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News

INSIDEA WILDERNESSCAMPING ADVENTURE

PRIMARYHEALTH CARERESEARCH

and more…

This issue of MUNMED features some of the excitingwork being done in the field

of primary health care research. Thisgrowing field encompasses the manypeople who work on the front lines ofmedical care and the team work theyare doing.

During my time as Dean ofMedicine, I’ve been delighted to support the development of the

Primary Healthcare Research Unit, led by Dr. Marshall Godwin.By partnering with the Atlantic Practice Based Research

Network, the Centre for Rural Health Studies and MemorialUniversity, the Primary HealthCare Research Unit is bringingtogether practitioners and researchers in the many fields of primary health care. The Primary Healthcare Partnership Forum,held in November, was an overwhelming success. It gave theopportunity for a diverse group of primary health care providersand researchers to find out more about the work going on in thisexciting field.

It is an exciting time for professionals at the forefront of delivering health care to meet and talk about important topicssuch as chronic disease management and care of the elderly.

It is also an exciting time in the field of medical education. Thenational launch of The Future of Medical Education in Canada(FMEC): A Collective Vision for MD Education took place Jan.28. This 30-month FMEC project, spearheaded by theAssociation of Faculties of Medicine of Canada (AFMC), set outto conduct a comprehensive review of MD education in Canada,assess current and future societal needs, and identify the changesneeded to better align the two. The 10 recommendations and fiveenabling recommendations that comprise this collective visionpresent an integrated national framework for change for Canadian

MD education into the 21st century. The FMEC CollectiveVision was unanimously approved by the AFMC Board ofDirectors in November 2009.

I have the pleasure of being one of three co-chairs of the TaskForce on Implementation Strategy, along with Drs. Nick Busingand Jay Rosenfield. The recommendations in the report will fun-damentally strengthen medical education in Canada. For the firsttime in 100 years, our system of medical education has beenexamined through multiple lenses, and what has emerged is aseries of recommendations that are consensus-based and firmlygrounded in the evidence.

Among the report’s recommendations are enhancing admis-sions processes. This recommendation states that faculties of medicine must include assessment of key values and personal characteristics of future physicians – such as communications,interpersonal and collaborative skills, and a range of professionalinterests – as well as cognitive abilities. In addition, in order toachieve the desired diversity in our physician workforce, Facultiesof Medicine must recruit, select and support a representative mixof medical students.

I welcome you to read the report and view the FMEC launchvideo, available at www.afmc.ca/fmec/.

Dean James RourkeMD, CCFP(EM), MClSc(FM), FCFP

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INSIDE

MUNMEDMUNMED News is the newsletter of theFaculty of Medicine, published by the Divisionof Marketing and Communications, MemorialUniversity of Newfoundland.

ISSN: 0846-4395

Tel: ((770099)) 777777--88339977Fax: (709) [email protected]

Material in MUNMED News may be reprintedor broadcast with permission from the Divisionof Marketing and Communications, MemorialUniversity of Newfoundland,St. John’s, NL, Canada, A1C 5S7. Back issues of MUNMED News are posted on theweb at www.med.mun.ca/munmed/

Editor: Sharon Gray (709) 777-8397Graphics: Sylvia FickenPhotography: John Crowell

Terry Upshall

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Cover photo:Cutting firewood on a wilderness camping trip in Labrador with residentsin the Norfam program. See story pages 8-9.

News

Message from the Dean

Primary health care research...........................3-4News from MRF....................................................4Study looks at cervical cancer screening.........5-6Honorary degree citation.......................................7A wilderness camping adventure....................8-9Family doctors get together.........................10-11Awards for family doctors....................................12Family Physician of the Year Award.....................13Scholarships and awards ceremony.............14-17MPA scholarship winner......................................18Gina Blundon Memorial Bursary.........................18Newfoundland Genealogical Toolkit...................19Cox award winner................................................20Diabetes research moves forward.........................21Bringing science alive on the Great Northern Peninsula.............................................22

Books........................................................…23New leadership.............................................24-25New faculty...................................................26-27Founders’ Archive celebrates.........................28-29Alumni spends Christmas in Afghanistan............30In memory...........................................................30Remembering Robert Mowbray..........................31In memory of Laura Hiscock............................32Baby news............................................................32Alumnus spends Christmas in Afghanistan..........32Of note...............................................................33Canadian conference on medical education.........34Mental health award............................................342010 Brain Storm................................................35Stories from family medicine.............................36A frontwards view...............................................37Humanities..................................................38A back wards view...............................................39Development and alumni matters.......................40

WINTER/SPRING 2010 2

Growing interest in primary health care research

MUNMED: What distinguishes primary health careresearch from other kinds of medical research?

MG: The difference is that primary care is first contactand is usually patient driven. For example, when a cardiol-ogist sees someone with chest pain there’s a very goodchance it’s heart disease because that person has gonethrough a filter of the family doctor or emergency room.When I see someone with chest pain it’s most likely notheart disease – I have to sort out one of the many things itmight be. Primary care deals with a different demograph-ic of people.

MUNMED: What type of research is done in primaryhealth care?

MG: The research methodologies used in primary careresearch are standard research methods but how thosemethods are applied and the people we apply them to aredifferent. For instance, when we do clinical trials, they arelikely to be pragmatic trials. We have very few exclusionsin the people in the trials because we want to be able togeneralize the results. We are interested in co-morbidity –the presence of one or more or diseases in addition to aprimary disease or disorder.

MUNMED: What growth have you seen in primaryhealth care research?

MG: In the past year primary care research has reallycome into its own. Over the past five to seven years therehave been a few champions of primary care research. I’vebeen involved for a long time and I remember back in2000 when the Canadian Institutes of Health Research(CIHR) was being formed there was a proposal to have anInstitute of Primary Care. That didn’t happen but in thepast year CIHR has put out a call for proposals forresearch in primary care. We’ve put in five proposals forthe coming competition through the PHRU – we’ll seewhat happens.

MUNMED: Can you give me an example of the grow-ing interest in primary health care research?

MG: When we first started planning the PrimaryHealthcare Partnership Forum we were thinking therewould be 30 participants, certainly not more than 50. Butonce the call for papers and posters went out we wereoverwhelmed – we tried to cut it off at 100 but in the endthere were more than 100 participants with three half-dayposter sessions and three rooms with presentations and

T he first Primary HealthcarePartnership Forum was heldNov. 27-28 in St. John’s. The

response was overwhelming – hoping toconvince a few people to submit abstractsand a few extra people to come long asaudience members, the forum ended upwith a program of 32 short oral presenta-tions, three workshops, two keynoteaddresses, 33 posters and a dinner talk.Registration had to be cut off at 110 forlack of space. Dr. Marshall Godwin isthe director of the Primary HealthcareResearch Unit (PHRU) and in thisinterview with MUNMED he exploredthe growing interest in primary healthcare research.

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Primary health care research continued on page 4


News from MRF

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workshops running concurrently. We’ve already start-ed planning next year’s forum and this time we’rebooking more rooms!

MUNMED: What kind of participants attendedthe forum?

MG: One of our plenary sessions featured a chi-ropractor and family doctor team – Dr. DeborahKopanski-Giles and Dr. Judith Peranson, who workand teach together at the University of Toronto.They presented on their interdisciplinary approach.Our other plenary session was with Dr. RichardGlazier, a family physician from Ontario who spokeon primary health care reform initiatives in Canada.We also had a speaker at our Friday dinner talkingabout military medicine in Kandahar, Afghanistan.Commander Peter J. Clifford gave an intriguingaccount of his experiences during his tour of duty atthe Medical Hospital. Overall we had presentationsfrom every type of primary care provider – nurses,nurse-practitioners, pharmacists, family physicians,community health researchers, social workers andpsychologists; all the people who are on the front lineof health care. It showed that primary health careinvolves everything from visits to family physicians,consultations with nurse practitioners, calls to healthinformation lines and advice from pharmacists.

MUNMED: What comes next?MG: We’re in the process of sending out the call

for abstracts for next year’s forum. The PrimaryHealthcare Partnership Forum showed there is aneed to showcase primary health care and we expectan even bigger and better forum next year.

Marshall Godwin is a professor of Family Medicineat Memorial University and director of the PrimaryHealthcare Research Unit. His research interests includehypertension, care of the elderly and chronic disease. Hehas written 70 journal articles, two books and threebook chapters. He currently holds research grants fromCIHR and the Heart and Stroke Foundation. Dr.Godwin also worked in rural practice for eight yearsprior to moving St. John’s, NL, joining the Discipline ofFamily Medicine at Memorial University in 1987. In1993 he moved to Queen’s University in Kingston,Ontario as Director of the Centre for Studies inPrimary Care. In 2005, he moved back to MemorialUniversity to take up his current position.

Primary health care research continued from page 3

Cox Award supportsobesity research

The 2009 Cox Award, valued at $30,000 has gone to Drs.Kensuke and Michiru Hirasawa for their joint applicationAnalysis of Brain Gene Expression in Juvenile Obesity Model.

This application from two established investigators within theBioMedical Sciences Division concerns the hypothalamic regulation ofappetite, including the transmitter systems responsible for laying downmemories associated with dietary fat intake. The project makes use of agene expression array approach, which was recognized for its greatpotential to lead to novel and potentially significant breakthroughsconcerning the underlying hypothalamic mechanisms.

The Cox Award is administered by the Medical Research Fund(MRF), which raises funds through endowments, bequests and dona-tions from friends, patrons, graduates and private industry. From theinterest accruing to the funds, disbursements are made in support ofresearch in the Faculty of Medicine. This support included salary sup-port, operating grants to faculty members, equipment grants and sup-port of lectureships, seminars and workshops which will fosterresearch.

To find out more about the MRF, visitwww.med.mun.ca/MRF/Home.aspx. To read more about researchprojects supported by the Cox Award, see pages 20-21.

From left: Christian Alberto, research assistant; Katrin Zipplerlen,research assistant, Dr. Sherri Christian, post-doctoral fellow, Dr. MichiruHirasawa and Dr. Kensuke Hirasawa.



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Innovative study looks atcervical cancer screening

For Dr. Pauline Duke, Discipline of Family Medicine, that’s unaccept-able. With colleagues at the Faculty of Medicine and Dr. Sam Ratnam, direc-tor of the Newfoundland Public Health Laboratory and clinical professor ofCommunity Health, she’s heading up a community-based intervention studyto compare the effectiveness of a vaginal self collection strategy for humanpapillomavirus (HPV) as a means of screening for cervical cancer with thestandard practice of Pap tests taken by physicians during a clinic visit.

The study is funded by a Regional Partnership Award from the CanadianInstitutes of Health Research and matching funds from the provincialIndustrial Research and Innovation Fund (IRIF).

Although the Pap test has been the standard test for cervical cancerscreening, evolving research shows that 99 per cent of cervical cancer iscaused by HPV and studies support using the HPV test for screening. Dr.Ratnam is a world authority in this area and co-author of a 2007 article inthe New England Journal of Medicine that showed that HPV testing hasgreater sensitivity for the detection of cervical cancer compared to Pap test-ing.

Dr. Ratnam is excited about the new study. “Nothing like this has beendone before, conducting a randomized trial on a community basis. This canbe expanded to all parts of the province and Canada. Pauline (Duke) isamazing, this study is her baby – she’s done all the work.”

C ancer of the cervix remains the second most common cancer in women worldwide despite the fact that screening through the Pap test has been available for 50 years.

Primary Care Researcher Award for family practitioner

Dr. Pauline Duke, Discipline ofFamily Medicine, has received the2009 Primary Care ResearcherAward. The presentation wasmade during the Primary Health-care Partnership Forum, heldNov. 27-28 in St. John’s.

Dr. Duke is the principalinvestigator for a 2009 grant fromthe Canadian Institutes of HealthResearch (CIHR). This project isrelated to primary healthcare onmany levels – it is a communitybased intervention study and theresults will have implications forclinicians, public health, and poli-cy makers. The study will com-pare the effectiveness of a vaginalself collection strategy for humanpapilloma virus (HPV) as a meansof screening for cervical cancerwith the routine practice of Paptests obtained through physicians.

“Dr. Duke put together a trulymulti-disciplinary team to applyfor this grant and worked tireless-ly to bring together the right peo-ple and to get the research pro-posal to the level needed for aCIHR application,” said Dr.Marshall Godwin, director of thePrimary Healthcare ResearchUnit.

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There will be three sites in the community-based study. “In the Twillingate/New World Island area therewill be an intense cervical cancer and HPV awareness educational campaign plus the distribution of HPVself-collection kits,” explained Dr. Duke. “In Port-aux-Basques region there will be the same intense educa-tion program but no HPV self-collection. Another area of the province will be used as the control.”

A research nurse is assigned to each area where the public education program is being carried out. “Weknow now that the annual Pap smear rate is about 58 per cent lower than we would like,” said Dr. Duke.“One problem is that the majority of womendon’t come for a yearly test. The HPV self-collection approach offers women a way ofscreening in the privacy of their home andwithout the necessity of making an appoint-ment with a doctor or going to a clinic.”

The public education program will bedelivered by the research nurse through localpublic groups plus ads on local news outlets.

In the Twillingate/New World Island area,women can pick up a HPV self-collectionkit. “Each kit contains a consent form and avaginal swab,” said Dr. Duke. “Women willself-collect the specimen using the vaginalswab, and then our research nurse, RuthSaunders, will collect the swabs and sendthem to the Public Health Laboratory in St.John’s. Women who test HPV negative willbe asked to just go for regular Pap screening.Those who are HPV positive will be asked togo and have a Pap smear done as well as anyfurther tests that may be needed.”

The study is aimed at women between theages of 30 and 69. “Women under 30 are notbeing targeted because 80 per cent of youngwomen will clear the HPV virus on theirown,” said Dr. Duke. “Only a few types ofHPV have the potential to cause cancer.”

The study will also include focus groupswith women who have decided to self-collectand a telephone survey.

Dr. Duke is enthusiastic about the possi-ble value of HPV self-collection. “If womenwill use these kits there could be a tremen-dous application world-wide to help increasecervical cancer screening and to help womenin the developing world where there is a highdeath rate from cervical cancer becausewomen don’t have easy access to Pap smearscreening programs.”

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Honorary degree citationDr. James Rourke, dean of Medicine at Memorial University, received an honorary Doctor of Laws onJune 10 2009, from the University of Western Ontario (UWO). Dr. Rourke’s citation was given byDr. Carol Herbert, dean of the Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry at UWO.

Almost 130 years ago, the medical school at Western wasformed for the “sons of farmers” from ruralSouthwestern Ontario to receive medical education and

training. It was a vision to enhance medical care for the grow-ing population of our region – a vision that remains a key partof our mission today, thanks in large part to our honorarydegree recipient.

Today, we can truly say we are honouring one of our own –someone who has not only come from a rural background him-self, but who has worked tirelessly to advocate on behalf of ruraland regional communities, transforming medical education inSouthwestern Ontario, and indeed influencing the developmentof rural and regional medicine across Canada and worldwide.

