DEPARTMENT OF MEDICINE

Division of Experimental Medicine

Annual Report 2015

(a) Experimental Medicine 2015: Transition Year It has been a transition year for the Division of Experimental Medicine with 48% of our students re-located to the Research Institute of the McGill University Health Center (MUHC-RI), at the Glen site. A special orientation evening was organized in September by the EMGSS and Ms. Besso and Linhares to help students get to know each other and get familiar with the site and the resources available to them. This also served the purpose of getting our students from outside the Glen to get familiar with the facility. The courses offered by the Division were migrated to new spaces on campus, when mostly addressed to undergraduate students, whereas courses addressed mostly to graduate students were for the major part moved to the Glen site. When possible, some were also maintained at our affiliated Institutes. Ms. Besso works from the MUHC-RI one day per week to facilitate access to the departmental affairs for our students and professors now located off McGill campus.

(b) Experimental Medicine Web page The Experimental Medicine Web page, which was redesigned in 2014, is continuously updated with new information from our professors and with new and updated guidelines for students and professors. The web page is also currently evaluated for optimization as an advertisement tool to improve student recruitment.

(c) Courses and Program Development Following the EMGSS recommendations made in 2013, we are developing new courses so that our students have access to a wider range of courses within their own Division.

New courses: 1) A course on Biostatistics has been developed by Dr. Nandini Dendukuri. It is in its final stage of approval by McGill to be offered in September 2016. Students are already lining up to register. 2) A course on ethics in science is being developed by Dr. Cournoyer. It was offered as two workshops this year for testing and adjustments while waiting for approval by McGill.

- 1 - 3) The development of a course on vaccination was started last year by Dr. Ward and is expected to be offered in 2017. This course will be ‘launched’ at McGill but will involve a network of colleagues of Dr. Ward to share the content nationally. Specifically, Dr. Ward will use external support (Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC), Provincial, industry) to populate the course with faculty members from across the country either directly (visiting lecturers) and/or to use modern media to bring a broad range of faculty to the course ‘virtually’. 4) A course on translation research is also being developed by Dr. Laneuville and is expected to start in the 2017 winter term. This course will address a wide variety of topics such as: molecular mechanisms of Alzeimer and Autism, Immunology of contact dermatitis, genomic cardiology, cancer stem cell biology, etc. 5) A course on Host-Parasite Interactions: From bench to bedside is currently being developed by Drs. Martin Olivier and Momar Ndao. We hope to also have that course available for the winter 2017. 6) An interdepartmental course on Stem Cells is being developed by Dr. Terry Hebert (from Pharmacology).

(d) New programs: 1) An interdepartmental Environment Program (Environmental Health) was developed by Dr. Mark Goldberg. 2) An MD/MSc Program is under development by Dr. Mark Eisenberg.

(e) Experimental Medicine Graduate Student Society (EMGSS): The most significant achievements of the EMGSS every year is the organization of the Annual McGill Biomedical Graduate Conference” (AMBGC) that was held at the La Plaza Hotel on March 19th, 2015. This event offers graduate students in biomedical research the opportunity to present and discuss their work in a stimulating and collegial environment that permits networking opportunities among their peers. Approximately 200 students attended this year’s conference, representing graduate students from the Montréal area, Sherbrook and Québec city, post-doctoral fellows, and university faculty and community members. There were 107 presentations, oral and posters, from students engaged in biomedical research. The Keynote Speaker was Dr. Rafi Ahmed director of the Emory Vaccine Center. The EMGSS managed to secure sponsorship from several organizations to aid in funding the event. In addition to the AMBGC, the EMGSS hosted several other social events. A summary report of the EMGSS’ activities for 2015- 2016 is attached as Appendix 1.

- 2 - (f) Graduate Students (i) Numbers (Appendix 2): There were 280 students registered in Experimental Medicine as of the Fall 2015 semester, a slight but continuous decrease since the peak of 322 reached in 2013. Of these, 89 were newly admitted to our programs in 2015, in the following proportions (25 Ph.D., 53 M.Sc., and 11 Diploma in Clinical Research).

