Communications Bulletin

**This message is sent on behalf of Dr. Roger Wong, Vice Dean, Education, UBC Faculty of Medicine and Jennifer Golinski, Senior Director, Education Programs and Services, Office of the Vice Dean, UBC Faculty of Medicine** On Thursday, September 28, the Government of B.C. announced updated public health measures in health-care facilities to protect patients, residents…

Latest security research found exploits that could enable remote access to Apple devices with outdated software which can allow attackers to install programs; view, change, or delete data; or create new accounts with full user rights. RECOMMENDATIONS: For more additional information go to: https://support.apple.com/en-ca/HT201222 Sincerely, Simon Chong Computer Systems ManagerMedicine | Psychiatry | Psychiatry ITThe University of…

Dear colleagues, As the recruitment process for the position of Postgraduate Child & Adolescent Psychiatry (CAP) Subspecialty Program Director has concluded, we are delighted to announce that Dr. Ashley Miller has been appointed to this role for a three-year term, from October 1, 2023 to September 30, 2026. Broadly, as CAP Subspecialty Program Director Dr.…

Dear Department members, I wish to share with you some important staffing updates and announcements regarding our UBC Department of Psychiatry Administration Office. I am delighted to share the news that Mr. Simon Chong has joined the Department as our Computer Systems Manager effective September 20, 2023, filling the vacancy due to the retirement of…

Below is a legitamate email from noreply@kivuto.com to remind you to renew your Adobe Acrobat or Adobe Creative Cloud UBC License Subscriptions in order to keep your Adobe software licensed and running. Please follow the link within the email, login with your CWL (Campus Wide Logon) credentials to purchase and renew the Adobe license. If…

Congratulations to Professor Dr. Jehannine Austin, who has been appointed the next Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Genetic Counseling. Dr. Austin currently serves as an Associate Editor for the journal, and will step into this new position on January 1, 2024. The Journal of Genetic Counseling is the official journal of the National Society of…

The June 2023 Canadian Psychiatric Association’s Position Statement on Mental Health and the Climate Crisis recommends that psychiatrists “participate in climate-related advocacy or activism at institutional and systems levels. Ongoing delays to decarbonize (“mitigation”) and to meaningfully prepare for the coming changes we cannot avoid (“adaptation”) represent policy choices that harm the mental health of…

A monthly film series promoting professional and community education on issues pertaining to mental health and illness. Presented by The Cinematheque and the Institute of Mental Health, UBC Department of Psychiatry. Screenings are generally held on the third Wednesday of each month at The Cinematheque, 1131 Howe St, Vancouver, BC. Before the screening, please join…

Dear Colleagues, With great sadness, we share the news that Professor Emerita Dr. Edith (Edie) McGeer passed away on Monday August 28, 2023 at the age of 99. As a pioneering researcher who made seminal contributions to our understanding of the biochemical pathology of Alzheimer’s and other neurodegenerative diseases, Dr. McGeer leaves behind a legacy…

** Sent on behalf of the UBC Psychiatry Postgraduate Education Team ** Dear Faculty Members, I hope this email finds you well.  We are starting to recruit examiners for our 2023-24 Mock OSCE’s. The Mock OSCEs are an integral part of preparing our residents for their Royal College OSCE exams. We have finalized the dates…

Dear Faculty, Staff, Students and Residents, As you will recall, the Department has been engaged in a recruitment process for a full-time academic faculty position in the area of translational neuropsychiatric research, an opportunity created for Psychiatry through the Faculty of Medicine Academic Renewal Program, intended to support the recruitment of tenure-stream faculty in the…

Dear Colleagues, Over the past year, the UBC Department of Psychiatry has been working in close collaboration with the Fraser Health Authority, the Royal Columbian Hospital (RCH) Foundation, and the UBC FoM Dean’s Office in order to create a new academic faculty position to be based in Fraser Health. In our discussions, there was broad…

We are very saddened to share the news of the recent passing of Honorary Professor Dr. Hassan Azim at the age of 91.  Dr. Azim’s distinguished career began over 60 years ago in Cairo, Egypt, where he completed his training in psychiatry and became one of Egypt’s first psychiatrists. In 1960, he arrived in Canada…

