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Welcome to Pathology's Bi-Weekly Bulletin | March 28, 2025

🌞 Summer Student Fellowship Recipients Announced!

We’re pleased to announce the recipients of this year’s Pathology & Laboratory Medicine Summer Student Fellowships. Congratulations to the following students and their supervisors for their successful applications:

  • Jihyun Lee (Supervisor: Dr. Tony Ng)
    Project: Risk Stratification of Oral Epithelial Dysplasia Using Molecular Biomarkers
  • Quentin Michalchuk (Supervisor: Dr. Jocelyn Srigley)
    Project: Evaluating Copper-Coated Surfaces in a Pediatric Hospital: Effects on Microbial Load and HAIs
  • Polina Novoseltseva (Primary Supervisor: Dr. Eugene Yeung; Co-Supervisor: Dr. Romina Reyes)
    Project: Prevalence, Antimicrobial Resistance, and Time-to-Positivity of Pathogens in Community Blood Cultures Across BC
  • Matthew Yap (Supervisor: Dr. Gang Wang)
    Project: Developing an Immunohistochemical Model for Predicting Bladder Cancer Treatment Response

We look forward to seeing the great work these students will contribute this summer!

Weekly Province-wide Pathology Rounds

🩺 Upcoming Weekly Rounds – March 28, 2025

We’re excited to welcome Dr. Launny Lowden and Ms. Joanne Isber, who will be presenting on: “Environmental Sustainability in Laboratory Medicine”
📄 More Info (PDF)

💻 Attend via Zoom only:

PLEASE NOTE: The Zoom information for this recurring meeting has been updated. If you saved the old Zoom link somewhere, please update your records.

NEW Zoom Link: https://ubc.zoom.us/j/66114231597?pwd=CRlUz4RaIaMwegbg7ClYWYK3aikAI5.1

Meeting ID: 661 1423 1597 Passcode: 564976

🔁 Missed a session? View recordings of previous rounds here: Past Rounds Archive

💡 Have ideas for future rounds or speakers? We’d love to hear from you! Email us at pathassist@pathology.ubc.ca
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👏 Thank you for adjudicating the 2025 Governor General’s Gold Medal competition

We would like to extend our thanks to Dr. Wan Lam (Department of Pathology & Laboratory Medicine) for serving as an adjudicator for the 2025 Governor General’s Gold Medal competition. Dr. Lam generously shared his time and expertise to help review applications and celebrate the achievements of UBC graduate students.

📰 Recent Publication

  • Hospital Admissions for Acute Respiratory Tract Infections Among Infants from Nunavut
    Lead Author: Dr. David Goldfarb
    A 10-year study highlights high RSV-related hospitalizations in Nunavut infants and calls for targeted interventions.
    📄 Read Publication | 📊 Infographic | 🎥 Related Webinar

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🌱 Call for Host Labs: seed2STEM Summer Program

  • seed2STEM is a summer research program supporting Indigenous high school students in STEM. Now in its 7th year, it has helped over 70% of participants pursue post-secondary science education.
  • The program was recently awarded a 3-year NSERC PromoScience grant to support and expand opportunities for Indigenous youth in research.
  • Host labs are needed from July 7 to August 15, 2025 to provide students with a research project and supervision (20 hours/week). The program provides salary support, admin help, and cultural safety training.
  • 📄 Program Poster (PDF)
  • 📰 Read about the NSERC funding announcement

💼 Student Job Opportunities

  • The David Hardwick Pathology Learning Centre is hiring multiple UBC undergrad and grad students to work on Open Patho — a collaborative Open Educational Resource on pathology.

    • 🗓️ Term: May to September 2025
    • 🌐 Flexible online work
    • 👩‍🏫 Faculty mentorship
    • 📚 Get published as a contributor!

    📝 Apply by April 14, 2025

    📄 View Full Job Details (PDF)

🎉 Congratulations to the CMPT Team!

We’re happy to share that UBC’s Clinical Microbiology Proficiency Testing (CMPT) program has successfully maintained its ISO 17043:2022 A2LA accreditation for another year!