Dr. James Rourke grew up on a farm and attended a one-room school house. He received his MD in 1976, then went onto pursue his residency training in Family Medicine in 1978and later his Masters of Clinical Science in Family Medicine in1993, all at Western.

He was a practising family physician in Goderich, Ontariofrom 1979 to 2004, including obstetrics and emergency workat his local hospital. It was a practice and role he shared with hiswife, Dr. Leslie Rourke, also a Western alumna. Their practicebecame one of the first rural teaching sites for Western in the1980s and 1990s, as the development of distance education andrural and regional medicine began to gain momentum.

Building on the success of rural family medicine education,it was in 1997 that a systematic approach to rural training wasformally established at Western. Led by Dr. Rourke, theSouthwestern Ontario Rural Medicine Education, Research andDevelopment Unit (SWORM) was established, tofacilitate undergraduate and postgraduate training in the regionand to foster research regarding rural health human resourcesand rural practice.

By 2002 SWORM grew to a fully integrated networkincluding Windsor and London and dozens of communities inthe region – what we know today as the Southwestern OntarioMedical Education Network (SWOMEN). Rural and regionaltraining became a core thread throughout the four-year medicalcurriculum, and training students and residents outside theurban centre of London became the norm.

An outstanding physician, teacher, mentor and administra-tor, Dr. Rourke has also become one of the world's foremostexperts on rural medicine, publishing more than 90 journalarticles. He was the chair of the World Organization of FamilyDoctors Working Party in Rural Practice, and was involved in aWorld Health Organization project called “Health for All RuralPeople.”

In Canada, he was instrumental in the development of theNorthern Ontario Medical School, serving as Project Directorof the Medical Education Design Team in 2000-2001. He hasalso received several awards and honors, including the Collegeof Family Physicians of Canada W. Victor Johnson Oration in2007, and D.I. Rice Award of Merit in 2004, the College ofPhysicians and Surgeons of Ontario Council Award,Community Teacher of the Year Award from the OntarioCollege of Family Physicians, and numerous teaching awardsfrom Western.

He continues his leadership in advocacy and research inrural regional medicine in Newfoundland and Labrador, wherehe has just entered a second term as Dean of Medicine atMemorial University. Since becoming dean in April 2004, Dr.Rourke has travelled extensively throughout that province andin New Brunswick, visiting rural teaching sites and medicalclinics.

On a personal note, Dr. Rourke is someone for whom I havethe greatest respect. He is thoughtful, persuasive, articulate,warm and passionate about the health care rights and needs ofthose in rural and regional communities everywhere. We trulymiss his presence at Schulich Medicine & Dentistry and we areproud to welcome our friend home to Western today to recog-nize his outstanding contributions. W

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A wilderness camping adventureSince 1993, the Faculty of Medicine’s NorFam (Northern Family Medicine Education Program),based at the Labrador Health Centre in Happy Valley-Goose Bay, has offered family medicine resi-dents a seven-month rural practice rotation as part of their two-year program. A highlight of the expe-rience is the annual wilderness camping trip. MUNMED editor Sharon Gray joined this year’s groupto experience three nights of outdoor camping.

Komatiks full behind ski-doos, we set out in earlyFebruary from Goose Bay

across Lake Melville to the wilder-ness camping spot. I was in GooseBay to join the annual campingexpedition of family medicine res-idents doing the Northern FamilyMedicine program (NorFam).

Our convoy of skidoos wascarrying outdoor gear and sup-plies for a three-day trip. The firstday it’s 29 below and the roughride on the lake emphasizes thefreezing wind. The driver of theskidoo I’m on, an outdoor guidenamed Don Neuman, describesthe ride as smooth. It’s my firsttime on a skidoo and I’m stickingto my description of rough.

We’re finally at the lake’s edgeand it’s time to move swiftly to setup the main tent. Everyone pitch-es in, shoveling the site smooth,erecting the large cloth tent andgathering load after load ofboughs to soften the frozen floor. I’m with the bough crew, andwe go for the smaller, less woody boughs to make the sleepingsurface as smooth as possible.

It doesn’t take long before the tent floor is thickly coveredwith boughs. Dr. Michael Jong, the senior physician at GooseBay, has a fire blazing in a wood stove. Lunch sandwiches arepulled out and seared on the top of the stove. Some work, someeat, then reverse roles until everyone is ready to tackle the after-noon activities – setting rabbit traps, ice fishing and buildingquinzhees for those who plan to sleep outside the main tent.

A quinzhee looks like a combination of an igloo and a snowcave. The family medicine residents shovel snow in a pile, let itharden and then hollow it out to provide a sleeping space forone or two individuals. By learning how to construct this win-ter hut, the students are prepared for an emergency outdoorcamping trip.

As the evening meal of caribou chili heats up, the membersof the expedition learn about each other and settle in for the

next few days. “I wish we’d brought some jelly beans … ” is asnatch of conversation – this group of well-educated youngpeople are enjoying life at a childlike level. The smell of fir andspruce permeates the tent. Surrounded in a cocoon of boughs,the world is as peaceful as it can possibly be.

I take the opportunity to get to know the members of theexpedition. Dr. Kris MacMahon is from Winnipeg and hasbeen in Goose Bay for three weeks.

“I chose Memorial because I wanted to do rural medicineand this is the best program,” he said. “It’s certainly the mostexotic and interesting residency program in Canada. I startedthe family medicine program in St. John’s and will be spendingabout one-third of my two-year program based in Goose Bay.I’m really looking forward to travelling outside of Goose Bayfor remote medicine.”

After more than two decades in Goose Bay, Dr. Jong knowsexactly what the attraction is. “You cannot fall in love with ruralmedicine unless you’ve been there.”

Cutting firewood for the tent’s woodstove.


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Dr. MacMahon adds,“I also feel I have some-thing to prove, that I cansurvive these conditions.”

Dr. Meghan Daly isfrom Ottawa, and hadnot considered Memorialfor her family medicineresidency until she hadan interview and “fell inlove with the NorFamprogram.” After eightmonths she is still in lovewith the program. “It’s

been a transformation for me and nowI’m debating coming back to practice inthe north.”

Dr. Melissa Langvin is a pediatric resi-dent, in Goose Bay for a month’s rota-tion. “This program attracts a certainkind of person. If you think a week ofwilderness camping sounds like a greatidea, then you belong here.”

In terms of her education as a pediatrician, Dr. Langvin said the experi-ence in Goose Bay has allowed her to see a wide variety of diseases andconditions that she probably wouldn’t have experienced elsewhere.

Dr. Colette Dawson, a graduate of Memorial, is in her second year ofresidency and is here for four months of the NorFam experience. “ I’veheard great things over the years about this program – you have lots ofindependence but with support and back-up. The teaching is excellent,and I’ve had a good experience here. “

Sean Doherty, who grew up in Iqaluit, Nunavut, is a third-year studentdoing a one-month elective in Goose Bay. “The Arctic really appeals to me,and this is the best approximation of what it would be like to practicethere. I’m hoping to do the NorFam program after I finish my medicaldegree.”

Dr. Luke Hays did his medical degree in Vancouver and then decidedhe wanted to train in rural family practice. “I’m here mainly because of theNorFam program, and it hasn’t let me down. The experience has been real-ly varied – this is a place where you always have to maintain skills. And it’sa real benefit to medical practice to feel part of the community.”

Dr. John Barnhill is from southern Alberta and Ottawa. He has alreadydone a residency in surgery but after working with Doctors WithoutBorders in Nepal he realized he needed a better understanding of primarycare. To help meet the demands of rural and northern practice, NorFamoffers extra training in such specialist services as surgery, obstetrics, emer-gency medicine, intensive care and medical evacuation.

On the final night of the wilderness trip the fresh-caught trout are friedup, and the group is joined by elders Elizabeth and Francis Penashue whoshare their experiences of living on the land.

Camp breaks the next day and the group returns to Goose Bay, know-ing each other a lot better and more confident in their wilderness skills.Next week may bring a Medevac air ambulance trip to a coastal communi-ty, but whatever the experience brings these young doctors are eager toexperience it.

Dr. Robert Forsey, director of the NorFaM program,prepares some trout for dinner.

An evening with Innu elders Francis and ElizabethPenashue.

Family medicine residents construct a quinzhee, anemergency snow shelter.

Preparing to start a fire for cooking.

Dr. John Barnhill has somefun making a snow angel.

John Ross Commemorative Walk

Hiking stick crafted for Dr. John Ross by Ugandans. Photo taken on The Spout Trail during the 2007John Ross Commemorative Walk.

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Family doctors get togetherFamily doctors from all parts of the province gathered in St. John’s Sept. 23-26 for the 2009Fall Medical Education Forum, held in conjunction with the Family Medicine CommunityPreceptors’ Meeting and the Newfoundland & Labrador Chapter 21st Annual ScientificAssembly and annual general meeting.The four-day event started Sept. 23 with the 9th annual John Ross Commemorative Walk

along the East Coast Trail. Small group teaching moduleswere held that evening followed by a Town Hall Meetingwith Dr. James Rourke, dean of Medicine. Dr. Rourkegave an update on the Rural Clinical School MedicalEducation Network (RCSMEN).The Family MedicineCommunity Preceptors’ Meeting was held all day Sept. 24.Here are some photographic highlights of the events.

Pictured Standing L to R: B. Doulton, S. Butt, M. Holloway, S. Hicks, Visitor (friend of S. Sandwith), S. Sandwith, A. Sinnott-Drover,K. Kinsner, G. Sheppard, S. Ravinuthala, C. White, K. Penney, D. Cahill, S. Mercer, J. Peach, K. Stringer, D. Hewitt, J. Eek, L. Grant,K. Aubrey, N. Duggan, M. Godwin, G. Sherman, G. Godwin, P. Snow, W. Parsons, H. Flynn, R. Butler (holding Dr. Ross’s hiking stick).Pictured Front Row L to R: D. Rideout, A. Whalen, M. Aziz, J. Elliott, L. Rourke, L. Agriesti-Cleary.



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The Discipline of Family Medicine in the Faculty of Medicinehosts an annual hike on the East Coast Trail in memory of Dr.John Ross. Dr. Ross was a highly respected faculty member,physician and educator in the Discipline of Family Medicine atMemorial University who passed away in 1999 at the age of 71.He is still greatly admired in both national and international cir-

cles for his humanitarian efforts, his dedication to family medi-cine, and his work in Uganda to help establish postgraduate fami-ly medicine training programs at remote hospitals. Dr. Ross alsofounded the provincial chapter of Physicians for SocialResponsibility in Newfoundland & Labrador. Upon his returnfrom Uganda in 1994, he was honoured with the Order ofCanada. He was also an avid supporter of the East Coast TrailAssociation and became custodian to The Spout segment. This year marked the ninth annual hike and opened the 2009

Fall Medical Education Forum held in St. John’s, September 23-26. Conference registrants from across Newfoundland &Labrador and Canada were given an opportunity to experiencethe beauty and grandeur of the rugged Eastern coastline(Blackhead Path to Cape Spear), and hear of the life and times ofDr. Ross as well as his love and support of the East Coast TrailAssociation. Hikers also had the privilege of carrying Dr. Ross’shiking stick, crafted for him by Ugandans to protect its carrier ontheir journey, and feel its spiritual significance.For information on future hikes, contact Luanne Agriesti-

Cleary at [email protected] or 777-6742.

Family Medicine Community Preceptors meeting

Hiking the coastline (Blackhead Path to Cape Spear) on theninth annual John Ross Commemorative Walk.

Dean James Rourke outlined upcomingchanges in the medical education program.

Dr. Mohamed Ravalia, co-chair of theFamily Medicine Community Preceptors’Meeting, with Luanne Agriesti-Cleary,conference organizer.

Family medicine preceptors from CornerBrook (from left): Drs. Mark Smallwood,Sheau Ng, Trent Parsons and Kate Lafferty.

Group from Port aux Basques (from left):Drs. Mohamed Aziz, Wendy Graham,co-chair, and David Thomas.

Family medicine preceptors from Goose Bay(from left): Drs. Gabe Woolam, MichaelJong and Yordan Karaivanov.Dr. Ed Mayo, Burin, and Dr. Scott

Moffatt, St. John’s.

Drs. Perry Osborne, Baie Verte and TonyGabriel, Gander.

Family medicine preceptors from GrandFalls-Windsor (from left): Drs. ShelleySullivan, Kris Luscombe, Lynette Powell,John and Susan Campbell.

Guest speaker Dr. Michel Donoff, professorof Family Medicine, University of Alberta,and Dr. Cheri Bethune.

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Awards for family doctors

I t was a night of celebration Sept. 24 asawards were given to family doctors in theprovince for excellence in leadership and

teaching.Dr. Daniel Hewitt received an Award of Excellence for his work oncommunity cancer screening on New World Island. He and nursepractitioner Tony Richards provided public access in various loca-tions throughout the community, such as the library or grocerystore, to colon cancer self-screening kits. This alleviates the need forthe extra step of seeing a physician to access the kit. The patientcan then drop the kit off at the lab and the results go to their gener-al practitioner. The program has been successful in identifying theneed for further testing.

An Award of Excellence was also presented to the team of Drs.Pauline Duke, Fern Brunger and Gerard Farrell for the GatewayProject, which pairs first-and second-year medical student volun-teers with a newly arrived refugee client of the Association for NewCanadians plus his or her translator. The goal is to improve accessto medical help for the refugee population of St. John’s.

The Dr. Craig Loveys Teaching Award was presented to Dr.Michael Berman, a specialist in internal medicine working at St.Clare’s Hospital. This award is given annually by the Discipline ofFamily Medicine to a specialist in recognition of excellence inteaching family medicine residents. It was established in 2004 inhonour of the former associate professor of obstetrics and gynecolo-gy at the Central Newfoundland Regional Health Center who diedin 2002.

Dr. Margo Wilson received the Family Medicine ResidentLeadership Award. Suanne Price received the Medical StudentLeadership Award. And the Dr. Yong Kee Jeon Award, awardedannually to a family physician for excellence in teaching familymedicine residents, went to Dr. Mervyn Dean, a general practi-tioner at the Western Memorial Regional Hospital in Corner Book.

Past winners of the Family Physician of the Year Award gathered with the 2009 winner, Dr. PaulBonisteel (right), during the Family Medicine Awards Night. From left: Drs. Michael Jong, PatrickO'Shea, Frank Hicks, Mohamed Ravalia, Jim King, Judy Ophel, Eileen St. Croix and Pauline Duke.

The team of Drs. Pauline Duke (centre), FernBrunger (unavailable for photo) and GerardFarrell, received an Award of Excellence, pre-sented by Dr. Norah Duggan (left).

Dr. Michael Berman, right, received the 2009Dr. Craig Loveys Teaching Award, presented byDr. Bill Eaton.

Dr. Dan Hewitt, right, received an Award ofExcellence, presented by Dr. MohamedRavalia.