** Sent on behalf of the Office of Searches & Reviews, UBC Faculty of Medicine ** Dear Members of the UBC Department of Psychiatry, An internal review of the UBC Department of Psychiatry will be conducted on October 23rd, 24th and 25th, 2023. The Internal Review Committee is as follows: This review provides an opportunity…

We are deeply saddened to share the news that Dr. Jennifer Oates passed away on August 8, 2023.  Dr. Oates had been a geriatric psychiatrist within Island Health since 2009, and joined the UBC Department of Psychiatry as a Clinical Instructor in 2015. As a valued UBC Psychiatry member, Dr. Oates made important contributions to…

Dear Faculty, Staff, Students and Residents, As the IMH Marshall Fellows Program enters its fifth year since its inception in 2019, I am delighted to share that the selection process for 2023/2024 has been completed and six outstanding proposals have been recommended for funding by the Chairs of the Committee. The decisions were finalized following…

In the New England Journal of Medicine this week, lead author Dr. Lakshmi Yatham and a team of researchers have published the results from the world’s first randomized clinical trial assessing the duration of adjunctive antidepressant therapy in bipolar depression, the findings of which show that, while the primary outcome of time to any mood…

** Sent on behalf of Dr. Irfan Khanbhai, PGE Program Director, UBC Department of Psychiatry ** Dear Clinical Faculty, I am writing to you today about the Academic Advisor (AA) position that we have for each of our residents.   We are making a significant change in the Academic Advisor duties about which I wanted to update…

Dear Colleagues, Further to our announcement that Dr. Jennifer Russel will be stepping down from her role as the Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (CAP) Subspecialty Program Director on August 31, 2023, we would like to invite expressions of interest for this key leadership role in the Postgraduate Education Program.  This appointment will come with a…

Dear colleagues, I wish to share that Dr. Sophia Frangou will be stepping down from her role as Director, Research Track (RT) for the UBC Psychiatry Postgraduate Program. Dr. Frangou was appointed to this role in November 2021, and during this time, she implemented standards and processes to facilitate the RT Program meeting the intended…

Dear Department members, I wish to share with you some staffing updates regarding our UBC Department of Psychiatry Administration Office. Firstly, we are delighted to welcome to our team Dr. Nicole Sanford, who has accepted the role of Research Manager for the UBC Institute of Mental Health (IMH) as of July 1, 2023. Nicole was…

The Department warmly congratulates Professor Dr. Terrance Snutch, who has been awarded the prestigious 2023 Margolese National Brain Disorders Prize by the UBC Faculty of Medicine. This award recognizes Dr. Snutch’s outstanding translational research, which has contributed significantly to the development of new therapeutic targets relevant to multiple neurological diseases. As a foremost expert and…

Dear colleagues, It is with mixed feelings that we announce that Dr. Jennifer Russel will be leaving her position as the UBC Psychiatry Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (CAP) Subspecialty Program Director effective August 31, 2023, as she has accepted the prestigious position of Psychiatrist in Chief at Michael Garron Hospital in Toronto. We are thrilled…

The Department congratulates Dr. Evelyn Stewart and Dr. Fidel Vila-Rodriguez, both of whom are recipients of a 2023 Faculty of Medicine Distinguished Achievement Award! Professor Dr. Evelyn Stewart is the recipient of the Award for Service to the University and Community, in recognition of her significant contributions to local, national, and international communities aimed at…

*** Sent on behalf of the UBC Psychiatry HR Team *** Dear Department Clinical Faculty Members, The Online Clinical Faculty Annual Report Form for the period of July 1, 2022 to June 30, 2023 has been released, so please set a reminder to complete and submit this before December 31, 2023: https://ubc.ca1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_0CWsbdt9euzYrpY If you were appointed to…

Dear Colleagues, As the search and selection process has concluded for the three Division Head positions for each of the restructured Divisions in the UBC Department of Psychiatry, we are delighted to announce the following appointments: In their new leadership roles, Dr. Schütz, Dr. White and Dr. Murphy will each be responsible for providing direction…

