is truly a great occasion to experience the caliber and diversity of research taking place throughout our department, both at the junior and established research levels. Shining the spotlight on our local best and brightest allows us to see the high quality of research that is taking place in our own backyard, raising the bar for all of us.

We look forward to including more department members in the future, as a means to present junior faculty and re-introduce our more established researchers and their achievements.

DON BROOKS INTRODUCED DR. BRUCE MCMANUS, THIS YEAR'S JAMES HOGG LECTURER

Dr. Bruce McManus is a Professor in the Department of Laboratory Medicine at the University of British Columbia. He serves as CEO, Centre of Excellence for Prevention of Organ Failure (PROOF Centre) and Co-Director, Institute for Heart + Lung Health. Dr. McManus’ lecture was about “Human Suffering – Crossroad of the 7 C’s”.

PATHOLOGY DAY 2017 SHOWCASED THE RESEARCH PROGRAMS OF TWO FACULTY:

Dr. Philipp Lange discussed his work on “Proteome Complexity – Challenge and Opportunity for Precision Medicine”

and Dr. Julie Irving from Victoria shared “Academic and Community Practice in Anatomical Pathology: An Oxymoron”.

The Keynote’s address “Comprehensive Genomic Profiling and Immunotherapy” was given by Dr. Jeffrey Ross, the Cyrus Strong Merrill Professor and Chair of the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine at Albany Medical College.

This year Dr. Valerio Russo, the Postdoctoral Fellow with the top ranked abstract, discussed his work on "Granzyme B: An important Contribution to Dermal-Epidermal Separation in Blistering Skin Conditions".

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 weather was great and the sun shone at the right time, allowing attendants at the poster session and accompanying luncheon to utilize ICORD, Blusson Spinal Cord Centre, for networking and catching up with people for social and scientific discussion.

RECEPTION at ICORD

Pathology Day concluded with a well-attended reception back at ICORD. There was lovely music by a jazz trio while department members mingled over delicious appetizers, cocktails and oyster bar. The evening was interspersed with a variety of awards.

RESIDENT

Oral Presentation Awards

Tyler Hickey (PGY-3 AP)
"Iatrogenic hydrophilic polymer emboli following endovascular procedures: a potentially fatal complication"
SUPERVISOR: Dr. John Maguire
Daniel Owen (PGY-3 AP)
"Loss of BRCA1-associated protein 1 (BAP1) expression is rare in non-small cell lung cancer"
SUPERVISOR: Dr. Andrew Churg
Lisa Li (PGY-3, MM)
"HIV serology signal-to-cutoff ratio as a rapid method to predict confirmation of HIV infection"
SUPERVISORS: Dr. Michael Payne, Dr. Chris Lowe

CELEBRATING OUR ACHIEVEMENTS

Congratulations to recently retired Department of Pathology & Laboratory Medicine faculty members.

  • Dr. Randy Gascoyne
  • Dr. Guy Laroye
  • Dr. Cathy Halstead

Thank you for sharing your gifts and talents with us for so many years.

GRADUATE

Oral Presentation Awards

Maryam Ghaedi (Graduate student)
"Analysis of innate lymphoid cell subsets subsets in allergic lung inflammation"
SUPERVISOR: Dr. Fumio Takei
Wenchen Zhao (Graduate Student)
"Novel purinergic receptor 7 (P2X7) antagonists upregulate apolipoprotein E in human astrocytes"
SUPERVISOR: Dr. Cheryl Wellington
Alberto Delaidelli (Graduate Student)
"Targeting translation elongation in pediatric neuroblastoma"
SUPERVISORS: Dr. Poul Sorensen

SPECIAL ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Congratulations for significant accomplishments:
  • Dr. Kevin Bennewith: Killam Award for Excellence in Mentoring
  • Dr. Bruce McManus: Jacob Biely Research Prize
  • Dr. Shorab Shah: Killiam Research Prize
  • Dr. Sam Aparicio: Royal Society of Canada Induction

