New This Week
2024 Seasons Greetings from the Department of Pediatrics, UBC & BCCH
Dear friends and colleagues,
As the end of the year approaches, I find myself reflecting on our incredible community, our achievements, and the extraordinary spirit of collegiality and compassion that define us.
I am continually inspired by the culture of caring and collaboration that permeates our department. It is a privilege to be part of such a dedicated team of faculty, staff, and trainees, all working together towards a common goal—to advance the outstanding care of children, youth, and their families.
I am deeply thankful for another year working together and I am so impressed with what we have accomplished this past year. There are many achievements to celebrate.
• We welcomed 43 new UBC Clinical faculty, with 24 at BCCH, and 19 in the community. Five new Academic faculty joined us. And we received 25 new positions from Workload Funding for recruitment in 2024/25.
• Congratulations to the 14 Clinical faculty who were promoted.
• Over 150 members from the Department reached a Long Service Milestones in 2023 and were celebrated at several events throughout 2024.
• Our Research Funding grew by another 12% this year (45% over the last four years).
• UBC Medical students in the Fraser Cohort can now complete their Pediatrics Clerkship Rotations within the Fraser Health region. The Education team is grateful to our Clinical Faculty within the region which made this opportunity possible.
• The Department has launched a new research-focussed residency stream, with a successful CaRMS 2024 match.
We also made considerable progress within each of our four priority areas in Vision 2028.
Excellent progress has been made by members in Pillar 1 (Increase our capacity for high quality equitable pediatric care) and Pillar 3 (Expand our impact for health justice and health equity in the province and beyond). The groups have met, and new initiatives will be announced in 2025.
Pillar 2 (Support robust education, compelling research, and scholarly activity) launched The Hudson Family Trainee Program, with the inaugural cohort starting in July 2025. Three candidates were selected for their outstanding potential to expand their skills in different pediatric disciplines, and we are confident that they will make valuable contributions to the clinical and research endeavors within our department.
The Hudson Scholar Program in Quality Improvement was relaunched. And look for more information on the SIQIPS (Systems Innovation Quality Improvement Patient Safety) promotion criteria developed by the CDARP Committee which gives weight to scholarly achievements.
Pillar 4 (Nurture A thriving Community of Faculty, Staff and Learners) introduced The Department of Pediatrics Peer Faculty Mentorship Program with 12 seasoned mentors, open to being matched with junior faculty within the department. The group also created a faculty onboarding checklist which is currently under evaluation, and they are looking into ideas to enhance our recognition and appreciation initiatives for faculty and staff.
The accomplishments of the past year have been extraordinary. I am filled with excitement for the new year, with shared learning, collective growth, and meaningful collaboration within our community.
Please enjoy the holiday season and a joyful new year.
With immense gratitude,
Steven
Dr. Steven Paul Miller, MDCM FRCPC FRSC (He, Him, His)
Hudson Family Hospital Chair in Pediatric Medicine | James and Annabel McCreary Chair in Pediatrics
Professor and Head, Pediatrics, Faculty of Medicine, University of British Columbia
Chief, Pediatric Medicine, BC Children’s Hospital
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Michael Smith Health Research BC & CANTRAIN Studentship
Congratulations to Una Spasovski!
Una is a recipient of a Michael Smith Health Research BC (MSHR) studentship with CANTRAIN.
MSHR is co-funding 23 BC-based graduate and postdoctoral trainees through the 2024 clinical trials training awards. This is in partnership with clinical trials training platforms (CTTP) funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research. These awards enable trainees to develop competencies in designing, leading and working in clinical trials.
Clinical trials are crucial for making sure that new drugs, treatments, medical devices and therapies are safe and effective. There is a critical need in Canada to train and mentor clinical researchers to conduct high-quality clinical trials.
A special shout out to Dr. Souvik Mitra, Associate Professor with the Division of Neonatology for mentoring Una this past year.
Congratulations Una!
Link to announcement:
https://healthresearchbc.ca/news_article/partnership-enhances-clinical-research-expertise/
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Leadership Update: Dr. Deepak Manhas | Vice-Chair, Subspecialty
We are pleased to announce that Dr. Deepak Manhas has been appointed in the new position of Vice-Chair, Subspecialty, effective Dec 1 2024. He will be working with Dr. Ralph Rothstein to support the Department’s subspecialty training programs, including our broad and diverse portfolio of subspecialty residencies and clinical fellowships.
