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SUMMER/FALL 2015 VoxMeDAL THE VOICE OF DALHOUSIE MEDICAL ALUMNI 2015 DMAA Alumni Award recipients PLUS Alumni making a difference | Convocation 2015 | and more! Research is everything. Create a lasting Legacy. Remember medical research in your estate plan. To explore the many ways of giving please contact: Dalhousie Medical Research Foundation Phone: (902) 494.3502 Toll free: 1.888.866.6559 1-A1 Sir Charles Tupper Medical Building 5850 College Street, P.O. Box 15000, Halifax NS B3H 4R2 Registered Charity BN#: 11922 9318 RR0001 9318 Charity BN#: 11922 Registered dmrf.ca mollyappeal.ca VoxMeDAL SUMMER/FALL 2015 TABLE OF CONTENTS alumni.medicine.dal.ca WELCOME Mailed under Canada Post Publications Mail Agreement #40601061 4 DMAA president’s message EDITOR Nicole Tanner 5 Dean’s message CONTRIBUTORS 6 DMNB update Cory Burris, Evie Sabean Croucher, Allison Gerrard, Erinor Jacob-Levine, Melanie Jollymore, Boon Kek, NEWS & UPDATES Alana Milner, and Nicole Tanner DMAA BOARD OF DIRECTORS 7 DMAA board of directors welcomes new EXECUTIVE members 18 Dr. David Amirault (MD’76), President 8 Chesley Research Fund announces grant Dr. John Steeves (MD’74), Vice-president Dr. George Ferrier (MD’73), Treasurer recipients Dr. Dan Reid (MD’70), Past-president Dr. J. Stuart Soeldner (MD’59), Honorary President 9 Making a commitment to innovations in global health MEMBERS AT LARGE Dr. Michael Banks (MD’70) 38 Upcoming alumni events and reunions Dr. Lori Connors (MD’05) Dr. Cindy Forbes (MD’85) 44 Class notes Dr. Katherine Glazebrook (MD’94) Dr. Samantha Gray (MD’07) 45 In memoriam Dr. Margaret Leighton (MD’77) 27 Dr. Merv Shaw (MD’65) COVER STORY Dr. Colin Van Zoost (MD’09) Dr. Joanna Zed (MD’88) 30 DMAA Alumni Awards EXECUTIVE EX-OFFICIO Dr. David Anderson (MD’83), Dean, Faculty of Medicine ALUMNI MAKING A DIFFERENCE Evie Sabean Croucher, Alumni Relations Of¿cer Michael MacGillivary (MD’18), DMSS President 25 Dr. Rob Liwski leads the way to faster crossmatching for organ transplants Dr. Adam Harris (MD’12), Maritime Resident Doctors Representative 26 Healing the world: Dedication to global health takes Dr. Dominic Allain across the country and beyond Please send news, story ideas, comments, and/or address changes to: 28 Searching for Waldo Dalhousie Medical Alumni Association Dalhousie University 5850 College St. Rm. 1-C1 FACULTY OF MEDICINE PO Box 15000 10 Infrastructure funding will put Dal on the map for rare disease research Halifax, NS B3H 4R2 Tel: 902-494-8800 Fax: 902-422-1324 11 Private donors enhance melanoma care in the Maritimes email: [email protected] alumni.medicine.dal.ca 12 Dalhousie zebrafish research test safer, less toxic cancer therapies facebook.com/dalmedalumni 13 Dal researchers identify cell-changing gene that can cause cancer 14 Fatty liver disease: a silent epidemic 16 Dal leads international study looking at inflammation’s role in arthritis and heart failure 17 Investment in Canadian knowledge of aging renewed 18 How you deal with stress could be related to your genes VoxMeDAL is published twice a year CONVOCATION 2015 by Metro Guide Publishing Publisher: Patty Baxter 20 Convocation 2015 Advertising Sales: Barb McConnell 22 Convocation awards & scholarships recipients 46 2015 honorary degree recipients Metro Guide Publishing 2882 Gottingen Street Halifax, Nova Scotia B3K 3E2 Tel: 902-420-9943 Fax: 902-429-9058 2015 DMAA Alumni Award [email protected] recipients Drs. Meng Tan (MD’69), metroguidepublishing.ca Ivan Woolfrey (MD’65), ISSN 0830-5315 (Print) Jim MacKillop (MD’81), ISSN 2292-6348 (Online) and Alexa Bagnell (MD’97). alumni.medicine.dal.ca SUMMER/FALL 2015 VOXMEDAL 3 WELCOME DMAA PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE Saying hello to all the new faces By Dr. David Amirault (MD’76) DMAA President Congratulations to the class of 2015 and to their class in terms of leadership and (MD’61) and Don Brown (MD’59) for their those finishing residency this year. Having extracurricular activities. These honours are years of service and dedication to the DMAA had contact with a number of you over the well-deserved. Congratulations once again. board. last four years, I can attest to the fact that I would like to welcome Dr. David Finally, I would like to remind everyone all of you have the knowledge and skills Anderson (MD’83) as our new dean of that the DMAA Awards Gala Dinner will to be successful in your chosen fields. As medicine, as well as Dr. Jennifer Hall, the take place on Friday, October 16 at Pier 21. difficult as it seemed during your training, new associate dean of Dalhousie Medicine The Gala is an opportunity to reconnect you will look back on your medical school New Brunswick. These two accomplished with classmates, raise money for deserving days as some of the best times of your life. physicians bring years of experience with students, and recognize the outstanding We are proud to have