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Welcome to Pathology's Bi-Weekly Bulletin | October 31, 2025

Pathology & Laboratory Medicine Head Office Move

Our Department Head Office will officially move from UBC Hospital to the Gordon and Leslie Diamond Health Care Centre (DHCC) on November 3rd.

New location (effective November 3rd):
Gordon and Leslie Diamond Health Care Centre (DHCC)
2775 Laurel St, Vancouver, BC V5Z 1M9
11th Floor

Office allocation:
Room 11253 – Hannah | Room 11245 – Annie | Room 11255 – Debbie and Lucas |Room 11240 – Lorra and Shelby | Room 11243 – Donald and Heather

We will be using the offices on Mondays and Tuesdays.

As part of the Work(place) Evolution: Doing Hybrid Well initiative, the Faculty of Medicine has adopted a shared workspace model to make more effective use of our physical space and support collaboration in a hybrid environment.

We will be sharing our new space with colleagues from the Department of Emergency Medicine. On October 22, our teams met over lunch and had the opportunity to connect and get to know the people we’ll be working alongside in our new location.

Terry Fox New Frontiers Program Project Grant Team Studying Sarcoma

A team of UBC and BC Cancer Research Institute investigators, co-led by Dr. David Huntsman and Dr. Torsten Nielsen, has received renewed support through a $5.5-million Terry Fox New Frontiers Program Project Grant (PPG). The grant is part of a national investment of $14.5 million across four Canadian research teams.

The Vancouver-based group will study how sarcomas arise and progress in children, adolescents, and young adults, with the goal of improving early detection and developing more targeted, less toxic treatments. Their project focuses on six types of sarcoma: synovial sarcoma, DICER1-associated sarcomas, desmoplastic small round cell tumour, osteosarcoma, Ewing sarcoma, and tenosynovial giant cell tumour.

By investigating these rare cancers—many of which are driven by single, traceable genetic mutations—the team aims to uncover insights that could advance precision medicine for other understudied cancers as well. Their work is supported by a multidisciplinary group including genomic researchers, clinicians, patient partners, and a clinical core led by Drs. Julia Naso and Alannah Smrke.

Full announcement: TFRI $14.5 Million Funding News
Team web page: Origins & Progression of CAYA Sarcomas

Call for Nominations – 2026 CUFA BC Distinguished Academics Awards

The Confederation of University Faculty Associations of BC (CUFA BC) invites nominations for the 2026 Distinguished Academics Awards, which recognize faculty at BC’s research universities whose scholarly work makes exceptional contributions to the community beyond the academy.

Awards categories:
– Early in Career Award
– Ehor Boyanowsky Academic of the Year Award
– Paz Buttedahl Career Achievement Award

Each recipient receives a plaque, $2,000 cash award, and recognition at a gala event on April 23, 2026 in Victoria BC.
Nominations close January 31, 2026.

More information and nomination forms are available at https://www.cufa.bc.ca/awards/nominations

Download materials:
Poster (PDF) | Nomination Form (PDF) |

Questions can be directed to info@cufa.bc.ca.

Retention Guidance for AI-Generated Meeting Transcripts and Recordings

As some members of our Department are using AI tools (e.g., Otter.AI, Microsoft Copilot) to transcribe meetings or generate meeting minutes, the University Records Management Office (RMO) at University of British Columbia reminds us of the following guidance under the Transitory Records Schedule (TR1000: Transitory Records).

Key expectations:

• If you use AI tools to produce transcripts or recordings of meetings, please ensure that once the official meeting minutes are finalised, the audio/video recordings and full transcripts are deleted.
• Retain only a high-level summary and action items that are produced by the AI tool (or manually derived) as the official record of the meeting.
• The full AI output (recordings and detailed transcripts) should be treated as transitory records under the RMO’s schedule — i.e., of limited retention value and not to be kept indefinitely.

You can find the full “Transitory Records” schedule and related guidance on the RMO website: UBC RMO Retention Schedules. :contentReference[oaicite:2]{index=2}

If you would like support in implementing this (for example, setting up folder/drive retention rules, naming conventions, or identifying which part of the AI-output qualifies as the “final record”), the RMO is available to assist.

Thank you for helping us keep our records practices aligned with university policy and good governance.

CMPT 2026 Catalog Released

The Canadian Microbiology Proficiency Testing (CMPT) program, led by Dr. Lucy A. Perrone (Associate Professor, UBC Pathology & Laboratory Medicine), has released its 2026 Catalog.

This year’s catalog introduces three new proficiency testing programs: Group A Streptococcus for Point of Care, Sexually Transmitted Infections, and Blood Culture Screen — expanding CMPT’s offerings to better serve Canadian laboratories.

View the full catalog here: CMPT 2026 Catalog (PDF)