Dean's Newsletter

Professor Emeritus

Congratulations to Drs. Alfred Rémillard and Shawna Berenbaum who have each received the honourary title of professor emeritus from the University of Saskatchewan.

New CIHR Funding

The college's Dr. Kate Dadachova was recently featured in a press release about human and veterinary cancer specialists at the university being awarded $765,000 in federal funding to develop a new treatment for osteosarcoma.

• Read more.

Dean Search

The college is searching for a new dean who is a distinguished leader, researcher and educator bringing a commitment to the profession as well as a record of leadership success along with the capacity and vision to build on the momentum that the college has achieved.

• Read more.

2018 by the number

The college had another successful year in 2018, including:

• $7.36M¹ grant funding
• #2 in Canada² for total research income
• $1.22M¹ realized donations
• #2 in Canada in fundraising
• #1 in Canada¹ for the most self-declared Indigenous pharmacy students

1. 2017-2018 Association of Faculties of Pharmacy of Canada Benchmark Data 
2. corrected for research income per faculty member

Pledge to Professionalism

Congratulations to the first-year pharmacy and nutrition students on their pledge to professionalism ceremony. Each year the new classes write new pledges to understand and appreciate what it means to be a professional, and the pledges are posted as a reminder to their responsibilities.

Professional Development Week

Twenty-seven USask students attended the Professional Development Week Conference in St. John’s, Newfoundland from January 9-13. Two awards were received by CAPSI USask at the conference, including:

• third place Award of Professionalism for outstanding Pharmacist Awareness Month engagement in 2018
• first place IPSF Health Campaign Award for their 2018 HIV campaign.

Pulses Roundtable

The college and Ag-West Bio partnered to host a World Pulses Day Roundtable in conjunction with the launch of the Global Nutrition Report, on Thursday, February 7. The program included a tribute to Dr. Edith Rowles Simpson, and Dr. Susan Whiting and nutrition student Victoria Baxter took part on the panel.

RxFiles hosted a number of presentations, including:

• “Cannabinoids: A Deep Dive Into Shallow Evidence” at Pharmacy Grand Rounds on Tuesday, February 12
• Marlys LeBras presented, “Cannabinoids: A Deep Dive Into Shallow Evidence” at Geriatric Grand Rounds held at City Hospital on Thursday, February 21

On Friday, January 4, the college and the Neuroscience Research Cluster jointly hosted Dr. Jim Eubanks, University Health Network and University of Toronto, for a seminar on his research entitled “Oxidative Stress and Surveillance Receptors in the Pathogenesis of Rett Syndrome."

Congratulations to Drs. Carol Henry and Susan Whiting for being named to the Canadian Women Global Health List for 2018. The CWIGH List highlights Canadian women leaders, working at home or abroad as practitioners, researchers, educators, policy-makers, and/or community advocates, in a range of disciplines and sectors to advance global health. Read more.

Dean Kishor Wasan was elected as a director for a three-year term to the Canadian Society for Pharmaceutical Sciences Board of Directors.

Dr. Anas El-Aneed was appointed to the editorial board of Rapid Communications in Mass Spectrometry.

Dean Kishor Wasan and Dr. Frank Abbott (BSP 1959) played key roles in establishing the Canadian Pharmaceutical Sciences Foundation to provide financial support to graduate students in the pharmaceutical sciences, support early career pharmaceutical sciences researchers, aid in the development of professional training and continuing education, and support the advancement of public education of the pharmaceutical sciences in Canada. Read more. 

Dean Kishor Wasan shared his thoughts about why he believes in the importance of student athletics in a new Huskie Athletics videos series. Watch the video.

Welcome to the following people who joined the college:

• Carrie Lambden, Dietitians Contact Centre Coordinator, on Monday, January 21.
• Julia Bareham, RxFiles Information Support Pharmacist, on Monday, February 25.

In the media

Kelly Kizlyk, medSask drug information consultant, was on Global Saskatoon Morning News on Tuesday, January 8 to talk about vitamin supplements, smoking cessation and how pharmacists can help with New Year's resolutions. Read more.

Dr. Gord Zello spoke with CBC Saskatoon on Thursday, January 24 about the new Canada Food Guide, including its new emphasis on plant-based proteins. Read more.

Kelly Kizlyk and fourth year pharmacy student Avery Deichert were on Global Saskatoon Morning news on Wednesday, February 6 to discuss women's heart health. Watch the video.