you in the “Dal Med them that will lead our alma mater into the accomplishments of our alumni. Family.” Remember to update Dalhousie future and beyond. This year’s award recipients are Dr. Meng whenever you move in the future so you I would also like to welcome Drs. Lori Tan (MD’69), Alumnus of the Year; Dr. Ivan won’t miss out on issues of VoxMeDAL and Connors (MD’05) and Colin Van Zoost Woolfrey (MD’65), Honorary President; Dr. news about your class reunions. As the years (MD’09) to the DMAA board of directors. We Jim MacKillop (MD’81), Family Physician go by, class reunions take on a meaningful look forward to their help and input in the of the Year; and Dr. Alexa Bagnell (MD’97), role for you. I can confirm that they are a lot future. Also joining the board as ex-officio Young Alumna of the Year. To learn more of fun, and it is great to renew old ties. members are Dr. Adam Harris (MD’12), our about these exceptional alumni, read pages I had the privilege of attending the representative from Maritime Resident 30–38. Please join us at the DMAA Gala to Convocation Gala on May 30. It was an Doctors (formerly PARI-MP), and Michael celebrate the accomplishments of these four honour to help present the Gold and Silver MacGillivary (MD’18), DMSS president. worthy physicians. We hope to see you there. Ds to the students in the class of 2015 Welcome aboard. I would also like to thank who have made significant contributions our retiring members Drs. Bill Mason 4 VOXMEDAL SUMMMER/FALL 2015 alumni.medicine.dal.ca WELCOME DEAN’S MESSAGE Looking ahead: welcome from the new dean of medicine By Dr. David Anderson (MD’83) Dean, Faculty of Medicine As I write my inaugural VoxMeDAL message associate dean. We’re fortunate to have for the fantastic job he did over his six-year as Dalhousie Medical School’s 13th dean, I such strong individuals assuming these tenure as dean. A proud Dal grad, Tom has reflect on our medical school’s rich tradition. leadership positions for Dalhousie. been a superb physician, scientist, educator, A Dalhousie alumnus myself (class of ’83), Over the next while, we’ll be gearing mentor, and leader over his illustrious I’m aware of the top-notch education our up for our upcoming accreditation cycle. career. We’re all much better for his efforts medical school has offered countless Our first visit from the Committee on and contributions. graduates over the years. Accreditation of Canadian Medical Schools Please don’t hesitate to contact our An integral part of Maritime Canada since and the Liaison Committee on Medical alumni office, or me, if you have questions 1868, Dalhousie Medical School continues Education—the accrediting bodies for North or suggestions as we move forward. to provide excellent training through our American medical schools—isn’t until Until next time. undergraduate and postgraduate programs. early 2017. But as many of you would know, And our health research activities, often preparing faculty, staff, and students for the done in collaboration with our teaching accreditation process takes time. hospitals, are internationally competitive In 2018, we’ll be celebrating the medical and respected. school’s 150th anniversary. Already, we’re From an administrative perspective, there planning special events to commemorate have been a lot of exciting developments. this year. Stay tuned for further details. A new associate dean for undergraduate I look forward to meeting many of you at education (Dr. Evelyn Sutton [MD’84]) and a our annual alumni dinner on October 16. I new associate dean for Dalhousie Medicine hope that you’ll take the opportunity to join New Brunswick (Dr. Jennifer Hall) were us at Pier 21 and learn more about what’s recently appointed, ushering in a new era happening in and around your alma mater. of leadership for our undergrad programs. Finally, on behalf of the entire Dalhousie And a little over a year ago, Dr. Darrell White Medical School community, I want to thank (MD’91) became the medical school’s senior my predecessor, Dr. Thomas Marrie (MD’70), alumni.medicine.dal.ca SUMMER/FALL 2015 VOXMEDAL 5 WELCOME DALHOUSIE MEDICINE NEW BRUNSWICK Dalhousie Medicine New Brunswick update By Dr. Jennifer Hall The opportunities and challenges of a when communicating through the use of school class for a hands-on tour, two of distributed medical education campus are information and communication technologies. our graduate students have participated a reality for me now. I have the privilege Throughout this process, students have in a middle school science fair, one of our of taking on a leadership role at Dalhousie demonstrated an increased understanding graduate students organized the Saint John Medicine New Brunswick and continuing to and appreciation for research, and a Science Rendezvous 2015, and a second build on the sound foundation constructed number have been inspired to continue with middle school has invited us to participate by Dr.