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Welcome to Pathology's Bi-Weekly Bulletin | May 22, 2026

UBC Pathology Residency Program Celebrates 2026 Graduates

On May 20, the UBC Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine held its 2026 Residency Graduation Ceremony and Dinner at the UBC Golf Club, celebrating graduating residents and fellows, recognizing Program Director and Resident Teaching Award recipients, and honouring achievements across the residency programs. The evening also included an in memoriam tribute to Dr. Suzanne Vercauteren.

Graduating Residents
DMP: Drs. Allen Zhang, Tami Lin, Reed Huber, and Brenden Joseph
Neuropathology: Dr. Karina Chornenka Martin
Medical Biochemistry: Dr. Khashayar Hanjani
Medical Microbiology: Drs. Hasan Hamze and Calvin Ka-Fung Lo

Graduating Fellows
Catherine (Kate) Lovatt (Canada) – AFC Transfusion Medicine
Fatma Al-Bulushi (Oman) – Advanced Hematopathology/Cancer Genetics
Bushra AlAhmadi (Saudi Arabia) – Pancreaticobiliary and Liver
Salwa Alshibani (Saudi Arabia) – Gastrointestinal
Gadeer Radwan (Saudi Arabia) – Head and Neck
Saeed Bahabri (Saudi Arabia) – Bone and Soft Tissue
Maram Alanazi (Saudi Arabia) – Genitourinary
Somayah Alsolami (Saudi Arabia) – Gynecological Pathology
Toby Schmitt (Canada) – Dermatopathology
Spencer Martin (Canada) – Gynecological Pathology and Research
Ioana-Maria Mihai (Romania) – Oncological Pathology

Program Director Awards
Program Director Award – Diagnostic and Molecular Pathology: Dr. Jonathan Bush
Executive Program Director Award – Pathology Residency Programs: Dr. Michael Nimmo

Resident Teaching Awards
Dr. Roberta Miller Resident Teaching Award (DMP): Dr. Eric Bélanger
Community Resident Teaching Award (DMP): Dr. Jenny Chu
Dr. Melvyn Bernstein Resident Teaching Award (HP): Dr. Sakara Hutspardol
Dr. Melvyn Bernstein Resident Teaching Award (NP): Dr. Inna Sekirov
Dr. Melvyn Bernstein Resident Teaching Award (MB): Dr. Andre Mattman
Dr. Melvyn Bernstein Resident Teaching Award (MM): Dr. Stephen Yip

View the Residency Graduation 2026 Photo Gallery

The department also congratulates Catalina Ionescu, MPH, BSc, Senior Program Assistant, Pathology Residency Program, on her acceptance to the inaugural class of the new Simon Fraser University School of Medicine.

Recent Publications:

• Dr. Marianne D. Sadar, Professor in the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine and Distinguished Scientist at BC Cancer, recently published a new study in Signal Transduction and Targeted Therapy demonstrating a promising new approach to targeting proteins long considered “undruggable,” with potential implications for prostate cancer and other diseases. Read the publication
• A new study led by researchers at Vancouver General Hospital and UBC Pathology and Laboratory Medicine examining comprehensive DNA and RNA sequencing approaches for hematologic malignancies has been accepted for publication in Cancers. The work includes contributions from Drs. Julia Parlow, Stephen Yip, Eric McGinnis, and Tara Spence, together with Fatma AlBulushi and Nicolas Salcedo, and supports ongoing efforts to improve genomic profiling and diagnostic testing in hematologic malignancies. View the article
• Dr. Habib Moshref Razavi, Clinical Assistant Professor in the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, together with Drs. Dale Purych and Wilson Yeung, recently published a clinical case report in CMAJ describing a case of tick-borne relapsing fever caused by Borrelia hermsii in British Columbia. Read the article

Drs. Karen Sherwood and James Lan Receive 2026 Innovation & Translational Research Awards

The Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine congratulates Dr. Karen Sherwood, Clinical Associate Professor, and Dr. James Lan, Assistant Professor, on receiving 2026 Innovation & Translational Research Awards funded by the VGH & UBC Hospital Foundation.

