Dean's Newsletter

New Canada Research Chair

We're hiring: Tier 1 Canada Research Chair in Plant-based Foods for Nutrition and Health

The successful candidate will lead an innovative program of research that responds to concerns about global diet trends and need for sustainable sources of protein and nutrient-dense foods to address the persistent problems of malnutrition.

• Read more.

Immigrant and refugee children study

A new study by Dr. Hassan Vatanparast, Christine Nisbet and their colleagues involving immigrant and refugee children in Saskatchewan shows that many newcomers embracing a western diet and lifestyle are on their way to developing chronic health problems within five years of their arrival.

• Read more.

Student recognition

Congratulations to post-doctoral researcher Mays Al-Dulaymi who was recognized as one of 8 students who made an impact at the University of Saskatchewan in 2018.

• Read more.

Student fundraising

In keeping with the college tradition, the fourth-year pharmacy students went carolling at the faculty's homes on Friday to celebrate the end of the semester.

On Tuesday, December 4 the Nutrition 330 students presented nutrition education demonstrations to their senior classmates, who evaluated them and provided feedback to help them become competent nutrition educators.

Thanks to Jennifer Wojcik, Senior Director, Public Affairs and Member Engagement, for the annual Dietitians of Canada meet and greet with our nutrition students in November.

Dr. Jason Perepelkin held a number of seminars abroad in November:

• The first seminar was on Friday, November 9 at the University of Otago, School of Pharmacy in Dunedin, New Zealand was titled "Insights on Reforming Pharmacy Management Curricula."
• The second seminar on Wednesday, November 14 at Griffith University, School of Pharmacy and Pharmacology in Gold Coast, Australia was titled "Providing Mindfulness Meditation in a Community Pharmacy for Patients with Depression and/or Anxiety."

On Friday, November 30, Dean Kishor Wasan chaired "Health Sciences Leadership & Human Services Ministers Roundtable" with provincial government ministers, and leadership from the Saskatchewan Health Research Foundation, the Saskatchewan Health Authority and the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences. They discussed how these organizations can work together to tackle challenges in healthcare in the province.

Dean Kishor Wasan moderated the 2018-19 Inaugural Senate Forum on cannabis, which included speakers on public policy, legal issues, and public health.

Dr. Susan Whiting served as Scientific Officer for the CIHR Nutrition grant peer review committee in December. 

Dr. Roy Dobson has been elected by his peers from across Canada as the AFPC Appointment to the PEBC Board. 

RxFiles hosted a number of presentations, including:

• Alex Crawley, Loren Regier and Marlys LeBras presented, “Cannabis & Cannabinoids: Hype & Perspective” at City hospital during the Multidisciplinary Rehabilitation Conference on Thursday, December 6.
• Brent Jensen and Marlys LeBras presented “RxFiles, a Drug Related Update” to Saskatoon and area pharmacists on Thursday, December 6.
• Marlys LeBras organized and facilitated Canadian Academic Detailer Connection Event on Thursday, December 13. 

Welcome to the following new staff who joined the college:

• Jennifer Pippin, Research and Graduate Affairs Administrative Support on Monday, November 5.
• Arlene Dies, SPEP Coordinator, on Tuesday, on November 13.
• Erin Wrubleski, Administrative Assistant, on Monday, December 10.

Adjunct professor Dr. Hector Caruncho was named the the Canada Research Chair in Translational Neuroscience at the University of Victoria. Read more.

In the media

Kelly Kizlyk, medSask drug information consultant, spoke to Global Saskatoon  about drug shortages in Saskatchewan. Watch the video.

Kelly Kizlyk was on Global Saskatoon Morning News on Tuesday, December 4 to talk about medications to have on hand over the winter. Watch the video.

Dr. Hassan Vatanparast was featured in the Saskatoon Star Phoenix on Thursday, December 20, for the research study he conducted with his colleagues on refugee and immigrant children’s nutrition. Read more.

Kristjana Gudmundson (BSP 2010), PAS acting director of professional practice, spoke with the Saskatoon StarPhoenix about the challenges of drug shortages for Saskatchewan pharmacists. Read more. 

Brooke Bulloch (BScNutr 2009) was on Global Saskatoon Morning News on Tuesday, November 20 to talk about foods that can help with sleeping well. Watch the video.

Thanks to Kate Langen (BSP 2013) and Khristine Wilson (BSP 2013) for teaching a special spin class on Sunday, November 25 to help fundraise for the Pharmacy Class of 2019's graduation.

On Tuesday, December 4, Scott Livingstone (BSP 1988; MSc 1994), CEO of the Saskatchewan Health Authority, reflected on the one-year anniversary of the health region amalgamation. Read more.

Brooke Bulloch (BScNutr 2009) cleared up some of the misinformation about carbohydrates on Global Saskatoon Morning News on Tuesday, December 18. Watch the video.