Eighty-two (82) students graduated from our programs in the 2015 calendar year, in the following proportions: 19 Ph.D., 44 M.Sc., and 19 Clinical Research Diploma. Overall the enrolment in Experimental Medicine Graduate programs decreased by approximately 9 % relative to 2014. With an anticipated enrolment of approximately 60 students in the upcoming calendar year, our numbers are expected to slightly decrease.

(ii) Years in the program (Appendix 3): The average number of years in the Ph.D. program has shown a marked decrease over that of last year (from 6.28 in 2014 to 5.32 in 2015). A slight decrease has been seen in the average number of years to complete an M.Sc. (from 2.63 in 2014 to 2.43 in 2015) and slight increase for the Diploma in Clinical Research (from 1.04 in 2014 to 1.16 in 2015). These numbers seem to stabilize most probably due to our tighter control on the progression of students through their program.

We still hope to reduce these figures to no more than 5 and 2 years for the Ph.D. and M.Sc. programs, respectively. To this end the Division continues to work towards assuring that students submit theses in a timely fashion without being subject to time limitations imposed by Graduate and Post-Doctoral Studies. As always, the Division takes a large role in organizing annual thesis committee meetings to ensure that they take place in a timely fashion.

(iii) Graduate student funding (Appendix 4): Sixty-five (65) external awards were secured by our graduate students which is a decrease of 38% compared to 2014 (note that the number of students decreased by only 9%). The total amount of dollars from external fellowships did not decrease as much (only 22% decrease) due to the substantial contribution of foreign governmental awards to international students. Note also that starting this year, we included the fee waivers as part of the external funding which artificially increased the total amount of funding. A larger percentage of our students also benefitted from internal funding (292 awards totaling $1,296,465 were awarded to Experimental Medicine students). Thus, the total funding awarded to our students decreased by 11% from that of 2014 ($2,737,644 compared to $3,069,322.50 in 2014).

- 3 - (iv) Honors: The outstanding caliber of our students continues to be recognized by both McGill and the Canadian scientific community. Notably, 6 of our students were once again invited to attend the Canadian Student Health Research Forum in Winnipeg, which takes place in June of each year.

(v) Productivity award: The productivity award competition that was created in 2014 was not repeated this year. Although the Division believes in rewarding our talented and successful students, 2015 was more challenging in terms of grant support for our researchers and students. Therefore, the money that we had previously allocated to this exercise was used this year to pay the stipend of our students whose supervisors’ unexpectedly did not renew their grants and could not support them.

(g) Staff Membership The Division’s total membership remained the same over the past year despite retirement and passing away of some members. The Division presently has 228 members (69 Full, 45 Associate and 17 Assistant Professors in Medicine and 3 Emeritus Professors). There are also 59 Associate Members from other departments at McGill, as well as 34 Adjunct Members from the Institut de Recherches Cliniques de Montréal (IRCM) and 1 member appointed only for the duration of one student’s degree. Of these, 134 are currently active supervisors of graduate students registered in the Division.

(h) Conclusion 2015 was a year of transition which was challenging but successful. The Division and its members adapted and reorganized. The move of 48% of our students to the MUHC-RI resulted in new collaborations and access to new equipment and facilities. Also, the major changes that occurred at the level of the funding agencies (mostly CIHR) put pressure on our members which likely explains the decrease in the number of new students. We will have to develop new strategies for our students to secure more external studentships/fellowships.

Anne-Marie Lauzon, Ph.D. Director Division of Experimental Medicine

- 4 - Appendix 1

Experimental Medicine Graduate Student Society (EMGSS) Progress Report 2015-2016 Updated April 29th, 2016 The 2015-2016 EMGSS council was formed June 1st, 2015 and operating at full capacity starting October 2015 after the September by-election. The EMGSS council currently has 12 executive members as well as four institute representatives.

