| Of note |
Brain Storm 2003 was held March 11 at Holy Heart High School in St. John’s. Seventeen students from four local high schools competed enthusiastically in the live question and answer competition that tests the students’ knowledge of the brain and how it relates to intelligence, memory, emotions, sensations, movement, stress, aging, sleep and brain disorders. The winners were: Laura Craig, Holy Heart (first place); Jordan Green, Bishop’s College (second place) and Randy Malone, Bishop’s College (third place). The event was sponsored by the local chapter of the Society for Neuroscience, Faculty of Medicine, Memorial University, and Bayer. Cash prizes were provided by Bayer.
A new activity held locally to celebrate Brain Awareness Week was a Brain Art Competition in which students were given the chance to recreate the brain of any person in any context. First prize went to Stephanie Shears, Holy Spirit High School, for her piece Mindset; second place went to David Purdy, Holy Spirit High, for Occipitally Incorrect; and third place was won by Rob Arnott, also of Holy Spirit High for The Risk. The design of the first-place art submission was used for the Brain Storm T-shirts and will also be used on the posters for next year’s competition. All art submissions will be displayed at the Faculty of Medicine, Health Sciences Centre, for three months.
There was a full day of research presentations and posters at this year’s Family Medicine Research Day in March. The Research Director’s Award went to (L-R) Drs. Cheryl Pollock and Robert Parsons for their presentation Air Medical Transport in Newfoundland and Labrador – Should the Sky Be the Limit? The award was presented by Dr. Wendy Graham. Dr. Karen Lake received the Chairman’s Award for her presentation Advanced Care Directives – The Role of the Family Doctor.
Erin Keough, director of the Open Learning and Information Network (OLIN), has received this year’s Instructional Telecommunications Council (ITC) Award for Outstanding Canadian Distance Educator. Dr. Carl Robbins, chair of Telehealth and Educational Technology Resources Agency (TETRA), said this award recognizes Ms. Keough’s exceptional work in the field of distance education and is particularly significant considering the record number of nominations the ITC received this year. Ms. Keough has worked at Memorial in the field of distance education since 1983. From 1987-95 she was director of Telemedicine and co-director of TETRA, and continues in a part-time role as director of TETRA. Since 1995 she has been executive director of OLIN, responsible for a provincial coordinating agency which facilitates partnerships among the many public agencies involved in development and delivery of telehealth and telelearning services.
Dr. Christopher Kovacs is the 2003 recipient of the Royal College Gold Medal Award in Medicine for his paper PTH regulates fetal blood calcium and skeletal mineralization independently of PTHrP. The paper was originally published in Endocrinology 2001.The medal ceremony will take place at the annual meeting of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada on Sept 12, 2003, in Halifax. Dr. Kovacs will present the award-winning paper at the annual meeting of the Canadian Society for Endocrinology and Metabolism in Ottawa in October. The award comes with a cash prize of $5,000, a gold medal emblazoned with the crest of the Royal College, plus the opportunity to participate in the Visiting Medalist Program to visit and speak at other faculties of medicine in the country.
Internal Medicine Resident Research Day was held at the Health Sciences Centre on May 31, 2002. There were eight presentations made by the residents. The guest speaker and one of the judges for the afternoon was Dr. Don MacIntosh, a gastroenterologist now at Dalhousie University. Dr. MacIntosh is a graduate of Memorial’s medical school and had worked on staff as a gastroenterologist at the Health Sciences Centre before moving to Halifax, Nova Scotia. He presented Medical Grand Rounds on May 31 on the topic Should Imfliximab Replace Steroids in the Management of Crohn’s Disease?
The winner of the David Hawkins Award, which is given to the best Resident Research presentation, was Dr. Tracey Browne-Maher, a PGY 1, who presented Emergency Departments Patient’s Opinion of Screening of Intimate Partner Violence Among Women. The award for the best Case Report was won by Dr. Jennifer Leonard, PGY 1, who presented Alagile Syndrome with Hemachromatosis.
Dr. Richard Lush, PGY III, was awarded the Dr. John Simpson Award, given to the Internal Medicine resident who has been selected by their peers as showing excellence in clinical teaching of members of the Internal Medicine housestaff, including clinical clerks. This is the second year in a row that Dr. Lush has won this award.
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Internal Medicine Resident Research Day 2002-2003 is scheduled for May 30 at the Health Sciences Centre. The Pfizer Quality Assurance Research Award 2003-2003 will be presented in the late fall of 2003.
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The 26th annual Monte Carlo Charity Gala, organized by medical students, raised over $25,000. For the first time the event was held off-campus, at the Delta Hotel in late November. Cheques from the proceeds were distributed Feb. 20 to six charities: $5,000 each to the School Lunch Association, Give to Feel Good Campaing (Health Care Corporation of St. John’s), the Canadian Hemophilia Society (Newfoundland and Labrador Chapter) and the Parkinson Society; $2,500 each to the Gros Morne Literacy Council and Planned Parenthood. Funds for the Give to Feel Good Campaign were matched two to one by the provincial government. On hand for the cheque distribution ceremony were (photo above, right, L-R): Jerry Baird, School Lunch Association; Norman Locke, Canadian Hemophilia Society; Annette Johns, Planned Parenthood; Linda Kelly and Laurina Leyenaar, co-chairs of the medical student charity selection committee; Maxine Thistle, Parkinson Society; and Jerry Bishop and Gerry Power of the Give to Feel Good Campaign.
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