Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology Annual Report:_____________________________________ _ 2007-2008 Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology The University of British Columbia ANNUAL REPORT July 1, 2008 – June 30, 2009 Vancouver Hospital & Health Sciences Centre British Columbia’s Women’s Hospital and Health Centre Providence Health Care Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada 21 Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology Annual Report:______________________________________________ 2008-2009 TABLE OF CONTENTS Chairman’s Report 3 Organizational Structure 8 Mission Statement 9 Faculty and Departmental Organization 12 Business and Financial Summary 19 Site Head Reports 20 Divisional Reports 23 Teaching Programs 32 Research Grants 41 Publications 62 Visiting Lectureships 96 Memberships 96 Service on University Committees 146 Presentations at National & International Scientific Meetings ……………………………………………… 158 Awards of Distinction/Special Appointments/Honours Received ………………………………………….. 167 2 Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology Annual Report:______________________________________________ 2008-2009 Chairman’s Report It is with pleasure that we present the Annual Report for the Department for the year June 30, 2009. People Our business is people, mostly especially the women of British Columbia and their babies and families for whom we provide care. “Creating Health” is very much at the core of what we do! Within the departmental “family” there have been changes: Fred Bryans the second, and longtime Head of the Department, died in February. Fred was committed to the task of creating health. His commitment and calm gentlemanly demeanor served all of us well as a model. Through his generosity and that of his wife Jane, his work will be continued through the establishment of the Fred Bryans Master Teacher Program. Nelly Auersperg joined our Department on her “retirement” and has, reluctantly, put aside her microscope. Her work has significantly advanced the understanding of cancer in general and ovarian cancer in particular. She has been both a driving force and an inspiration. We wish her well in her second retirement! Roxana Geoffrion joined the tenure track faculty to build our section of Female Pelvic Medicine and Surgical Reconstruction and to enhance our Surgical Education Program. Ariadna Fernandez joined us as our new Research Manager and immediately had an impact in facilitating our research effort. At the close of the year I was delighted that we were able to finalize the recruitment of K.S. Joseph to the department. K.S. is one of the leading perinatal epidemiologists in Canada and his move to Vancouver will have major positive effects on our research and educational endeavor. His recruitment was made possible by collaboration between our department, the School of Public and Population Health and the Children’s and Family Research Institute. Some have come, or moved on; others remain in the family but with changed roles: Peter Leung assumed the role of Associate Dean of Graduate Studies in the Faculty of Medicine. Geoff Hammond has stepped up to assume leadership of the Graduate Program within our own department. Nancy Kent completed her term as Post Graduate Program Director. While in that position Nancy oversaw a doubling and remodeling of our program which truly became “provincial”. Under her leadership we have a program that is preeminent in the country. As she moves into a new chapter of life I am deeply grateful for her work in this area and her commitment to the department. Her shoes will be ably filled by Liz Joa. Nancy Kent has also served over close to 2 years as Acting Head of the Division of Maternal Fetal Medicine. In this task she has provided leadership and stability, with the focus once again on “creating health”. 3 Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology Annual Report:______________________________________________ 2008-2009 Amanda Skoll was appointed Division Head and I know we can look forward to productive and fruitful times under her leadership. Paula Lott left the staff at St. Paul’s Hospital but remains in our department based at Royal Inland Hospital in Kamloops. I am pleased to welcome Markéta Gogela-Spehar and Suzanne Kim who have been appointed in her stead. Marie-France Delisle has been the Clinical Clerkship Coordinator at BC Women’s Hospital and has been active in the development and implementation with the Interprofessional Educational Initiative around Intrapartum Care. Her roles in both of these spheres has been taken up by Dena Bloomenthal and am extremely grateful to each of them for their commitment to this most important endeavor. In spite of all these changes we still look to build and recruit. Our priorities in this regard continue to be within the Division of Reproductive Endocrinology and Infertility and in the General Division. We are also keen to attract scientists in the fields of Psychology, Oncological Science and Fetal Physiology. Care We have continued within the city of Vancouver to facilitate operative gynaecologic care. We have