Newsletter update!

Annual Report

Newsletter update!

Newsletter update!

New opportunity!

2014 Annual Review

iACT Grants Awarded

RRate goes Bronze

The Sensor Project

Scale-up of LGTmedical’s Phone Oximeter™ capitalized with new $2 million Canadian private-public investment; device could save lives of women and children in low-resource countries. Grand Challenges Canada partnerhip

The PART/ECEM team received one of 5 CFRI Clinical Research Capacity Building awards. This award provides partial salary funding to clinical research program coordinators that support the clinical research teams on site. This award provides funding of $25,000 per year for 5 years.

Congratulations to Ainara Garde for receiving a CFRI Postdoctoral Fellowship for her project "Sleep apnea screening using The Phone-Oximeter". This award provides salary and conference travel support.

Congratulations to Nicholas West, Guy Dumont, Klaske van Heusden, Chris Petersen, Sara Khosravi, Kristian Soltesz, Aryannah Umedaly, Eleanor Reimer, and Mark Ansermino for receiving the Pediatric Anesthesia Editor's Choice Article for "Robust closed-loop control of induction and maintenance of propofol anesthesia in children".

Congratulations to our summer students Mazy Abulnaga and Michelle Chiu for both winning Best Poster Awards (Clinical Research) in their respective groups! Thank you to their supervisors and the PART/ECEM teams for providing the support and encouragement for our students.

Congratulations to Heng Gan for winning the Best Poster presentation by a Clinical Fellow at the annual UBC Dept of Anesthesiology, Pharmacology & Therapeutics research day.

Congratulations to Matthias Gorges for receiving the CFRI Outstanding Achievement by a Postdoctoral Fellow award. The award recognizes the outstanding achievement of a postdoctoral fellow whose high academic achievements, personal leadership qualities and demonstrated research ability show promise of the individual becoming a future leader in health research. CFRI Achievements

Congratulations go to Terri Sun (our 2012 medical summer student), Mark Ansermino, Gill Lauder, Carolyne Montgomery, Nick West, Dorothy Myers and Carl von Baeyer for winning a Best Paper Award in Pediatric Anesthesia! Unfortunately, due to the Calgary floods, the conference was cancelled.

Congratulations to Walter Karlen for winning the 2013 UBC Killam Post Doctoral Fellow Research Prize! Established in 2011, this prize is awarded annually to two UBC PDFs in recognition of outstanding research and scholarly contributions while at UBC. UBC Killam Postdoctoral Research Prize

Congratulations to Matthias Gorges and Simon Whyte for receiving an iACT Trainee Clinical Investigator Seed Grant Award for their proposal “The effect of preoperative warming on surgical complications in pediatric scoliosis repair: A retrospective quality improvement study”. Matthias and Simon will be joined by a summer student volunteer (Wesley Cheung) in July to help with their review.

Congratulations to Guy Dumont and Mark Ansermino (and collaborator Ian Mitchell – UBC Computer Science) for their success in the NSERC/CIHR Collaborative Health Research Program (CHRP) for the next steps in the iControl project.

Congratulations to Mark Ansermino for being awarded the first CFRI Member Recognition Awards – Award of Excellence (Clinical Research)! We thank the CFRI community for recognizing Mark’s dedication and hard work over the years in contributing to the success of the research team and to the research institute. There will be an official celebration held by the CFRI in the fall.

Our combined efforts with Dr Peter von Dadelszen for helping women with pre-eclampsia is awarded an additional $17 million from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. The project has expanded to conduct large clinical trials in four countries (Nigeria, Mozambique, Pakistan, India), and our team will be involved in development of the mobilde device technology. Congratulations everyone! UBC news

LionsGate Technologies (LGTmedical) is a spin-off company in partnership with the University of British Columbia and BC Children’s Hospital. Commercial products expected in 2013. Stay tuned to the new the website for the latest information on obtaining your own Phone Oximeter! LGTmedical

Congratulations to our team (Parastoo Dekhordi, Ainara Garde, Heng Gan, Matthias Gorges,Walter Karlen, Klaske van Heusden) for coming in 2nd place at the CFRI Trainnee Social dart competition Who knew we had such fine athletes amongst us!

