A BIG Thank You to Everyone Who Joined in Our 2023 UBC Psychiatry Research Day!

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, we would like to thank everyone who presented in-person posters and electronic research posters for the virtual poster gallery.  The ePosters will remain accessible on our website, and recordings of the presentations will also be posted online soon.

Finally, we would like to congratulate once again the following awardees of our Research Day Awards, and UGE MD and Resident Awards, which were announced and presents yesterday:

Lightning Talk, Set A: Hallee Shearer | Movie-fMRI offers region-specific advantages as an acquisition state for precision psychiatry

Lightning Talk, Set B: Rebecca Zivanovic | Attitudes and Preferences regarding Contraception of Women with Serious Mental Illness

Zeldowicz Poster Award in Clinical Research: Triya Ramburn | Community gardens as psychosocial interventions for refugees and migrants: a narrative review

Zeldowicz Poster Award in Basic Science/Translational Research: Borna Atrchian | Minder for Younger Minds: Using Qualitative Focus Group Sessions to Adapt a Mental Health and Substance Use E-Intervention for Secondary School Students

Undergraduate Awards for Medical Students

Jay C. Cheng Memorial Prize: Jake Johnston

Kristin SIVERTZ Memorial Prize in Medicine: Mariam Manna

Annette E. Hacking Memorial Award in Medicine in Psychiatry: Mirna Hennawy

Andrew Neil McTaggart Memorial Prize in Psychiatry: Jenny Zhang

Dennis Harris Memorial Prize in Psychiatry: Lance Shaver

Postgraduate Education Awards  

George A. Davidson Scholarship Award: Allison Hudson & Maria Alexandra

CanMEDS Awards:

• 1^st place: Alexander Levit and Victor Li
• 2^nd place: Jordana Waserman and Quinten Clarke
• 3^rd place: Oshin Maheshwari
• 4^th place: Adeeb Malas and Max Liu
• 5^th place: Shikha Walia and Faizan Bhatia

Resident Undergraduate Teaching Awards

• Vancouver Track: Tristan Willis
• Fraser Track: Faizan Bhatia
• Vancouver Island: Conor Zeer-Wanklyn
• Prince George: Taylor Callander

Significant Contribution to Research: Laura Labonté

The Emily Ellingsen Prize for Significant Contribution to the UBC Psychiatry Residency Program: Alexander Levit

Significant Leadership: Isaac Rodin

Dr. William E. Piper Memorial Award in Psychotherapy: Connor Hawkins & Alexander Levit

2023 Necia Laura May Elvin Memorial Prize in Schizophrenia Research: Andrea Jones

Island Medical Program Emily Ellingsen Award: Darcy Good

Providence Health Care, Department of Psychiatry Awards

• Dr. Brian Morris Memorial Award: Stefanie Montgomery
• Dr. Maria Corral Award: Galilee Thompson
• Dr. Robert Kitchen Memorial Award: Connor McLean

Dr. Megan Roberts Honorary Scholarship: Daniella Crocker & Jessica Chin

Thanks again to everyone who joined our 2023 UBC Psychiatry Research Day, and we hope to see you all again at next year’s event!

You can view all the 2023 Research Day photos HERE!  If you have additional photos of the event that you would like to add to the album, please send them to Margaret Koshi at margaret.koshi@ubc.ca.

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 began offering its harm reduction services. In the intervening seven years, a staggering 11,171 deaths in BC have been attributed to this ongoing crisis. Supporters of OPS are convinced this number would be much higher if not for their frontline efforts. Having moved from their first location, a tent, to their current space on East Hastings Street, OPS provides a safe, warm, non-judgmental drop-in where people can test their drugs, pick up clean needles, and inject in safety, as well as access other services. A veteran of ten years work in the DTES, Askey was known and trusted. Using a fly-on-the-wall observational approach, his film portrays the community members who work at OPS (most either current or former drug users) with the same clear-eyed compassion as those who use its services.