Deepak completed his Pediatric Residency and Neonatal-Perinatal Medicine (NPM) fellowship at UBC. Following the completion of his NPM fellowship, he completed a Master of Health Professions Education through Maastricht University with CHES. His masters’ thesis was on establishing outreach education programs for community pediatricians.
Deepak is also involved in other medical education activities. At the UBC medical school, he is the week chair for two of the weeks in the MSI second year curriculum. He is also the UBC Faculty Lead for Residents in Difficulty. He was the Program Director for NPM and an active member of the Pediatric Residency RPC for the past decade.
Deepak’s leadership activities also include appointment as the national NPM OSCE chair for 5 years and, at the Canadian Pediatrics Society (CPS); he is also the national chair for both Neonatal Resuscitation Program (NRP) and Acute Care of the at-Risk Newborn (ACoRN), and president of the CPS Neonatal-Perinatal Medicine section. Since the summer of 2024, he has been in the new position of Medical Lead, Simulation for BC Children’s Hospital & BC Women’s Hospital + Health Centre (C&W), with the aim of improving the use of simulation in education and quality improvement.
Welcome Dr. Manhas!
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The Impact of Public Policy on Equitable Access to Technology for Children and Youth Living with Type 1 Diabetes in British Columbia, Canada
Just published! Learn more about how Dr. Shazhan Amed and her team make it easier for children and youth with Type 1 diabetes to access new diabetes technology.
“Our research shows the impact of implementing universal funding for continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) technology for children and youth living with type 1 diabetes in BC. Specifically, we showed that before the universal funding policy was implemented, access to diabetes technology and the uptake of CGM was lowest in the most deprived children and highest in the least deprived children. 1-year after the policy was implemented, the greatest uptake of CGM technology was in the most deprived children, narrowing the equity gap between the most and least deprived children living with diabetes in BC. Our study shows the importance of public policy on equitable access to diabetes technology.”
– Dr. Shazhan Amed
Link to article:
https://www.liebertpub.com/doi/10.1089/dia.2024.0366
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2024 Pioneer Grant | Drs. Kevan Jacobson and Genelle Lunken
Congratulations to Drs. Kevan Jacobson and Genelle Lunken!
Their study, “Open Label Multicentre Randomized Dietary Intervention Study in Pediatric Crohn Disease Patients Initiating Anti-TNF Therapy (DISPENSE-T)” was awarded a 2024 Pioneer Grant from the Canadian IBD Research Consortium (CIRC).
CIRC supports Canadian gastroenterologists to conduct high quality, impactful research in inflammatory bowel disease (IBD).
Founded in 2017 through partnership with Crohn’s and Colitis Canada. CIRC is comprised of Canadian gastroenterologists with special interest in IBD. Over the past five years, the organization has grown to include over 70 Canadian gastroenterologist members who collaborate on multi-center IBD clinical research, with a particular focus on multi-center investigator-initiated trials, as well as generation of real-world evidence published in high impact journals.
Congratulations all!
MORE:
https://crohnsandcolitis.ca/News-Events/News-Releases/$1M-grant-awarded
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2024 Health Quality BC Awards
Congratulations to Drs. Tom McLaughlin, Catherine Biggs and Angie Ip, together with their teams! They were recognized by Health Quality BC for their outstanding work.
Read more about the Streamlined Assessment Program (SAP) – Advancing Early Diagnosis of Autism Spectrum Disorder, a quality improvement project aimed at achieving earlier diagnoses of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is leading to better quality care for affected children in BC., led by Dr. Angie Ip.
Thanks to Dr. Tom McLaughlin and his team, children who are cared for at BC Children’s Hospital (BCCH) are able to receive timely treatment closer to home – and in some cases, at home itself – thanks to the innovative work of BCCH’s POKe (PICC Opportunities for Kids) and PIVOT (Pediatric IV Outpatient Therapy) team.
Did you know that the Newborn Screening BC Program conducts tests for treatable disorders on virtually all newborns in BC and the Yukon, approximately 45,000 each year? The simple objective of the program is to improve health outcomes through early detection of treatable conditions in newborns.