Dear Department members, I wish to share with you some important staffing updates and announcements regarding our UBC Department of Psychiatry Administration Office. Firstly, I am thrilled to share the news that Ms. Leah Ranada has been promoted to the position of Assistant HR Manager. As you are all aware, Leah has been in the…

**Shared on behalf of Dr. Sophia Frangou, Associate Head, Research, UBC Department of Psychiatry** Dear Colleagues, The Stimulus Grants are now open for new applications. Please see our website for details: https://psychiatry.ubc.ca/research/research-support-hub/grant-support-grant-writing-grant-funding-and-grant-application-process/stimulus-grants-initiative/. Information Sessions: On July 7th and August 17th, I will hold 45min Zoom meetings at 12:00pm noon, which are open to anyone interested in…

It was wonderful to welcome all of our clinical faculty members who attended the Annual Clinical Faculty Dinner last night! It was a very fun and relaxed evening, and a great opportunity to recognize and show appreciation for all our clinical faculty members and their many valuable contributions to the Department! As well, the evening included…

We wish to thank everyone who attended our 2023 UBC Psychiatry Research Day yesterday, either in person or virtually, and also express our sincere gratitude to all of the outstanding poster and Lightning Talk presenters, and our speakers for their engaging presentations and hard work in helping to make our Research Day a success! Additionally,…

Congratulations to Clinical Professor Dr. Randall White, who has received the John D. Hackett Leadership Award from the Western Canada District Branch of the American Psychiatric Association (APA). Named after the founding president of the Western Canada District Branch (WCDB), Dr. John Desmond Hackett, this award recognizes long-standing members who have made significant and outstanding…

Love in the Time of Fentanyl Canada 2022Director: Colin Askey80min DCPWednesday June 14th @ 7:00pm, The Cinematheque (1131 Howe St) Share Tweet Forward Film Description A public health emergency around what came to be known as ​“the overdose crisis” was first declared in this province in April 2016—the same year the grass-roots Overdose Prevention Society…

** Sent on behalf of Dr. Irfan Khanbhai, PGE Program Director, UBC Department of Psychiatry ** Dear Faculty Members, Our Psychiatry Postgraduate training program is creating an Equity, Diversity, Inclusion and Antiracism Committee.   The broader goal of this committee will be to promote diversity, improve discrimination, engage in dialogue and help the program further…

Apple has addressed three new zero-day vulnerabilities exploited in attacks to hack into iPhones, Macs, and iPads, so make sure you’re patched by updating to the latest software versions! (Go to Settings > General > Software Update.) Even devices that already received a Rapid Security Response at the start of March 2023 have a zero-day…

Dear Colleagues, I am very pleased to share some exciting news from our recent invitation to China, during which Clinical Professor and Island Regional Head Dr. Wei-Yi Song and I were hosted by leadership teams from Shanghai Mental Health Center (SMHC) at Jiao Tong University School of Medicine and the Changsha Second Xiangya Hospital at…

Congratulations to Clinical Assistant Professor Dr. Janel Casey, who has been named Runner Up for a 2023 Women of the Year Community Builder Award by BC Business! This award celebrates female leaders, innovators and difference makers who play a vital role in building better communities across the province. This year, Dr. Casey is recognized for…

Congratulations to Forensic Psychiatry PGY6 Resident Dr. Mario Moscovici, who is the 2023 recipient of a Fellowship from the Canadian Academy of Psychiatry and the Law (CAPL). This national award is presented annually to a PGY4-6 resident who has made outstanding contributions to research in the forensic field. As part of the award, Dr. Moscovici…

** Sent on behalf of Dr. Kathryn Fung, UGE Program Director, UBC Department of Psychiatry ** Dear Faculty: We would like to invite you to teach our Year 2 Psychiatry Clinical Skills Sessions in MEDD 421 this fall (September, October, November, and December 2023). We only require preceptors for Psychiatry 2 and Psychiatry 3. Psychiatry…

Dr. Raymond Lam, Dr. Jill Murphy and Dr. Erin Michalak have been awarded $1.64M over 5 years (2023-2028) by CIHR’s Team Grant – GACD 2021 NCD risk prevention across the life course program to support the development of an app to promote and support mental well-being among youth in Vietnam. The Youth Promotion of Resilience…