Upcoming Events

Join us for complimentary appetizers and drinks, and a chance to catch up with your classmates, colleagues and friends after the CSHP awards ceremony on Saturday, February 2 in Toronto at Reds Wine Tavern (77 Adelaide Street West) at 8:00 pm.

RxFiles will be hosting a provincial pharmacist continuing education event Cannabinoids / Medical Cannabis: a deep dive into shallow evidence, in the hunt for pearls on Tuesday, February 12.

The Dietitians of Canada Saskatchewan Nutrition Research Day will take place on Thursday, April 25 at the Pasqua Hospital Auditorium in Regina. Details to follow.

The college will host its annual  dessert and alumni reception at the Pharmacy Association of Saskatchewan Conference on Friday, May 3 at Elk Ridge Resort. Conference information.

Sask Night will return to the Pharmacy Experience 2019 conference on Monday, June 3 in Toronto. This year’s theme is beach party and the location will be announced soon. Conference information.

Spotlight on Research

Congratulations to Dr. Kate Dadachova who is our November Research Spotlight. Her research group has pioneered radioimmunotherapy of infections including fungal and bacterial infections and HIV.

• Read more.

Trainee Success

Program Update

Congratulations to the following students who successfully defended their theses over the past two months: Dr. Zeinab Hosseini (Nutrition PhD, supervisors: Dr. Hassan Vatanparast and Susan Whiting), Dr. Kosar Omidian (Nutrition PhD, supervisor: Dr. Brian Bandy), and Sharmin Sumi (Pharmacy MSc, supervisor: Dr. Meena Sakharkar).

We will be welcoming six new Master’s students to our programs this January: Coral Ennis (Dr. Dave Blackburn), Jeffrey Herbert (Dr. Dave Blackburn) Amir Khajavinia (Dr. Azita Haddadi), Poppy Lowe (Dr. Lesley Moisey), Sukanya Pati (Drs. Dimmock and Sharma), Janine Rover de Mello (Dr. Jessica Lieffers)

External Student Awards

PhD student Fakir Yunus (supervisors: Drs. Carol Henry and Diane DellaValle) was awarded a 2018 International Development Research Centre Doctoral Research Award for his project The effect of iron-fortified lentils on the iron status among adolescent girls in Bangladesh. This highly competitive research award is open to students pursuing doctoral studies at Canadian university who are conducting field research in one or more developing countries.

Student Poster Presentations

Several students presented posters at the 2017 American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists Annual Convention PharmSci 360 held in Washington, DC from November 4th to 7th this year, including:

• Frank De Silva, PhD student studying with Dr. Jane Alcorn, presented Similar Effects of Statins and Lignan Enterolactone on Cellular and Molecular Signaling Linking Lipid and Cholesterol Metabolism. 
• Wei Jin, PhD student studying with Dr. Anas El-Aneed, presented Evaluation of the subcellular uptake and distribution of Gemini surfactant nanoparticles using mass spectrometry.
• Chukwunonso Nwabufo, Master’s student studying with Dr. Ed Krol, presented Preclinical Development of Novel Dimer Compounds for Parkinson’s Disease.

U of S AAPS Student Chapter Update

This December, the student chapter participated in the Adopt-a-Family program, raising a total of $400. All of the proceeds will go towards a less fortunate family, providing them with food and gifts for the holiday. Thank you to all who have contributed!

Research Funding

Jonathan Dimmock was awarded $180,000 from the Maunders McNeil Foundation in continued support of the project Creation of tumour-selective compounds.

Jane Alcorn and Robert Laprairie received $100,000 from Innovation Saskatchewan to support research activities conducted under the Cannabinoid Research Initiative of Saskatchewan.    

