Congratulations Dr. Emily Rimmer

Dr. Emily Rimmer was awarded 1st Prize for the Best Masters in the Bold Idea Student Graduate student competition in the Department of Community Health Sciences. The title of her thesis is White Blood Cell Count Trajectory and Mortality in Septic Shock: A Retrospective Cohort Study

To overcome limitations of  static baseline characteristics Emily is applying group-based trajectory analysis to identify disease phenotypes, patient prognosis or response to treatment.  These statistical methods are unique to health research will likely have broad implications when analyzing repeated data measures in multiple clinical settings or patient populations.

Emily is will be completing a Masters of Epidemiology. Her primary supervisor is Ryan Zarychanski. She is closely supported by Drs. Allan Garland, Donald Houston, Anand Kumar and the members of the Acute Care Hematology Research Cluster.

Congratulations Emily!

 

Some Food for Thought

Everybody working in our Department expects a professional working environment. This includes a civilized tone in dealing with each other, respectful behavior, and fair assessment of performance. That said, holding each other accountable is absolutely part of a professional working environment and should under no circumstance be dismissed as unprofessional or threatening, provided it is done in a factual and respectful manner. All this applies equally to everybody: providers and patients, executives and frontline personnel, academics and non-academics, learners and teachers.

These days, learner mistreatment has gained priority attention and there is zero tolerance for it in our Department. It is good that the times are gone when flying scalpels and public scolding had to be accepted as part of one’s learning experience. It is good that sexist remarks or asking for personal favors has become an absolute no-no.  It is good that there are processes in place allowing those who perceive witnessing or experiencing them report such events without exposing themselves to retaliation. And it is good that any report on anything the like will trigger an investigation.

Professionalism, however, applies, in my opinion, equally to both, learners and teachers. Not only can learners expect to be treated in a civilized manner by their teachers, but also the teachers by their learners. And there I have recently seen occasions that make me ponder whether we might have thrown out the baby with the bathwater. Is it not also mistreatment if a learner anonymously scolds a teacher on a feedback form without having to provide any factual proof, thereby negatively affecting the teacher’s performance review? Is it right when a teacher can be anonymously blamed for having held a learner accountable for a substandard performance and therefore having failed that learner? And finally, is it good that we seem to have forgotten that somebody is innocent until proven guilty? – Some food for thought.

Congratulations – Drs. N. Mookherjee & A. Shah

Congratulations are extended to Dr. Neeloffer Mookerjee and Dr. Ashish Shah!

Dr Neeloffer Mookherjee, PhDSection of Proteomics and Systems Biology received another CIHR Grant:

Project title: Molecular adaptations to allergen exposure: sex-related            differences in asthma.

Grant Competition: CIHR Catalyst Grant: Sex as a Variable in  Biomedical Research.

Total amount for two years: $148,000

Dr. Mookherjee’s Application Ranked # 1 out of 166 applications.

Congratulations Dr. Mookherjee!

 

Dr. Ashish Shah – Section of Cardiology

Dr. Shah received the International Society of Adult Congenital Heart Disease’s (ISACHD) Young Investigator Award for his abstract: “Feasibility and Efficacy Of Negative Pressure Ventilation in The Ambulatory Fontan populatioN- (FONTAN-CMR) – A Pilot Study”.

Additionally he was also appointed honorary faculty at the CRF annual meeting 2018 in Washington DC.

Congratulations Dr. Shah!