November 17, 2023 —
UM’s Max Reddy School of Medicine is reaching a milestone. It’s been 140 years since our founding in 1883 as the Manitoba Medical College, Western Canada’s first medical school.
On November 18, UM alumni, partners, faculty, students, and friends will celebrate our 140th anniversary with a gala at the RBC Convention Center. This event raises funds for physician and graduate student scholarships.
The School of Medicine has educated generations of physicians and served the community, but it has also flourished as a center for medical advancement.
“We are known for punching above our weight in research output,” says Dr. Peter Nickerson, vice provost (health sciences) and dean. Max Reddy Medical College And that Rady Faculty of Health Sciences.
“Each year, more than $100 million in external research funding flows into the university. Our researchers, including master’s and doctoral students, influence health policy, improve patient care, and save lives. We are conducting interdisciplinary research to save the world.”
From innovative disease research conducted in the lab and at the hospital bedside, to research that gives voice to underrepresented patient groups, to the Manitoba Census, one of the richest repositories of health data in the world. From data repositories to research collected by Max Rady. Medical schools are constantly producing new knowledge.
Nickerson, a nephrologist and distinguished researcher himself, said, “Our strengths include being highly collaborative, building effective external partnerships, and providing research leadership and guidance.” One example is that people are receiving benefits that are passed down through generations.”
In addition to the acclaimed faculty and alumni who are recipients of the Canadian Medical Hall of Fame, who we’ll be spotlighting in our November 16th list, we’ll highlight Max Rady, MD, who has made an indelible impact. Here are 10 university research highlights.
Dr. Rory Kirshenbaum
• In 1948, cardiologists persuaded approximately 4,000 Air Force veterans to participate in a study of cardiovascular health. This extraordinary project, based at UM and known as the Manitoba Follow-up Study, is one of the longest-running health studies in the world targeting a specific cohort. One finding in the 1990s was that short men had a higher risk of dying from heart disease than tall men. Now in its 75th year, the study is still following the few surviving participants. Meanwhile, UM scientists like Dr. Laurie Kirshenbaum, Canada Research Chair in Molecular Cardiology, are working on cutting-edge cardiovascular research. Kirschenbaum is internationally recognized for his research on cardiac cell death and its impact on the development of heart failure.
Dr. Edward (Ted) Lyons
• In the mid-1960s, UM radiologist Dr. Edward (Ted) Lyons became one of the earliest pioneers of ultrasound. His groundbreaking research helped establish that ultrasound is safe for fetuses and mothers, and his discoveries influenced the introduction of this technology in hospitals around the world. Mr. Lyons led Canada’s first laboratory to perform general ultrasound testing. Over the years, he has worked with manufacturers to advance technology from machines the size of refrigerators to portable devices the size of cell phones. He calls himself a “traveler who follows the flow of new video technology.”
Dr. Stephen Moses
• Dr. Frank Plummer, who passed away in 2020, was a key member of a multigenerational chain of researchers who worked for more than 40 years in collaboration with the University of Nairobi and made seminal discoveries in the field of sexually transmitted diseases. did. . In the late 1980s, Plummer led a UM team that discovered that some Kenyan female sex workers who had been exposed to HIV infection were naturally immune. This breakthrough provides important new information for the development of HIV vaccines and drugs. In 2007, U.M. Dr. Stephen Moses He co-led a study showing that circumcision reduces the risk of HIV infection in men who have heterosexual sex by 50 to 60 percent. This insight was named one of the year’s greatest medical advances. time magazine.
Dr. Heather Dean
• In the late 1980s, when type 2 diabetes was thought to be an adult-only disease, UM pediatric endocrinologist Dr. Heather Dean and her colleagues discovered that some First Nations children in Manitoba and northwestern Ontario were suffering from this disease. I made the surprising discovery that I had a disease. They published his first paper on these children in 1992. Dean continued to work closely with Indigenous communities to better understand the disease. Now, UM researchers are continuing to study many aspects of young-onset type 2 diabetes, including following a cohort of Indigenous descendants who were first diagnosed in childhood.