“Newborn screening for severe combined immunodeficiency (SCID) has been life-changing for affected infants and their families,” says Catherine Biggs, Medical Lead for Immunology at BCCH. “This program has allowed us to identify infants with serious T-cell conditions before they develop infections or other signs of illness, giving these children the best chance at a healthy life.”
Congratulations all!
MORE:
Streamlined Assessment Program – Advancing Early Diagnosis of Autism Spectrum Disorder
https://healthqualitybc.ca/quality-awards/winners/streamlined-assessment-program-advancing-early-diagnosis-of-autism-spectrum-disorder/
Reducing Wait Times for BC Children’s Hospital for PICC Lines
https://healthqualitybc.ca/quality-awards/winners/reducing-wait-times-for-bc-childrens-hospital-for-picc-lines/
Newborn Screening BC Program
https://healthqualitybc.ca/quality-awards/winners/newborn-screening-bc-program/
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2024 Geoffrey L. Hammond Lectureship | Dr. Kirk Schultz
Dr. Kirk Schultz has been awarded the 2024 Geoffrey L. Hammond Lectureship in recognition of his leadership and significant contributions to improving the health and well-being of children in British Columbia and around the world. Dr. Schultz is an investigator at BC Children’s Hospital Research Institute (BCCHR) and a professor in the Department of Pediatrics at the University of British Columbia (UBC).
Working as a researcher at BCCHR for over 25 years, Dr. Schultz has made key contributions to the understanding and management of chronic graft-versus-host disease (cGvHD), a complication of a stem cell or bone marrow transplant (BMT) that can be life-threatening. Driven by his genuine sense of curiosity, his research is a thoughtful combination of basic and clinical knowledge that has led to critical and novel advances in all levels of his field.
The Geoffrey L. Hammond Lectureship is awarded each year to a senior scientist who has made a significant impact on improving the health and well-being of children and families, provided leadership to the BCCH research community, and served as a role model and mentor to junior researchers, trainees, and students. This award pays tribute to the contributions of Dr. Geoffrey L. Hammond, who first served as Research Institute’s scientific director and then deputy director from 2003 to 2012.
More:
https://bcchr.ca/kschultz
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The 2024 Dr. Alain Cloutier Annual Achievement Award | Dr. Derek Human
Congratulations to Dr. Derek Human!
Dr. Derek Human was awarded the 2024 Dr. Alain Cloutier Annual Achievement Award from the Canadian Pediatric Cardiology Association (CPCA) for his outstanding contributions to the field of pediatric cardiology.
Dr. Human is a well-known pediatric cardiologist at BC Children’s Hospital since 1993.
During his tenure at BC Children’s Hospital, Dr. Human has held numerous leadership roles, including Head, Division of Cardiology and Medical Director of the Cardiac Sciences Program.
Dr. Human’s research interests include the management of congenital heart disease and the delivery of healthcare.
The CPCA Dr. Alain Cloutier Annual Achievement Award was created in 2016 to recognize Canadian CPCA Members who have made outstanding contributions in their career within the field pediatric cardiology.
Congratulations Dr. Human!
More:
https://bcchr.ca/dhuman
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Lifetime Achievement Award | Dr. Judith Hall
Congratulations to Dr. Judith Hall, Professor Emerita, with the Department of Pediatrics!
She was recently awarded a Lifetime Achievement Award from Shriners Hospitals for Children Canada for her work improving the lives of children with Arthrogryposis.
The award was presented to Dr. Hall at the 4th International Symposium on Arthrogryposis in Montreal.
Congratulations!
More:
https://amcsupport.org/4th-international-symposium-on-arthrogryposis/
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Bringing innovative drugs for inflammatory bowel disease to patients | Dr. Laura Sly
Congratulations to Dr. Laura Sly and her team! They are accelerating the development of innovative new drugs for patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) thanks to the support of a new grant from Crohn’s and Colitis Canada.
The goal of Dr. Sly’s project is to develop a drug delivery system that allows for lower drug dosages, which will lessen side effects and make more drug options available. Her research is developing a gut drug delivery mechanism that coats drugs in a sugar cage that allows it to be delivered precisely to areas of gut inflammation.
“Long term, we hope that this technology can be applied to other IBD drugs so that they can be used safely and earlier in IBD treatment,” Dr. Sly said. “These are essential next steps in translating our glycocage technology to real world solutions for people with IBD. We’re really excited about the potential of this technology to improve the lives of people living with IBD.”