Samantha Cunningham (BSP 2016) and Kristjana Gudmundson (BSP 2010) spoke to CTV Saskatoon on Monday, January 14 about the flu vaccine shortage in Saskatchewan. Watch the video.

Brooke Bulloch (BScNutr 2009) was on Global Saskatoon Morning News on Tuesday, January 15 to explain why diets don't work for most people. Watch the video. 

Christy Matechuk (BSP 2009) was featured in a Saskatoon StarPhoenix article on Wednesday, January 23 about point-of-care HIV testing now available at one Regina pharmacy. Read more. 

Jennifer Fabe (BScNutr 1997, MSc 2000) spoke to the NUTR 420 class on the topics of “Therapeutic ketogenic diet for treating medically refractory epilepsy” and “Should the ketogenic diet be used for weight loss and lifestyle?”

Christine Hrudka (BSP 1982) was on CTV Saskatoon on Thursday, February 7 to talk about the Canadian Pharmacists Association's partnership with powHERhouse to help more women take on leadership roles in the pharmacy profession. Watch the video.

Christine Hrudka (BSP 1982) sat down with patient advocate Marie Agioritis from Moms Stop the Harm to talk about her personal connection to the opioid crisis. Watch the video.

The Nutrition Class of 2009 Reunion will take place on July 6-7. There will be an adult-only evening on Saturday, a family-friendly event on Sunday, and a tour of the new college facilities will be arranged. Contact Stacie at staciesharko@hotmail.com for more information.

Upcoming Events

Join us for One Day for Students, on Wednesday, March 6, the University of Saskatchewan’s annual day of giving where the campus community, our alumni, donors and friends are invited to make a special donation to help students overcome hurdles to their educational goals. Read more.

How does the new Canadas Food Guide impact your vitamin D and calcium intake? Dr. Susan Whiting presents Beyond the Break on Friday, March 29 at noon. Registration information.

Registration is now open for the annual Dietitians of Canada Saskatchewan Research Day on Thursday, April 25, which highlights and celebrates the fourth-year nutrition students' practice-based research project presentations. Registration information.

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 event will be held at The Antler Room (146 Front Street West) at 9:00 pm. Conference information.

Spotlight on Research

Congratulations to Getenesh Berhanu who is our first of two February Trainee Spotlights. Her research focuses on educating rural mothers in Ethiopia on the use of pulses for complementary foods.

• Read more.

Congratulations to Zeinab Hosseini who is our second Trainee Spotlight for February. Her research focuses on understanding how dietary patterns are associated with metabolic syndrome and chronic diseases.

• Read more.

Trainee Success

Program Update

Congratulations to the following students who successfully defended their theses over the past two months: Dr. Merlin Thangaraj (Pharmacy PhD, supervisors: Drs. Jane Alcorn and Bogdan Popescu; formerly Dr. Adil Nazarali), Dr. Hiwot Haileslassie (Nutrition PhD, supervisors: Drs. Carol Henry and Bob Tyler), Dr. Sarah Finch (Nutrition PhD, supervisors: Drs. Hassan Vatanparast and Alan Rosenberg), Rasha Elhasade (Pharmacy MSc, supervisor: Dr. Azita Haddadi), and Chukwunonso Nwabufo (Pharmacy MSc, supervisor Dr. Ed Krol).

We welcome postdoctoral fellows Dr. Hiwot Haileslassie, who is working with Dr. Carol Henry, and Dr. Mohammad Reza Pakravan Charvadeh, who is working with Dr. Hassan Vatanparast.

Trainee Presentations and Awards

Congratulations to PhD student Mona Hamada (supervisors: Drs. Anas El-Aneed and Darryl Adamko) who received the best poster award-PhD (third place) for her poster Investigating the diagnostic potential of selected urinary metabolites in asthma and COPD using an integrated LC-MS/MS platform at the AllerGen 2019 Research Conference held in Toronto on January 29.

Pharmacy students Asher Brandt (PhD), Tallan Black (MSc), and Anna Maria Smolyakova (PharmD), all working with Dr. Laprairie, each gave an oral presentation at the “Brain and Behaviour Neuroscience Symposium” in Fernie, BC, on February 21. 

Undergraduate Trainees at the 2019 USSU Poster Symposium

Congratulations to Kawthar Mohamed (BSc Hon), Michael Benko (BSc Hon), and Anna Maria Smolyakova (PharmD), who presented posters at the USSU Poster Symposium on January 31, 2019.  All three have been conducting research with Dr. Laprairie. 