Dear Clinical Faculty Members, On behalf of the UBC Department of Psychiatry, I am delighted to invite you to the Annual Clinical Faculty Dinner, to be held on Thursday June 8, 2023 at 5:00pm (after the Research Day event) at The Arbutus Club (2001 Nanton Ave, Vancouver BC). The dinner will be an opportunity to…

Selvportrett (Self Portrait) Norway 2020Directors: Margreth Olin, Katja Hogset, Espen Wallin77min DCPWednesday May 17th @ 7:00pm, The Cinematheque (1131 Howe St) Vancouver Premiere! Share Tweet Forward Film Description Lene Marie Fossen’s self portraits will break your heart. Beautifully composed and artfully presented, they are nevertheless photographs of a young woman in the throes of a…

** Sent on behalf of the UBC Psychiatry Postgraduate Education Team ** Dear Faculty, We welcome you to join the celebration with the Class of 2023 Psychiatry graduates. Please see details below and RSVP via the link below by Tuesday, May 16, 2023. RSVP Link: https://ubc.ca1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_3I4Qk8kST3UTYd8 EVENT DETAILS Date: Friday, June 23, 2023Time: 5:30 PMVenue: Shaughnessy Restaurant, 5251…

CBD Psychiatry Workshop for PGY4 Supervisors | PGY4s in Core Stage This is reminder to join us for an online webinar titled “CBD Psychiatry Workshop for PGY4 Supervisors – PGY4’s in the Core Stage”. The webinar’s goal is to help you prepare for and describe what you need to know for the Core Stage of…

Dear Colleagues, It is with profound sadness that I share the news that Professor Emeritus Dr. Juhn Wada passed away at his home on Saturday April 22, 2023 at the age of 99. To his many colleagues at UBC and beyond, Dr. Wada was a visionary in the neurological sciences whose decades of seminal research…

Dear Colleagues, I am very pleased to share that, on my recent visit to India, I had the opportunity to meet with Dr. Pratima Murthy, Director of the National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences (NIMHANS) in Bangalore, in order to renew the existing Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between NIMHANS and the UBC Department of…

Congratulations to Clinical Assistant Professor Dr. Kamyar Keramatian, who has received a Health Professional-Investigator (HP-I) Award from Michael Smith Health Research BC! Dr. Keramatian is an adolescent and adult psychiatrist who currently serves as the co-medical manager of the UBC Mood Disorders Center and the physician lead for the Coastal Early Psychosis Intervention (EPI) Program.…

REDCap has issued an urgent security update yesterday to address several critical vulnerabilities. If you are running an instance of REDCap, please upgrade to the latest release of REDCap (version 13.1.25) as soon as possible.  If you are leveraging Digital Solutions or UBC ARC’s service offering of REDCap, then there is no action needed on…

*** Sent on behalf of Dr. Sophia Frangou, Professor and Associate Head, Research, UBC Department of Psychiatry *** Self nominations are now open for the Necia Elvin Memorial Prize for Schizophrenia Research. This prize of $1,600 has been made available through an endowment established by Dr. Memory Elvin-Lewis, family and friends in honor of her sister…

The Department commends Associate Professor (Partner) and CAP Division Head Dr. Roberto Sassi on his recognition by CIHR and the College of Reviewers as an Outstanding Reviewer who has made exemplary contributions to the peer review process. This recognition is based on observations and feedback from Committee Chairs, Scientific Officers and CIHR staff during the…

Dear Faculty, Staff, Students and Residents, We are pleased to announce the recipients of the inaugural Stimulus Grants. The Stimulus Grants Initiative was launched by the UBC Department of Psychiatry, in partnership with the UBC Institute of Mental Health (UBC IMH) and BC Children’s Hospital, with the aim to increase research capacity and support for…

*** Sent on behalf of the Psychiatry Summer Immersion Program (PSIP) *** Dear Faculty, The Department of Psychiatry 4th annual Psychiatry Summer Immersion Program will take place Mon, June 5 – Tues, June 6, 2023. The 2-day program provides an opportunity for 1st Year undergraduate medical students to explore the field of psychiatry as a potential…

