Health e-News

Happy Holidays from Dean David Eidelman

Dear Colleagues,

As 2017 draws to a close, I take this opportunity to congratulate you for all that has been achieved this year, and to thank you for your commitment and contributions to our shared mission.

Wishing you and those close to you a wonderful holiday season and a joyous New Year.

David Eidelman, MDCM
Vice-Principal (Health Affairs)
Dean of Medicine
 

Appointment of New Director of Education

We are pleased to announce the appointment of Dr. Elene Khalil, MDCM, FRCPC Pediatrics, FAAP, Founder Pediatric Emergency Medicine, Assistant Professor of Pediatrics, as the new MUHC Director of Education. As the Director of Education, Dr. Khalil will promote a positive learning environment for students in all disciplines who come for training (medical, nursing, allied professions) at the MUHC (adult and pediatric).
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Nicole-Ann Shery appointed to the position of Wellness Consultant (Academic Associate) for FoM schools

Nicole-Ann Shery has been appointed to the position of Wellness Consultant (Academic Associate) for the Ingram School of Nursing, School of Physical and Occupational Therapy, and the School of Communication & Disorders, in The WELL Office, Faculty of Medicine, McGill University, effective October 16, 2017.
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Happy holidays!

Message from the Principal
As this semester comes to an end, I would like to thank you for all you bring to the McGill community through your hard work, leadership and commitment.
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Message from the Principal re steps being taken to address allegations of anti-Semitism

I would like to update you on the progress made with respect to the actions I outlined last week to address disturbing allegations of anti-Semitism surrounding votes taken at the Students’ Society of McGill University (SSMU) General Assembly on October 23. I have appointed retired Professor of Education and former Ombudsperson for Students, Dr. Spencer Boudreau, to conduct an investigation into the events of October. 23. I believe it advisable to appoint someone to lead this investigation who is familiar with the McGill context. As a former Ombudsperson, Dr. Boudreau is also accustomed to working in a role that requires impartiality and independence.
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The 2016-2017 RI-MUHC Annual Report is now available online!

It is our pleasure to present the online version of the 2016-2017 Annual Report of the Research Institute of the McGill University Health Centre (RI-MUHC).
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“Healthy Brains for Healthy Lives” Launches New Postdoctoral Fellowships Competition

Healthy Brains for Healthy Lives (HBHL) is an $84M seven-year cross-sectoral initiative supported at McGill University by the Canadian Government’s Canada First Research Excellence Fund (CFREF), with an additional $18M from the government of Quebec.
HBHL management, in conjunction with Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies, is proud to announce the launch of a new Postdoctoral Fellowships competition. This program aims to attract, train and retain top post-doctoral researchers from across disciplines and around the world to participate in interdisciplinary and cross-sectoral research training opportunities related to brain and mental health research, knowledge translation/mobilization and innovation.
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Why can’t Canada win another Nobel Prize in medicine?

Only one Canadian researcher has ever received the Nobel Prize for medicine, for the discovery of insulin in 1923. And yet Canadians have been essential to developments in stem cell research, gene sequencing and treatments for cancer and brain trauma, writes the Faculty of Medicine’s Dr. John Bergeron in this piece in The Conversation.
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The geneticist and the grocer: Charles Scriver, Arnold Steinberg and the healing power of food

When a pediatrician specializing in genetic metabolic disorders and a philanthropist from a grocery dynasty teamed up to tackle two food-related public health issues, a lifelong bond was formed. Dr. Charles Scriver and Arnold Steinberg first came together to fight the high rate of rickets among poor Montreal children by getting vitamin D added to bottled milk. A few years later they founded a distribution centre for the nutrition products essential to children with rare metabolic disorders. Both changed the lives of those children forever.
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Why support basic research?

Commissioned by Minister of Science Kirsty Duncan, Canada’s Fundamental Science Review, also known as the “Naylor Report”, was delivered to the government on April 10, 2017. The report highlights, among other things, a cruel lack of funding for basic research. Researchers and academics strongly welcomed the report’s recommendations, particularly the increase in funding for basic research. But why is it so important to support basic research asks postdoctoral researcher Tina Gruosso in University Affairs?
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Infant nutrition linked to healthy adult body weight

Preterm, underweight babies who benefited from a higher energy intake –specifically more protein and fats- during the first three weeks of life had healthier body weights in their 20s (as measured by a higher lean body mass). According to a team of researchers from the National Institute for Health and Welfare, Finland (first author Hanna-Maria Matinolli, lead PI Dr. Eero Kajantie) and Ludmer Centre researcher Dr Patricia P. Silveira, nutrient intake during the first three weeks of life predicts energy balance in adulthood. A minor part of this association was mediated by early growth, but primarily driven by early nutrition.
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Clinical trial of novel approach to treating osteoporosis represents “significant breakthrough,” according to clinician-scientist at the Lady Davis Institute

A regimen of a novel bone anabolic medication (which builds bone mass) followed by an antiresorptive agent (which maintains bone mass) has been shown to significantly reduce the risk of fracture among post-menopausal women with severe osteoporosis, according to results of a clinical trial published in The New England Journal of Medicine. 
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Sugar cravings may be due to dopamine dysfunction

Moving beyond the overly simplistic unhealthy lifestyle paradigm, researchers are slowly uncovering the genetic and epigenetic mechanisms behind obesity. Recent research by Ludmer Centre researcher Dr Patricia P Silveira at McGill and the Douglas Institute and her colleagues has shown that altered dopamine signaling may increase a preference for more palatable high-sugar foods leading to a risk for obesity among children born at low birth weights.
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Berlin Institute of Health to honour renowned Montreal scientist with International award

Dr. Louise Pilote, Professor of Medicine at McGill University and a senior scientist from the Cardiovascular Health Across the Lifespan Program at the Research Institute of the McGill University Health Centre, is one of two recipients of the Berlin Institute of Health (BIH) Excellence Award for Sex and Gender Aspects for her work incorporating gender aspects into biomedical research. Congratulations Dr. Pilote!
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McGill fellow wins OPDQ Award

Dr. Anne-Sophie Brazeau was recently selected as the recipient of the Prix Engagement 2017 – Lussier Dale Parizeau by l’Ordre professionnel des diététistes du Québec (OPDQ) for her scientific rigour, perseverance and projects commitment. Dr. Brazeau is a post-doctoral fellow in the lab of Dr. Kaberi Dasgupta, Associate Professor in the Divisions of Internal Medicine, Clinical Epidemiology, and Endocrinology and Metabolism at McGill University’s Faculty of Medicine and researcher at the Research Institute of the McGill University Health Centre. Congratulations Dr. Brazeau!
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Faculty of Medicine student-led project selected as finalist for Forces AVENIR Award

The “Journeys Through Health” Art Exhibition was recently selected as a finalist in the Arts, Lettres et Culture category of the 2017 Forces AVENIR award. The exhibition was spearheaded by a subcommittee within the Medical Student Society (MSS) Humanities and Arts in Medicine (McHAM) – a student group that strives to integrate arts, humanities and medicine. It is the first time in Montreal that a student group collaborated with a health care institution to organize an art exhibition dedicated to the community.
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