Dear Department Members,
I have completed my first term as Department Head, and it’s been five years, during which we’ve experienced a worldwide pandemic, global political upheaval, devastating conflicts, and ongoing climate change. I have shared my analogy of time these past five years as being an accordion where it has stretched out interminably and then collapsed. We are nested in these systems, and it is all the more remarkable to see Department members step up in the clinical, research and educational realms. You are: providing incredible care and service to your increasingly complex patients; successfully securing research funding for cutting-edge ideas that could transform our understanding and disseminating these findings through refereed publications and presentations; delivering high-quality education to the medical students, core Internal Medicine residents, subspecialty residents and clinical fellows. I am grateful for your dedication to the Department of Medicine’s mission.
The 2024 highlights include visiting the distributed sites and having an opportunity to meet with colleagues in Vancouver, Abbotsford, Victoria, Kelowna, Kamloops and Prince George. The conversations and learnings are invaluable, and the Department is committed to ongoing engagement and collaboration with all of the distributed sites. It is remarkable to learn of the many initiatives, innovations and unique challenges. We had a highly successful Resident Research Day and the Research Expo, and it was a pleasure to mingle with our residents and trainees. The projects of the next generation of researchers and teachers are inspiring.
The Department is grateful to Dr. Roberts for over 20 years of outstanding service as the core Internal Medicine program director. During this time, Mark has made significant contributions to postgraduate medical education at UBC, including overseeing the substantial expansion of the Internal Medicine Residency Training Program, supporting the development of distributed training sites across the province, and ensuring the quality of education in clinical rotations while implementing initiatives to enrich the program resulting in the successful accreditation by the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons in 2020.
I would be remiss not to acknowledge the Department’s strong administrative team and the fantastic work of Dr. Andrea Townson, Associate Head for Education and Clinical Faculty; Dr. Teresa Tsang, Associate Head Research until June 2024; and Dr. Najib Ayas, our current Associate Head of Research. It is an honour to work with all of you.
Looking forward to 2025, I hope we can strengthen our connections and achieve the goals in our strategic plan, Transforming Health Together. It is important that we foster dialogue and support each other in the important work we do at each of our sites. I look forward to visiting the distributed sites across the province, building on our collective successes and learning how we can be better. I am always appreciative of your thoughtful input and feedback.
Wishing you and your loved ones a restful winter break.
All my best,
Anita
Anita Palepu, MD, MPH, FRCPC, MACP, FCAHS
Professor and Eric W. Hamber Chair
Head, Department of Medicine
University of British Columbia