The effort of this year’s EMGSS council focuses on building the connections between the division, EMGSS, and the students. This was primarily done through organizing academic and non-academic events.

To start off the year, we hosted an EMGSS Picnic Day on July 24th, 2015 with a turnout of over 40 students.

Next, the division and EMGSS collaborated on organizing the Fall Student Orientation which took place at the Glen Atrium on September 18th. Over 120 students registered for the orientation. Shortly after the orientation, we hosted another welcome barbeque event on September 30th with over 30 students showing up on a cold windy day at the Beaver Lake!

In November, we hosted a pub night to further promote social interactions between students in different institutes, and it was an eventful night with close to 40 students participating.

On December 18th, the EMGSS holiday party saw over 70 students registered and came to the Thomson House basement for an evening of music, food, and games.

At the same time, we worked on promoting the ExMed team spirit by organizing teams to participate in intramurals. Since the summer, we had teams participating in dodge ball (“ExMed Dodgers”, 15 people, won 3rd place), volleyball (“ExMed Smashers”, 17 students, won 4th place), and soccer (12 students, won 2nd place). In addition, we organized an ExMed clothing sale in December with a new company, and close to 60 pieces of hoodies and t-shirts with the experimental medicine print/embroidery were sold to students to boost the ExMed pride!

In the winter semester, we focused our efforts on organizing the biggest academic event of the year – the Annual McGill Biomedical Graduate Conference (AMBGC). This took place in La Plaza at 420 Sherbrooke west on March 17th, 2016. The process of organizing this conference was difficult, as we had more bad news from RI-MUHC blocking additional funding from the individual programs, but we worked hard as a team and managed to secure the funding to successfully host the conference once again. Here we have to thank Dr. Lauzon for generously contributing $2000 to the conference! We had close to 150 participants during the conference including presenters, judges, and registered ExMed students. Many ExMed students won awards in poster or oral presentations, and the competition was fierce: in addition to students from other departments at McGill, we had students come from different universities in Ontario to compete. Having students from other universities not only increased the quality of the conference, but also helped us secure more funding from sponsors due to the diversity of our participants. After the conference, we conducted a survey to gather feedback for the AMBGC. The overwhelming response we received was regarding the possibility of charging a registration fee next year. Most students did not like the idea of having to pay registration fees or having to ask their PIs for that small amount. Matters for the next AMBGC will however be discussed in the next year (2016- 2017) with the new EMGSS council scheduled to form as of June 1st, 2016.

In April, we organized a group trip to sugar shack with PGSS on April 2nd, and a game night on April 28th. Also on April 28th was our annual general meeting. We had presentations on our roles as well as our progress over the 2015-2016 academic year, and we successfully amended our constitution since we had over 20 students (which is the quorum) vote on the proposed motions. Essentially, we will be adding a Student Wellness Representative to the executive council, and this person will be involved with organizing peer support activities as well as referral to health services and resources at McGill. Furthermore, we have decided to have all the representatives on council be elected and they will have one vote per person in the new 2016-2017 council (right now, all site representatives were appointed and they do not hold votes on any matter in EMGSS council). Lastly, we have decided to allow students run for the same position together, and they will get to share the position as co-Vice Presidents should they win in the election as a pair.

In May, we hope to plan an outdoor activity to celebrate the start of the summer with ExMed students. At the end of May, I will be organizing the election for next year’s council with the proposed changes brought forth at the annual general meeting.

In conclusion, we’ve had an eventful year with more student involvement compared to the previous few years, and we will continue to work on creating a more positive and enjoyable experience for all graduate students in Experimental Medicine. It was a pleasure working with everyone on the division’s executive committee, and I hope to introduce the new president to you in June.