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Family Physician of the Year Award

Born in Toronto, Ontario, he graduated from the Universityof Ottawa in 1983 and moved to Newfoundland andLabrador in 1985 after obtaining his certification in familymedicine. He now practices at the New Harbour MedicalClinic where he divides his time between the NewhookCommunity Health Centre and Carbonear General Hospital.

From 1986 to 1991, Dr. Bonisteel was an assistant profes-sor of Family Medicine at Memorial University and later theacting chair of continuing medical education for the universi-ty. During the 50th anniversary celebrations of sThe Collegeof Family Physicians of Canada in 2004, he chaired theAnnual Scientific Assembly. Since 2005, he has been a clini-cal preceptor with Memorial University, providing guidanceto medical students as well as family practice residents.

In accepting the award, Dr. Bonisteel reflected that the“single greatest life-changing move I made was to come toNewfoundland, to leave the navel gazing claustrophobic,

centre-of-the-universe attitude of Toronto and be welcomed by warm friendly and generous people. Here I got a fresh perspective on the country and the world and myself.”

Dr. Bonisteel credited psychologist Dr. George Hurley’steaching as greatly affecting his professional and personal life.“His course on interviewing skills was much more than themechanics of such. The course caused one to look deeply into the minds and hearts of both the interviewee and theinterviewer … For any of you who’ve not read George’s message In Danger of Growing I commend it to your readingpleasure.”

As a city boy, used to the anonymity of the urban land-scape, Dr. Bonisteel said that dealing with the “goldfish bowl”of rural life and practice was a major milestone. “Two col-leagues, Dr. Margot Walker and nurse Linda Strickland,helped me with this during my time in Burin. They modeledan approach that was as simple as it was easy – be yourself inboth your personal and professional life.”

Dr. Bonisteel said he had the privilege of working withfour masters of the essentials of mutual positive regard, allnamed John – John Forster, John Ross, John Lewis and JohnSheldon. “To this day, when faced with a surprise encounter,I ask myself, ‘now what would John do?’”

Dr. Bonisteel said that one of the medical interventions in which he takes most pride takes place on a sports field inBlaketown.

“In 2006 my wife Mary and I started a regional soccer program for kids in Kinderstart to Grade 6. We’ve just finished our fourth season and registered 130-177 childreneach summer from as far away as Southern Harbour on theisthmus and Heart’s Delight in Trinity south.”

Known to be a devoted family man, Paul is married toMary Harris, with whom he shares three children, Simon,Erin, and Isaac. An avid banjo-player, Paul loves 17thCentury Newfoundland and Labrador history. His hobbiesinclude soccer and hockey as well as hiking and camping.

Dr. Bob Miller, chair of the Discipline of Medicine, presentedthe Family Physician of the Year Award to Dr. Paul Bonisteel.Dr. Sarah Kredentser, right, is past president of the College ofFamily Physicians of Canada.

The Bonisteel family (from left): Erin, Isaac, Paul, Simonand Mary Harris.

Dr. Paul Bonisteel of New Harbour, NL,was presented with the Family Physicianof the Year Award at the Family Medicine

Newfoundland and Labrador Chapter Awards dinner Sept. 24, held in St. John’s. Award recipientsfrom each province were announced at the Collegeof Family Physicians of Canada’s Family MedicineForum in Calgary on October 31, 2009. Dr. Bonisteel is credited as being a physician who “epitomizes the principles of family medicine,”and as an incredible advocate for both the profes-sion and his patients.



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MUNMEDNews

The annual Scholarship and Awards Luncheon for firstand second-year medical students was held Oct. 6, 2009.

Scholarship andawards ceremony

Two Outstanding Teacher Awards were presented. The Class of 2012 selected Dr. EdRandell as the Outstanding Teacher. The Class of 2011 selected Elizabeth Wright,Division of Community Health and Humanities.

Two entrance scholarships were awarded. The Gordon Mercer Rural Medicine Bursarywent to Stephanie Hynes of Twillingate. This bursary is named for the founding office forStudent Affairs in the Faculty of Medicine (1972). It is awarded to a student entering firstyear of studies in the Faculty of Medicine who is from a rural community inNewfoundland and Labrador.

The Dr. Kevin Keough Medical Entrance Scholarship went to Brendan Webber of St. John’s. This scholarship was established through a generous donation by Dr. Ming Lau,Class of 1982. The scholarship is named after Dr. Kevin Keough, who supervised Dr. Laufor his master’s thesis in biochemistry (1978). Dr. Keough should be remembered as a professor who believes in bringing out the best in his students and mentees.

The Dr. Abdalla M. Hanna Memorial Bursary in Medicine went to EugeniaKhorochkov of St. John’s. This bursary is in memory of Dr. Abdalla M. Hanna, a well-known surgeon in St. John’s. It is awarded to a student entering first-year studies inmedicine who is a resident of Newfoundland and Labrador.

First Year AwardsThe Centenary of Responsible Government Scholarship, awarded annually to the most

outstanding student in the class, was presented to Jamison Mercer of St. John’s by DavidDenine, minister of Intergovernmental Affairs.

The Medical Practices Associates Scholarship was received by Jamison Mercer. Thisscholarship is made available by Medical Practice Associates, the business association ofclinical faculty members in the Faculty of Medicine.

The Dr. H.D. Roberts Prize in Pharmacology was received by Ian MacPherson ofBedford, N.S. and Nicole Myers of Mount Pearl. This prize is funded by an endowmentprovided by Elizabeth Drugs Limited in recognition of the contribution made to the

Stephanie Hynes, left, received theGordon Mercer Rural MedicineBursary, presented by Mrs. ElizabethMercer and her daughter SheilaMcBride.

Nicole Myers accepted the Dr. H.D.Roberts Prize in Pharmacology from Dr.Gerard Farrell, associate dean of Under-graduate Medical Studies.

Stephanie Atkinson, left, and RebeccaPowell, right, received John M. & ElsaS. Morgan Scholarships, presented byDr. Farrell.

The Medical Practices Associates Scholarshipwas presented to Jamieson Mercer by Dr. JuneHarris, assistant dean for Student Affairs. Thisscholarship is made available by MedicalPractice Associates, the business association of clinical faculty members in the Faculty ofMedicine.

The Centenary of ResponsibleGovernment Scholarship, awardedannually to the most outstanding stu-dent in the class, was presented toJamison Mercer by David Denine,minister of Intergovernmental Affairs.

Elizabeth Wright, left, Division ofCommunity Health and Humanities,was presented with the OutstandingTeacher Award for the Class of 2011by second-year student KarenDownton.


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Nicole Myers, centre, and JamisonMercer, left, received Surgery Prizes inAnatomy, presented by Dr. Paul Gardiner.

Jamison Mercer received the Gina BlundonMemorial Scholarship, presented by AliceBlundon.

Richard Fagan, left, received the WalterDavis Award, presented by Greg Noel ofthe Newfoundland and Labrador LungAssociation.

community and to the medical profession by Dr. H.D. Roberts. It is awarded annually to thestudent(s) who have shown academic excellence in the field of pharmacology.

Stephanie Atkinson and RebeccaPowell, both of Bay Roberts, receivedJohn M. & Elsa S. Morgan Scholarships.These scholarships have been bequestedto the university by the late Dr. John M.Morgan and his wife Elsa S. Morgan.The scholarships are made on the basis ofscholarship standing and preference willbe given, where possible, from the Portde Grave District.

Jason Leung of Whitby, ON receivedthe Faculty of Medicine OpportunityFund Scholarship. This scholarship is the result of an endowment created fromseveral general donations to the Oppor-tunity Fund by various alumni andfriends of the university and in particularof the medical school. The selection isbased on academic excellence.

Amanda Parsons of Summerside, NL received the Dr. John M. DarteMemorial Award. This award was established by Mrs. J.M. Darte and Mrs.Frances Darte McCabe in memory of Dr.John M. Darte, the first professor andchair of pediatrics at Memorial. Theselection is based on academic excellenceand financial need.

Robyn LeDrew of Portugal Cove-St. Phillips received the Dr. Wulf GrobinMemorial Scholarship. This scholarshipwas established by Ida Parsons in memo-ry of Dr. Grobin, a compassionate physi-cian and humanitarian who practicedmedicine in Brooklyn, Bonavista Bayfrom 1938-43 and St. John’s from 1945-58, when he moved with his family toToronto. The selection is based on academic excellence and financial need.

Robyn LeDrew received the Dr. WulfGrobin Memorial Scholarship, present-ed by Dr. Anne Sclater, left.

Amanda Parsons, left, received the Dr.John M. Darte Memorial Award, pre-sented by Dr. June Harris.

Jason Leung received the Faculty ofMedicine Opportunity Fund Scholar-ship, presented by Dr. Tanis Adey.

Lesley Doody, left, received the MedicalPractice Associates Scholarship for sec-ond-year medical studies, presented byDr. Tanis Adey.

Colin Mercer, left, received the Dr.Peter Grant Memorial Scholarship, pre-sented by Dr. Simon Kirby.

Jessica Corbett, left, and Nicole Myers,right, received Dr. Leonard MillerAwards, presented by Dr. Shree Mulay,associate dean of Community Healthand Humanities.


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Kate Hadley, left, received the IsidorEpstein Memorial Scholarship, presentedby Dr. Adey.

Gregory Jenkins, left, received the Dr.Calvin N. Powell Bursary in Medicine,presented by Dr. Calvin Powell.

Morris & Graham Wilansky MemorialAwards were presented to Marisa Chardand Lesley Doody by John and RuthNoel, friends of the Wilansky family.From left: John Noel, Lesley Doody,Marisa Chard and Ruth Noel.

Amy Pieroway, left, received the Dr.J.H. King Memorial Scholarship inMedicine, presented by Dr. June Harris.

Richard Fagan of St. John’s received the Walter Davis Award. This award was establishedby the Newfoundland Lung Association to honour the work of Walter Davis in the field ofchest disease, particularly tuberculosis. This award is given to the student who achieves thehighest grade in the respiratory component of first-year studies.

Nicole Myers and Jamison Mercer received Surgery Prizes in Anatomy. These awards aremade available by the Discipline of Surgery and are awarded to the student(s) who obtainthe highest grade in the anatomy course.

The Ryan Family Scholarship was received by Amy Colbourne of St. John’s. This schol-arship was established by Helen Ryan in memory of family members Mary B.H., ThomasSr., Thomas Jr. and Mary. It is awarded to the student who has shown academic excellenceand financial need.

Jamison Mercer received the Gina Blundon Memorial Scholarship. This scholarship isawarded by the Avalon Health Care Institutions Board and is given to the student whoreceives the highest mark in cardiology.

Jessica Corbett of St. John’s and Nicole Myers received Dr. Leonard Miller Awards. This award was established in memory of Dr. Leonard A. Miller. It is funded by the Facultyof Medicine and the St. John’s General Hospital. It is awarded to the most outstanding student(s) in Community Health. Nicole Myers also received the Rural Community Visit Prize, provided by the Division of Community Health and Humanities, based on allessay/projects concerning the two-week rural community visit.

Second Year AwardsLesley Doody of Clarenville received the Medical Practice Associates Scholarship. This

scholarship is made available by Medical Practice Associates, the business association of full-time clinical faculty members in the Faculty of Medicine. It is awarded to the studentearning the highest grades in the second year of medical studies.

Heather O’Dea of St. John’s received the Frank and Pat Fagan Family Scholarship forAcademic Excellence and Community Leadership. This scholarship has been establishedthrough a generous donation by Frank and Pat Fagan and is awarded annually to an academically outstanding student who has completed the pre-clerkship component of theMD program and who has demonstrated a significant record of community leadership.Only residents of Newfoundland and Labrador are eligible to apply.

Colin Mercer of Saint John, NB, received the Dr. Peter Grant Memorial Scholarship.This scholarship was established through generous gifts from the classmates, friends andfamily of Dr. Peter Grant, Class of 1994, to honour his enduring spirit. This scholarship isawarded annually to a second-year medical student who has contributed greatly to the classspirit.

Erika Hansford of St. John’s received the Dr. John M. Darte Memorial Award for second-year studies. This award was established in memory of Dr. John M. Darte, the firstprofessor and chair of pediatrics at Memorial.

Scholarship awards continued from page 15

Dr. Mary E. Pedersen Scholarships inMedicine were received by (from left)David MacDonald, Lesley Doody, MarisaChard and Mark Spurrell. The presentationwas made by Dr. June Harris (centre).Renelle Butt was unavailable for the photo.

The Ryan Family Scholarship wasreceived by Amy Colbourne. It was pre-sented by Dean James Rourke and SisterPerpetua Kennedy on behalf of the Ryanfamily. This scholarship was establishedby Helen Ryan in memory of familymembers Mary B.H., Thomas Sr.,Thomas Jr. and Mary. It is awarded tothe student who has shown academicexcellence and financial need.


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Megan Armstrong of Charlottetown, PEI and Kate Hadley of Fredericton, NBreceived Dr. J.B. Roberts Memorial Scholarships. Friends and colleagues of the lateDr. J.B. Roberts established this scholarship in his memory. Selection is based onexcellence in clinical skills as determined by performance in the clinical skills course(OSCE).

Dr. Mary E. Pedersen Scholarships in Medicine were awarded to Renelle Buttof Cupids, NL, Marisa Chard of Harbour Grace, NL, Lesley Doody ofClarenville, NL, David MacDonald of Fredericton, NB, and Mark Spurrell of St.John’s. These scholarships are made possible by a generous donation from Dr. MaryE. Pedersen, Class of 1980. Selection is based on academic excellence.

Amy Pieroway of Pasadena, NL received the Dr. J.H. King MemorialScholarship in Medicine. This fund was established by Dr. King’s wife and childrenin his memory. The selection is based on academic excellence and the student mustbe a resident of western Newfoundland.

Kate Hadley of Fredericton, NB received the Isidor Epstein MemorialScholarship. This scholarship is awarded out of income derived from a bequest toMemorial University by the late Mrs. Bella Levkovitz. This scholarship is awardedto an outstanding second-year student.

Renelle Butt of Cupids, NL received a John M. & Elsa S. Morgan Scholarship.These scholarships have been bequested to the university by the late Dr. John M.Morgan and his wife Elsa S. Morgan. Selection is made on the basis of scholarshipstanding and preference is given, where possible, to students from the Port de GraveDistrict.

Gregory Jenkins of Corner Brook received the Dr. Calvin N. Powell Bursary in Medicine. This bursary was established by Dr. Calvin Powell, Class of 1982.Selection is based on academic excellence and financial need.

Marisa Chard and Lesley Doody received Morris & Graham WilanskyMemorial Awards. These awards have been established by the family and friends of Morris and Graham Wilansky, in their memory.

Krista Baker of Labrador City received the Dr. Brian Gerard Adams MemorialBursary Fund. This bursary was established by the friends and family of Dr. BrianGerard Adams, in his memory.

