BGSC NEWSLETTER | WINTER 2024 EDITION

Welcome to the Winter 2024 Newsletter!

Happy New Year! To our returning students, faculty, alumni and community, welcome to a new academic term and a new year. We hope you had a wonderful break over the holidays.

Read on for the latest news and announcements, faculty and student spotlights, and updates on our strategic priorities and upcoming events.

If you wish to be featured in our following newsletter or have any questions, please reach out to global.surgery@ubc.ca.

Are you passionate about global surgery? Join the next cohort of our Graduate Certificate in Global Surgical Care (GCGSC) and Master of Global Surgical Care (MGSC).

Our online programs are for interdisciplinary surgical care professionals focused on addressing challenges and contributing to solutions in low-resource settings. We welcome surgical care clinicians, trainees in surgical care, and allied health professionals of all disciplines.

Applications are now open! Deadline is April 1st, 2024 for international and domestic.

Note that there will be only one intake for 2024/25 academic year in September 2024.

Learn more about our Graduate Certificate in Global Surgical Care (GCGSC) and Master in Global Surgical Care (MGSC) programs.

OUR COMMUNITY

🎉 Congratulations! 🎉

We would like to extend warm congratulations to the following GCGSC students who completed their program requirements in December 2023 and will graduate in May 2024:

Jugraj Singh Chhatwal

Andrew Lawe

Congratulations to the following student on completing your course requirements and graduating in November 2023 with the Master of Global Surgical Care!

Richard Bresler

We welcome you to our alumni and look forward to hearing about your future global surgical care endeavours!

View our GCGSC alumni profiles here and our MGSC alumni profiles here!

Our BGSC Student Spotlight Series is Back!

We are very excited to continue our Student Spotlight Series featuring our newest Master Global Surgical Care students!

This series will showcase our diverse and new student body. Alumni, current and prospective students can learn more about our community, the different experiences our students have and their various paths toward their goals. 

Over the past few months, we have featured several new MGSC students and their experiences including new students Mathilde Billau, Valerie Courval and Emma Robertson. Read more by clicking below!

VIEW SPOTLIGHTS

👏 Instructor Appreciation 2023-2024! 👏

We would like to recognize and express our appreciation for the continued contributions to Dr. Phyllis Kisa and Dr. Doreen Nakku.

They are co-instructors of SURG 510: Surgical Care in International Health and SURG 512: Global Disability: A Surgical Care Mandate (respectively).

Thank you, Dr. Kisa and Dr. Nakku for your valuable contributions to the course and your commitment and dedication to our learners!

VIEW ANNOUNCEMENT

 

NEWS AND UPDATES

Upcoming Changes to UBC Student Information System

Workday Student

UBC is launching a new student information system, Workday Student, in September 2024.

Launch 1 was successfully completed in October 2023. Launch 2, coming in February 2024, will activate the remaining capabilities for academic administration at UBC. In May 2024, UBC students will first gain access to Workday Student.

  • February 2024: Launch 2 activates systems that support students to study, advance, and graduate from UBC. During this time, the legacy Student Information System (SIS) will be processing, supporting, and finishing the 2023 Winter and 2024 Summer sessions and Workday Student will be exclusively used from the 2024 Winter session onwards. This phase of the launch will impact all users of the legacy SIS including students, staff, and faculty.
  • The intention behind granting student access in May, is to allow staff and faculty a chance to become familiar with Workday Student, address any questions before work to support students begins, and provide time for the UBC community to get acclimated to working across both the Classic SIS and Workday Student during the Coexistence Period. Additionally, this decision will not impact admission timelines, including making and accepting offers or sending communications to students.Training will be provided to all students, staff and faculty over Spring and Summer 2024.
  • Fall 2024: Launch 3+ focuses on continuous improvement of the system, and is the point in time where the legacy SIS will go offline.

For more information click on the link below.

Bethune Roundtable 2024 - Save the Date

The Canadian Network for International Surgery (CNIS), in association with the University of British Columbia Branch for International Surgical Care is very proud to announce the Bethune Round Table 2024!

The Bethune Round Table (BRT) is an annual interdisciplinary meeting aimed at addressing the challenges of providing accessible, high-quality surgical care to marginalized patients in low-resource settings. The 24th Bethune Roundtable will be held in person for the first time outside of Canada in Addis Ababa, May 16-18, 2024 - with the theme Violence and Injury in the Context of Sustainable Development.

Abstracts proposal submissions and registration are opening soon!

Past and Upcoming Events

BGSC, in collaboration with our partners, the Office of Pediatric Surgical Evaluation and Innovation (OPSEI) held an event this fall.

Pediatric Surgery in Uganda

  • Date: October 18, 2023 7:00am – 8:00am | US/Pacific
  • Presenter: Dr. Sister Mary Margaret Ajiko, General Surgeon, Soroti Regional Hospital, Uganda & Adjunct Professor, UBC

View Recording of this event and our past Rounds by clicking the button below.

VIEW RECORDING

(Note: requires a UBC Campus Wide login)

 

Global Surgery Symposium 2024

The Global Surgery Symposium returns for 2024, in-person in Vancouver, BC and virtually on Monday, May 3rd from 8:30 AM -5:00 PM PST.

The theme of the event will be Teaching Surgical Skills for Medical Desserts.

Stay updated on event details on the GSL website!

 

MORE INFO

PUBLICATIONS

  • Mercedes Pilkington, Mary E. Brindle, Godfrey Sama Philipo,Creation of an enhanced recovery after surgery protocol for children with Wilms tumours in low- and middle-income countries,Journal of Pediatric Surgery Open,Volume 4,2023,100070,ISSN 2949-7116. (LINK)
  • Binda CJ, Adams J, Livergant R, Lam S, Panchendrabose K, Joharifard S, Haji F, Joos E. Defining A Framework and Evaluation Metrics for Sustainable Global Surgical Partnerships: A Modified Delphi Study. Ann Surg. 2023 Aug 4. doi: 10.1097/SLA.0000000000006058. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 37539584. (LINK)
  • Cheng S, Heo K, Joos E, Vervoot D, Joharifard S, (2023) Barriers to accessing congenital heart surgery in low- and middle-income countries: a systematic review. World Journal for Pediatric and Congenital Heart Surgery.(LINK)
  • Salehi M, Zivkovich I, Mayronne S, Letoquart J-P, Joharifard S, Joos E. The evaluation of a surgical task-sharing program in South Sudan. Surgeries 2023 Ap 19. (LINK)
  • Oluwatomilayo O. Daodu, Shahrzad Joharifard, Dickens Saint-Vil, Pramod S. Puligandla, Mary E. Brindle, Melanie I. Morris,How can pediatric surgeons address racism and become actively anti-racist?,Journal of Pediatric Surgery,Volume 58, Issue 5,2023,Pages 939-942,ISSN 0022-3468. (LINK)

 

UPCOMING EVENTS

  • CUGH 15th Annual Global Conference (LINK) - Los Angeles, CA and Virtual. March 7 - 10, 2024. Theme: Global Health Without Borders - Acting for Impact.

  • UBC Global Health Conference 2024 - Vancouver, BC and Viritual. April 11, 2024. Theme: Global Surgery. More info to come at @BCCWH_global and https://www.bcchr.ca/global-health-conference

  • Second Global Surgery Lab Symposium (LINK) - Vancouver, BC and Virtual/ May 3rd, 2024. Theme: Surgical Education for Medical Deserts.

  • Bethune Roundtable 2024 - Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, and Virtiual (LINK) - May 16 - 18, 2024. Theme: is Violence and Injury in the Context of Sustainable Development.