UBC Department of Psychiatry Staffing Update | December 2023

Dear Department members,

I wish to share with you some important staffing updates and announcements regarding our UBC Department of Psychiatry Administration Office.

Firstly, we are delighted to welcome Ms. Terena Zhao as our new Administrative Assistant to our six Division Heads. Terena is a recent UBC graduate with previous experience working in a busy medical clinic, and in her new position, she will act as the Division Heads’ primary point of contact. She will be responsible for coordinating meetings, organizing events, and undertaking other administrative tasks as needed to support our Division Heads and their activities. Terena will be situated at Detwiller Pavilion at UBC Hospital and may be reached by email at psychiatry.divisions@ubc.ca.

Additionally, we are excited to share that Ms. Ikuko Azuma has joined our staff as Project Manager on a permanent basis. She initially joined our team as a UBC Hiring Solutions staff member, and has since done an outstanding job in supporting a broad range of projects and initiatives for the Department and Administrative team. Ikuko will continue to be situated at Detwiller Pavilion at UBC Hospital, and she may be reached by email at psychiatry.projects@ubc.ca.

Please join me in warmly welcoming Terena and congratulating Ikuko in their new roles on the UBC Psychiatry Administration Team! 

I wish you all a safe and happy holiday season,

Vicky Yau
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).

Happy Birthday to Allan Kwan!

Allan has been a great part of the IT department and has made my transition very easy. I look forward to working with him in the New Year to continue supporting the Department. 

It will also mark the last day for Prabhjot Singh, our temp IT support. It’s been great to know and work along side him the past few months. I hope for great things for him and his career in the future.

If you any IT emergencies over the holiday break, please email psychiatry.it@ubc.ca for support.

Wishing everyone happy holidays and see you in the New Year!

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*Attention* It’s time for the mid-month update and reboot cycle, so please be sure to save all your work and restart your computer at end of day today. All file share servers will also be updated and rebooted.

Keep Up to Date with Monthly Phishing Workshops

First, the Information Security Management team will be hosting a monthly 30-minute Phishing Workshop series that will offer a unique opportunity to review real phishing campaigns that have targeted our university community since the previous session. Each workshop will be available online via Zoom every second Wednesday of the month from 11:00am to 11:30am, starting January 10. These sessions are open to all faculty, staff and students. Registration is required.

What to Expect:

• Real Scenarios: Explore recent phishing attempts and tactics used by cybercriminals
• Educational Insights: Learn to identify phishing red flags and protect against attacks
• Interactive Learning: Engage with real phishing messages for practical experience
• Empowerment: Gain knowledge to safeguard personal and university data
• Community Defense: Contribute to fortifying our university’s cybersecurity resilience

Your active participation during these workshops will help strengthen our collective resilience against cyber threats.

For registration details, visit the Monthly Phishing Workshops page:

hxxps://privacymatters.ubc.ca/monthly-phishing-workshops

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Monthly Server Maintenance

Psychiatry IT will be patching and completing updates on Servers PSYT1776, PSYT1486 and PSYT1861 between Friday December 1 (8pm) to Sat December 2 (10am). Please be sure to save any open documents and log off/restart your computer at the end of your day.

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What is MFA? 

MFA is short for Mult-Factor Authentication, also known as 2FA or 2-Factor Authentication. It is an added level of security for online accounts. It requires users to provide aa additional form of authentication, like a code sent to their phone, along with their username and password. It helps prevent unauthorized access and protects sensitive information. Popular MFA methods are SMS text, phone call, and authentication apps.  

Always enable MFA on accounts that contains or provides access to any personal data. MFA is on by default for UBC CWL access.  

Popular Apps used for MFA: Google Authenticator, Microsoft Authenticator, Duo Mobile.  

Some useful links below for more info on MFA: 

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/topic/what-is-multifactor-authentication-e5e39437-121c-be60-d123-eda06bddf661

https://duo.com/product/multi-factor-authentication-mfa/what-is-mfa

Sincerely,

Simon Chong

Computer Systems Manager
Medicine | Psychiatry | Psychiatry IT
The University of British Columbia | Vancouver Campus | Musqueam Traditional Territory
2C1 – 2255 Wesbrook Mall | Vancouver British Columbia | V6T 2A1 Canada
psychiatry.it@ubc.ca 
http://psychiatry.ubc.ca

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).

The Department is deeply saddened to share the news that Dr. Robert Hewko passed away last week. As a Clinical Professor and member of the Department for over three decades, Dr. Hewko was also a well-known and respected clinician who served as the Clinical Manager of the Consultation Liaison Psychiatry Service at VGH for many years.