We said good-bye and see you later to Joy Sanders and Zoë Brown,, our Clinical Fellows for the past year. We then welcomed Heng Gan and Eding Mvilongo as the new Fellows for this year. Heng joined our team in January as a Research Fellow but will spend the next year with a greater clinical focus.

Congratulations to Joy Sanders and co-authors on Serum levels of oral morphine and pharmacogenetics of CYP2D6 and UGT2B7 in a pediatric population for the Best Poster award at the CFRI Trainee Research Day. Congratulations to all the other participants too!

Members of the PART attended the Canadian Anesthesiologists’ Society (CAS) annual meeting in Quebec City. Congratulations to Joy Sanders and co-authors on Serum levels of oral morphine in children for the Best Paper in the Pediatric Anesthesia category. All the team’s posters were very well received and had great feedback during the sessions.

Congratulations to Joy Sanders and co-authors on Serum levels of oral morphine and pharmacogenetics of CYP2D6 and UGT2B7 in a pediatric population for the Best Poster award at the CFRI Trainee Research Day. Congratulations to all the other participants too!

Members of the PART along with members of the iACT (Innovations in Acute Care and Technologies) cluster combined their efforts for the annual ChildRun. Thanks to everyone who donated, fundraised and participated!

Congratulations to Mark Ansermino for being awarded the UBC Faculty of Medicine Distinguished Achievements Award for Excellence in Clinical or Applied Research. Mark is the first anesthesiologist to win this award.

Congratulations to the PART/ECEM on obtaining an NSERC grant: Equipment grant for mHealth application laboratory. This grant will help the group to establish a lab with the necessary equipment to conduct the latest research and development in health applications.

Guy Dumont and Mark Ansermino, along with investigators Anne Junker and JP Chanoine, were awarded a grant from the Peter Wall Solutions Initiative (PWSI) for a youth engagement initative, KidsCan. They will develop a smartphone application (MobileKids) that will help promote voluntary physical activity and healthy eating habits among youth.

Congratulations to Walter Karlen for being awarded a Rising Stars in Global Health grant from Grand Challenges Canada. Thanks to all of you who went online and voted for Walter’s project back in November. See more about the project:
Editorial in Globe & Mail
Article in The Province newspaper
Grand Challenges Canada video

The team was very successful at this year’s Society for Technology (STA) annual conference held in Palm Beach, Florida.

Congratulations to Srinivas Raman, Chris Brouse, Walter Karlen, Mark Ansermino, Guy Dumont for winning the 1st prize in the Computers in Anesthesia Engineering Competition for their work entitled A Data Fusion Approach for RR Estimation from PPG.

And congratulations to Chris Brouse, Walter Karlen, Guy Dumont, Dorothy Myers, Erin Cooke, Jonathan Stinson, Joanne Lim and Mark Ansermino for winning the Best Clinical Application of Technology with their work entitled Measuring Adequacy of Analgesia with Cardiorespiratory Coherence.

See today's newspaper for a feature on our latest publication in the Canadian Medical Association Journal (CMAJ). Canada.com: Parents strong watchdogs for kids' hospital care: study.

Walter Karlen has submitted an application to Grand Challenges Canada in the Canadian Rising Stars in Global Health program. With the Camera Oximeter project, we aim to reduce the cost of pulse oximeters by using the integrated camera of the mobile phone as the sensor. This novel approach could be used for diagnosis of sepsis and pneumonia in remote locations in low and middle income countries. Please vote for the Camera Oximeter project at: Canadian Rising Stars in Global Health. Voting ends November 11, 2011.

This morning the Phone Oximeter made its television debut on Canada AM (nationally broadcast live morning show). Watch Peter and Mark speak about the Phone Oximeter and the Saving Lives at Birth: A Grand Challenge for Development grant. Canada AM

Congratulations to Mark Ansermino and Peter von Dadelszen for leading the team to a seed grant for "Saving Lives at Birth: A Grand Challenge for Development". The project is entitled PIERS on the Move
The Challenge
You can read more about the award in our national newspaper, The Globe and Mail: July 28 newspaper article, July 28 online article, July 29 newspaper article
There is also a recording of the award ceremonies held in Washington DC on July 28. US AID
Thanks go to everyone who has helped us along the way! Your support is much appreciated.

Congratulations to Matthias Gorges on receiving a CIHR Post Doctoral Fellowship award! He will be working on his project entitled Development and Evaluation of a Mobile Patient Monitoring Device for Nurses in the Intensive Care Unit .