More:
https://crohnsandcolitis.ca/Research/Funded-research/Discovering-Novel-Treatments
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2024 BC Pediatric Society Awards
This year, several members from the Department of Pediatrics were recipients of awards from the BC Pediatric Society.
Let’s celebrate!
Dr. Garth Meckler
2024 Dr. Parminder Singh Award
Dr. Tommy Gerschman
2024 Dr. Judith Hall Award
Drs. Sabine Lague, Jennifer Smitten, and Eiko Waida
2024 AAP – BC Chapter Special Achievement Awards
Dr. Tanjot Singh
2024 BC Pediatric Society Child Advocacy Award
Congratulations all!
More:
https://www.bcpeds.ca/physicians/awards/
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Congratulations to Dr. Lena Xiao!
Congratulations to Dr. Xiao!
She was awarded a Focused Project Grant for Junior Investigators | Madeleine Grigg-Damberger Grant for Pediatric Sleep from the American Academy of Sleep Medicine Foundation for her project entitled, ‘The IPAD Cohort Study: Insomnia and Positive Airway Pressure Adherence in Children and Adolescents’. This grant is aimed at projects that address one or more important unanswered scientific questions related to pediatric sleep, sleep disorders and/or sleep health.
Dr. Xiao will be conducting a cohort study to look at the association between insomnia and positive airway pressure adherence in children at BCCH and SickKids. This will be the first step towards developing a behavioral intervention to improve positive airway pressure adherence in children.
Congratulations to Dr. Xiao!
More:
https://bcchr.ca/lxiao
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2024 Faculty of Medicine Awards and 2023 Annual Awards & Significant Honours
Each year, the Faculty of Medicine recognizes faculty and staff members for excellence in teaching, research, administration, innovation and public service.
From the Department of Pediatrics we celebrate:
Dr. Mia Remington
Clinical Faculty Award for Excellence in Leadership/Service – Early Career
Awarded for excellence in leadership or service by clinical faculty members.
Dr. Jennifer Balfour
Clinical Faculty Award for Excellence in Leadership/Service – Mid/Late Career
Awarded for excellence in leadership or service by clinical faculty members.
Dr. Sara Jassemi
Clinical Faculty Award for Excellence in Advancing Equity, Diversity and Inclusiveness
Awarded for excellence in the area of equity, diversity and inclusion through research, teaching or service by clinical faculty members.
Dr. Stuart Turvey
Killam Research Prize Award
Awarded to full-time faculty members in recognition of outstanding research and scholarly contributions.
Dr. Angela Devlin
Excellence in Education Award
Recognizes significant contributions to health education in the areas of leadership, innovation, and/or scholarship of education.
Dr. Mariana Brussoni
Service to the University and Community Award
Recognizes significant contributions to local, national or international communities aimed at improved health outcomes of the population.
Dr. Manish Sadarangani
Overall Excellence — Mid-Career
Recognizes outstanding contributions in the areas of research, education and service.
Congratulations all!
Full announcements:
https://www.med.ubc.ca/news/faculty-of-medicine-awards-2024/
2024 Faculty of Medicine Awards and 2023 Annual Awards & Significant Honours:
https://issuu.com/fomrecognition/docs/2024_awards_reception_booklet_and_2023_awards_and_
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Congratulations Dr. Horacio Osiovich!
Congratulations to Dr. Horacio Osiovich. He is the recipient of a ‘2024 10 Most Influential Hispanics Award’ from the TLN Media Group.
This award celebrates the achievements of extraordinary individuals making a difference in the Hispanic Canadian community.
Big thanks to the families from our NICU that nominated Dr. Osiovich for this recognition.
Congratulations Dr. Osiovich for this well-deserved honor!
MORE:
https://www.tln.ca/top10/
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Early-Life Brain Injury, Pathways Magazine Feature Story | ISSUE 8
Did you know that in Canada, 30% of preterm infants show signs of brain injury?
Early-life brain injury affects thousands of newborns every year in Canada, often with serious consequences.
In the latest issue of Pathways, discover how Drs. Thiviya Selvanathan, Steven Miller and Ruth Grunau are changing how we understand and treat these injuries — giving new hope to patients and their families.