Karen Downton of St. John’s and Matthew Sheppard of Clarenville receivedNewfoundland and Labrador Medical Association Awards. These awards are fundedby the Newfoundland and Labrador Medical Association. Selection is based onpotential interest in the organizational aspects of the profession of medicine asdemonstrated by participation in leadership roles within the Faculty of Medicine.

Marisa Chard received the Pathology Prize. This prize was established in 1984by members of the Discipline of Laboratory Medicine in recognition of the distin-guished contributions to pathology and to medical education at MemorialUniversity by Dr. S.N. Huang, a previous chair of the discipline.

Dean James Rourke withdonors attending theAwards Ceremony. From left: Sarah Hanna,representing the Hannafamily and the first presen-tation of the Dr. Abdalla M.Hanna Memorial Bursary inMedicine; Sheila McBrideand Mrs. Elizabeth Mercer,representing the Gordon Mercer Rural Medicine Bursary; Dean James Rourke;Sister Perpetua Kennedy on behalf of the Ryan Family Scholarship; RichardFagan on behalf of the Frank and Pat Fagan Family Scholarship for academicExcellence and Community Leadership; and Andrea Adams, on behalf of theDr. Brian Gerard Adams Memorial Bursary Fund.

Dean James Rourke with medical students on theDean’s List for second-year studies. From left: DavidMacDonald, Lesley Doody, Dean Rourke, MarisaChard and Mark Spurrell. Unavailable for photo:Renelle Butt, Erika Hansford and Heather O’Dea.

Marisa Chard received the PathologyPrize, presented by Dr. Tanis Adey.

Dean James Rourke with medical students onthe Dean’s List for first-year studies. From left:Jason Leung, Jamison Mercer, Robyn LeDrew,Dean Rourke, Amanda Parsons, Nicole Myersand Richard Fagan. Unavailable for photo:Jonathan Duplisea and Ian MacPherson.

Karen Downton, left, and MatthewSheppard, right, receivedNewfoundland and Labrador MedicalAssociation Awards, presented by Dr.Sandra Luscombe.

MUNMEDNews

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Dr. Susan Avery ofStephenville, left,received the fourth-

year Medical PracticeAssociates (MPA) Scholarshipfor 2009. The presentationwas made by Dr. Kara Laing,right, at the Graduation 2009Awards Presentation May 28,2009.

MPA is the business associ-ation of all full-time clinical

faculty members in the Faculty of Medicine. The association offersthree prestigious undergraduate scholarships annually. These scholar-ships are valued at $1,500 in Year 1 and Year 2 of medical studies and$2,000 in Year 4. They are awarded to the student earning the highestoverall grades in each of the first, second and fourth years of under-graduate medical studies. The fourth-year student who is awarded thisscholarship is also the recipient of the University Medal for AcademicExcellence.

The MPA Scholarships are awarded by the Senate Committee onUndergraduate Scholarships and Financial Aid on the recommenda-tion of the Dean of Medicine's Advisory Committee on Awards,Bursaries and Scholarships.

MPA Scholarship winner

Many faculty, staff and students have fond memories ofDr. Des Robb, professor and chair of the Discipline ofLaboratory Medicine, who passed away in December

2004. He was greatly respected as a researcher, teacher and run-ner with the local Nautilus running club. He embodied the phi-losophy of the founders of our medical school – that teachingand research are integral components and that collaborativeresearch between basic scientists and clinicians is essential in ourcombined efforts to understand and treat incurable diseases. Hespent many hours in the Health Sciences Library and in hismemory an area of the library has been dedicated to him.

In 2005 a calendar was produced to raise funds for a graduateaward in his name. Dr. Robb himself and his graduate students,Nicole White and Patti McCarthy, had conceived the idea of acalendar to raise funds for research in 2004. After his death Patticontinued to work on the project and provided the inspirationand vision for the calendar “Life. Plain. Simple.” This projectprovided the starting point for a fund in Dr. Robb’s memory that

will support an award for graduate students involved in researchon ovarian and breast cancer at Memorial University.

While the calendar project did not provide the expectedreturn to completely fund the graduate research award, fundshave continued to accumulate from a small but generous groupof donors. “We are almost at $3,000 now and we hope to beable to reach the level of $10,000 in 2010 so that we can endowthis research award in memory of Dr. Robb,” said Dr. PennyMoody-Corbett, associate dean of Research and Graduate Studies(Medicine).

This is a very special fundraising appeal and we are asking allfaculty and staff who knew Des Robb to make a personal contri-bution in his memory. Every donation counts and will make adifference towards reaching this goal. Donations can be madeonline at www.med.mun.ca/donate or a pledge form can beobtained by contacting the Development office 777-8289 [email protected].

Special fundraising appeal

Dr. Des Robb Graduate Award in Medicine

Sean Doherty, a third-year medical student from Iqualuit,Nunavut, is the recipient of this year’s Gina BlundonMemorial Bursary. The cheque for $500 was presented toSean by Dr. James Rourke, dean of Medicine. Also attendingthe presentation were Lisa Heale, left, an occupational thera-py consultant who sits on the board that decides the recipientof the bursary; and Dr. John Martin, right, a member of theClass of 2004.


Gina Blundon Memorial Bursary

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ACOA funding supports development ofNewfoundland Genealogical Toolkit

The Newfoundland Genealogical Toolkit, a state-of-the-art information technology platform, hasreceived $1.8 million in a second round of funding

from the Atlantic Canada Opportunity Agency AtlanticInnovation Fund (ACOA-AIF).

The funding is for the Population Therapeutics ResearchGroup (PTRG), a not-for-profit research team within theFaculty of Medicine. Led by Dr. Proton Rahman, professorof medicine (rheumatology), PTRG conducts and supportsgenetic research in the province’s population. PTRG’sresearch aims to determine genetic association to diseaseand undesirable drug reactions to ensure drug effectiveness,optimize drug dosage decisions, and enhance drug therapy.

The population of Newfoundland and Labrador largelydescends from Irish and English immigrants, making it rela-tively homogeneous. This founder population is internation-ally recognized as an ideal resource for genetic studies onthe identification of genes implicated in common diseases and research on drug effectiveness and adverse reactions. Findings from studies carried out in the provincecan often be generalized to the Caucasian populationworldwide.

The NewfoundlandGenealogical Toolkit supportsPTRG’s work in three key areas.

“Through the generation ofextended pedigrees PTRG is ableto conduct world-class studies onthe genetic contribution to dis-ease, drug efficacy and adverseevents,” explained CatherineStreet, project manager. “Thetoolkit will link a detailed, existingNewfoundland GenealogicalDatabase (created in Phase I ofthis project) to informationregarding family structure, diseasestatus, drug exposure and clinicaloutcomes.”

“This continued funding willalso allow us to manage large datasets,” said Mitch Sturge, systemsadministrator. “PTRG is current-ly able to store 11 tera bytes ofdata and through the developmentof parallel computational softwarethat allows genetic analysis overmultiple servers simultaneously

significantly reduce computation time for complex geneticanalysis from months to days.”

“The ACOA-AIF funding will also help in the develop-ment of genetic analysis tools,” said Mohammed Uddin,genetic analyst. “PTRG’s enhanced computational abilitiesenables the development and testing of novel genetic analy-sis tools, for example new genetic association methods usingCopy Number Variation.”

Dr. Rahman said through the development of these keyareas of work the toolkit will provide support for new genediscoveries linked to diseases, genetic causes for adversedrug reactions (ADRs), pharmacogenetic (drug-geneticinteractions) studies and personalized medicine.

“The project will create research contracts, supportgenetic research activities at the new $30 million GeneticsResearch Centre at Memorial and attract private partners tocommercialize genetic tests and medical interventions.”

For further information on this project please contactCatherine Street at [email protected] or (709)777-7282.

The PTRG team (front, from left): Dr. Proton Rahman, Catherine Street, project manager; PaulineHead, administrative assistant; and Astrid Perrot-Daley, informatics lead. Middle, from left: Dr. RoyWest, research consultant, Beatrice Pittman, database administrator; Renee Simmons, research assistant;and Mitch Sturge, systems administrator. Back, from left: Dr. Daryl Pullman, privacy and ethics con-sultant; Mohammed Uddin, genetic analyst; and Li Wang, programmer consultant. The team alsoworks in partnership with Dr. Sean Cadigan, History; Alton Hollett, assistant deputy minister offinance and his team in the Newfoundland and Labrador Statistics Agency; and archivists from thelocal churches.



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Cox Award winner studyingobstetric outcomes

With the help of a $30,000 Cox Award fromthe Medical Research Fund (MRF), Dr. KrisAubrey-Bassler is undertaking a study that

will shed light on obstetrical services for women in ruralareas of the country. As a member of the PrimaryHealthcare Research Group (PHRU), Dr. Aubrey-Bassler’s research is looking for results that have clinicalrelevance.

“The information collected from this study willallow women, particularly from rural areas, to be betterinformed when choosing the delivery location mostsuited to their needs. For example, we will provideinformation on the level of risk (if any) to a womanthat chooses the convenience of delivering at a localhospital with a lower level of services rather than travelto a more highly specialized hospital. This informationwill also help policy makers to determine the mostappropriate level of care to offer at rural hospitals.”

Dr. Aubrey-Bassler explained that women from ruralareas where obstetrical deliveries are not performedoften face long travel times to reach ahospital that does offer these services.“Where obstetrical programs do existin rural areas, local volumes usuallydon’t allow a full range of servicessuch as those that are offered in largeurban centres."

The researcher said that previousresearch suggests that neonatal mor-tality, hospital charges, and the risk ofan abnormal neonate are all greaterfor women with poor access to care attheir home hospital, even thoughthose women are usually travelling todeliver at high volume, specializedcentres.

“In determining the obstetricaloutcomes for rural women, it appearsas though proximity to care is moreimportant than the level of service

offered. Despite this, obstetrical programs in smallrural hospitals are closing –we estimate that 25,000Canadian women per year must travel away from theirhome communities to deliver their babies, often at greatinconvenience and expense.”

The study will look at the outcomes for women andtheir babies from all regions of the country, rangingfrom those with no services to the most highly special-ized centres. “We are primarily interested in comparingthe outcomes for women from areas with no services tothose from similar areas with higher levels of service,”said Dr. Aubrey-Bassler. “From this information, wehope to help clarify the optimal level of servicesrequired at rural hospitals.”

Dr. Kris Aubrey-Bassler


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Diabetes research moves forward

Diabetes research in the Faculty of Medicine isadvancing thanks to a $30,000 Cox Award fromthe Faculty of Medicine’s Medical Research Fund

(MRF). Dr. Leigh Anne Newhook, Pediatrics, has teamedup with co-investigators Dr. Don MacDonald and KaylaCollins from the Newfoundland and Labrador Centre for Health Information (NLCHI) to conduct a uniquestudy using clinical and administrative data on childhooddiabetes.

“The findings from this study could have a directimpact on understanding the environmental risk factorsof childhood diabetes, health practice, health care plan-ning and future research initiatives,” said Dr. Newhook.

The study is looking at maternal and neonatal risk factors for type 1 diabetes mellitus among children agedfrom birth to 15 years in Newfoundland and Labrador.“This is a case-control retrospective study,” explained Dr.MacDonald. “We will study and compare potential riskfactors in children who have diabetes compared to chil-dren of the same age and sex who do not have diabetes.”

Rates of childhood type 1 insulin-dependent diabetesare steadily increasing in many parts of the world.Newfoundland and Labrador has the highest incidence ofchildhood diabetes in North America and the third high-est in the world. Children withinsulin dependent diabetes must takeseveral needles every day or use aninsulin pump to survive. There aremany complications of this diseaseincluding seizures from low bloodsugar, acidosis from high blood sug-ars, and long-term damage to theeyes, blood vessels, and kidneys whichcan lead to blindness, kidney failure,nerve damage and heart disease.

Although certain genes are neces-sary for a child to develop diabetes,the cause of this disease is unknown.“Evidence derived from research inthis area points toward an increasedeffect of unknown environmental fac-tors which may be triggering theonset of the disease,” said Dr.Newhook.

“We will look at risk factors including themother’s age, method of the baby’s delivery, pregnancy-related diabetes and other complications of pregnancy aswell as marital status and education. Infant risk factors ofinterest include birth order, prematurity or full-termbirth, complications at birth and birth weight.”

Cases of diabetes will be identified using theNewfoundland and Labrador Diabetes Database (NLDD)for childhood diabetes, maintained by the JanewayPediatric Diabetes Research Team. This database containsdata on all cases of type 1 insulin dependent diabetes inchildren diagnosed from 1987 to present.

The Live Birth System, an administrative databasemaintained by NLCHI and containing data on all livebirths in Newfoundland and Labrador from 1992 to pres-ent, will be used to obtain demographic data and clinicalfactors related to the risk factors of interest related to thepregnancy and birth. Ethics approval for this study hasbeen obtained and the team hopes to have the study com-pleted in about a year. Dr. MacDonald said the CoxAward was an important catalyst in moving this researchforward.

From left: Kayla Collins, Dr. Leigh Anne Newhook, Dr. Don MacDonald andJackie Fiander.

MUNMEDNews

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Bringing science alive on the Great Northern Peninsula

But the experience of hisrural placement openedhis eyes to the need forextra-curricular activitiesfor the children in thetown. “When we talked tohigh school students therethey had little interest inthe medical sciences,” hesaid. “I just don’t thinkthey recognized how funand rewarding sciencecould be.”

Matt said he felt so welcome in the communityduring his placement that he thought organizing ascience camp during the summer would be an excel-lent way of giving something back.

With the aid of the Let’s Talk Science programand the Roddickton-Bide Arm recreation committee,Matt and his girlfriend Susan Pilgrim, a MUN biochemistry graduate now studying dentistry atDalhousie, returned in mid-August and put off athree-day science camp. The cost was only $20 foreach of the 22 young participants, and no one wasturned away for lack of money.

The camp was an unqualified success, andMatthew is already planning to put the program onagain next year.

Dr. Pauline Duke, Discipline of Family Medicine,was Matthew’s preceptor for the rural visit and she is delighted that he returned to the area to offer the science camp. “Matthew and Susan did this as volunteers and organized it all with the help of therecreation committee there. This shows how our stu-dents can be a resource to the wider community andbe advocates for children when they see the broadercontext of health and broader health needs such aseducation.”

Squid dissection wasanother activity at thescience camp inRoddickton-Bide Armorganized by medicalstudent Matthew Ryan.

W hen Matthew Ryan, now a second-yearmedical student, was assigned to theWhite Bay Central Health Centre for

his two-week rural visit during first-year studies, hedidn’t expect he’d be returning to Roddickton-BideArm in August.

Let ‘er rip! Science camp instructor Matthew Ryan gets doused with water asa two-litre pop bottle half-filled with water is launched into the air. Bypumping air into the bottle to 75 pounds per square inch, the bottle becamean airborne rocket.