Sincerely,

Jiaming (Calvin) Liang

EMGSS President, 2015-2016

April 29th, 2016 Our website: www.emgss.org

Members of the 2015-2016 EMGSS council: President: Jiaming (Calvin) Liang VP Academic: Heather Duncan VP Administration: Naomi Li VP Communications: Yassemine Khawajkie VP External: Rachel La Selva VP Finance: VP Internal: Mònica Gómez Palou VP Marketing: Nida Haider Co-VP Social: Zhor Senhaji Mouhri Co-VP Social: Maryyam Azam PGSS representatives: Billy Liu PGSS representatives: Brian Hsu Lady Davis Institute Representative: Suellen Cristina Coelho Goodman Cancer Research Centre Representative: Ruba Halaoui Glen Site Representative: Bilal Marwa Glen Site Volunteers: Karina Gasbarrino and Rola Hamed Appendix 2 APPENDIX 2

NUMBER OF STUDENTS REGISTERED (by term)

Term Diploma M.Sc. Ph.D. Unregistered* TOTAL 200209 5 10 170 185 200301 5 10 182 197 200309 4 11 173 188 200401 3 11 181 195 200409 4 13 165 182 200501 6 16 171 193 200509 11 37 149 197 200601 10 40 149 199 200609 11 62 121 194 200701 7 68 135 210 200709 9 93 117 221 200801 8 97 116 221 200809 8 92 109 209 200901 4 92 116 212 200909 12 88 115 215 201001 12 89 123 224 201009 16 95 122 233 201101 18 103 133 254 201109 14 111 130 255 201201 11 111 133 255 201209 12 146 145 303 201301 13 137 156 3 (DNR) 315 6 (TL) 201309 19 134 160 4 (DNR) 322 5 (TL) 201401 24 130 169 2 (DNR) 326 1 (TL) 201409 23 109 159 11 (DNR) 309 7 (TL) 201501 20 99 `157 12 (DNR) 296 8 (TL) 201509 16 103 144 8 (DNR) 280 9 (TL) 201601 14 95 146 15 (DNR) 275 5 (TL)

* Starting with the 201301 term and in order to make the numbers representative, we have included a column for students who are not officially registered (due to having reached time-limitation (TL) or who simply omitted to register (DNR) despite being in the lab) but who are students nevertheless. APPENDIX 3 - YEARS TO COMPLETE (by degree)

Degree Average Years Average Years Average Years Average Years Average Years Average Years Average Years Average Years Average Years to Complete to Complete to Complete to Complete to Complete to Complete to Complete to Complete to Complete 2007/2008 2008/2009 2009/2010 2010/2011 2011/2012 2012/2013 2013/2014 2014/2015 2015/2016**

Graduate Dipl. 1.60 1.31 1.13 1,14 1.14 1.22 1.04 1.16 1.29 (# of (5) (8) (8) (14) (7) (9) (12) (19) (7) Graduates) M.Sc. 2.54 2.42 2.56 2.48 2.24 2.76 2.63 2.43 2.64 (# of (24) (31) (36) (31) (29) (34) (48) (44) (25) Graduates) Ph.D. 6.04 5.41 5.71 6.25 5.71 6.25 6.28 5.32 5.45 (# of (38) (28) (14) (22) (17) (18) (23) (19) (20) Graduates) Total 67 67 58 67 53 61 83 82 52 Graduates ** Missing May 2016 data; number are based on October 2015 and February 2016 graduations only.

7

6

5

Years to 4 Diploma Complete M.Sc. 3 Ph.D.