Congratulations also to the following students for presenting their NUTR 230 First Year Research Experience (FYRE) posters:

• Breakfast Habits of the University of Saskatchewan Community on School/Work Days (Students: Meg Fotheringham, Bharti Patel, Jayden Souchotte)
• University of Saskatchewan Community’s Attitudes Regarding Protein Supplementation. (Students: Marisa Desmarais, Anne-Sophie Fortier, Taylor Henry, Leah Overbye)
• What are the protein powder consumption habits of University of Saskatchewan students? (Students: Tiara Keith, Keara Lubchenko, Chelsea Lussier)

A special congratulations to Tiara Keith, Keara Lubchenko, and Chelsea Lussier who won the People’s Choice Award ($200 prize) for their poster.

These students were all co-supervised by Sarah Finch, PhD student (NUTR 230 research coach) and Dr. Jessica Lieffers.

Research Funding

Kate Dadachova was awarded a 5-year $765,000 CIHR Project Grant for Developing Radioimmunotherapy of Osteosarcoma using Comparative Oncology Approach. 

Anas El-Aneed was awarded a $246,976 Agriculture Development Fund grant for Upscaling the extraction of Bio-actives and Vitamins from Canola Crush by-product. 

UofS internationalization travel awards were awarded to Jian Yang, Meena Sakharkar, and Lesley Moisey.

Gen Clark was awarded a 1-year research grant from the National Organization of Research Development Professionals for Ready, Fire, Aim: Enhancing Research Development through Real-time Evaluation and Group Learning.

Jaris Swidrovich and Kishor Wasan are co-investigators on a $75,000 CIHR Network Environments for Indigenous Health Research Development grant with Co-PIs C. Lavallie, J. Sasakamoose, N. Starblanket, and C. Tait for the project Indigenous Peoples' Health Research Centre.

Charity Evans is a co-investigator on a $179,972 SHRF Sprout grant with Co-PIs Sarah Donkers and Katherine Knox (Rehabilitation Science) titled Individualized Behaviour Change Strategies for Physical Activity in Multiple Sclerosis.

Allison Cammer is co-investigator on a $110,179 SHRF Sprout grant with PI Roslyn Compton (Nursing) titled Towards Improving the Quality of Life for Long Term Care Residents: Exploring the Current Factors Affecting Healthcare Provision and Health Outcomes.