Dr. Hewko will be remembered by his countless colleagues, former students and mentees as being not only a leader in CL Psychiatry, but also an excellent and devoted teacher, as evidenced by the multiple UBC Psychiatry teaching awards he received year after year. Notably, in 2012 he was the Department’s nominee in for the FoM Clinical Faculty Career Excellence in Clinical Teaching Award. He was also very active in his professional community, serving in a long list of hospital committees and presenting at numerous hospital grand rounds each year.

We will share on this page any updates in regards to a Celebration of Life for Dr. Hewko, should we receive them. In the meantime, please keep Dr. Hewko’s family and friends in your thoughts during this most difficult time.

** Shared on behalf of Dr. Irfan Khanbhai, Program Director, UBC Psychiatry Postgraduate Education Program **

Dear Clinical Faculty,

The Program is in the process of updating our STACER Examiner list for all tracks across the province.  

As many of you are aware, the Royal College requires that the PGY4/5s successfully complete 2 STACERs (Structured Assessments of Clinical Evaluation Report) which include a 50 minute psychiatric assessment, presentation of the case, formulation, differential diagnosis and management plan, followed by examiners’ questions on the case. 

Some of you have been and are already involved in this PGY4/5 examination process and I wanted to thank you for your commitment to medical education.  Could you please complete the extremely short survey via the link below to indicate your interest in current and future involvement as we would like to ensure that our list is up to date.

The Royal College is now stipulating that a STACER also be completed for the PGY2 year (to determine if they have met competency to progress to PGY3).  For the PGY2 STACER, I would encourage those that are already PGY2 supervisors to sign up as you have the best understanding of when a PGY2 residents is ready for promotion.  The forms we are utilizing are the same Monthly Interview Evaluation forms that you are already familiar with.  

I am asking for those faculty that are interested in participating in either the PGY2 or the PGY4/5 exam process to fill out the same survey and indicate the year(s) you are willing to examine.  

Given that some tracks across the province are more short staffed, and given that we are now able to do these exams virtually, I am requesting that those who are interested in being on a provincial virtual STACER examiner list also please tick that box in the survey.

Survey Link: https://ubc.ca1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_9FV09svQFNAqbqe

Thank you all and best regards,

Irfan

Dr. Irfan Khanbhai MD, FRCPC
Clinical Associate Professor
Program Director
UBC Psychiatry Postgraduate Education Program

I humbly acknowledge, with gratitude, that I live, work, and play as an uninvited guest on the traditional, ancestral, and unceded territory of the xwməθkwəy̓əm (Musqueam), Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish), and Səl̓ílwətaʔ/Selilwitulh (Tsleil- Waututh) Nations. 

Dear colleagues,

We are pleased to announce that Dr. Andrew Howard has been appointed to the new role of Director, Fellowship Program for the UBC Department of Psychiatry, effective July 1, 2023 (retroactive).

As the new Fellowship Director, Dr. Howard will be responsible for providing leadership and oversight on all aspects of the UBC Psychiatry Fellowship Program. In this role, he will spearhead the development and implementation of standard practices for the recruitment, admission, onboarding, supervision and evaluation of both Clinical Fellows and Clinical Postdoctoral Fellows in the Department, ensuring that the Program adheres to fellowship policies and procedures as set out by UBC. 

His other key duties will include supporting fellowship supervisors and site coordinators, and providing guidance for the creation of new fellowship opportunities in various clinical programs at our affiliated clinical sites. Further, Dr. Howard will be working closely with the Associate Head, Graduate and Undergraduate Medical Education, to support the development of a Master’s degree program for fellows, relevant to clinical or translational psychiatry. 

As a Clinical Associate Professor in the Department of Psychiatry since 2006, Dr. Howard also holds an appointment as the Morning Academic Curriculum Director for our Postgraduate Education Program. Additionally, he serves as the Education Coordinator for the BC Neuropsychiatry Program, overseeing the development and improvement of education programs for neuropsychiatry fellows, psychiatry and neurology residents, and elective medical students. Meanwhile, he continues to be a dedicated teacher and supervisor to both psychiatry and neurology residents, has served on the UBC Psychiatry Clinical Faculty Appointment and Promotion Committee for a number of years, and has been involved in several recent studies in the areas of psychoactive therapies, mTBI and neurocognitive decline in schizophrenia.

If your program is currently training Clinical Fellows or Clinical Postdoctoral Fellows, or is planning to recruit a Fellow in the near future, please reach out to Dr. Howard at andrew.howard@vch.ca for further details regarding the Department’s updated processes for these fellowships. 

Please join us in warmly welcoming Dr. Howard to this important new leadership role within the Department.

Sincerely,

Dr. Lakshmi N. Yatham
Professor and Head
UBC Department of Psychiatry

Dr. Raymond Lam,
Professor and Associate Head, Graduate and Undergraduate Medical Education,
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).