“Kudos and Congratulations” recognizes achievements by faculty, residents and trainees in the Department of Surgery. Please send items to be included to alice.mui@ubc.ca
57. – Triple Crown
Congratulations to: 
Jonathan Han (supervisor, Megan Levings General Surgery),
who has received a CIHR Banting Doctorla Research award. Jonathan studies Type 2 diabetes (T2D) which accounts for 90% of diabetes worldwide. T2D happens when the body loses the ability to respond to insulin. Interestingly, there is also increased inflammation in T2D, especially in the fat.T2D patients are continually exposed to high levels of insulin, and Jonathan’s work has suggested that exposure to high levels of insulin in T2D inhibits the anti-inflammatory function of regulatory T cells (Tregs The inhibition of Treg function then leads to excessive inflammation, which makes insulin resistance worse. Jonathan will investigate if Tregs would make an effective therapy for T2D since they have the ability to both suppress inflammation and reduce insulin resistance.
Congratulations to: 
Malihe Poormasjedi (supervisor, Aziz Ghahary Plastic Surgery),
who has received a CIHR Vanier Scholarship. Vanier scholarships are awarded to international students who demonstrate both leadership skills and a high standard of scholarly achievement. Malihe’s project focuses on incorporating anti-scaring drugs into nanofibers in order to develop novel bioactive wound care products to treat dermal fibrosis. These products include wound dressings for open wounds and inserts for closed wounds. She is also working on developing anti-scaring sutures.
Congratulations to: 
Maggie Yu (supervisor, Megan Levings General Surgery,
and Ted Steiner, Division of Infectious Diseases, UBC),
who has received a CIHR Banting Doctorla Research award for her work studying inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). The cause of IBD is unknown, but it is believed to be an abnormal inflammatory response that attacks the tissue in the intestinal tract. Normally, a type of white blood cells called regulatory T cells (Tregs) help suppress unnecessary inflammation, and boosting the activity of Tregs could prevent or treat IBD. However, Maggie has found that although Tregs generally shut off inflammatory responses, they enhance the activity of the an inflammatory complex found in certain inflammatory cells. Maggie’s research will help provide a better view of how Tregs function in IBD and also evaluate their potential as a therapy to prevent or treat IBD.
Editorial note: all three were supported during their first 2 years of studies by scholarships from the CIHR Training program in Transplantation.
posted : 2012-May-7
56. – There’s an App for that
Congratulations to:
Dr. Eiman Zargaran (General Surgery, R2)
who has been accepted into the UBC Clinical Investigator Program to pursue a research program on injury surveillance in low resource settings. His work includes development of the electronic Trauma Health Record (eTHR), an iPAD App for trauma surveillance and care in low resource settings that has already attracted international awards…….
…….and which may also be implemented here at home. His supervisors are Dr. Morad Hameed (General Surgery) Dr. Robert Taylor (Branch for International Surgery) and Dr Boris Sobolev (UBC School of Population Health). Eiman is the 4th General Surgery resident to be accepted into the CIP program in 4 years
posted : 2012-April-30
55. – Hair raising idea
Congratulations to: 
Dr. Garth Warnock (General Surgery)
and Dr. Kevin McElwee (Dept of Dermatology and Skin Sciences)
who have received a Venture Grant from the Transplantation Research Foundation (www.trfbc.org) which provides seed funds for innovative new ideas related improving organ transplantation outcome. Hair follicles are one of the immune privileged tissues of the body and are resistant to immune cell attack. Dr. Xiaojie Wang (recent PhD graduate from Dr. Warnock’s lab, pictured in the middle) will work under Drs Warnock and McElwee’s direction to propagate hair follicle cells in culture to grow sufficient numbers to implant along with allogeneic pancreatic islet transplants. They predict that the follicle cells may protect the islet from immune rejection.
posted : 2012-April-23
54. – From the 23rd Century
Congratulations to:
Dr. Scott Patterson (supervisor,Dr. Megan Levings General Surgery)
who has received a national CIHR fellowship for his work focused on understanding the mechanism by which regulatory T cells (Tregs) moderates the immune response. This work provides insight into how treat autoimmune diseases such as diabetes, arthritis and colitis, as well as how to control the immune response in organ transplantation. Dr. Patterson was recognized with a Michael Smith Foundation for Health Research Fellowship last year.
A photo of Dr. Patterson could not be obtained at that time either.
posted : 2012-April-16