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BOOKS

Perspectives on NO in Physiology and PathologyEdited by Vernon J. Richardson and Alan V. Wallace

Only 20 years ago nitric oxide, the smallest biologically pro-duced molecule, was discovered to regulate vascular tone andblood pressure. At the time this was considered almost unbe-lievable and yet since then this molecule has been implicatedin a wide range of other physiological and disease processes.The initial discovery of nitric oxide as a signalling moleculein cardiovascular tissues was rewarded in 1998 when Dr.Robert F. Furchgott, Dr. Louis J. Ignarro and Dr. FeridMurad were all awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology andMedicine.

Perspectives on NO in Physiology and Pathology is a compi-lation of reviews in selected areas of medicine which extol thevirtues and vices that nitric oxide plays in the physiology ofhealthy and diseased tissues. Many examples of this smallmolecule are given regulating such things as cardiovascularphysiology, respiratory physiology, brain and neurophysiolo-gy, bone and joint physiology, physiology of pain and cancercell survival. In the introductory chapter the enzymes thatproduce nitric oxide and selective inhibitors are reviewed aspossible regulators of nitric oxide production in diseases thatover produce this molecule.

Dr. Vernon Richardson, Faculty of Medicine, and his co-editor, Dr. Alan Wallace, from Astra Zeneca, UK, have

gathered together a group of some of the world leading scientists in the nitric oxide field. They have produced a book that has been designed to introduce and inform scientists and physicians at all levels of the current statusof knowledge in this area.

Perspectives on NO in Physiology and Pathology was published by Trans World Research Network in 2009.


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Dr. Donald McKay hasbeen appointed to the newposition of assistant dean ofGraduate Studies(Medicine) within theResearch and GraduateStudies Office. The cre-ation of the assistant deanposition will allow Dr.Penny Moody-Corbett,associate dean of Research

and Graduate Studies (Medicine) to concentrate more on theresearch side of the office’s responsibilities.

Essentially Dr. McKay will serve as the graduate studies officefor the Faculty of Medicine. He takes on the position at a chal-lenging time, just as Memorial’s School of Graduate Studies isputting a hold on some financial support programs for incominggraduate students, also reducing the baseline student funding itprovides to academic units by 10 per cent and not making anynew commitments to students.

“Graduate Studies is one of four main academic programs inthe Faculty of Medicine along with undergraduate medical educa-tion, postgraduate medical education and continuingmedical/professional development,” he said.

Dr. McKay noted that the number of graduate students in the Faculty of Medicine is growing and there are almost as manygraduate students as there are undergraduate medical students –about 230.

“There are medical students, postgraduate residents, graduatestudies and the huge number of doctors in the province takingcourses in professional development on an ongoing basis.”

Dr. McKay is familiar with the work of the Office of Researchand Graduate Studies (Medicine), having filled in as associatedean in 2007-2008 during Dr. Moody-Corbett’s sabbatical. “I’vealways had a number of administrative roles in the Faculty ofMedicine, including serving as pre-clerkship co-ordinator for anumber of years and often as a course or subject chair. I enjoy thistype of work.”

Dr. McKay’s new position of assistant dean of GraduateStudies, plus the appointment of Robert Trask as research officer(see accompanying story) brings to five the number of Researchand Graduate Studies staff located in the Health Sciences Centre.

“The Office of Research and Graduate Studies handles gradu-ate admissions, course administration, theses, graduate studentfinances, awards and more as well as dealing with many adminis-trative aspects of research. The work load in the office is consider-able, with ever-changing responsibilities. Working with staff whoare dedicated to serving graduate students is one of the bestaspects of the job.”

Dr. McKay received his PhD from Michigan State Universityin animal sciences and came to Memorial in 1981 as a post-doc-toral fellow with the late Dr. Keith Brown-Grant, an expert in thefield of neuro-endocrinology.

Office of Research and GraduateStudies expands

New leadership

Dr. Don McKay

Research officer appointedRobert Trask has been hiredas the research officer for theOffice of Research andGraduate Studies (Medicine).In this new position he willassist in all administrativework concerning research.This primarily involvesresearch grants and clinicaltrial contracts within theFaculty of Medicine.

“Many granting organiza-

tions require institutional approval,” he explained. “I’ve beenbrought on to streamline this process by reviewing the grants andmaking recommendations to the associate dean of Research andGraduate Studies, Dr. Penny Moody-Corbett.”

Mr. Trask said the work is challenging at times because eachcompetition is different. “I review each application thoroughly anddiscuss any issues directly with the principal applicant. It all comesdown to increasing the number of people getting research funding– we want to grow the research within the Faculty of Medicine.”

As Mr. Trask becomes better known among faculty members inhis job as research officer, he anticipates he will also act as a grantfacilitator, helping researchers to gear their applications to the

Robert Trask Research officer continued on bottom of next page


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Dr. Darrell Boone(Class of 1985) is thenew chair of theDiscipline of Surgery,taking over from Dr.William Pollett whoserved as chair for thelast decade.

Dr. Boone’s researchinterests are in traumaand surgical education,and he is an experienced

advocate of training medical students, residents and alliedhealth professionals utilizing a human patient simulator environment.

“Memorial has always had strong clinical education, andwe will be increasingly moving into a simulated skills environ-ment for medical education,” he said. “So by the time stu-dents are given the opportunity to assess and perform proce-dures on actual patients their competencies are already devel-oped in a safe, simulated environment.”

The expansion of the medical education program includesa new Surgical Skills Training Centre in the new building.“This new laboratory will allow us to integrate technical skills training, such as trauma airway management, into thecurriculum on a more regular basis. It allows us to teach andevaluate simple skills acquisition for junior trainees such assuturing and removal of lesions, as well as opening up oppor-tunities for increased postgraduate training in advancedlaparoscopic skills.”

Dr. Boone said that surgical teaching has traditionallybeen something of a by-product of clinical activities, withskills acquired by assisting at actual procedures. “As we moveinto a simulated skills environment, surgical skills teaching isable to be distributed throughout the curriculum. “

Another aspect of school expansion and the new medicalcurriculum that will affect surgical teaching is the potential

increased emphasis on more small group teaching. “This cer-tainly means we will need more faculty, not just in surgerybut in all disciplines. As we become more focused on commu-nity core rotation teaching outside of St. John’s, we clearlyneed to recruit more surgeons to meet these challenges.”

Dr. Boone said that advanced communications will also berequired to assist in distributed learning. “Education areaswill need to be hooked up for video-conferencing so a studentin a rural community rotation practicing the skills curriculumcan be mentored by a surgeon in St. John’s who can evaluatethe student’s performance while rural surgical preceptorsshould be able to participate in reverse fashion. ”

Dr. Boone said it requires a group effort to develop thenew curriculum tools. “Over the last year or so some of us, assurgeons, have been working in larger groups with anesthesiaand critical care in an effort to develop a simulation curricu-lum that teaches teamwork and patient management skills, all important components of the CanMeds competencies.”

After completing his MD at Memorial in 1985, Dr.Boone did a rotating internship at the Ottawa Civic Hospital,then travelled to Zambia where he served as medical officer atthe Chikankata Hospital from 1986-1987. He returned toMemorial in 1987 a general surgery resident, with electiveexperience at the University Teaching Hospital in Lusaka,Zambia in 1990. He did a Trauma Fellowship at theUniversity of Pittsburgh Medical Center in 1992-1993, followed by a Fellowship in Critical Care at that universityfrom 1993-1994. In 1995 he was a volunteer general surgeonand lecturer in general surgery at Umtata, Transkei, Republicof South Africa and a volunteer general surgeon at VieuxFort, St. Lucia.

Dr. Boone returned to the Faculty of Medicine in 1995and has been a faculty member in the Discipline of Surgerysince then, serving as surgery clerkship co-ordinator, generalsurgery residency program director and most recently, asclerkship committee and promotions committee chair.

Simulation resources importantto surgical teaching

New leadership

Dr. Darrell Boone

mandate of the relevant granting agency.Clinical trial contracts are similar to grants in that they

require institutional approval. Mr. Trask reviews each contractto make sure the Faculty of Medicine interests are being served,before sign-off by the associate dean of Research and GraduateStudies.

Before joining the Office of Research and Graduate studies,Mr. Trask worked with the School of Pharmacy as a researchassistant for Dr. John Weber. Mr. Trask is a graduate ofMemorial University having obtained a M.Sc. in medicine(neuroscience) under the supervision of Dr. Michiru Hirasawa,following a B.Sc.(Biology).

Research officer continued from previous page

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Dr. Colleen O’Brien is a specialistin adolescent medicine who isenthused about returning toMemorial as a faculty member. Sheearned her MD in 2003, followedby a residency in pediatrics at

Memorial and then a fellowship in adolescent medicine atMcGill University from 2007-2009.

“I’m working with a great team at the Janeway,” said Dr.O’Brien. “I particularly enjoy teaching.”

Dr. O’Brien’s research interest are in the cardiac consequencesof anorexia nervosa in adolescence and dysfunctional uterinebleeding in adolescence. She is accepted to the diploma programin clinical epidemiology and will hone her research skills throughthis program.

Before medical school, Dr. O’Brien did a BA(English) andhopes to return to writing her own poetry.

Dr. Joanne Hickey is a hematolo-gist with the Discipline ofMedicine. She earned her MD atMemorial in 2003 and did herpostgraduate residency training ininternal medicine at Memorial.

From 2006-2008 she continued residency training in hema-tology at the University of Ottawa and the Ottawa Hospital, andfrom 2008-2009 she held a clinical fellowship in bone marrowtransplantation/lymphoma at the Ottawa Hospital.

Dr. Hickey said her research interests are mainly in medicaleducation and she is studying by distance with the MedicalEducation Program at the University of Dundee in Scotland.

In addition to clinical work and teaching, Dr. Hickey is anactive member of Eastern Health’s Peripheral Blood Stem CellTransplant Program.

Dr. Joanne Hickey Discipline of Medicine

New faculty

Dr. Colleen O’BrienDiscipline of Pediatrics

In his role as assistant professor ofhealth ethics in the Division ofCommunity Health andHumanities, Faculty of Medicine,Dr. Chris Kaposy will be teachingin the ethics curriculum for med-

ical students. He is also a clinical ethicist with Eastern Health,which involves ethics consultation service for the wholeprovince.

Dr. Kaposy describes himself as having a curious mind thathas led him into involvement in a number of health care ethicsissues.

“One longstanding research interest of mine is in ethical andpolicy issues in abortion care,” he explained. “I also have aninterest in the field of neuroethics – which is the study of ethicalissues that arise as a result of advances in neuroscience, psychia-try, or in technologies used to treat or enhance the brain.”

Recently Dr. Kaposy has become immersed in the ethics ofvaccine research and vaccination programs. “In particular I havebeen studying the ethical risks associated with refusing to con-duct vaccine research with pregnant women. I’ve also beenstudying how vaccine manufacturers’ fear of liability inhibitssuch research, and strategies for overcoming the fear of liability.”

Dr. Kaposy is also interested in disability theory and disabilityrights – particularly as they relate to cognitive disability.

Dr. Kaposy has an undergraduate degree in philosophy with aminor in German from McMaster University, an MA in philoso-phy from Concordia in Montreal, and a PhD in philosophyfrom the State University of New York at Stony Brook. His PhDin bioethics focused on the care of infants and society’s obliga-tions towards infants from an ethical perspective. He then did apostdoctoral fellowship in the ethics of health research and poli-cy at Dalhousie University and taught in the DalhousieDepartment of Philosophy for a year before joining the Facultyof Medicine at Memorial.

Dr. Chris KaposyAssistant professorof Health Ethics


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Division of Community Healthand Humanities Dr. JamesValcour knows what it meanswhen a “boil water” order isissued. He is an expert onGiardia, commonly known as“beaver fever.”

As a new member of the Division of Community Healthand Humanities in the Faculty of Medicine, Dr. Valcourbrings expertise on infectious diseases and climate change.

When it comes to Giardia, he explained that “this water-borne parasite is not easily filtered out of water by chlorina-tion.” The result is that municipalities have to either use spe-cial filters or issue a boil water order.

Dr. Valcour has a B.Sc.(microbiology) from the Universityof Guelph and a M.Sc. from Guelph’s Veterinary College. Hethen worked at the Atlantic Veterinary College in PrinceEdward Island before returning to the Ontario VeterinarianCollege for his PhD.

“My dissertation looked at the association between climate,agriculture and enteric disease in New Brunswick,” he said. “Itwas part of a larger project examining climate change andwater-borne disease.”

Dr. Valcour said that temperature is linked to disease andsnow melt is associated with an increase in Giardia.

At Memorial, Dr. Valcour will continue to study climatechange and infectious diseases. He is particularly interested inthe health needs of the Labrador Métis community.

Dr. James ValcourAssistant professorof epidemiology

New faculty

Dr. Katherine Stringer is an interna-tional medical graduate who hascome to call Newfoundland home.Born and raised in South Africa, shegraduated from University of CapeTown Medical School in South Africain 1994 and did her internship at

Victoria Hospital, Cape Town in 1995.Dr. Stringer worked as a family physician in both rural and

urban settings in South Africa before moving with her family toNewfoundland in 2002. She holds three diplomas from the Collegeof Medicine of South Africa – Child Health (1998), Obstetrics(1998) and Mental Health (2001).

With husband Michael Stringer and daughters Lauren, now 10,and Ashley, age eight, Dr. Stringer moved to Gander in 2002 andworked at the Gander Medical Clinic from 2002-2004, earning herLMCC in 2003 and CCFP in 2004.

The Stringer family moved to St John's in 2004 and Dr.Stringer developed a community-based family practice first at theTorbay Medical Clinic and then at the Elizabeth Ave FamilyPractice.

She was recently appointed to a geographical full-time positionin the Discipline of Family Medicine, clinically based at the RossFamily Medicine Centre and the Veterans Pavilion at the MillerCentre.

Dr. Stringer’s clinical areas of interest within Family Medicineinclude elderly care and the development of the interprofessionalteam approach to enhance elderly care.

“As a family we love to be active and particularly enjoy outdoorsports,” she said. “We thoroughly enjoy everything thatNewfoundland has to offer from busy downtown St. John's to thequiet of the country.”

Dr. Katherine StringerDiscipline of Family Medicine


If you have received a paper copy of this issue of MUNMED NEWS, please let us know if you would prefer to receive the magazineas a PDF. Each issue of the magazine that is printed costs money both for printing and mailing. We are happy to continue sendingpaper copies to all who are interested, but if you want to go paperless please email:[email protected] you have ideas for stories you would like to see in MUNMED? Contributions are welcome either by e-mail or regular mail at:MUNMED NEWSH1758D, Health Sciences CentreFaculty of MedicineMemorial University of Newfoundland, St. John's, NL CANADA A1B 3V6And don’t forget to visit the Faculty of Medicine website at www.med.mun.ca

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The Faculty of Medicine Founders’ Archive celebrated its 10th anniversary instyle Nov. 6 with a full day of talks and presentations. Examining the ArchivalFootprint: The Past and Future of Archives in Newfoundland and Labradorwas held in collaboration with the Association of Newfoundland and LabradorArchives (ANLA).

