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 our colleague Mr. Colin Bryant in January. Simon arrives at UBC from Edmonton, Alberta, where he has been an IT administrator at AutoCanada for the last several years.
In his new role as Computer Systems Manager, Simon will be responsible for managing UBC Psychiatry’s network and IT services, including overseeing our local area network (LAN) administration, delivering desktop support for a network of users across the Department, developing and implementing IT policies and procedures to ensure network stability and security, and leading the implementation of user, team, Department, Faculty-wide and UBC-wide initiatives and upgrades with regard to IT services. He will be situated in the IT Office on the Ground Floor of Detwiller Pavilion, UBC Hospital, and all IT requests may be sent to psychiatry.it@ubc.ca.
Additionally, we are delighted to bring on board Ms. Ikuko Azuma from UBC Hiring Solutions to fill in as our interim Project Manager. She will be supporting a broad range of projects and initiatives for the Department and Administrative team as we move forward in recruiting permanently for this vacancy. Ikuko will be situated at Detwiller Pavilion at UBC Hospital, and she may be reached by email at psychiatry.projects@ubc.ca.
As well, we also warmly welcometo our team Mr. Juan Velasco, who joined our Department as the new Senior Program Assistant, UGE Years 3 & 4, as of September 22. Juan previously served as a Senior Business Development Assistant in the UBC Science Co-op Program, and in his new role, will be responsible for coordinating the scheduling for all Year 3 & 4 Psychiatry blocks and supporting the day-to-day running of the Undergraduate Medical Education in Psychiatry for Year 3 and Year 4. He will be situated in the Education office at VGH Gordon & Leslie Diamond Healthcare Centre and may be reached by email at juan.velasco@ubc.ca.
Further, Mr. Prabhjot Singh was brought on board from UBC Hiring Solutions in July to provide additional support to the UGE, PGE and SSP programs, and has done a fantastic job providing coverage as we were recruiting for vacancies in the Education office. Prabhjot will be continuing in this temporary role for the time being and may be reached at psychiatry.education@ubc.ca.
Please join me in warmly welcoming Simon, Ikuko, Juan and Prabhjot to the UBC Psychiatry Administration Team, and also taking this opportunity to thank Colin, who while in retirement, has continued to provide IT support to the Department on a contractual, as-needed basis over the last nine months.
Sincerely,
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).