worked hard to minimize the sites at which physicians are required to attend, to rationalize the allocation of operating room time and we have consolidated urogynaecology activity at St. Paul’s. The multitude of sites within the city in which we are involved continues to be problematic but I do believe we have made some progress. The department is front and center, as always, in trying to build unified action across BC Women’s Hospital and St. Paul’s Hospital with respect to obstetrical care. Again there remain challenges but once again I believe progress is being made. We have continued our efforts towards a more unified safety and quality initiative across all sites within the city of Vancouver, at least from a departmental perspective. Education Our educational endeavors are documented elsewhere in this report but I would highlight the Round Table in Surgical Education held in November 2008 and the ensuing developments of the Laparoscopic Surgical Skills Task Group to confront the realities of advanced laparoscopic surgery, develop opportunity for our faculty and to enhance the teaching and acquisition of these skills by our post graduates. In the same vein we are moving ahead with advanced education in pelvic pain and endometriosis and the year saw our first Fellow in Female Pelvic Medicine and Pelvic Floor Reconstruction, another collaborative endeavor, this time with the Department of Urological Sciences. Research Our research funding continues to increase as is documented elsewhere in this report. I would like to comment on the unfolding of the recommendations of the Research Task Force and the appointment of a Research Advisory Group. This group is embarking on a needs assessment which will guide our research promotion endeavor. One of the recommendations of the Research Task Force was to absorb the “Basic Science Division” into the other subspecialty divisions. This recommendation has been implemented. It is important for all to appreciate that this move is designed to enhance the activities of the Basic Science Division and improve interaction and collaboration between basic scientists, clinician scientists, clinician investigators and clinicians – “through knowledge creating health”! Under research I would also like to highlight the necessity for Research Ethics Review Boards and the large amount of time consuming work that these demand. They have been and are currently well served by individuals within the department who are prepared to give of their time and energy to the various UBC Review Boards that there are in existence. However, this is always an area of need and I would encourage any who are so inclined to come forward. 4 Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology Annual Report:______________________________________________ 2008-2009 General Issues The financial crisis of 2008 impacted all of us but the reassessment of the status of endowments held at UBC had a huge impact on the departmental budget during this year. While we all expected significant reductions the requirements for recapitalization undertaken by the Fund Managers at UBC resulted in a reduction of 60% in one spending allocation. This resulted in significant pain for many within the department and has caused a major rethink with respect to future planning. Hopefully this will be an interim situation but it has not been a pleasant one! The Graduate Program reached the age of 25 this year and continues to flourish and develop. There are very few departments in the country which are home to such a program. The faculty, students and staff who make up this program are a rich source of knowledge generation and education. It is a resource to be treasured! As the year ended we awaited the Academic Review of the REI Division, another step in the evolution of the division. The impact of the service demands and revenue generation of IVF on academic reproductive endocrinology has been felt across North America. We are fortunate to have a broad based Reproductive Endocrinology Division and yet this may have impacted negatively our IVF enterprise. Moving forward in a way that will safeguard a sound, broad education for our postgraduates and subspecialty residents and at the same time maintain IVF services will require partnership and innovation – and inevitably change! We are a clinical department and the majority of our faculty are clinicians. Only at the University of British Columbia are these clinicians separated by the terms “clinical faculty” and “tenure track faculty”. Sadly, I fear, it will be a long time before this situation changes. Nevertheless, from a departmental perspective we have tried to treat faculty as one and to respect and value the commitment and contributions of all, given and received in light of their individual circumstances. I was pleased therefore when, at our interim planning and visioning session, members of “clinical faculty” came forward with a template by which to evaluate scholarly contributions. This is what I would expect of a committed department! Imagine my surprise, yes and anger, when this discussion was deemed “inappropriate” by the Office of Clinical Faculty Affairs.