The 18th Annual Pacific Psychopharmacology Conference, organized by the UBC Department of Psychiatry and UBC CPD, took place in downtown Vancouver on September 19th and 20th, 2024. The format was truly hybrid with some presenters and some attendees participating remotely. On Thursday afternoon, a total of 178 practitioners spent the afternoon learning from local experts about ADHD across the life cycle. On Friday, 192 attendees were on site at the Pinnacle Hotel Harbourfront, and 193 attended virtually.

Derek Thompson, Director, Indigenous Engagement for the UBC Faculty of Medicine, provided remarks for the conferees and speakers to open the meeting in advance of the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation. Highlights of the day’s plenary sessions included Professor Stefan Leucht‘s presentation on recent meta-analytic studies in psychiatry. Professor Leucht, of the Technical University of Munich in Germany, is a world leader in such investigations, and he gave an intimate session in the afternoon for clinicians on understanding methods of meta-analysis. Dr. Andrea Iaboni from the University of Toronto provided updates in a plenary session on the Canadian guidelines for managing anxiety in older adults.

Other speakers included Dr. David Taylor of the Maudsley Hospital in London, UK, Dr. Benjamin Goldstein from CAMH in Toronto, and Dr. David Crockford from the University of Calgary. The conference has a goal of including high-quality speakers, both international and local, who can address important clinical topics across the spectrum of ages and disorders. Perspectives from people with lived experience have been included in recent years. The conference committee is co-chaired by Randall F. White and Reza Rafizadeh and includes Nick Mathew, Katelyn Halpape, Jackie Siu and William Mak. The committee is very grateful to the organizational and on-the-ground support from UBC CPD including conference director Lindsay Callan and manager Michelle Baysan. 

Next year’s conference will be in September. Look for the announcement of the exact date in early 2025.

Dear Department members,

I would like to share a couple of staffing updates and announcements regarding our UBC Department of Psychiatry Administration Office.

Firstly, we are delighted to welcome Ms. Gitika Bhowmik who is joining the UBC Psychiatry Administrative team as our new HR Assistant as of September 26. Gitika brings to this role several years’ experience in human resources and a strong background in supporting UBC administrative and HR-related processes. Most recently, she served as Senior Administrative Assistant to the UBC School of Social Work, and previously in 2021 she provided temporary support to the Department of Psychiatry’s HR team through UBC Hiring Solutions.  As our new HR Assistant, Gitika will be taking over the Student/Staff/Volunteer HR portfolio, handling all Workday processes, and providing day-to-day HR support for these groups. She will be situated in the main Administration Office on the 2nd Floor at UBC Hospital, Detwiller Pavilion (UBC Campus), and may be reached by email at gitika.bhowmik@ubc.ca.

We would also like to formally welcome Mr. Trevor Mah who joined the Faculty of Medicine as a Financial Analyst supporting the Department of Psychiatry in August. Trevor replaces Eric Toh who moved into a new analyst role in Administration Finance, FoM. Prior to joining UBC, Trevor worked as a senior accountant with D&H Group LLP.  In his new role, Trevor oversees processes related to general finance, including review of funding for hires and reconciliation processes. He also manages project grant set up, and provides guidance on financial policies and procedures for the FoM and the Department, as well as solutions and support for all finance-related issues and queries. Trevor can be reached by email at trevor.mah@ubc.ca.

Please join me in warmly welcoming Gitika to the UBC Psychiatry Administration team, as well as Trevor to the UBC FoM Finance Team supporting Psychiatry!

Sincerely,

Margaret Koshi
Director, Administration
UBC Department of Psychiatry

The UBC Department of Psychiatry Administration Office respectfully acknowledges the land on which we live, work and play is the traditional, ancestral, and unceded territories of the Coast Salish Peoples, the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish), and Səlilwətaɬ (Tsleil-waututh) Nations.

New Funding Opportunity | Societal Issues Competition

**Forwarded on behalf of Dr. Robert McMaster, Vice Dean, Research, Faculty of Medicine, and Dr. Michelle Wong, Executive Director, CIEBH and Senior Director, Research, Faculty of Medicine**

Genome BC recently held an information session for a new funding opportunity, Societal Issues Intake 4 (SOC4). SOC4 is open to academic researchers and aims to explore and test countermeasures to local challenges (such as awareness, access, communication, and trust) for adopting genomics in BC’s healthcare system. Projects can request a budget of up to $250,000 for a maximum duration of 24 months. No co-funding/matching funds are required.

Information about the opportunity, including a recording of the information session and the SOC4 guidelines, is available on Genome BC’s website. The deadline for Statements of Interest (SOIs) is October 7, 2024.

2024 Research Facility Support Grants

**Forwarded on behalf of Dr. Robert McMaster, Vice Dean, Research, Faculty of Medicine**

Apply for funding to extend the useful life of shared research equipment at UBC. Funding can be used for operation, replacement of parts, repair or upgrades to facilities and research equipment shared by three or more principal investigators.

The 2024 Research Facility Support Grants (RFSG) competition is open to faculty located at the UBC Vancouver campus and affiliated hospital sites. RFSGs provide up to $50,000 for a term of one year, to improve the capabilities of shared equipment, or to provide one-time bridge funding to support staff in shared facilities.

Further details on this program are available from the UBC Research + Innovation website. The deadline for grant applications is November 1, 2024.

For any question about RFSG, contact Stacey Herzer, Manager, Internal Research Competitions at stacey.herzer@ubc.ca.