2

1

0 2007/2008 2008/2009 2009/2010 2010/2011 2011/2012 2012/2013 2013/2014 2014/2015 2015/2016 Academic Year APPENDIX 4 Graduate Student Funding 2015

A. Number of Full-Time, Part-Time and Additional Session Graduate Students Registered in Experimental Medicine: 275

B. Funding From External Peer-Reviewed Studentships and Fellowships

Source of Funding Number Total Value of Awards $ Brazil Science Without Borders Scholarship 1 23,340.00 Canadian Vascular Network Scholar Award 1 5,000.00 Scholarship Council Award 2 38,400.00 CIHR Doctoral Award 7 154,700.00 CIHR Master’s Award (CGS-M) 5 46,666.95 CIHR M.D./Ph.D. Studentship 1 7,000.00 Cole Foundation Fellowship 2 22,500.00 CONACYT (Mexico) Scholarship 2 68,000.00 CSR Award 1 5,000.00 Electrophysiology Fellowship 1 75,000.00 FRQS Doctoral Award 16 313,333.33 FRQS Master’s Award 5 67,500.00 FRQS – Bourse de formation pour detenteur de 1 13,107.67 diplome professional FRQS – Programme medecin-resident planifiant 1 60,000.00 carrier en recherché Human Frontier Science Program Award 1 8,300.00 ICRF 1 18,500.00 Karassik Family Foundation Oncology Ph.D. 1 22,000.00 Fellowship King Abdulaziz University Scholarship, Saudi 1 40,000.00 Arabia University Scholarship 1 40,000.00 Lebanon- Societe d’Entreprise et de Gestion (SEG) 1 8,500.00 MEEI/Harvard Medical School Retinal Fellowship 1 26,250.00 NSERC CGS-M 1 10,208.31 NSERC CREATE CDMC Scholarship 1 10,500.00 NSERC Post-Graduate Scholarship (PGS-D) 1 21,000.00 PBEEE Scholarship 1 25,000.00 Qatar Foundation – Science Leadership Program 1 40,000.00 Quebec Network on Suicide, Mood Disorders and 1 19,000.00 Related Disorders (RQSH) Award RAMQ Studentship 1 45,000.00 Saudi Arabian Cultural Bureau Scholarship 3 95,040.00 Sultan Qaboos University Scholarship, 2 79,000.00 Sultanate of Oman Vanier Scholarship 1 33,333.00 TOTAL: 65 $1,441,178.93 C. Funding from McGill Graduate and Medical Faculties, and Hospital Research Institutes

Drug Development Training Program (DDTP) 3 14,418.34 Award Faculty of Medicine Internal Studentship 9 50,583.00 Goodman Cancer Centre Studentship 5 39,333.33 GPS Graduate Fellowship 2 45,000.00 Graduate International Travel Fund 3 4,375.00 GREAT Travel Awards 16 18,500.00 IRCM Scholarship 3 23,333.33 LDI/Suzanne Veronneau-Traubman Bursary 1 10,000.00 LDI/TD Bank Graduate Studentship Award 1 3333.00 Lloyd Carr Harris Fellowship 1 5,000.00 Louise and Alan Edwards Ph.D. Studentship 1 20,000.00 Max Stern Recruitment Fellowship 2 17,272.73 MCH Foundation – CIBC Bike Challenge 1 30,000.00 Studentship McGill Differential Fee Waiver (Doctoral) 10 134,136.00 McGill Differential Fee Waiver (Master’s) 1 11,805.00 McGill Medstar Award 4 2,000.00 Meakins Christie Graduate Studentship Award 5 36,416.72 MICRTP Studentship 6 52,000.00 MUHC-RI Studentship 3 22,208.28 Rabinowitch Fellowship 1 15,000.00 Richard and Edith Strauss Clinical Fellowship 3 80,000.00 Richard H. Tomlinson Doctoral Fellowship 1 12,500.00 Samuel Solomon Fellowship in Endocrinology 1 19,250.00 TOTAL 83 $666,464.73

D. Funding from Division of Experimental Medicine using their allocation for Graduate Excellence Fellowships of $630,000

Entrance Awards 57 144,500.00 Recruitment Fellowships 24 243,000.00 International Tuition Supplements 70 147,000.00 Travel Awards 49 50,800.00 Financial Aid to Supervisors and Stipend Top-Ups 9 44,700.00

TOTAL 209 $630,000.00

TOTAL NUMBER OF AWARDS (B + C + D) 396 $2,737,643.66