Dr. Fred Aoki, professor of internal medicine, medical microbiology and infectious diseases, and pharmacology and therapeutics, is retiring this summer after 44 years of service in Manitoba. Read more.
Tracy Choptain has joined the department of family medicine as the educational lead, research and quality improvement. In this role, she will operationalize the Office of Research and Quality Improvement hub which will provide education, consulting, coaching and collaborating services to support research and QI activities within the department and its distributed sites. Choptain has extensive health-care management experience, including coordination, implementation and supervision of international and domestic medical teams in rehabilitation, primary care, ambulatory care, episodic and emergency care services.
Henry Dyck, senior systems analyst in community health sciences (CHS), retired in April after 21 years of service. He was an integral part of the CHS IT team and has provided support to CHS, the Institute for Global Public Health and Ongomiizwin, Indigenous Institute for Health and Healing. His exceptional knowledge of IT systems will be greatly missed.
Dr. Joanne Embree, professor and previous medical microbiology and infectious diseases department head (12 years), is retiring on June 30, 2022.
After more than 13 years as master of physician assistant studies (MPAS) program director, Ian Jones announced his intention to step down from the role effective July 1, 2022. He will continue to be available to MPAS on a consultation basis when needed while he begins a new role as associate professor of family medicine. Jones’ devotion to the PA profession and student learning has been a continual focus over the years, which has been vital to the success of the MPAS curriculum and to the graduates.
As of May 1, 2022, Mê-Linh Lê is the new acting head, health sciences division at the Neil John Maclean Health Sciences Library. Sherri Vokey, the previous head of the library, has moved to the Fort Garry campus to continue her work as associate university librarian, academic engagement. Lê has nearly 10 years of experience working with clinical and academic researchers, faculty and students throughout the Health Sciences Centre and the Rady Faculty of Health Sciences (RFHS). Prior to that, she worked at the University of Saskatchewan and the National Collaborating Centre for Environmental Health. In this new role, Lê will lead the health sciences librarians in the delivery of programs, services and collections to best support the teaching, learning and research of the RFHS community. Reach out to her at me-linh.le@umanitoba.ca or 204-789-3344.
Dr. Alyson Mahar, assistant professor of community health sciences, has taken a position at another institution.
Dr. Grant McClarty, professor and associate department head of medical microbiology and infectious diseases, is retiring on June 30, 2022.
Tanya Merke‘s, department of medical microbiology and infectious diseases’ research grants coordinator/business development officer/PGME/UGME program assistant, departure was on June 10, 2022.
Rebecca Mueller has accepted the role of master of physician assistant studies interim program director, and will continue her role as academic coordinator. She has taught at three other physician assistant programs since 2014, including McMaster University, University of St. Catherine in St. Paul and Rosalind Franklin University in Chicago. Mueller’s clinical role as a physician assistant began in 2010 and focused primarily on general oncology and palliative/end of life care.
Dr. Nathan Nickel, associate professor of community health sciences, is the new director of the Manitoba Centre for Health Policy. Previously he was the interim director.
Dr. Charles Penner will be leaving his role as associate dean of Brandon satellite campus. He will be taking on the role of chief medical officer for Interlake Eastern RHA. He was instrumental in the development of the Brandon satellite campus and became its first dean with its inception in 2013. He has seen expansion of the family medicine residency from four to eight residents, as well as new programs in anaesthesia, psychiatry and emergency medicine. The creation of the longitudinal integrated clerkship has seen seven medical students complete their third year here, with five scheduled to start this fall. A champion for distributed medical education, the program has placed students in neighbouring rural sites and seen a number of graduates take positions in rural Manitoba upon completion of training.
Anh Pham joined the department of medical microbiology and infectious diseases’ admin team as a new finance assistant on April 11, 2022.
Silas Solomon, a new UM co-op student, joined the minimally invasive surgery research team in May. Solomon is starting a project looking at the eye-hand coordination of endoscopists. The team has set up the research platform by incorporating eye tracking and facial expressions tracking to the Endoscopy VR simulator. This study will promote more efficient training for novice endoscopists and provide a safer learning environment for novices.
Dr. Armelle Villalobos has joined the department of infectious diseases as an assistant professor. She is an infectious diseases specialist that trained in transplant and immunocompromised individuals at the University of Toronto. Dr. Villalobos will start a service and outpatient clinic of transplant and immunocompromised infectious diseases. She will also conduct clinical research in this field.
Dr. Elizabeth Wall-Wieler, assistant professor of community health sciences, has accepted a position within private industry.