Recent Publications

• *Allen, K. J. H., *Jiao, R., Malo, M. E., & Dadachova, E. (2018). Evaluation of N-Succinimidyl S-Acetylthioacetate Ligand for Radiolabeling of Humanized Antibodies with 188 Rhenium. Cancer Biotherapy and Radiopharmaceuticals, 33(8), 349–355.
• Bungard, T. J., Ritchie, B., Bolt, J., & Semchuk, W. M. (2018). Anticoagulant therapies for acute venous thromboembolism: a comparison between those discharged directly from the emergency department versus hospital in two Canadian cities. BMJ Open, 8(10), e022063.
• Bungard, T. J., Ritchie, B., Bolt, J., & Semchuk, W. M. (2018). Management of acute venous thromboembolism among a cohort of patients discharged directly from the emergency department. BMJ Open, 8(10), e022064.
• Bungard, T. J., Ritchie, B., Bolt, J., & Semchuk, W. M. (2018). Anticoagulant therapies for acute venous thromboembolism among a cohort of patients discharged from Canadian urban and rural hospitals. BMJ Open, 8(10), e022065.
• Hackett, M. J., Hollings, A., Caine, S., Bewer, B. E., Alaverdashvili, M., Takechi, R., Paterson, P., Pickering, I., George, G. N. (2019). Elemental characterisation of the pyramidal neuron layer within the rat and mouse hippocampus. Metallomics.
• Hajdu I, Makhlouf A, Solomon VR, Michel D, Al-Dulaymi M, Wasan KM, Fonge H, Badea I. A ₈₉Zr-labeled lipoplex nanosystem for image-guided gene delivery: design, evaluation of stability and in vivo behavior. Int J Nanomedicine. 2018 Nov 21;13:7801-7818. doi: 10.2147/IJN.S179806. eCollection 2018.
• *Helal, M., & Dadachova, E. (2018). Radioimmunotherapy as a Novel Approach in HIV, Bacterial, and Fungal Infectious Diseases. Cancer Biotherapy and Radiopharmaceuticals, 33(8), 330–335.
• *Jahan, S. T., *Sadat, S. M. A., Yarahmadi, M., & Haddadi, A. (2018). Potentiating antigen specific immune response by targeted delivery of PLGA based model cancer vaccine. Molecular Pharmaceutics, acs.molpharmaceut.8b00700.
• Jiang, Z., Revskaya, E., Fisher, D. R., & Dadachova, E. (2018). In vivo Evaluation of Free and Chelated Accelerator-produced Actinium- 225 - Radiation Dosimetry and Toxicity Results. Current Radiopharmaceuticals, 11(3), 215–222.
• Jin, W., Badea, I., Leary, S. C., & El-Aneed, A. (2019). The determination of gemini surfactants used as gene delivery agents in cellular matrix using validated tandem mass spectrometric method. Journal of Pharmaceutical and Biomedical Analysis, 164, 164–172.
• Kang, M., Kim, E., Temoçin, Z., Li, J., Dadachova, E., Wang, Z., … Payne, G. F. (2018). Reverse Engineering To Characterize Redox Properties: Revealing Melanin’s Redox Activity through Mediated Electrochemical Probing. Chemistry of Materials, 30(17), 5814–5826.
• Lane, G., Farag, M., White, J., Nisbet, C., & Vatanparast, H. (2018). Chronic health disparities among refugee and immigrant children in Canada. Applied Physiology, Nutrition, and Metabolism, 43(10), 1043–1058.
• Lawlor, M. R., Weaver, C. M., Craig, B. A., Whiting, S. J., Baxter-Jones, A. D. G., Vatanparast, H., & McCabe, G. P. (2019). Peak BMC Growth and Calcium Requirements for Children. In Nutritional Influences on Bone Health (pp. 37–44). Cham: Springer International Publishing.
• Mehdizadeh, A., Shafiee, M., Khadem-Rezaiyan, M., Sardar, M. A., Vatanparast, H., Rose, E., … Nematy, M. (2018). Evidence for the Validity of the Children’s Attraction to Physical Activity (CAPA) Scale in Iranian Preschool Children. Journal of Pediatric Nursing.
• Nshimyumukiza, L., Lieffers, J. R. L., Ekwaru, J. P., Ohinmaa, A., & Veugelers, P. J. (2018). Temporal changes in diet quality and the associated economic burden in Canada. PLOS ONE, 13(11), e0206877.
• Pacelli, C., Bryan, R. A., Onofri, S., Selbmann, L., Zucconi, L., Shuryak, I., & Dadachova, E. (2018). Survival and redox activity of Friedmanniomyces endolithicus, an Antarctic endemic black meristematic fungus, after gamma rays exposure. Fungal Biology, 122(12), 1222–1227.
• Perepelkin, J., Antunes, K., Boechler, L., Remillard, A. J., & Mildenberger, L. (2018). Providing mindfulness meditation for patients with depression and anxiety in a community pharmacy: A pilot study. Journal of the American Pharmacists Association, 0(0).
• Perepelkin, J., & *Wilson, G. A. (2018). Incentivizing choice of community pharmacy. Journal of Pharmaceutical Health Services Research, 9(4), 347–359.
• Setayeshgar, S., Kingwell, E., Zhu, F., Zhang, T., Carruthers, R., Marrie, R. A., Evans, C., Tremlett, H. (2019). Persistence and adherence to the new oral disease-modifying therapies for multiple sclerosis: A population-based study. Multiple Sclerosis and Related Disorders, 27, 364–369.
• Tri, S., Albers, L., Koshman, S., Bucci, C., Kertland, H., & Semchuk, B. (2018). Dual antiplatelet therapy: A new whiteboard video for patient education. Canadian Pharmacists Journal / Revue Des Pharmaciens Du Canada, 151(6), 368–371.
• *Rajamanickam, K., Yang, J., & Sakharkar, M. K. (2018). Gallic acid potentiates the antimicrobial activity of tulathromycin against two key bovine respiratory disease (BRD) causing-pathogens. Frontiers in Pharmacology, 9, 1486.