Congratulations to Mark Ansermino and Guy Dumont on receiving a collaborative Health Research Projects (CHRP) grant for The Phone Oximeter: A simple, mobile device for respiratory disease management in the community
2011 CHRP Awards

Members of the PART and ECEM participated in the annual CFRI Student Research Forum. Congratulations to Emma Whyte, Gill Lauder, Ashley Robinson, Joanne Lim, Nick West, and Mark Ansermino for the 1st place prize in the Clinical Fellows category for their work entitled "Caudal Ultrasound: A Safe and reliable way to identify local anesthetic in the infant caudal epidural space". Congratulations also to Christopher Brouse, Guy Dumont, Dorothy Myers, Erin Cooke, Joanne Lim, and Mark Ansermino for the 1st place prize in the PhD student category for "Wavelet transform cardiorespiratory coherence for monitoring nociception".

Congratulations to Jacqui Hudson, Specky Kimenye, Walter Karlen, Guy Dumont and Mark Ansermino for their award winning abstract entitled "Usability testing of a prototype Phone Oximeter with healthcare providers in high and low medical resource settings" at the annual UBC Department of Anesthesiology, Pharmacology and Therapeutics Research Day. Jacqui did an oral presentation of their abstract in the Anesthesia Resident's category.
Congratulations also to our other PART presenters Matthias Gorges, Walter Karlen, Emma Whyte, and Pamela Winton.

Congratulations to members of the PART and ECEM on their 2nd place award at the International Anesthesia Research Society (IARS) annual meeting for their Scientific and Educational Exhibit on "Intelligent Anesthesia Technology". Thanks to Matthias Gorges, Walter Karlen, Joanne Lim, and Chris Petersen for preparing the demos and manning the booth.

Congratulations to Matthias Gorges for winning a "Best of Category" (Equipment/Monitoring) at the International Anesthesia Research Society (IARS) annual meeting for his abstract "Development of a Mobile Monitoring and Communications Solution for Anesthesia Team Members". Congratulations also to abstract co-author Mark Ansermino.

Congratulations to members of the PART and ECEM on the world premiere of the musical promotion of the Phone Oximeter on YouTube. Please "Tweet, Facebook, Like" and send to all your friends and family. A big thank you to everyone involved!

Congratulations to Dr Simon Whyte for winning the Best Oral Abstract award at the TIVA-TCI 2011 World Congress of Total Intravenous Anaesthesia and Target Controlled Infusion in Singapore for his abstract on A pilot study to investigate plasma bupivacaine concentrations in children receiving total intravenous anesthesia and caudal analgesia. Congratulations also to co-authors Dorothy Myers, Mary Ensom and Diane Decarie.

The second issue of the official PART newsletter has been published. We have had a busy few months with conferences and awards! The upcoming quarter also looks like a busy time for the PART. The issue is available at: The PARTiculars.

Congratulations to Dr Mark Ansermino and Dr Guy Dumont for winning the 2010 Brockhouse Canada Prize for Interdisciplinary Research in Science and Engineering. This prestigious NSERC award recognizes outstanding Canadian researchers who combine their expertise in engineering and sciences.
See also:
NSERC media release
NSERC photos and video
NSERC impact story
UBC Applied Science blog UBC Faculty of Medicine
UBC Public Affairs

See the 2010 PART Annual Report. Full details of the PART's projects, awards, presntations and publications are available in this document. Congratulations to everyone on another successful year!

The inaugural PART official quarterly newsletter has been published. The first issue of The PARTiculars is available now. Thanks to everyone who helped to choose a name for our newsletter. Suggestions for future issues are welcome.

Congratulations to Dr Walter Karlen for garnering the Excellence in Technology Award at the Society for Technology in Anesthesia Annual Meeting in Las Vegas, USA for his abstract on Location independence in patient monitoring. Congratulations also to co-authors Mark Ansermino and Mike Blackstock (MAGIC at UBC).

Check out our latest developments about the Phone Oximeter project. The interest on this project from many sectors has led us to create its own website. Some of the latest developments include: hosting an international meeting on pulse oximetery in May 2011, and OLPC projects.