Founders’ Archive celebrates 10th anniversary

A highlight of the day was the noon presentation by theHon. Dr. Max House, professor emeritus and honorary researchprofessor. He spoke on The story of Telemedicine in Newfound-land and Labrador: where do we go from here?

Dr. House described the development of telemedicine fromthe time prior to the establishment of the medical school whenhe was associate director for Continuing Medical Education inthe province. In 1975, with the use of the Hermes Satellite, two-way audio and one way video became possible. “Our projectguidelines were that all activities were to be based on a legitimateneed and that the simplest, least expensive technology was to beused to meet the need,” said Dr. House.

Archivists Stephanie Harlick and Jenny Seeman, Founders’Archive, were pleased with the turnout for the busy day. “Thevaried agenda during the day was intended to promote the useof archives, show what archives have to offer and showcasearchival institutions in the province, many of which are celebrat-ing milestone anniversaries this year,” said Ms. Harlick.

The first presentation of the day was akeynote address by Dr. Daniel Caron, librarianand archivist of Canada, who gave a nationalperspective on archival work in the 21st centu-ry. During the second morning session, provin-cial archivist Greg Walsh talked about theProvincial Archives at The Rooms and howNewfoundland and Labrador has made a boldstep in uniting art, artifacts and archival recordsunder one roof. Aimee Chaulk, archivist forThem Days Labrador Archives, spoke at thelocal level about the steps being taken at herarchive to modernize and make use of 21st cen-tury technology to bring the past to life.

Poster displays were created for the anniver-sary day by some of ANLA’s member institu-tions. Some of the displays included reproduc-tions of original archival materials, such as theMaritime History Archive’s crew list from theSS Caribou, and a photographic display of the

Newfoundland Tuberculosis Association’s fight against TB, fromthe Health Archives and Museum of Newfoundland andLabrador.

The afternoon session, chaired by Bert Riggs, featured a pres-entation by Dr. David Pike, a math professor and genealogist.Dr. Pike spoke from the perspective of a user of archives and wasable to really convey the thrill the researcher experiences whendiscovering what unique treasures can be found in archivalrepositories all over the world. Colleen Quigley, a recent gradu-ate of the Library and Archives Master’s program in InformationStudies (archives stream) at the University of Toronto, thentalked about the challenges of archiving dance. This unusualtopic, posing the question of how intangible art and culture canbe authentically recorded and maintained over time, was an veryentertaining look at some of the new directions and ideas inarchives and archiving today. Jessie Chisholm concluded the session by giving a presentation on 19th Century Governmentrecords. She was able to demonstrate that the materials in an


From left: Dr. John Martin, Dr. Max House, Stephanie Harlick and Jenny Seeman.


www.med.mun.ca

archive always have a story to tell, whether it be the detailed recipes formeals provided at a hospital, or the petition from a man looking for agovernment job, who had gathered 1,000 names in support of hisapplication.

The final session of the day was a round table discussion examiningthe future of archives in the province of Newfoundland and Labrador.In keeping with the topic, the panelists (Aimee Chaulk, JennySeeman, Theresa Walsh, Colleen Quigley and George French) werechosen to represent the next generation of archivists, and each talkedabout their current work situation and their thoughts on the directionof the archival profession. The discussion was enlivened by pertinentquestions from the floor and covered such topics as access and privacy,copyright, digitization and space issues. “The notion of the story thatcan be told by records in archives, wherever they may be found, was aconstant theme of the discussion, and truly brought home the contin-uing vitality of the work of archivists in the province and worldwide,”said Ms. Seeman.

A new exhibit is now on display in the Main Foyer of the HealthSciences Centre. The collection of I’m Getting Well cards byretired faculty member Dr. Brian Payton, featuring 15th and16th century images of anatomy, is a humorous take on thenotion of Get Well cards and is intended to be sent by thepatient to family and friends at home. Originally published inDr. Payton’s History of Medicine at MUN Medical School,1969-1988, which is available in the Health Sciences Library’sHistorical Collection and in the Founders’ Archive, the cardshave been kindly reprinted by Dr. Payton for the exhibit.

Archivists Stephanie Harlick (left) and Jenny Seeman with Dr. Brian Payton.

New archive exhibit of Getting Well cards

Newsletters of the Newfoundland and Labrador LungAssociation, 1943-1947, 1949-1986The Founders’ Archive partnered with the Health Archivesand Museum of Newfoundland and Labrador (HAMNL)to digitize two newsletters of the Newfoundland andLabrador Lung Association. Kayla Matthews, MUCEPstudent, scanned The Happy Warrior (1943-1947) and theNorthern Light (1949-1986), which are now availableonline through the Digital Archives Initiative (DAI):http://collections.mun.ca/.

The newsletters begin with the fight against tuberculo-sis in the province. Ted Meaney, the creator of the newslet-ters, went on to become the first full time secretary of theNewfoundland Tuberculosis Association. Himself a tuber-culosis survivor, he became very active in raising publicawareness about the transmission of the disease. Overtime, the focus of the Lung Association changes, withmore of an emphasis on other respiratory diseases.Throughout the 1970s and 1980s, the campaign againstsmoking intensifies, and articles educate readers on theeffects of second hand smoke, and how to quit smoking.In this way, the newsletters provide an interesting view ofthe province’s medical history from a sociological perspec-tive and are a fascinating read for anyone with an interestin Newfoundland and Labrador’s health history.

Newfoundland and Labrador Medical AssociationPublications, 1958-2008Newfoundland and Labrador Medical Association publica-tions (1958-2008) are now scanned and available onlinethrough Memorial University’s Digital Archives Initiative(DAI): http://collections.mun.ca/. This two-year projectwas completed, in part, with financial support from theNLMA. Their newsletter was and still is a means both toconnect all the physicians and surgeons in Newfoundlandand Labrador and to inform upon happenings in the med-ical profession throughout the province.

The Newfoundland Medical Association Newsletterwas first published in September 1958, continuing untilNovember 1977. The name was changed toNewfoundland Medical Association Journal in February1978, ceasing publication in August 1980. The name waschanged to NMA Communiqué in March 1987, ceasingpublication in November 1992. In 1993, theNewfoundland Medical Association changed its own nameto the Newfoundland and Labrador Medical Association(NLMA) and therefore renamed their newsletter NLMACommuniqué in March 1993, ceasing publication in thespring of 2000. The name was changed to Nexus in thesummer of 2000, which continues today.

Faculty of MedicineFounders’ Archive digitization projects

This symposium was supported by the government of Canada through Libraryand Archives Canada, the government of Newfoundland and Labrador, CarrMcLean, and the Association of Newfoundland and Labrador Archives.


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In Memory

Jacqueline Harvey, who worked in the Discipline ofFamily Medicine for about 20 years prior to her illness,passed peacefully away surrounded by her family at theLeonard A. Miller Center on Nov. 19, 2009, age 61years. Left with loving memories are her daughter DawnGulliver (Danny); special grandchildren: Liam andLauren; Dawn’s father Wayne (Frances); brothers: Cliff(Ella), Bob (Shirley), Bill (Kay), and Bruce (Sylvia); sisterEliza (Lloyd); a large number of nieces and nephews anda large circle of friends.

Dr. Lionel David Kelland, Class of 1975, passed peace-fully away at his home in Grand Falls-Windsor on Jan.31, 2010, aged 58 years. Leaving to mourn his wife andbest friend Linda; daughters Kathryn (Ed Howell) andJill (Mark Kelly); precious granddaughters Avery,Camryn and Lesley; brother Charles and sisters Sharon,Rosalie and Judy and their families; sister-in-law MarilynSheppard and brothers-in-law Oscar Howell and TedHowell and their families; and a large circle of extendedfamily, friends, colleagues and patients.

Dr. Tony Lordon, Class of 1985, passed away peacefullyat the Saint John Regional Hospital Palliative Care unitwith his family at his side on Oct. 8, 2009, age 49 years.He is survived by his wife, Nancy, and his three childrenKatherine “Katie” (Joey Thompson); Leah andBenjamin; one sister, Katherine Ann Burnett (SeanHoward); as well as an extended family. He was a familydoctor in Saint John, NB, from 1987 to 2008. Dr. Tonyloved his seniors, his pediatric and chronically ill patients.Anyone who knew him knew he was passionate about hismedical practice. His favourite words of advice to hischildren were: “It’s okay to fail but far less acceptable toquit” and “Your words have to mean something … aman without integrity has nothing.”

Dr. Kerry Telford Morrissey and Sarah Grace MorrisseyDr. Kerry Telford Morrissey, who did her residency atMemorial, and her six month old daughter, Sarah, werekilled in a float plane crash in B.C. on Nov. 26, 2009.

Kerry was an integral part of the South CommunityBirth Program (SCBP) since she joined the team in2005. She fully embraced the inter-disciplinary model,where midwives and family physicians share patient careand work closely and collaboratively with nurses and

doulas to provide comprehensive care to pregnant womenand their families.

Kerry graduated from the UBC medical school at theage of 24 and completed her residency in FamilyMedicine at Memorial University. She spent the next fiveyears in Yellowknife, NWT. She then worked for ninemonths in the jungle in Peru, volunteering in a small hos-pital with very few supplies and no technology, where shequickly learned Spanish. As she wrote on the SCBP web-site, “it was a life-changing and eye-opening experience.”She returned to Peru many times, where she made deepand lasting connections and felt adopted by her Peruvianfamily, whom she remained close to all these years.

In 2001, she joined the Bridge Clinic in Vancouverspecializing in the care of refugee patients. At SCBP,Kerry’s wealth of knowledge about immigrant health andtropical diseases was an incredible asset to our program.The well of her compassion and dedication to patientcare was truly bottomless.

When she married her husband, Patrick, she was over-joyed with happiness. She felt she had waited a long timeto meet a man she could consider having a life partner-ship and children with. They share a devout Christianfaith; one fully grounded in service and helping those lessfortunate. They had their first daughter, Claire, in April2007, and their second, Sarah Grace, in May 2009.

Dr. Kerry Telford Morrissey and Sarah Grace Morrissey


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Remembering Robert MowbrayBy Dr. Brian Payton

Many of us would have been greatly saddened when we heardof the death of Dr. Robert Mowbray on Boxing Day. A pro-fessor of clinical psychology, Bob Mowbray was a Scot and agraduate of Glasgow University. Following an academiccareer at Manchester, Glasgow and Melbourne Universities,he finally came to Memorial where he was one of the earlyfaculty members of the medical school. He played importantroles here including his position as associate dean of what wasthen the Discipline of Community Medicine. He was also along time chairman of the Students Admission Committee,and a deputy university orator. He served in a number ofadministrative positions including a role on the JanewayChildren’s Hospital Board.

On his retirement he and his wife Janet moved to MahoneBay in Nova Scotia where amongst other activities he enjoyedbeing a woodworker, and sailing. A keen Scottish rugby fansince his earlier years when he played for his home city of Ayrin Scotland, his retirement years had him as a frequent viewerof the many games now available on satellite TV.

Unfortunately in more recent years he developed Alzheimer’sdisease which eventually severely handicapped him.

What many of those that knew him may not have knownwas that he had written a novel based on his wartime experi-ences as a navigator in the Pathfinder Group of the Royal AirForce’s Bomber Command. He became very involved withthe development and experiments with radar as an importantaid in the navigation of aircraft, as well as its use in the iden-tification and localization of enemy aircraft. It was only afterthose times that he met, and eventually married Janet, also aScot, who served with the Women’s Auxiliary Air Force.Janet continues to live in Mahone Bay.

The title of his novel, Harness and Hatches Secure, is theterm that would be reported when the final members of theair crew had boarded the aircraft and had taken up their sta-tions prior to take off. The story describes the life of a youngNewfoundlander from a St. John’s merchant family, who, dueto his love of flying, joins the RAF at the beginning of thewar. Many of the events in the story reflect the experiences ofBob and his comrades at that time. For those that eithershared such experiences, as well as those of us that grew upduring those war years and could then identify all the manytypes of aircraft that play a role in the story, the novel cap-tures the spirit of those times. Copies of this novel are avail-able in the Queen Elizabeth Library, the Centre forNewfoundland Studies, and on the Grenfell Campus.

It is not therefore surprising that following the recommen-dation of the local 166th Royal Artillery Regiment(Newfoundland) in St. John’s to the University’s HonoraryDegree Program, that Dame Vera Lynn, the forces’ sweet-heart of those years, be made a graduand and that BobMowbray be chosen as the orator on that occasion. The textof that oration can be found among the selected orations chosen by Professor Shane O’Dea and recently published by the university.

During the period when he served as secretary to FacultyCouncil his subtle Scottish sense of humour was certainlyappreciated by many of us, and counter-balanced the per-ceived self-importance of some of the other members of thefaculty.

His son Graham and daughter Joan continue to live in St.John’s whilst one daughter, Catriona, now resides in NovaScotia and another, Anne, lives in Ontario. Donations inBob’s memory may be made to the Médecins Sans Frontières,the Salvation Army or a charity of one’s choice.

He certainly enriched my life and I am sure the lives ofmany others.

A professor of clinical psychology,

Bob Mowbray was a Scot and a

graduate of Glasgow University.

Following an academic career at

Manchester, Glasgow and

Melbourne Universities, he finally

came to Memorial where he was one

of the early faculty members of the

medical school.

Dr. Lou Fraser (Class of 1996) spent Christmas in Afghanistan, partof a two-month tour of duty. He is an anesthesiologist with theCanadian Military and was working with American, British andDutch medical specialists at the U.S. base in Kandahar.

“It was stressful but also pretty dynamic – the work was energy-charged,” said Dr. Fraser. “I wouldn’t want to characterize this as hero-ic. I just go over there and do my job. It can be intense at times. Ittouches a piece of human experience that few of us get to experience.”

Dr. Fraser was a maritime surface and sub-surface (MARS) officerfor 12 years before he started medical school. After earning his med-ical degree at Memorial, he went on for specialty training at theUniversity of Western Ontario, then rejoined the fleet in Halifax.

In Afghanistan Dr Fraser worked under the U.S. command inwhat he describes as a“modern MASH unit.”

“In that kind of settingour work is well beyondwhat you’d have in aCanadian setting – wecould see up to 10patients in the space ofhours. It was a traumareceiving centre, and allthe staff were there whenpatients arrived. I thinkwe do exceptional workthere.”

Now back in Canadain Nova Scotia, Dr. Faserwill work in the civiliansector until his next twomonth tour in a year’stime.

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In memory ofLaura HiscockBy Dolores McKeen

The Dr. Laura Hiscock Memorial Bursary in Medicine has been es-tablished and will be awarded for the first time in May 2010. Thebursary is a tribute to Laura McMahon Hiscock who died on October 26, 2005 leaving behind her husband and fellow-class-

mate, Stephen Hiscock, their four beautiful childrenand countless friends and acquaintances. Membersof the Class of ’92 responded overwhelmingly to anappeal by Dolores McKeen and Andrew Warren, rais-ing over $23,000 to create a lasting memorial to theirfriend and fellow classmate.

