UBC This Week | August 27, 2009

Aug 27, 2009

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UBC This Week is a weekly summary of UBC people in the news, recent media releases and upcoming event highlights. UBC This Week past issues are also available on-line.

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Recent UBC Media Releases

Upcoming Event Highlights

Visit UBCevents, UBC’s new campus-wide calendar: www.events.ubc.ca

Find out what else is happening at UBC this week. For sports events, visit the UBC Athletics site at www.gothunderbirds.ca/schedule.asp.

UBC People

UBC People

UBC profs to receive the Order of British Columbia

Three members of the UBC community will be awarded the Order of British Columbia, the province’s highest recognition of excellence and achievement.

Prof. Robert E.W. Hancock, Microbiology and Immunology, is a leader in Canadian health research and a pioneer in microbiology. During his thirty years at UBC, he has established the Centre for Microbial Diseases and Immunity Research and co-founded two B.C. biotechnology companies and the B.C. Centre for Drug Research and Development.

Hancock’s past honours include the Michael Smith Prize as Canada’s Health Researcher of the Year, the Killam Prize of the Canada Council, and the Order of Canada in 2001.

Prof. Michael R. Hayden, director of the Centre for Molecular Medicine and Therapeutics (CMMT), and Canada Research Chair in Human Genetics and Molecular Medicine, has made outstanding contributions in the areas of genetics, Huntington’s and other neurodegenerative diseases. In 2008, Hayden was named Canada’s Health Researcher of the Year by the Canada Institutes for Health Research.

In addition to building the CMMT, a leading centre for genetics research in Canada, Hayden has also co-founded three biotech companies, helping to translate discoveries in the lab to products and services for patients.

Hayden founded the first summer camp for Huntington disease patients in North America, which has been operating since 1984. He is working with the community to help develop a youth centre for disenfranchised young women with AIDS in Masiphumelele Township, Cape Town, South Africa.

Clinical Prof. Linda Warren, Dept. of Radiology, is one of the driving forces behind the Screening Mammography Program of B.C. Her leadership resulted in North America’s first screening program that has served as a model for jurisdictions around the world. Warren contributes to the ongoing administration of the program, and to province-wide education on breast cancer screening.

The Order of B.C. ceremony will be held at Government House in Victoria on Sept. 16.

For more information, visit http://www.protocol.gov.bc.ca/protocol/prgs/obc/obc.htm

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UBC medical residents awarded international research grants

UBC residents Vanessa Fawcett, Paul Mick, Sonia Yeung and Damon Ramsey have been awarded the inaugural UBC Branch for the International Surgery research awards. The four annual $2,500 research grants are provided to UBC residents interested in expanding their understanding of unmet surgical care in low resource regions.

Fawcett, (General Surgery Year 4) will be going to Capetown where she will focus on identifying the obstacles to maintaining the Cape Town Trauma Registry at Groote Schuur Hospital. Yeung, (Ophthalmology Year 5) will go to India to study a specific dimension of corneal transplantation. Building on the Uganda-UBC medical team efforts, a cross –sectional survey will be carried out by Mick (OTL, Year 4) and Ramsey (General Surgery, Year 1) to assess patient perspectives on barriers to surgical care.

For more information, visit http://www.internationalsurgery.ubc.ca/research_awardee_profiles.html.

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Applied Science alumnus a finalist for biggest design award

EcoDrain, a technology company founded by UBC alumnus David Velan, BASc ’02, has been listed as a finalist for Denmark’s INDEX: Award 2009, “the biggest design award in the world,” with a total award sum of 500,000 euros.

The EcoDrain device is a heat exchanger that transfers heat from hot shower water-waste to cold incoming water.

As a finalist, EcoDrain is eligible to win the people’s choice award. Voting is open until Aug. 27.

Winners will be announced via live video stream at 11.am. on Aug. 28 at www.indexaward.dk

To vote for EcoDrain and for more information visit www.engineering.ubc.ca/indexaward.php

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TRIUMF unveils plaque at 40th anniversary

At the 40th anniversary of TRIUMF on Aug. 8, Lorna Warren, wife of the late John Warren, founder of TRIUMF and for whom the UBC chair in physics is named, unveiled a plaque at TRIUMF Circle, commemorating the original planting of Newton’s apple trees at UBC in 1969.

For more information, visit http://www.triumf.ca/headlines/current-events/40th-anniversary-open-house-tremendous-success.

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UBC Library launches new search tool

On Sept. 1, UBC Library will be launching a beta version tool that will improve the search for materials across the UBC Library system. During the fall semester, students, faculty and staff can provide feedback and have the chance to win an iPod Touch.

For more information, visit www.library.ubc.ca.

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Forestry hosts sustainability lecture

The UBC Forestry department will host a lecture on sustainability entitled Natural disasters – can they make small communities stronger or tear them apart?. The keynote speaker will be John Helliwell, Arther J.E. Child Foundation Fellow of Canadian Institute for Advanced Research (CIFAR), and Co-Director of CIFAR’s program on Social Interactions, Identity and Well-Being.

A panel session will follow featuring Don Roberts, Managing Director, CIBC World Markets Inc., Doug Konkin, Deputy Minister, Ministry of Environment, and Dana Hayden, Deputy Minister, Ministry of Forests and Range.

Date: Sept. 17

Time: 4 – 5:30 p.m. followed by a reception from 5:30 – 7 p.m.

Place: UBC Forest Sciences Centre, 2424 Main Mall

Info: rsvp required, (604)822-0898 or rsvp@forestry.ubc.ca (no cost to attend)

http://calendar.events.ubc.ca:80/cal/event/eventView.do?subid=29782&calPath=/public/Events+Calendar/Faculty+of+Forestry&guid=CAL-09d22401-23334e85-0123-350463dc-00000245myubc-team@interchange.ubc.ca&recurrenceId=