Recent Publications

• Bagher, A. M., Laprairie, R. B., Kelly, M. E. M., & Denovan-Wright, E. M. (2018). Methods to Quantify Cell Signaling and GPCR Receptor Ligand Bias: Characterization of Drugs that Target the Endocannabinoid Receptors in Huntington’s Disease (pp. 549–571).
• Chidambaram, S. B., Rathipriya, A. G., Bolla, S. R., Bhat, A., Ray, B., Mahalakshmi, A. M., … Sakharkar, M. K. (2019). Dendritic spines: Revisiting the physiological role. Progress in Neuro-Psychopharmacology and Biological Psychiatry, 92, 161–193.
• Dadachova, E., Nakouzi, A., Bryan, R. A., & Casadevall, A. (2003). Ionizing radiation delivered by specific antibody is therapeutic against a fungal infection. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 100(19), 10942–10947.
• Dadachova, E., Revskaya, E., Sesay, M. A., Damania, H., Boucher, R., Sellers, R. S., … Casadevall, A. (2008). Pre-clinical evaluation and efficacy studies of a melanin-binding IgM antibody labeled with 188Re against experimental human metastatic melanoma in nude mice. Cancer Biology & Therapy, 7(7), 1116–1127.
• DereseTamiru Desta, Gordon A. Zello, FikaduReta Alemayehu, TafesseKefyalew Estfanos, Kyla Zatti and Murray Drew. (2019) Proximate Analysis of Nile Tilapia, (Oreochromisniloticus), Fish Fillet Harvested from Farmers Pond and Lake Hawassa, Southern Ethiopia. Int. J. Res. & Dev. in Tech. 11(1): 2349-3585.
• *Fatani, S., Dobson, R., & El-Aneed, A. (2019). Qualitative exploration of the education and skill needs of community pharmacists in Saskatoon concerning substance use disorder. Canadian Pharmacists Journal / Revue Des Pharmaciens Du Canada, 171516351881672.
• *Ford, K. L., Jorgenson, D. J., Landry, E. J. L., & Whiting, S. J. (2019). Vitamin and mineral supplement use in medically complex, community-living, older adults. Applied Physiology, Nutrition, and Metabolism, 1–4.
• *Getahun Ersino, Susan J. Whiting and Carol J. Henry (2018). Ready-to-Use Therapeutic and Supplementary Foods in Ethiopia from 2006-2018: Scoping Review. Int. J. Clin. Nut. & Diet. 4:138
• Hajdu, I., Makhlouf, A., Solomon, V. R., Michel, D., *Al-Dulaymi, M., Wasan, K. M., … Badea, I. (2018). A ⁸⁹Zr-labeled lipoplex nanosystem for image-guided gene delivery: design, evaluation of stability and in vivo behavior. International Journal of Nanomedicine, Volume 13
• *Hosseini, Z., Whiting, S. J., & Vatanparast, H. (2019). Canadians’ Dietary Intake from 2007 to 2011 and across Different Sociodemographic/Lifestyle Factors Using the Canadian Health Measures Survey Cycles 1 and 2. Journal of Nutrition and Metabolism, 2019, 1–8.
• *Jahan, S. T., *Sadat, S. M. A., Yarahmadi, M., & Haddadi, A. (2019). Potentiating Antigen Specific Immune Response by Targeted Delivery of the PLGA-Based Model Cancer Vaccine. Molecular Pharmaceutics, 16(2), 498–509.
• Jorgenson, D., Landry, E., Lysak, K., & Bhimji, H. (2019). Impact of pharmacist-led medication assessments on medication costs. Canadian Pharmacists Journal / Revue Des Pharmaciens Du Canada, 152(1), 23–27.
• *Kazemi, M., Pierson, R. A., Lujan, M. E., Chilibeck, P. D., *McBreairty, L. E., Gordon, J. J., … Zello, G., Chizen, D. R. (2019). Comprehensive Evaluation of Type 2 Diabetes and Cardiovascular Disease Risk Profiles in Reproductive-Age Women with Polycystic Ovary Syndrome: A Large Canadian Cohort. Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology Canada.
• Lynd, L. D., Henrich, N. J., Hategeka, C., Marra, C. A., Mittmann, N., Evans, C., & Traboulsee, A. L. (2018). Perspectives of Patients with Multiple Sclerosis on Drug Treatment. International Journal of MS Care, 20(6), 269–277.
• Makhlouf, A., Hajdu, I., Hartimath, S. V., Alizadeh, E., Wharton, K., Wasan, K. M., Badea, I. Fonge, H. (2019). ¹¹¹ In-Labeled Glycoprotein Nonmetastatic b (GPNMB) Targeted Gemini Surfactant-Based Nanoparticles against Melanoma: In Vitro Characterization and in Vivo Evaluation in Melanoma Mouse Xenograft Model. Molecular Pharmaceutics, 16(2), 542–551.
• Mehdizadeh, A., Nematy, M., Khadem-Rezaiyan, M., Ghayour-Mobarhan, M., Sardar, M. A., Leis, A., … Vatanparast, H. (2018). A Customized Intervention Program Aiming to Improve Healthy Eating and Physical Activity Among Preschool Children: Protocol for a Randomized Controlled Trial (Iran Healthy Start Study). JMIR Research Protocols, 7(12), e11329.
• Spackman, E., Clement, F., Allan, G. M., Bell, C. M., Bjerre, L. M., Blackburn, D. F., … Manns, B. (2019). Developing key performance indicators for prescription medication systems. PLOS ONE, 14(1), e0210794.
• Tikuye, H. H., Gebremedhin, S., Mesfin, A., & Whiting, S. (2019). Prevalence and Factors Associated with Undernutrition among Exclusively Breastfeeding Women in Arba Minch Zuria District, Southern Ethiopia: A Cross-sectional Community-Based Study. Ethiopian Journal of Health Sciences, 29(1), 913–922.
• Wasan, E. K., Syeda, J., Strom, S., Cawthray, J., Hancock, R. E., Wasan, K. M., & Gerdts, V. (2019). A lipidic delivery system of a triple vaccine adjuvant enhances mucosal immunity following nasal administration in mice. Vaccine.
• Whiting, S. J. (2019). Is the National Cancer Institute’s Automated Self-Administered 24-Hour Dietary Assessment Tool Valid for Low-Income Participants? The Journal of Nutrition, 149(1), 4–5.
• Wijnands, J. M. A., Ekuma, O., Kingwell, E., Zhu, F., Zhao, Y., Fisk, J. D., … Marrie, R. A. (2019). MRI utilization during the diagnostic and post-diagnostic phases in multiple sclerosis. Multiple Sclerosis and Related Disorders, 28, 138–144.