For those of us who knew Dr. Laura Hiscock, partic-ularly in the Class of ’92, we will always rememberLaura’s infectious laughter, positive attitude and loveof sport. As a physician and a friend she was a rolemodel for professionalism, motherhood and work–life balance. Even as Laura faced the end of her lifeshe consoled me not to be sad for her. She reassuredme that there was a positive side to her diagnosis,which would ultimately allow other family membersearly detection and preventative measures. So, inkeeping with Laura’s indomitable spirit and enthusi-asm for living life to the fullest I am happy and proudto announce the establishment of the Dr. LauraHiscock Memorial Bursary. She has touched the livesof many and I am sure her husband Stephen and theirfour children hold her memories close. May wealways live our lives to the fullest and keep a little ofLaura in our hearts!

Laura and two of Stephen andLaura’s children, Kate and Leah.

Michelle and Cameron Stephen and baby Jane

Baby newsOn November 25, 2009 Dr. Stephen Hiscock andMichelle Rinaldi Hiscock became parents of twins,Cameron Stephen (3 lb. 12 oz.) and Jane Olivia (4 lb. 3 oz.).

Alumnus spends Christmasin Afghanistan

Dr. Lou Fraser, left, with Steve, a U.S.army nurse.


The Centre for Collaborative Health Professional Education (CCHPE) has won the international DuncanNeuhauser Award for Curricular Innovation in recognition of the submission entitled Teaching CollaborationCompetencies in Clinical Training: Where the Rubber Hits the Road. The project was led by Dr. Olga Heath, acting co-director of CCHPE, in collaboration with Drs. Hubert White, David Craig and Ted Callanan of theDiscipline of Psychiatry, Patti McCarthy and staff of CCHPE. The project is part of the Interprofessional Education (IPE) framework which Memorial has developed to ensure that health professional students are trained to work together effectively.

Dr. Marshall Godwin, director of the Primary Healthcare Research Unit (PHRU)received a Certificate of Excellence from Blood Pressure Canada at the organization’sannual general meeting in Edmonton Oct. 27, 2009. Dr. Godwin was nominated bythe College of Family Physicians of Canada for this award as a result of his outstand-ing contribution in hypertension, lifestyle factors and cardiovascular disease preven-tion and management related to understanding the interplay of these factors in familypractice/primary care.

Dr. Alan Goodridge, professor of medicine (neurology) will be awarded a 2010Certificate of Merit Award from the Canadian Association of Medical Education(CAME) for his contributions to medical education at Memorial University. Alongwith 36 other individuals at Canadian medical schools he will be recognized at theupcoming CAME Annual General Meeting, held in conjunction with the 2010Canadian Conference on Medical Education in St. John’s May 2. CAME Certificateof Merit Awards promote, recognize and reward faculty committed to medical educa-tion in Canadian medical schools.

Dr. Terry-Lynn Young, Genetics, was one of two recipients of the 2009 President’sAward for Outstanding Research. Since her appointment to the Discipline ofGenetics in Memorial’s Faculty of Medicine in 2003, Dr. Young has quickly become a dynamic and leading figure in genetics not only in this province but also across thecountry. She has had 15 successful grant applications in six years. These grants totalmore than $11 million for support of her research, and a further $30 million in infra-structure funding. Dr. Young and her research team made international headlines foridentifying the genetic cause of a deadly form of cardiomyopathy. She obtainedundergraduate and graduate degrees from Memorial, culminating with a doctorate inMedical Genetics from the Faculty of Medicine in 2000. Dr. Young joined Memorialin 2003 after a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Washington.

Mohammed Uddin, a PhD student working in the Discipline of Genetics with Dr.Proton Rahman, was recently awarded the Canadian Rheumatology Association(CRA) Basic Science Award for his work on the detection of Epistatic Interaction inComplex Diseases. Mohammed specializes in computational analysis of humangenetics in complex diseases. His initial abstract was shortlisted from 75 acceptedentries as one of six podium presentations at the CRA conference in Quebec City thiswinter. It is highly unusual for a non-clinician to win this award. This novel algorithmwill detect gene/gene interactions from genome wide association studies in complexdiseases. The algorithm is available through PTRG’s websitewww.med.mun.ca/ptrg/home.aspx.

www.med.mun.ca

Of NOTE


Attention alumni

At this time, we are calling on our alumni to assist with any of the following:• Planning Committee members for the development of onsite and online CME• Subject Matter Experts to review and develop content for online CME• Review of course content for accreditation

All of these positions have honoraria attached to them. Stay connected to Memorial and be a part of the development ofquality online CME. For more information or to express an interest in any or all of these roles please contact:Professional Development and Conferencing Services, Memorial University of Newfoundland, St. John’s NL A1B 3V6Fax: 709 777 6032E-mail: [email protected]

By bringing his own life experience to hisacademic work, master’s student JeffKelland is making an impact in themental health area. At the annual confer-ence of the Canadian PsychiatricAssociation (CPA), held in St. John’s inAugust 2009, he received the R.O. JonesBest Paper Award, second place. Theaward was particularly significant sincehe was the only non-MD presenter out of 37 presentations. The

paper enjoins psychiatrists to realize they have a duty to help the men-tally ill in another way – representing their interests by proxy in men-tal health and illness policy formulation. Jeff is doing a M.Sc. inCommunity Health and Humanities, supervised by Dr. DarylPullman; his research thesis is an analysis of the Canadian Institutes ofHealth Research (CIHR) funded research database to make a quantita-tive determination of how much mental health and illness research isfunded. He suffered for many years from treatment-resistant depres-sion. “Since 2000 I have been an advocate for mental health and ill-ness issues. As a survivor of a mental illness, I can be helpful; whatcould have been considered a liability is now a resource in my chosencareer path, and it helps make sense of my whole life.” Jeff said thatthe community health movement is moving health care beyond thehospital setting to the community at large; a development that isbringing much needed change to the field of mental health and illness.“It is an exciting time to be working on these issues, and I believe Ihave a contribution to make.”


www.med.mun.ca

Canadian Conference onMedical Education to takeplace in St. John’s

The 2010 Canadian Conference on MedicalEducation White Coat, Warm Heart: IntegratingScience and Humanism will take place in St. John’s

May 1-5. This conference is the largest gathering of medical educa-

tors in Canada and offers a unique opportunity to networkwith colleagues from across the country, to hear new ideas, toacquire new knowledge and to share expertise.

As host dean, Dr. James Rourke said the planning teamhas developed an excellent series of events “that will give youa glimpse into why so many of us choose to call this placehome – even when we’re the snowiest, foggiest, wettest andwindiest place in Canada!”

Dr. Rourke said the theme of integrating science andhumanism runs throughout Memorial’s approach to botheducation and research.

Plenary sessions include the Association of Faculty ofMedicines of Canada J. Wendell Macleod Memorial Lecture,White Coats and Blue Helmets. This year’s lecture will be presented by Dr. Peter A. Singer, director of the McLaughlin-Rotman Centre for Global Health and professor of medicine,University of Toronto.

Other featured sessions are on Raiders of the Lost Art:Recovering Humanities in Medicine and Leadership for the 21st Century: Medicine’s Current Challenge.

For more information on this year’s CCME conference,visit www.mededconference.ca/home.php.

Mental health advocatewins award

Memorial University’s Faculty of Medicine is requesting your assistance in the development of continuing medical education initiatives. As alumni, you have the opportunity to play an integral role in ensuring that our programs comply with CPFC/RCPSC standards for quality educational offerings.

The 2010 edition of Brain Storm was held March 20 inthe auditorium of the medical school at MemorialUniversity. Competing were 19 students from high

schools in St. John’s and vicinity, Carbonear, St. Mary’s,Marystown, Corner Brook and Little Bay Islands.

These students were invited following a preliminary “inschool” competition where 82 students from 15 schools com-peted by answering 40 multiple choice questions obtainedfrom information from an 80 page Brain Facts booklet.

The neuroscience group at Memorial University has hostedthe competition since 2000. This year was as exciting as ever,with the winner given the opportunity to represent theprovince in the Canadian Brain Bee at McMaster University inHamilton in late May.

Nerves were showing through three stages of the competi-tion. In the end, it came down to three students in the finals:two from Carbonear Collegiate (Samantha Butt, LucasSweetland) and one from Holy Spirit in Manuels (DylanUpshall). Mr. Sweetland’s synapses were firing on all cylindersand captured the event by being nearly flawless in the final.Dylan Upshall’s neurons only misfired a couple of times dur-ing the competition and he finished a close second.

An exciting bonus for many students in the competitionwas the chance to visit three neuroscience research labs in themedical school where demonstrations of some research ques-

tions and techniques were given by graduatestudents in the neuroscience program in themedical school. Special guests Christina Dovefrom the Autism Society and ElizabethWallack from the Alzheimer Society askedquestions during the competition.

Over 20 MUN faculty, graduate andundergraduate students organized the event,which was sponsored by various organizationsincluding the Society for Neuroscience andthe Dean of Medicine. The event occurredduring Brain Awareness Week and is intendedto enhance awareness of high school studentsto the many aspects of neuroscience, braindiseases and the possibilities of careers in theneurosciences.


www.med.mun.ca

2010 Brain StormNeurons firing

Neuroscience graduate student Becky Lethbridge(student of faculty member Dr. Qi Yuan) demon-strates odor preference learning by stroking a ratpup over peppermint-scented bedding. StephanieBennett, a participant from Corner Brook Re-gional High School, looks on with interest duringneurosciences lab tours between segments of thecompetition

L-R: Dr. John McLean, co-oordinator of Brain Storm; Lucas Sweetland, first-place Carbonear Collegiate; Samantha Butt, third-place Carbonear Collegiate;Dylan Upshall, second-place, Holy Spirit High, Manuels. Special guest speakerswere Christina Dove (Autism Society, NL) and Elizabeth Wallack (AlzheimerSociety, NL).

MUNMEDNews

www.med.mun.ca

“I remember you told us about the zebraamong the horses. You said, if you hear aherd that sound’s like horses, it probably is,but if you don’t look you’ll miss a zebra,”said Dr. Brendan Lewis.

I replied, “When did you graduate fromMUN Med School?”

“1983.” “At that time I was very involved in clin-

ical skills teaching,” was my reply. Apparently my zebra analogy had helped

medical students learn and remember theimportant principle that in making a diag-nosis, regardless of how clear and definitethe history is, every medical history shouldalways be supplemented by some examina-tion.

For years Dr. Brendan Lewis has been anorthopedic surgeon in Corner Brook. Thisyear he is the president of theNewfoundland and Labrador MedicalAssociation. He and the executive directorof the medical association, Rob Ritter wereon the annual presidential tour of theprovince. Thus they were in Port auxBasques that Friday night when I met themand two other doctors in the corridor aftertheir meeting, during which I was busywith some patients as part of a one-weeklocum I was doing there.

Turning to Dr. Wendy Graham I said,“I’ve admitted one of your patients. An eld-erly lady with two fractures in her lefthumerus. It’s a bad break.”

“What happened?” Dr. Graham asks. “She was being assisted to walk, when

while going through a doorway she fell. Shebanged her forehead, smashed her shoulder,cut a finger and twisted an ankle. I put sixstitches into the finger. The orthopedic sur-geon on call at Corner Brook discussed thepatient with me while we each looked atthe X-rays at the same time. We agreed thatshe remain here, and he made suggestionsfor her care.”

“May I see the X-rays?” Dr. Lewis says.We proceed to the work room in the

emergency department, just a few feet fur-ther down the corridor. I get the X-ray pic-tures on to the two high resolution blackand white computer screens. With a simpleclick of the mouse other views are shown.

Knowing her patient well, Dr. Grahamdescribes a mentally smart, but very frail91-year-old lady who has many healthproblems. Extensive help from family mem-bers and community home care haveenabled her to remain in her own home ina nearby small town up to the present.

We discuss the fractures, their potentialcomplications and their management, with-in the context of the patient’s many otherhealth problems, especially her very illheart. Dr. Lewis recommends that oneadditional X-ray at a particular angle betaken later to ensure an additional unlikelybut uncomfortable complication isn’t pres-ent. Further telephone consultation will bedone later if needed.

Dr. Graham heads home to her family.I’ve known her ever since she was a first-year medical student. Dr. Lewis and Mr.Ritter go to the hotel; they will do theirlong drive northward next morning. I con-tinue with other patient care work at theemergency department, the inpatient acutecare area, and in the long term care nursinghome part of the hospital.

It’s been an enjoyable week, meetingpatients and families, listening to their sto-ries about their lives, their illness and theiradaptations to illness. I’ve explored theirproblems, made diagnoses and implement-ed management. It’s included a sturdy five-month-old boy’s first cold: my examinationwas reassuring to his mom. It also includeda different frail, worn out, old lady who ear-lier that week, as expected, took her lastbreath. As I listened to her chest I heard theeternal silence of her heart but also the nor-mal, gentle, loving sobs of her granddaugh-ter. Family medicine really does provide amarvellous opportunity to observe humanbeings and their life’s journey. It also pro-vides excellent opportunities for collabora-tion with consultant specialists and others.

The greatest joy in family medicinecomes from continuity of care with patientsand families you get to know well. In thepast I had that for decades. Now a short,rural locum does offer great diversity, but atbest gives one only a glimpse of those joyfulrelationships which develop in continuingcare within family medicine.

Rural sites provide the provinces bestexamples of the extended, primary healthcare team. Thus during the week I’veworked with nurses, social workers, person-al care attendants, nurse practitioners, laband X-ray technologists, pharmacists andparamedics, secretaries and administrators,cleaners and maintenance people. I’ve metand talked with several other family doc-tors, including Dr. Taor, who has been atPort aux Basques for decades, providingvery diversified, high quality, rural familymedicine services and teaching medical stu-dents and family medicine residents in hismedical practice.

This week I’ve met two medical studentsand a family medicine resident who are hereas learners. They are witnessing joyful fami-ly medical practice, delivered with compe-tence and compassion within the extendedprimary health care team. Surely that envi-ronment has powerful learning potential forthose insightful, highly motivated students.I’ve admired their potential to contribute toheath care in the future.

As my locum ends I reflect on its pasteight days, and my past 40 years. The privi-lege to be involved in patient care, medicaleducation, and the guided evolution ofheath care and medical education in theprovince and country has been marvellous.I feel genuine gratitude.

My mind focuses again on those twodoctors, Graham and Lewis, pondering theproblems of an old lady’s new fractures. Iperceive their competence, compassion andbroad commitment to patient care, medicaleducation and the management of healthcare. They are representative of many. Thecurrent and future health care of our peopleis indeed in good hands.

Comment1. Names used with permission

Stories ffrroomm ffaammiillyy mmeeddiicciinneeIn good handsBy Dr. Paul Patey


www.med.mun.ca

Way back in first year of medical school, I got to domy two weeks of Rural Community Visit in thetown of Placentia. As any long-time reader of this

column knows, this experience led directly to me realizing Iwas meant to be a family doc, practicing in Placentia aftermy completion of residency.