Dr. Ryan Zalichansky (Photo: Manitoba Physicians)
• In 2012, groundbreaking work by scientists at UM and CancerCare Manitoba graced the cover of the magazine. bloodthe world’s top medical journal on blood diseases. the studyA research team led by Dr. Ryan Zalichanski has identified a genetic mutation that causes the inherited blood disorder psoriasis. The foundation for this discovery had been laid 40 years earlier by his UM hematologist Lionel Israels, founder of CancerCare Manitoba. Mr. Zarychansky currently holds the Lionel G. Israel Research Chair in Hematology. This year, he was named Doctor of the Year by Doctors Manitoba for his work leading an international clinical study to rapidly evaluate potential treatments for COVID-19.
Dr. Gary Kovinger
Dr. Jason Kindrachuk
• During the Ebola outbreak in West Africa, UM’s Dr. Gary Covinger was chief of special pathogens at the Public Health Agency of Canada’s (PHAC) National Microbiology Laboratory in Winnipeg. UM and his team of PHAC researchers have jointly developed an experimental antibody cocktail called ZMapp. In 2014, the device was used to save the life of an American doctor who contracted Ebola, a dramatic event that made international headlines. Dr. Jason Kindrachuk, current Canada Research Chair in the Molecular Pathogenesis of Emerging Viruses, is putting UM on the map as a virus epicenter through his work on viruses such as Ebola, mpox, and coronaviruses.
Dr. Marcia Anderson
• UM is a national leader in partnering with Indigenous communities in health research. For example, in 2019, a groundbreaking collaborative study by the Manitoba First Nations Health and Social Affairs Secretariat and the Manitoba Center for Health Policy at the Max Rady School of Medicine revealed worsening health disparities between First Nations and all other Manitobans. . This year, UM’s Dr. Marcia Anderson took a leadership role in making Manitoba the first province to systematically ask hospital patients to voluntarily declare their racial, ethnic and Indigenous identity. . The purpose of collecting this data is to address racial inequities in health care.
Dr. James Blanchard
• In 2022, Indian health research and programs led by Dr. James Blanchard, executive director of the UM Institute for Global Public Health, received significant support from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. The US$87 million funding will support reproductive, maternal, newborn and child health in Uttar Pradesh. The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has invested a total of US$280 million in his UM projects internationally. Blanchard, who holds the Canada Research Chair in Epidemiology and Global Public Health, said: “The Global Institute of Public Health is a global research organization that strengthens health systems and forms partnerships to influence health policy, particularly in countries in Asia and Africa. He is a leader.”
Dr. Ruth Ann Marie
• Neurologist Dr. Ruth Ann Marie, UM’s internationally renowned multiple sclerosis (MS) researcher, directs the Health Sciences Center’s MS clinic. This year, Marie received a prestigious US award for his pioneering body of research. She and her team were the first to investigate the impact of comorbidities such as high blood pressure and heart disease in patients with multiple sclerosis. She also showed that the disease may have a “prodromal phase” that precedes the onset of certain of her MS symptoms. Her ongoing research is laying an important foundation for both the prevention and improved treatment of MS.
Dr. Megan Azad
• Dr. Meghan Azad is a world expert on breast milk science. She holds the Canada Research Chair in the Developmental Origins of Chronic Disease at UM and is a researcher at the Manitoba Children’s Hospital Research Institute. This year, she and her team won her US$2.5 million grant from the prestigious US funder, the National Institutes of Health. The project involves detailed laboratory analysis of milk samples from 1,600 mother-infant pairs, looking at breast milk in a unique way in the world. The data is then sent to machine learning experts at Stanford University who use artificial intelligence to examine the data. The study is expected to produce the world’s largest and most detailed data set on mothers, infants and breast milk.