Special thanks to Esther Kwok for leading the accreditation process, Veronica Restelli for critical SOP revisions, and the entire CMPT team for their continued commitment to quality. Congratulations to all involved!
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🧪 Save the Date: LabQCon 2025 – June 16–17

Join us for the 11th Laboratory Quality Conference (LabQCon 2025) hosted by UBC’s Program Office for Laboratory Quality Management (POLQM).

  • Theme: Tools and Best Practices to Promote Diagnostic Quality
  • When: June 16–17, 2025
  • Where: In-person at VGH’s Paetzold Health Education Centre and online
  • Focus: Equitable access to lab services and global discussions on diagnostic quality

This hybrid event brings together professionals and experts from around the world to explore quality innovations in laboratory medicine.

🔗 Visit the LabQCon 2025 Website
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🔬 Medical Laboratory Week is Coming — April 13–19, 2025!

Let’s get ready to celebrate our incredible medical laboratory professionals! Medical Laboratory Week is a time to recognize the critical contributions lab teams make to health care across the province.

  • 🎉 Plan Ahead with Spirit Days: Fun daily themes to bring your teams together. View the theme schedule →
  • 📝 Comms Kit Available: Key messages, email banners, kudos cards, and more to help you celebrate. Download here →
  • 🎮 PLBSD Medical Lab Week Jeopardy Template: Host a fun, themed game with your team! PLBSD →
  • 🎮 Medical Laboratory Week 2025 Jeopardy Template: Jeopardy Labs →
  • 📣 Share your celebrations: Use hashtags #MLW2025 and #Labvocate on social media to spread the love!

Stay tuned — we’ll be highlighting local lab teams and activities during the week!
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🏗️ You're invited! SBME Open House - April 7th, 12-3 pm

Join us for the grand opening of UBC’s new School of Biomedical Engineering (SBME) building—Canada’s first purpose-built facility for biomedical engineering.

🌟 Event Highlights:

  • Interactive Displays & Tours: Experience hands-on demonstrations and guided tours led by SBME students and engineers.
  • Explore the New Building: A six-level, 155,000+ sq. ft. facility featuring:
    • State-of-the-art classrooms and learning spaces
    • Advanced research laboratories
    • The Conconi Family Biodevice Foundry – cleanroom microdevice fabrication lab
    • The Jim McEwen Zone – a prototyping hub for innovators and entrepreneurs
  • Networking Opportunities: Connect with faculty, students, and leaders in biomedical engineering and healthcare innovation.

This event is open to the UBC community and the public – all are welcome!

📅 Date: Monday, April 7, 2025
🕛 Time: 12:00 – 3:00 PM
📍 Location: 6088 University Boulevard, Vancouver, BC, V6T 1Z3

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📅 PathDay 2025 – Updates & Reminders

Visit the official event page for updates, registration, and abstract info: PathDay2025 →

📌 Abstract submission deadline: Friday, March 28!
Submit via the abstract submission form → and check “yes” to apply for the Michael Noble Family Award.

New This Year: The Michael A. Noble Family Awards now include BMLSc students!

  • Graduate Student Poster Award
  • Resident Poster Award
  • NEW: BMLSc Student Poster Award
  • Book Prize – Certificate in Lab Quality

Awards range from $1,000–$1,600. Posters must define quality and address risk/error strategies. Award criteria →

Childcare available: Complimentary childcare during the Awards & Networking Reception (5:15 PM+). Indicate needs during registration.

Special thanks to Dr. Michael Noble and family for their ongoing support of quality in lab medicine.

Pathology Picks:

Here are some additional reads you might be interested in:

  • UBC IT update: Restricting the use of DeepSeek at UBC Read more →.
  • Faculty & Staff Sports Day on Friday, May 2 Read more → .
  • RCCbc grants for rural physicians
    Applications are open for two grants for initiatives supporting rural health, offered by the Rural Coordination Centre of BC (RCCbc). Applications for both grant programs are open until Wednesday, April 30. Read more →.
  • Apply to the Healthy Workplace Initiatives Program by April 7 Read more → .

📣 Have News to Share?

Do you have a story, publication, award, event, or other exciting update to share with the UBC Pathology community?

We’d love to hear from you! Please reach out to Debbie Bertanjoli at dbertanjoli@pathology.ubc.ca.

Let’s celebrate our collective achievements and keep our community connected!