March 2019 Newsletter

2019 Awards of Excellence recipients
The 2019 Awards of Excellence recipients from Schulich Medicine & Dentistry's London and Windsor Campuses are making a difference at the School each and every day. It is with great pride that we recognize and honour their achievements.

Gregor Reid, PhD, recognized as 2019 Distinguished University Professor
Professor Reid is recognized as a Canadian and international pioneer in the areas of probiotics, beneficial microbes and the microbiome. He has more than 500 publications to his name with more than 30,000 citations and a Google Scholar H-index of 93 – which places him in the top one per cent of researchers worldwide in microbiology and the microbiome.

Three named Faculty Scholars
Alison Allan, PhD, Shelley McKellar, PhD, and Dr. David Palma were recently named 2019 Faculty Scholars, along with eight of their peers. Recipients are considered all-around scholars and will hold the title of Faculty Scholar for two years and receive $7,000 each year for scholarly activities.

CFI funding provides support for translational research
Schulich Medicine & Dentistry faculty members Grace Parraga, PhD, and Rithwik Ramachandran, PhD, were announced as recipients of funding through the through CFI’s John R. Evans Leaders Fund. These grants help researchers at universities across the country by giving them the tools and equipment they need to become leaders in their field.

Multi-million dollar partnership with Canon Medical to advance imaging research
The new partnership includes the investment of $4.5 million in medical imaging research equipment at Robarts Research Institute and the establishment of a new training academy.

Western celebrates top teaching talent
Eleven winners, representing three different faculties, have been awarded Western’s highest honours for inspiring active and deep learning in their students. This year’s winners join a company of teachers nearly a quarter-century strong.

A Q&A with Dr. Davy Cheng
This month, Dr. Cheng provides updates on the budget, faculty recruitment, advancing the outcomes of the operational and budget reviews from 2018 and more details on the Times Higher Education Teaching Summit taking place at Western in June 2019.

Project Manager announced to support School's review process
During the first six months of 2018, nearly 120 faculty, staff and students participated in a review process of the School’s financial and operational systems and structures. The School is now ready to begin identifying relevant themes and prioritizing these recommendations. This work will be done through the Dean's Office with support from Rachel Halaney.

City Council votes to test installation of naloxone kits
After a year of review, London City Councillors voted on March 5 to move forward with a pilot project to include naloxone in 29 city-owned facilities in London. This project was initiated by Schulich Medicine students who are members of the Political Advocacy Committee.

Creating a holistic picture of patient-centred care
The 2019 Interprofessional Education Day hosted 800 students from the fields of medicine, dentistry, pharmacy, physical therapy, occupational therapy, nursing, social work and dietetics who spent an afternoon learning about collaborative health care teams and appreciating the impact these professionals have on patients.

MD Curriculum Renewal
This month, we are providing more details on the integrated medical education components of the renewed curriculum. We have also prepared a short video highlighting some of the key elements of the curriculum renewal.

Two-Eyed Seeing: The gift of multiple perspectives
Two CIHR-funded research projects led by Maria Matthews, PhD, and Lloy Wylie PhD, are embracing an approach to incorporate community perspectives and knowledge to advance equity in health care and training for Indigenous communities.

Celebrating your achievements
Congratulations to Lillian Barra, Susan Huang, Daniel Grushka, Bharat Markandey, Sarah Morrow, Janet Pope, Timothy Scholl, Ron Vander and many others for your outstanding accomplishments and honours received this past month.

Commitment to Community
Colleagues Jessica Jamieson, Rodger Moran, Seidy Rayo and Morgan Sherriff share a passion for animals and volunteer their time at the London Humane Society.

The Next Generation: Mihai Dumbrava
Mihai Dumbrava is building a foundation for a career in health research.

Vania Prado, PhD, is driven to find answers
Vania Prado, PhD, is driven to find answers that will lead to new treatments, and even a cure, for Alzheimer’s disease.

Distributed Education: Join us for Discovery Week
Distributed Education: Join us for Discovery Week and help give aspiring physicians an opportunity to engage with your community.

Resident Spotlight: Dr. Janine Hutson
Former Vanier Scholar and fifth-year Ob/Gyn resident Dr. Janine Hutson feels privileged to share in the happiest moments of her patients' lives.

Fundraising: Recent donations
Recent donations were made to honour and recognize past mentors and loved ones.

Media releases highlight research about common spine disease and the transformation of tobacco plants
This month, a number of media releases highlighted outstanding research taking place across the School. Read about a major breakthrough into a better understanding of a highly prevalent spine disease that affects an astounding 25 to 30 per cent of North American men over 50 and tobacco plants transformed into ‘green bioreactors’ to benefit human health.

Using artificial intelligence and brain stimulation to improve treatment for psychosis
In collaboration with five European centres, Dr. Lena Palaniyappan will be collecting brain scans and genetic information from more than 60,000 patients in order to understand the relationship between genetics and brain development. He is doing so with $2.1 million in support from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research and the EU consortium.

Commercialization strategies top competition
Trainees took home top prizes at the Proteus Innovation Competition, a four-month-long contest that takes three newly developed technologies and challenges teams to plan their commercialization. Congratulations to Joshua Dierolf, Tim Han, Christopher Leclerc and Jeffrey Levine.

Global experiences broaden horizons
Walking through a tight, crowded corridor of the hospital, Clayton Law watched as a father bag-mask ventilated his son and the tiny patient’s mother held on to the IV bags with one arm. In the distance, he saw another family wheeling their loved one off on a stretcher so he could pass away at home. Law was one of 13 undergraduate medical students who took advantage of an opportunity for an international elective. It was an eye-opening learning experience none will ever forget.

Refresh your branded templates
Branded templates for your esignature, powerpoint slides, letterhead and more are available for you to use. If you haven’t updated your templates in a while, branding kits have now available for you. Download the Schulich Medicine & Dentistry Internal Brand Package.