Google’s Project Zero team discovered multiple security flaws with Samsung Galaxy and other smartphones that could allow hackers to target devices easily. All a hacker would need is the victim’s phone number, which can be used to compromise the phone without the user knowing anything is wrong. Samsung is aware of the issue and is…

Clinical Professor Dr. Hiram Mok invites Department members to attend the Canadian Psychiatric Association’s Cultural Psychiatry Day on Wednesday April 26, 2023 from 9:00am to 1:00pm (PDT). To RSVP, or to obtain more information about the event, please email Dr. Mok at hiram.mok@vch.ca.

On World Bipolar Day on March 30th, 2023, the CREST.BD Research Network led by Dr. Erin Michalak will host their fifth annual “Ask Me Anything” (AMA) on Reddit. This year’s event is the largest yet, featuring 68 experts in bipolar disorder (people living with BD, clinicians, researchers) from 12 countries answering questions from around the world for 48 hours from March…

Associate Professor Emeritus Dr. Bill Maurice has been reappointed to the BC Mental Health Review Board for an additional four-year term. He has served on the Board since his formal retirement from the UBC Department of Psychiatry in 2004.   The BC Mental Health Review Board is an administrative tribunal established under the Mental Health…

Dear Colleagues, As the Department is now seeking to fill the vacancy for the role of Director, Continuing Professional Development (CPD), we are inviting expressions of interest for this key role, which will oversee competency-based CPD initiatives to support the needs and strengths of our faculty members, including clinicians providing mental health care.  This administrative…

Dear colleagues, As you may recall, in November 2022 I shared the news that the proposal submitted by the UBC Department of Psychiatry, in partnership with BC Children’s Hospital Research Institute (BCCHRI) and the Djavad Mowafaghian Centre for Brain Health (DMCBH), was selected for funding in the 2022 FoM Academic Renewal Program, intended to support…

If you take screen shots using the Windows Snipping Tool, then crop or redact parts of it to remove PI, PHI or other confidential information, which may not actually be removed from the file unless you save the file with a new name.me. Technical details at https://nakedsecurity.sophos.com/2023/03/22/windows-11-also-vulnerable-to-acropalypse-image-data-leakage/#comments

We share that Clinical Professor Emerita Dr. Rosemary Basson, who has a special interest in sexual dysfunction in seniors with cognitive impairment, will be offering services for seniors at the BC Centre for Sexual Medicine on a priority basis for assessment, as well as providing follow up as the disease progresses. Information for Clinicians Information…

Congratulations to Dr. Sophia Frangou on her election as the President-Elect of the Society of Biological Psychiatry (SOBP). Her term as President-Elect will be June 1, 2023 to May 31, 2024, after which she will become President of SOBP on June 1, 2024 until May 31, 2025. This term will be followed by a 5-year…

Congratulations to Dr. Quinten Clarke, a UBC Psychiatry Research Track Resident, who has received the 2022 Resident Recognition Award from Providence Health Care (PHC). This award, sponsored by the PHC Medical Affairs and the Medical Staff Association, is awarded each year to a resident who has rotated through PHC and displayed excellence in the areas of education, leadership and advocacy. …

We would like to congratulate Dr. Dean Elbe, who has received a Practice Innovation Award from the Canadian Healthcare Network! This award is dedicated to Canadian pharmacy professionals who are not only providing exceptional patient care, but also demonstrating creativity and innovation in pharmacy practice. This year, Dr. Elbe has been recognized for his significant…

Dear staff, students, residents and colleagues, As outlined among our priorities in the UBC Psychiatry Strategic Plan, in 2021 we launched the rebuild of our entire departmental website, a project which entailed many months of planning, development and implementation of a new layout and updated content, as well as ongoing consultation between our Executive and…

We are deeply saddened to share the news of the passing of Clinical Instructor Dr. Paul Waraich on Friday March 3rd, 2023. Dr. Waraich was a dedicated Vancouver-based psychiatrist working in the areas of consultation-liaison, emergency, inpatient and outpatient psychiatry, who also made notable contributions to research and literature in the areas of schizophrenia and mood…