UNDERGRADUATE & POSTGRADUATE

Poster Presentation Awards

Tayyebeh Nazeran
(Postdoctoral Fellow)
"Cancer associated mutations in non-cancer associated endometriosis"
SUPERVISOR: Dr. David Huntsman & Dr. Blake Gilks
Waren Baticados
(Research Associate)
"Wild waterfowl-independent avian influenza virus surveillance and characterization using real-time pcr and enrichment-based targeted resequencing of wetland sediments"
SUPERVISORS: Dr. Natalie Prystajecky and Dr. William Hsiao
Adam Ziada
(Summer Student)
"Increased blood mitochondrial DNA mutations is associated with older age, and peak HIV viral load, but not HIV status"
SUPERVISORS: Dr. Hélène C.F. Côté
Jamie Magrill
(Undergraduate Student)
"Detection of novel markers of transitional cell carcinoma of the ovary, the transitional cell carcinoma-like variant of high grade serous carcinoma, using proteomics and immunohistochemistry"
SUPERVISORS: Dr. Friedrich Kommoss

GRADUATE

Poster Presentation Awards

Brennan Wadsworth
(PhD, Pathology)
"2-18F-Fluoroethanol is a novel positron emission tomography (PET) reporter of solid tumour" perfusion
SUPERVISOR: Dr. Kevin Bennewith
Jessica Pilsworth
(PhD, Medical Genetics)
"TERT promoter mutation in adult granulosa cell tumours of the ovary: Prevalence and prognostic significance"
SUPERVISORS: Dr. David Huntsman
Angela Mo
(MSc, Pathology)
"Investigating the effects of runx1 and tp53 mutations on lenalidomide resistance in del(5q) myelodysplastic syndrome patients"
SUPERVISORS: Dr. Aly Karsan
Natalie Firmino
(PhD, Pathology)
"Hypoxia is induced in tumor-draining lymph nodes and affects local lymphocyte populations"
SUPERVISORS: Dr. Kevin Bennewith
Asma Bashir
(PhD, Neuroscience)
"Defining the biomechanical and biological threshold of murine mild traumatic brain injury using CHIMERA (Closed Head Impact Model of Engineered Rotational Acceleration)"
SUPERVISOR: Dr. Cheryl Wellington
Frank Lee
(PhD, PATHOLOGY)
Dutkevich Memorial Trust / Haydn Pritchard Award for the best Graduate Student Seminar in PATH 535/635
SUPERVISORS: Dr. Ed Pryzdial
Haisle Moon
(PhD, Pathology)
Pathology & Laboratory Medicine PATH 502 MVP Award
SUPERVISORS: Dr. Jayachandran N. Kizhakkedathu
Shary Yuting Cheng
(PhD, Pathology)
Pathology & Laboratory Medicine Gross to Nano Histopathology Award for Pathology 501
SUPERVISORS: Dr. David Huntsman

DEPARTMENTAL

Awards

Lifetime Achievement
Dr. David Pi
Clinical Associate Professor
Vancouver General Hospital
Excellence in Education
Dr. Christian Steidl
Associate Professor
BCCA/BCCRC
Excellence in Clinical Service
Dr. Elizabeth Bryce
Clinical Professor
Vancouver General Hospital
Most Valuable Player
Dr. Michael Nimmo
Clinical Professor
Vancouver General Hospital
Research & Discovery
BCCA/BCCRC
Early Career Research & Discovery
Dr. Mari DeMarco
Clinical Assistant Professor
St. Paul’s Hospital / HLI
Mentoring
Dr. Titus Wong
Clinical Assistant Professor
Vancouver General Hospital
Staff Service (Tech)
Mr. Caleb Lee
Senior Technologist
CMPT
Staff Service (Admin)
Ms. Shelley Berkow
Residency Program Administrator
Vancouver General Hospital

LONGSTANDING SERVICE AWARDS

Congratulations for significant accomplishments:

  • Dr. Cheryl Wellington 20 years
  • Dr. Ian Bosdet 20 years
  • Dr. Elisabeth Maurer 20 years
  • Dr. John English 25 years
  • Dr. Diane Roscoe 25 years
  • Dr. Greg Bondy 25 years
  • Dr. Bakul Dalal 25 years
  • Dr. Blake Gilks 25 years
  • Dr. Niamh Kelly 25 years
  • Dr. William Mark Elliot 25 years
  • Dr. Glen Tibbits 25 years
  • Dr. Blair Walker 25 years
  • Dr. Gerald Krystal 35 years
  • Dr. Andrew Churg 35 years
  • Dr. David Walker 36 years
  • Dr. Bill Godolphin 40 years
  • Dr. Frederick Roberts 50 years