Department of Medicine Weekly Roundup - Thursday June 1

Dear Colleagues,

At this week’s Higgins Day event, the thirty-fifth annual H. Patrick Higgins Memorial Scholarship Award of Merit was presented. This award, which is given to the resident with the best research project at the event, consists of a $2,000 prize and a plaque. The section judges this year were Akshay Bagai, Stephanie Lee, Matthew Lincoln Julie Gilmour, James Rassos, Kieran McIntyre, Danielle Buell, Suneil Khanna, Sami Alnasser as well Dr. Brian Higgins.  The committee chose the winners from the 21 resident projects presented.  The residents also enjoyed a spectacular key note talk from Elizabeth Tullis. It was a unique blend of mentorship and personal insight that hit all the right notes with the trainees.

I am very pleased to announce that Judy Truong’s presentation “Phase-Specific Costs of Care in Hematological Malignancies in Ontario, Canada” was selected.  Her supervisor was Dr. Matthew Cheung from Sunnybrook. Congratulations, Judy!

The award for research in urban health and substance use support called the William P. Jones III Memorial Scholarship Award was awarded to Sophia Wen for her presentation “High Prevalence of Iron Deficiency and Socioeconomic Disparities in Laboratory Screening of Non-Pregnant Females of Reproductive Age”.

The best presentation prize in the Quality Improvement/Education category was awarded to Andrew Wong-Pack titled “The ANTI Anticholinergic Project: Targeting Order Sets to Reduce Diphenhydramine Use in Older Adults”.

Research category winner is Menal Huroy for her presentation “The Impact of Gastrointestinal Surgeries on peak plasma anti-Xa Direct Oral Anticoagulant levels: A retrospective cohort”.

Clinical Vignettes category winner was Tina Marvasti  and Rohan Philip for their joint presentation titled “Reviewing your ABCs - Acute Kidney Injury, Bartonella Endocarditis, and C-ANCA Vasculitis”

I also would like to congratulate the winners of the Murray Muirhead Awards:  Maisha Chowdhury PGY1; Menal Huroy PGY2; and at the PGY3 level, Rohan Philip. Grace Wang, Connon Award;  Dhruv Nayyar and Kaja Konieczny have both won the Gerald Wong Award for undergraduate teaching excellence; and the winners of the Dr. Robert Sargeant Postgraduate education award are Jane Batt, Danielle Buell, Kaja Konieczny, Dharini Mahendira, Kieran Mcintyre and James Rassos.

We have also introduced the new Divisional Subspecialty Resident Awards this year.  Congratulations to the winners:

Video Link: https://vimeo.com/831916998?share=copy

Password: Higgins2023

Please see below for the following updates:

• Dr. Jane Batt appointed Vice-Chair, Research
• Stepping Stones: Foundations in Education Program Now Open for Registration!
• Centre for Faculty Development now accepting applications
• Helen Batty Awards - Call for Committee Members

Sent on behalf of Dr. Gillian Hawker, Sir John and Lady Eaton Professor and Chair of Medicine

Dear DoM Faculty, Learners and Staff,

On behalf of the Department of Medicine, I’m delighted to announce the appointment of Dr. Jane Batt as our new Vice-Chair – Research, effective June 1, 2023.

Dr. Batt is a respirologist and scientist at the Keenan Research Center for Biomedical Sciences, St. Michael’s Hospital – Unity Health Toronto and associate professor of medicine in the Division of Respirology with a cross appointment to the Interdepartmental Division of Critical Care.

She leads an internationally recognized research program aimed at delineating the cellular and molecular regulation of skeletal muscle mass and dysfunction in critical illness and trauma. Her program mandate is to utilize research findings to facilitate innovation that is transferrable to the bedside to prevent and treat skeletal muscle wasting and weakness. Her current projects include: MEND-ICU - a study of the molecular mechanisms underpinning Intensive Care Unit Acquired Weakness (ICUAW); the development of Smart Neuromuscular Electrical Stimulation Garments to prevent ICUAW and ultrasound mediated gene delivery (UMGD) to promote the repair and regeneration of traumatically-denervated muscle. Her research is consistently supported by competitive funding including Canadian Institutes of Health Research, New Frontiers in Research Fund – Exploration, Medicine by Design, Ontario Thoracic Society, Ontario Lung Association and Physicians Services Incorporated.

She has served as Chair of the Division of Respirology Research Advisory Committee, Chair of the Ontario Thoracic Society, Medical Director of St. Michael’s Hospital’s Tuberculosis program, has chaired or served on multiple national and international research grant and award peer review committees and is guest editor of Frontiers in Physiology.

We are thrilled to have Dr. Batt leading our Research portfolio and are extending our heartiest congratulations to her on this appointment. We would also like to thank Dr. Mike Farkouh for his leadership and guidance as Vice-Chair Research over the last eight years. Thank you Dr. Farkouh and congratulations Dr. Batt!

Sincerely,

Do you have a keen interest in health professions education but don't know where to start? Stepping Stones is a foundational one to two-year program consisting of both workshops and a journal club. This highly-flexible and inter-professional program provides support to health professionals in their multiple education roles and activities including teaching, education scholarship, advocacy and academic leadership.

Workshops are offered on a variety of topics.  Journal club facilitates community building with your peers, the integration of workshop content, the broader health professions education literature, and participants’ own education practice. Stepping Stones follows a flexible, adaptive curriculum and participants choose to attend workshops that meet their needs and interests. If you are interested in learning more, please click here for more information.

The Centre for Faculty Development is currently accepting applications for a number of their programs.  For application information and deadlines to apply, go to https://centreforfacdev.ca/about-our-programs/

On behalf of the Centre for Faculty Development, I'm reaching out as we have just launched an open call for committee members for the Helen Batty Awards.

The Helen P. Batty Awards for Excellence and Achievement in Faculty Development (known as the Helen Batty Awards) were first established in 2005, to recognize excellence in faculty development programming and teaching in the Temerty Faculty of Medicine at the University of Toronto. The awards are overseen by the Centre for Faculty Development.

The committee will be responsible for reviewing award nominations each year, selecting preferred nominee(s) and putting forth a recommendation to the CPD Awards Committee, University of Toronto.

More information can be found on our website at: https://centreforfacdev.ca/join-our-team/

Please apply if you are interested and we would be grateful if you could share with your networks. The call for applications closes on June 30th, 2023.

Thank you,

Karen Chen

Enjoy all the benefits of a CFD Membership. Learn more.