Dear Colleagues, I am deeply saddened to share that Professor Emeritus and former Department Head Dr. Neil J. Yorkston passed away on February 20, 2023 at the age of 94. As an active member of our faculty and Department leadership through the 1980s, Dr. Yorkston was an accomplished scholar and clinician who was highly esteemed…

Dear Colleagues, It is with profound sadness that I share the news that Professor Emeritus Dr. William (Bill) Piper passed away last week at the age of 77. As many of you are aware, Dr. Piper was a very highly respected researcher and colleague in the UBC Department of Psychiatry and across the broader mental…

*** Sent on behalf of Dr. Clare Beasley and the Psychiatry Summer Immersion Program *** Dear Faculty, After two successful years, the Department of Psychiatry 4th annual Psychiatry Summer Immersion Program will take place Monday June 5 – Tuesday June 6, 2023. The 2-day program provides an opportunity for 1st Year undergraduate medical students to explore…

** Sent on behalf of Dr. Charles Ho, Competence By Design (CBD) Faculty Lead, Postgraduate Psychiatry Program ** Dear Faculty,  Please join us for an online webinar titled “CBD Psychiatry Workshop for PGY4 Supervisors – PGY4’s in the Core Stage”. The webinar’s goal is to help you prepare for and describe what you need to…

A new study published in PLOS One examines the experiences, including those related to stigmatization, neglect and pain management, of people who use substances and who have left the hospital against medical advice. The team of researchers, which includes Clinical Assistant Professor Dr. Verena Langheimer, also examined the impact of their experiences in the Emergency Department…

Clinical Assistant Professor and FoM Postgraduate Faculty Associate Co-Lead for Anti-Racism, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Dr. Leona Adams has shared an important statement on Accountability and Progression Towards Redressing Structural Anti-Black Racism, for your review and reflection: So, as you see, there is still much to do. I return however to Dr. Ono’s exhortation as…

Dear Colleagues, I am pleased to announce the call for applications for the UBC Institute of Mental Health (IMH) Marshall Fellows Program in Mental Health for 2023/2024. The Marshall Fellows Program in Mental Health was established in 2019 by the IMH to support the training of young investigators in translational research in order to create…

Dear colleagues, I am pleased to share that the UBC Department of Psychiatry, in partnership with the UBC Institute of Mental Health (IMH), has initiated the recruitment for a full-time tenure-stream academic faculty position in the area of Concurrent Disorders, to be based at the UBC Hospital site on the Vancouver Campus. This recruitment is…

2020-2023 Annual Resident Publication and Presentation Record A new (2022-23) Qualtrics form has been added the department website to enable residents to easily report their annual publications and presentations. As part of the Accreditation Standards, the Program is required to collect all resident publication and presentation records annually.  Please note that these records are also…

Dear Department Members, We are pleased to announce that our 2023 UBC Psychiatry Research Day will be held in person on Thursday June 8, 2023! Please “Save the Date” by adding the iCalendar Event to your Outlook calendars (be sure to click ‘Save & Close’). WHEN: Thursday June 8, 2023 from 8:45am (sign in) to 4:00pm…

Dear Department members, I wish to share with you some important staffing updates and announcements regarding our UBC Department of Psychiatry Administration Office. Firstly, I am delighted to share the news that Ms. Eunice Yiu will be joining the UBC Psychiatry Administrative team as our new HR Assistant on February 13, 2023. Eunice brings to…

The Faculty of Medicine held its annual Awards Reception on Monday January 16, where our faculty members Dr. Raymond Lam, Dr. Arvind Kang and Dr. Carol Ward were presented with plaques for their respective Faculty awards recognizing excellence in the areas of research, teaching and CPD in 2022. Other Department members recognized at the event…

Dear colleagues, staff, students and residents, It is with immense gratitude and pride that I reflect upon 2022 and the many notable achievements we have realized over the past year. Though COVID-19 remains a fact of life for the foreseeable future, we have resumed our work with renewed energy and momentum, undertaking and seeing to…