News & Communications Bulletin

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…