Congratulations to our department members who received the 2010 Telethon Awards Competition research funding. Dr Simon Whyte-A pilot study to investigate plasma bupivivaine concentrations in children receiving total intravenous anesthesia and caudal anesthesia. Dr Gillian Lauder-Naloxone infusion for the prevention of neuraxial opioid induced pruritus: a double-blind prospective, randomized, controlled study in children

Dr Mark Ansermino presented "The Future of Personalized Sensors for Health and Disease" at the BC Wireless Health Forum sponsored by DigiBC. The forum was well attended by the leading wireless and digital media developers in BC, and many representatives from academia and industry. We are currently in contact with potential partners and collaborators who are interested in learning more about research within PART.

Congratulations to Dr. Walter Karlen who presented Capillary Refill Time Assessment Using a Mobile Phone Application (iRefill) at the 2010 American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) annual meeting. This abstract won the Best Abstract Award for the Society of Technology in Anesthesia (STA) Excellence in Technology Innovation. Congratulations also to co-authors Drs. Chris Petersen, Amelia Pickard, Guy Dumont and Mark Ansermino and the rest of the team!

Our submission entitled "Cell phone oximetry workshop: Canadians working towards improved anesthesia safety around the world" was awarded a grant from CIHR Meetings, Planning and Dissemination Grant: Circulatory and Respiratory Health. We will be organizing a workshop early in 2011.

Congratulations to Dr. Simon Whyte for presenting “Evaluation of the Intubating Laryngeal Airway in Children” at the 14th Annual Society for Airway Management Scientific Meeting (September 24 – 26, 2010). The abstract received the 2nd Place Award (of 88 submissions).

Congratulations to our summer students who participated in the CFRI Summer Student Research Program Poster Day yesterday. In the Clinical Research division: Srinivas Raman - 1st place - Estimating Respiratory Rate from the Photoplethysmogram; Jules Sleiman - Honourable Mention- Mobile Phone Pulse Oximetry: A Usability Study of iPleth; Serena Shum - A quality assurance audit of pain management at home following pediatric day surgery at British Columbia Children's Hospital.

Congratulations to our departmental recipients of the 2010 iACT Grant Competition research funding:
Dr Simon Whyte-A pilot study to investigate plasma bupivivaine concentrations in children receiving total intravenous anesthesia and caudal anesthesia
Dr Carolyne Montgomery-Pharmacokinetics of oral morphine and pharmacogenetics of CYP2D6 and UGT2B7 in an urban pediatric population (2-6years of age) presenting for elective surgery

Congratulations to Dr. Gillian Lauder and Dr. Carolyne Montgomery for their success in the Canadian Anesthesiologists' Society (CAS) 2010 Research Awards Program.

Dr. Lauder's project (Naloxone for the Treatment of Opioid-Induced Pruritus in Children: A Double-Blind, Prospective, Randomized, Controlled Study) received the Baxter Corporation Canadian Research Award in Anesthesia in the New Investigator Awards category. Dr. Montgomery's project (Pharmacokinetics of oral morphine and pharmacogenetics of CYP2D6 and UGT2B7, in an urban pediatric population (2-6 years of age) presenting for elective surgery) received the Canadian Research Award in Pain Research and/or Regional Anesthesia.

Congratulations to Dr. John Chandler in his success at the UBC Department of Anesthesiology, Pharmacology and Therapeutics 4th Annual Research Dayfor winning 1st place in the Fellows division in the oral presentation competition ("Arterial and plethysmograph waveform relationship in chldren: two sides of the same coin?"), and 1st place in Anesthesiology in the poster competition ("Visual cues for the interaction of two physiological parameters improve change detection performanace").
Congratulations also to Dr. Amelia Pickard for presenting "A novel method of measuring capillary refill time using photoplethysmography" and Jeremy Daniels presenting "The effectiveness of standard pediatric daycare surgery discharge communication: a quality improvement gap analysis".

Webinar: "The Bedside Observer Project". Join us on Webex on May 20, 2010, 12 - 1pm PDT. Presenters: Mark Ansermino [Director of Research, Department of Anesthesia, BC Children's Hospital], Jeremy Daniels [MD Program, University of British Columbia].
The presentation describes an innovative approach to learning from safety events at BC Children's Hospital. The Bedside Observer Project involved family members in reporting safety incidents and near misses using a system integrated with the Patient Safety Learning System. This unique project provided valuable information for learning from safety events while engaging families as a valued part of the care team. Click here for more information.