Read the full article in the latest issue of Pathways Magazine:
https://pathwaysmagazine.med.ubc.ca/feature-stories/
Learn more:
Dr. Steven P. Miller
https://bcchr.ca/spmiller
Dr. Thiviya Selvanathan
https://bcchr.ca/tselvanathan
Dr. Ruth Eckstein Grunau
https://bcchr.ca/rgrunau
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Congratulations Dr. Genelle Lunken!
Earlier this year, the Government of Canada announced nearly $86 million through the Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI) to support 316 research infrastructure projects at 47 institutions across the country.
In the 2024 competition, Dr. Genelle Lunken’s project was awarded a John R. Evans Leaders Fund (JELF) grant from the Canada Foundation for Innovation.
JELF grants help institutions to recruit and retain outstanding researchers, acquire the tools that enable the innovative work of leading researchers and offer research support that, when combined with research support from our partner organizations, is highly competitive.
At a time of intense international competition, the John R. Evans Leaders Fund (JELF) is a critical strategic investment tool designed to help institutions attract and retain the very best of today’s and tomorrow’s researchers. The fund’s name pays tribute to the outstanding contributions of John R. Evans, the first Chair of the CFI’s Board of Directors.
Congratulations Dr. Lunken!
Original post:
https://www.med.ubc.ca/news/ubc-medicine-researchers-awarded-more-than-2-9m-from-cfi-for-cutting-edge-research-infrastructure/
https://www.innovation.ca/news/jelf-september-2024
Learn more about Dr. Lunken’s work:
https://bcchr.ca/glunken
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Congratulations to Drs. Catrina Loucks, Souvik Mitra and Fiona Muttalib!
Congratulations all! Dr. Loucks was the recipient of a Scholar Award and Drs. Souvik Mitra and Fiona Muttalib both received a Health Professional-Investigator Program Award.
They are amongst fifteen UBC faculty of medicine researchers that were awarded new funding to advance transformational health research.
Original post:
https://www.med.ubc.ca/news/ubc-medicine-researchers-fostering-better-health-outcomes-through-2024-health-research-bc-awards/
More about the projects that got funded!
Dr. Catrina Loucks:
https://healthresearchbc.ca/award/towards-improving-pain-management-for-children-using-patient-specific-genetic-information/
https://apt.med.ubc.ca/profiles/catrina-loucks/
https://pediatrics.med.ubc.ca/dr-souvik-mitra
Dr. Fiona Muttalib:
https://healthresearchbc.ca/award_researcher/fiona-muttalib/
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Asking difficult questions about fetal alcohol spectrum disorder | Drs. Anton Miller, Gurpreet (Preety) Salh and Nancy Lanphear
In September’s issue of The Lancet Child & Adolescent Health, Drs. Anton Miller, Gurpreet (Preety) Salh and Nancy Lanphear’s article “Asking difficult questions about fetal alcohol spectrum disorder in the context of the child, the mother, and the systems in which they live” argue that the term fetal alcohol spectrum disorder has contributed to a culture of racism and discrimination for many who are diagnosed with it.
Read the full article here:
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/39299258
Learn more:
Anton R. Miller FRCPC, MB
https://bcchr.ca/amiller
Preety Salh, MD
https://bcchr.ca/psalh
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Dr. Manish Sadarangani | Royal Society of Canada (RSC)
This fall, Dr. Sadarangani was inducted as a new college member to the Royal Society of Canada (RSC).
Manish Sadarangani is an international expert in translational vaccinology, whose work uniquely encompasses laboratory, clinical and epidemiologic research. His scientific expertise enables him to respond quickly to changing priorities to tackle diverse knowledge gaps rapidly and produce high quality research findings to inform policy. Specifically, his research improves understanding of immune responses to vaccination, identifies high-risk groups to target immunization programs, and evaluates vaccine effectiveness to inform evidence-based policy.
Original post:
https://rsc-src.ca/en/manish-sadarangani-2024-new-rsc-college-member-university-british-columbia
Reels:
https://www.instagram.com/reel/DDYJn1KJOJz/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==
https://x.com/src_rsc/status/1866299058324992418
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How to help your child handle a visit to the emergency department | Dr. Justina Marianayagam
Check out the latest article by Dr. Justina Marianayagam, pediatric resident with UBC and Co-Chair with Solutions for Kids in Pain.
The article provides tips to support parents/caregivers that may be bringing their child to the ER this busy winter season.
Read the full article here:
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