Each award provides $100,000 over two years to support innovative research projects led by health care professionals and researchers at Vancouver Coastal Health and Providence Health Care.

The department congratulates Drs. Sherwood and Lan on this achievement and looks forward to the impact of their research projects.

Dr. Mehwish Anwer Appointed Assistant Professor at University of Lethbridge

The Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine congratulates Dr. Mehwish Anwer, Postdoctoral Fellow in Dr. Cheryl Wellington’s laboratory at the Djavad Mowafaghian Centre for Brain Health, on her appointment as Assistant Professor in the Department of Neuroscience at the University of Lethbridge.

Dr. Anwer will establish the Anwer Lab at the Canadian Centre for Behavioural Neuroscience, where her research program will focus on the molecular mechanisms underlying brain injury and dementia.

The department congratulates Dr. Anwer on this important career milestone and wishes her continued success in her research and academic career.

Farhia Kabeer Receives 2025 AstraZeneca Endometrial Cancer Research Fellowship

Farhia Kabeer, Postdoctoral Fellow in Dr. David Huntsman’s laboratory, has received the 2025 AstraZeneca Endometrial Cancer Research Fellowship.

The fellowship supports emerging researchers advancing endometrial cancer research and innovation.

The Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine congratulates Farhia on this achievement.

BC Cancer Announces New Cancer Centre in Nanaimo

BC Cancer is planning a new cancer centre in Nanaimo, with construction currently underway and opening targeted for 2028. The new centre will expand access to cancer care services for communities across central and northern Vancouver Island.

The facility will support a broad range of clinical and research activities and is expected to create future career opportunities for physicians, nurses, PET technologists, radiation therapists, clinical pharmacists, pharmacy technicians, and medical physicists.

Learn more about the new BC Cancer Nanaimo centre and future opportunities

Notable Cases: Dr. Habib Moshref Razavi

Today’s notable case is that of a man in his 50s with longstanding IgA kappa monoclonal gammopathy who presented with an unprovoked right leg DVT. There was no recent surgery, immobility, infection, travel, radiologic evidence of malignancy, or antiphospholipid antibodies to explain the event. His paraprotein had remained relatively stable over time, with no CRAB features, lytic lesions, lymphadenopathy, or splenomegaly. Given the unexplained thrombosis, a bone marrow biopsy was performed.

The marrow showed ~15% kappa-restricted plasma cells with aberrant CD56 expression, consistent with smoldering multiple myeloma. Congo red stain was negative for amyloid. A striking morphologic finding was the presence of Auer rod-like crystalline cytoplasmic inclusions within plasma cells, a rare but well-described phenomenon in plasma cell neoplasms that can morphologically mimic myeloid differentiation.
(Aspirate Giemsa stain and trephine biopsy H&E x100 magnification)

Registration Open for UBC ARC Information Session and Summer School 2026

Registration is now open for the upcoming UBC ARC Information Session on May 26 and the virtual UBC ARC Summer School 2026 taking place June 1–5.

The ARC Information Session will provide an overview of ARC services and support available to researchers and research staff, including computing and storage resources, research cybersecurity, and digital research infrastructure support across disciplines.

The ARC Summer School program will feature optional sessions on topics including ARC compute resources, parallel computing and deep learning with MATLAB, research cybersecurity, AI-related research applications, and emerging technologies presented by ARC staff and external partners.

Register for the ARC Information Session
View the Summer School program and registration details
Unable to attend? Most sessions will be recorded and made available on the UBC ARC YouTube channel after the event for later viewing.

PathDay 2026

PathDay 2026 is fast approaching, with less than a month to go. The program schedule is available online, and work is currently underway on the abstract book.

We encourage you to register early to support event planning. We look forward to welcoming you and showcasing the outstanding work of our faculty and students.

Visit the PathDay 2026 website