“Intimate and revealing—quietly but firmly humanizing drug use and the people who engage in it.” — Paloma Pacheco, POV Magazine

“Director Colin Askey doesn’t gloss over the frequently-grim reality of serious substance use disorders … but he insists on the humanity of drug users and the communities they call home.” — Kate Knibbs, Wired

---

Post-screening Discussion:

Post-screening discussion with Sara Blyth and Amy Evans. Moderated by Dr. Harry Karlinsky, Clinical Professor, Department of Psychiatry, University of British Columbia

About the Panel:

Sara Blyth is the executive director and co-founder of Vancouver’s Overdose Prevention Society and former Vancouver Park Board commissioner. She is a long-time community activist who has been working in the Downtown Eastside for over a decade providing grassroots services, opportunities, and responses to the overdose crisis.

Amy Evans is a manager at Vancouver’s Overdose Prevention Society with five years recovery. She found her passion doing harm reduction work in the Downtown Eastside neighbourhood.

Dr. Harry Karlinsky, the Series Director of Frames of Mind and a Clinical Professor in the UBC Department of Psychiatry, has a longstanding commitment to professional and public education. He has presented nationally and internationally on topics ranging from Alzheimer’s disease to information technology to narrative medicine to PTSD and to the use of films in health care education.

---

Want to be a regular at Frames of Mind screenings on the third Wednesday of every month? Subscribe to the email list and be the first in line for tickets!

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 Central South University, in order to renew the existing Memoranda of Understanding (MOU) between the UBC Department of Psychiatry and these institutions for a further three-year period.

As you may recall, our original MOUs in China were established in 2019, and included Beijing Anding Hospital at Capital Medical University with whom our MOU is ongoing, in order to formalize our ties and thereby strengthen our academic partnerships with these leading mental health centres. Notably, these institutions with whom we have established MOUs (Beijing Anding Hospital, SMHC, and Changsha Second Xiangya Hospital) were selected as three among the only four National Centers for Mental Disorders in China following an intense peer-reviewed competition by the Chinese Government.

With the extension of our MOUs, we foresee renewed opportunities and exciting avenues to expand the Department’s research and educational networks in China. While the COVID-19 pandemic hampered efforts to exchange trainees and faculty members over the last three years, we have nevertheless pursued and maintained productive research collaborations with our Chinese partners, including the Enhanced Measurement-Based Care Effectiveness for Depression (EMBED) project, a large Canada-China team grant jointly funded by CIHR and the National Science Foundation of China to implement technology-enhanced measurement-based care for depression, led by co-PIs Dr. Raymond Lam and Prof. Jun Chen of SMHC.

In the months and years ahead, we will continue to strengthen our collaborative efforts in regards to research projects as well as exchange of visiting faculty and trainees between institutions, and fulfill a key strategic priority to leverage our partnerships around the world in order to foster knowledge exchange, expand our research capacity, and enhance the global presence and profile of the Department. These centres host digital platforms and have access to massive clinical and research resources which provide tremendous opportunities for the Department to collaborate. I look forward to sharing further updates with respect to these initiatives in the near future.

Should any residents or fellows be interested in undertaking training at one of the three institutions in China, or any faculty members be interested in a Visiting Professorship or pursuing research collaborative opportunities, please contact Dr. Sophia Frangou (sophia.frangou@ubc.ca) or Vicky Yau (vicky.yau@ubc.ca) for more information.

Sincerely,

Dr. Lakshmi N. Yatham, MBBS, FRCPC, MRCPsych (UK), MBA (Exec)                       
Professor and Head, UBC Department of Psychiatry
Director, Institute of Mental Health, UBC
Regional Head and Program Medical Director, VCH/PHC

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).

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 received full funding to attend the CAPL conference which took place in Halifax last week, and was invited to present on his topic “Can We Treat Antisocial Personality Disorder?”

Dr. Moscovici was also recently awarded the Rappeport Fellowship from the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law (AAPL), which offers the opportunity for outstanding residents with interest in psychiatry and the law to develop their knowledge and skills. He was presented with this award at the AAPL conference in New Orleans in October 2022.

Congratulations to Dr. Moscovici on his well-deserved recognition from both the CAPL and AAPL!

The award link: https://www.aapl.org/rappeport-fellowship