In that two weeks, I met a number of doctor characters,Syed Peer, Ravinder Singh and the local boy, Dan Malone.Dan intrigued me: he was boisterous, wise-cracking, tall and determined. In many ways, he seemed to be the kind of doc I wanted to turn into. (In fact, it was his practice Itook over in 1998 when he moved into St. John’s.) He wasalso a realist – something quite different from my extremeidealism of the day.

From 1992 to 1998, I transitioned from being Dan’s first-year medical student, to his clerk, to his colleague. Along theway, Dan generously gave of his opinion on a wide variety ofmatters, as those who know him well can attest to. It hasastonished me time and again how often I encounter a sce-nario and Dan’s perspectives come to mind – they alwaysring true. While maybe none of these are unique to him,they are a body of pragmatic optimistic observations andrules of life that define the guy and at the same time havebeen a keen guide to being effective. Here are some of thebest of The Wisdom of Dan Malone.

1. Keep it simple stupid. As a student, Dan wouldgently berate me for writing long detailed X-ray requisitionsand consults, saying, “State your concern and question upfront, and give them only the crucial information – it willget your question answered and help them do their job.”While slow to adopt this approach, I have since become aconvert, realizing that in consults, X-rays and curriculumdesign, it is crucial to have up front clear goals and a simplealignment of information.

2. Beware the Taliban. One day, I remember Danlooking stern and appalled. He described the destruction ofancient Buddhist monuments by a political group inAfganistan called the Taliban that had just occurred. He

said, “Watch out – if they’re doing this, one day the worldwill be dealing with them as the enemy.”

3. Never, ever, ever promise more than you areabsolutely completely sure you can deliver. I remember hisassurance that “If you give someone a million dollars and askfor one dollar back, you will be despised.” I had thought thiswas born out of cynicism, yet have since learned this is agreat pragmatic rule to stay out of hot water.

4. Behave impeccably in the town where you work.Though initially stated in, er, less polite terms, he offeredthis up on my first day in rural practice as the easiest way tostay out of hot water and be able to maintain a professionalrole as a family physician. The corollary was, what you do inanother place is up to you.

5. Always respond to a colleague’s request for assis-tance. Dan was incredibly strong in his passion for excellentpatient care and being part of the team. He said one of yourcore responsibilities as a doctor was to drop whatever you’redoing – day or night – and respond immediately to a call forhelp from a colleague, as that other doctor needs a hand anda patient’s life might be at stake.

6. Always enter the hospital with a smile on yourface. Dan always did. He said that by doing so, it was easierto deal with any challenging people or problems who mightbe waiting for you inside.

I’m not saying that Dan was a saint or anything like that– we had our disagreements just as much as any other twodoctors working in close proximity could be expected to. It’sjust that somehow, Dan had been able to distill down somekey practice principles, laugh out loud, be focused and pres-ent in every patient interaction I ever saw, and somehowleave me thinking I should one day title a column, The wis-dom of Dan Malone.

Dr. David Keegan (Class of 1995) is an associate professor andundergraduate director at the University of Calgary’s Faculty ofMedicine.

a frontWARDS view

David Keegan and family out west: Sarah, age six,Nora, age four, Susan, David and John, age one.

The wisdom ofDan Malone

By Dr. David Keegan



www.med.mun.ca

Popular genres and media that have attracted the attention of medical historians to gauge and understand how cancerfigured in the lay imagination and routine daily life include

documentary and educational films, prime time television showsand especially Hollywood movies. With the release of the pre-World War II era films such as Dark Victory starring Bette Davisto the 1970 box office hit Love Story, cancer has become part ofthe celluloid world. But as medical historian Susan Lederer hasconcluded, cancer was often portrayed in this medium as a phan-tom lurking in the back story to the main narrative or presentedinaccurately with the emphasis on dramatic effect not biomedicalaccuracy—as is, of course, often the norm in Hollywood. But inthe end these films dealt with cancer victims.

Another popular culture genre that has recently addressed cancer is comic books and their more reflective and complex relation, the graphic novel. Initially understood as alternative orunderground reading material and simultaneously dismissed askid’s stuff and juvenile, from the 1960s on this genre has attractedserious attention by scholars owing to the themes addressed andmanner in which they are dealt with. As the genre of comic booksand graphic novels traditionally dealt with issues of victimization,empowerment, justice, injustice, and retribution, it is not surpris-ing that it has become a recognized medium through which todeal with tough social and moral issues of continuing concern.

A distinguishing feature of how cancer is dealt with in recentcomics and graphic novels, and one that markedly differs fromprevious popular representations, is that sufferers whether fiction-al characters or not are no longer portrayed as victims, nor is theirdisease merely a back story. In the 2009 four-part fantasy seriesMarvel Divas for example, super heroine Angelica “Firestar” Jonesdevelops breast cancer, but “no force in the world can dampen”her spirit (and also that of her three diva gal-pals who are alsotwenty-something super heroines). Although apprehensive about

the possibility of a mastectomy, Firestar willingly under-goes chemotherapy and radiation treatment which areinterestingly illustrated; side effects such as hair loss (alsodramatized) are of little consequence to her. She exclaims:“I’m not going to be a victim ... I’m going to BEAT thisthing. And on the other side of this, I want a record ofHOW I beat it. To help other women.” Beat it she does,however admittedly her cure not only requires modernmedical technology but also a raunchy sex tryst between asatanic messenger and one of her BFFS (I don’t believethat Eastern Health currently offers this latter form ofadjuvant therapy, or that MCP would cover it). At seriesend, the group muses over a new name for itself whichwill likely will turn out to be super vixens—no victimshere.

Firestar’s narrative along with its vixen reference ges-tures (but without the super heroine context) to MarisaAcocella Marchetto’s 2006 account of breast cancer enti-tled Cancer Vixen: A True Story in which a “shoe-crazy,lipstick-obsessed, wine-swilling, pasta-slurping, fashion-fanatic, single-forever, about-to-get-married big-city girlcartoonist with a fabulous life finds … a lump in herbreast.” Deploying her formidable skills as professionalcartoonist for such magazines as Glamour and The New

Yorker, Marchetto relates her many personal fears, anger, frustra-tions, and clinical and psychological experiences in her own jour-ney from disease diagnosed to cancer controlled. With her wit,humour, and satirical style, she never loses sight of her goal tokick cancer’s butt and to do so in killer 5-inch heels. It has been asuccessful book that will soon end up a movie starring CateBlanchett; it has already spawned a product-line of Cancer Vixencosmetics.

Many people can learn from works such as Cancer Vixen,including MUN medical students. Recently, I requested that all ofthe incoming Class of 2013 read this graphic novel, which wethen discussed in one of my Medical Humanities andProfessionalism lectures. My formal essay assignment for thesefirst-year medical students asked them to analyze this graphicnovel as a patient narrative and to relate this first-person accountto those physician roles identified by the Royal CollegeCanMEDS project. Although most students could see the impor-tance of all roles to facilitate a patient’s transition from cancer vic-tim to cancer vixen, an overwhelming majority believed that thisprocess was greatly aided when physicians concentrated on that ofcommunicator. This was an important lesson for these physi-cians-to-be to learn, and I am hopeful that it will be one remem-bered owing to its graphic portrayal.

I am grateful to my colleague Michael G. Rhode (Otis HistoricalArchives, Armed Forces Institute of Pathology, Washington, DC) whointroduced me to this popular medium and its relationship to medi-cine. His encouragement and knowledge have resulted in an ongoingcollaborative project which links this genre to medical humanities andmedical education. Permission to reproduce his photograph is alsogratefully acknowledged.

Dr. J.T.H. Connor is the John Clinch Professor of MedicalHumanities and History of Medicine.

Humanities at workCancer victims, cancer vixensand CanMEDSBy Dr. Jim Connor


www.med.mun.ca

a back WARDS view

Technology in medicineBy Dr. Bill Eaton

Technology tromps relentlessly onwards and medical customsfollow. Take the telephone. Instead of being given a followup appointment by the doctor, patients began calling to

make their own. Big power shift here. For years the debate bubbledall over the medical journals.

Reluctant practitioners articulated why this modern customshould be discarded: “Doctor patient relationship.” “Lack of confi-dentiality.” “Patient trust.” “Status of the doctor.” “Too much time.”

Electronic medical recordsThe EMR is here to stay. Those who refuse can carry on with

the old ways, just like the telephone-avoiding doctors back in theday. Modern medicine will just have to wait until such luddites dieoff and are replaced with the practitioners of tomorrow.

The EMR is great if you ever need a letter to a consultant orthird party. For example the template for chest pain can have a box,that when ticked, spits out all the pertinent negatives. The letterclearly states the patient did not describe PND, ankle edema,coughing up frothy sputum and the like. What an advantage. Andanybody can read it!

I have met globe trotting locums who refuse to work in clinicsthat don’t have the EMR. Next thing CMPA will be offering a dis-count to doctors who use the EMR. Reasons for avoidance of theEMR are listed above.

The internetDon’t you love people, appearing otherwise completely normal,

who bring in stacks of downloaded manuscripts written, “By twodoctors in California,” extolling the cancer-healing effects of spices,or vitamin C’s cold-curing actions. The best one for me was thesenior executive’s document listing two equivalent treatments:amoxil 250 mg twice a day or 500 mg four times a day.

There used to be a philosophical question when I was in univer-sity, could a million monkeys randomly typing write the completeworks of Shakespeare? The internet has proven the answer to benegative. Still we can search PubMed and come up with the defini-tive answer to a clinical question faster than you can drink a cup ofcoffee. You can book a holiday during lunch. You can find recipesand look up reports of colleagues on RateMd.com.

Although there are reasons to embrace the internet the reasonsfor its avoidance in medical practice are listed above.

Cell phonesCouldn’t function without one when on call. The best ones can

surf the net, tell you where you are, and do a thousand things youdon’t need doing. But of course there’s the down side. Cameras,including unlimited video capacity, in a hospital ward can invadeprivacy. People talking on cell phones go into a delusion of singu-larity and don’t recognize that they are not alone.

Heard in a patient’s room from a singular conversation in thehallway, “There’s a guy in Jack’s room who has hemorrhoids andreally bad gas.” Or, “Is this the funeral home? Yes. I want to makearrangements for my wife who just died.”

Or how about when a patient in your office gets a ring and says“Sorry I’ve got to take this.” If you walk out and encourage (is thatthe right word here?) a re-booking, the phone is likely to be turnedoff next visit.

E-mailFor some people these days e-mail is all they do. They even call

it work. Such people operate remotely, even if they’re in the sameoffice. I’ve always wondered why the verb to send a twitter messageis to “tweet” and not the more accurately descriptive, to “twit.”

E-mails are great for distributing facts like schedules, or docu-ments, or minutes of meetings. However, any system that facilitatesthe typing of feelings while frustrated and alone works all too well.People who have pissed you off get the message right away andoften respond in kind. Anger and retribution can follow: careersdamaged, confidences shattered. On top of all that, once the mes-sage has been sent the sender actually becomes deluded into think-ing a task has been completed.

Then there are these list serves. All goes well at first. All theimportant people chime in with a few facts. Some even ventureinto the dangerous waters of offering an opinion (generally a badidea). Then some buffoon starts sending virus-encrusted jokes.Soon, your already overflowing inbox mushrooms with advice onsuch important matters as sexual performance, Russian maidens,and endless cash for the taking.

Although we couldn’t exist today without e-mail there are those(how I wish I could be among them) who list the reasons above forits avoidance. You can reach me at [email protected].

www.med.mun.ca

On behalf of all MUN Med Alumni, welcome to 2010.This year we welcome the reunions of the multiplesof five; 1975, 1980, 1985, 1990, 1995 and 2000.

The first MUNMed class graduated in 1973, which meansthe school has now been graduating students for 37 years. It isnot even middle aged, not near the restless 1940s, and juststarting to find its inner self. For all of its youth, and restlessenthusiasm, Memorial Medicine can strut or jig with a lot ofpride. The school began as temporary buildings in the area ofthe Inco building. In the mid 1970s, the MUN Med Schoolmoved across the street to the present medical school. Andnow, fellow alumni, plans are being finalized for a brand newmedical educational building adjacent to the present site. Justmaybe, there’s a chance for a class or a person to contribute tothe furnishing of a room, and have your name(s) in perpetuity.As an intern at McGill, I found that dedications by familiesand classes instilled a real pride and community connection tothe medical school. Food for thought, that’s all.

The MUN Medical Board recently reviewed and tweakedthe terms of reference for the Wally Ingram award. The boardvoted to open the award to all faculty and it will be awardedfor scholarly projects in the field of medical education.Submissions must be sent to [email protected] by May 30,2010. The board will then review the applications and thewinner will be announced at the Friday mixer of the 2010reunion. Medical education and mixers seem to always compli-ment each other!

At the moment the Medical Graduates’ Society Board iscomprised of grads from the 1970s and 1980s so we needalumni from the 1990s and 2000’s on the board. You just haveto show up or dial in four times a year, and someday – yes itdoes happen – the kids grow up and you have time again.Then, you can get more involved with the MUNMed alumni.We are all busy but the board needs your representation ondecisions and future plans. And we will be electing a new president at our annual meeting during the reunion this summer. So far requests for the president’s job have not paralyzed the postal system! You can volunteer or nominate someone – just email me at [email protected].

Dr. Al Felix stressed the need for mentoring for new gradsin his 2009 address to the medical school. This year, the MUNMed Alumni association is hoping to arrange a barbeque or a

mixer during convocation week to welcome new grads into thegroup. More details will follow, and I hope that you can attend.A new grad from 2010 would probably enjoy drinking a beerwith a 1973 alumni.

I want to say a big thank you to all alumni who havestepped up and joined the Thousand Thousands Challenge.To date we have raised over $169,000 in donations and anadditional $134,000 in pledges to the Thousand ThousandsFund. We haven’t yet gotten to the full 1,000 x $1,000 yet, so ifyou haven’t joined in please make your pledge soon. Keepwatching for a special new recognition ceremony for ourThousand Thousands donors when we launch the new donorwall in June 2010.

MUNMEDNews DEVELOPMENT AND ALUMNI MATTERS

MGS blogpageBy Dr. Bridget Picco


Dr. Dave Healey

Class of 1995

Educational achievements: Dr. Healey did a fellowship in adultreconstruction inOttawa after he fin-ished his orthopedicresidency there in2000.

Current activities:Dr. Healey and hiswife, Kim, are living in Australia right now withtheir two daughters Lauren, 9, and Sarah, 13.He is on a sabbatical leave from Sudbury andworking for a year in Tasmania, Australia doingprimary and revision joint arthroplasties.

In his own words: “By the time we make it back to Sudbury inSeptember we will have travelled completelyaround the world in both hemispheres througheight countries!”

Alumnus profile

Dave Healey and daughterLauren

mun faculty of medicinemed news

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