Al Duaij, Waleed
Originally from Kuwait I am fortunate to have trained at several institutions across the world. I completed my MD PhD in 2012 at the University of Manchester in the United Kingdom. My PhD was in the field of oncology and targeted therapy. My research focused on the mechanism of action of monoclonal antibodies in B-cell malignancies, mentored by Professor Tim Illidge. After briefly working as a medical intern in Kuwait I pursued a residency in internal medicine at the University of Toronto 2015-2018, during which I conducted a clinical research project on the role of targeted sequencing gene panels in the management of myeloproliferative neoplasms at the Princess Margaret Cancer Centre supervised by Dr. Vikas Gupta. I then completed my hematology fellowship at UBC from 2018-2020. Currently I am pursuing a postdoctoral fellowship as part of the UBC Clinician Investigator Program. My current research focuses on the clinical outcomes and genomic characterization of a subset of highly aggressive lymphomas, referred to as ‘double hit’ lymphomas, supervised by Dr. David Scott. In my free time I enjoy dining out and savoring BC’s beauty on my bike (when it’s not raining!).
Nicholas Ainsworth
Born and raised in Vancouver, British Columbia, Nick completed a Bachelor of Arts & Science at McGill University in Environment and Anthropology, before returning to Vancouver to pursue his medical school training at the University of British Columbia. After receiving his MD degree, he continued at UBC for his residency training in Psychiatry and Geriatric Psychiatry, serving as chief resident at St. Paul’s Hospital and later co-president of the residency program. As a resident in the Research Track, he conducted research in neurostimulation under the supervision of Dr. Fidel Vila-Rodriguez at the NINET lab. Over the course of his subspecialty training, Nick developed a strong interest in the intersection of cognition and mood disorders in late life. During the CIP, he plans to complete a research fellowship at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health in Toronto, Ontario, as well as a Master of Science degree at the University of Toronto, Institute of Medical Science, supervised by Dr. Benoit Mulsant and Dr. Daniel Blumberger. He will be studying the effects of pharmacotherapy for late-life treatment-resistant depression on neuropsychological performance and cognitive outcomes.
Andrea Jones
Andrea completed her Bachelor’s degree specializing in neuroscience at Queen’s University. Her passion for inner city health and advocacy led her to complete her MD/PhD at the University of British Columbia in the field of psychiatric epidemiology in the Graduate Program of Neuroscience. Her dissertation focused on the risk factors and dynamics of psychosis and substance use among adults living in urban precarious housing or homelessness. Her current research aims to improve brain health among precariously housed communities, by examining the complex relationships between social networks, brain structure, and functional outcomes. Andrea is currently a resident physician in Neurology and postdoctoral fellow in the Distributive Curriculum Training Pathway of the UBC Clinician Investigator Program. Andrea is pursuing a multifaceted career as a clinician scientist in Neurology to advance the prevention and management of neurological conditions among historically, socially, and economically marginalized communities. In her free time, she enjoys kayaking, hiking, and skiing in the local inlets and mountains.
Annie Lalande
Annie Lalande is a fourth-year General Surgery resident at the University of British Columbia and an MSc candidate at the Institute for Resources, Environment and Sustainability (IRES) at UBC, co-supervised by Drs. Jiaying Zhao and Andrea MacNeill. She is interested in understanding the role that food plays at the intersection of individual and planetary health. She is studying the implementation of a planetary health diet in hospitals and its effect on patients’ satisfaction, nutrition, and clinical outcomes, as well as the resulting environmental footprint of the hospital menu.
Clarus Leung
Clarus Leung completed her Bachelor’s Degree in Physiology at the University of British Columbia. She pursued medical school and Internal Medicine residency at the University of British Columbia. During her Clinician-Investigator Program training, she aims to investigate the pathophysiological mechanisms of asthma. The supervisor of her project is Dr. John Fahy at the Airway Clinical Research Center, University of California San Francisco. She is pursuing the Master in Advanced Studies degree program in clinical research at UCSF. Her long-term career goal is to practice as a Clinician-Scientist with a focus on severe asthma and airway diseases.
Adrian Levine
Dr. Levine completed his undergraduate and medical degrees at the University of Western Ontario. Early in medical school he developed a keen interest in the clinical neurosciences, leading him to pursue a residency in Neuropathology at the University of British Columbia. As a resident, Dr. Levine completed research projects in the application of artificial intelligence to interpret digital pathology slides. He will be spending the Clinician Investigator Program at the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto, focusing on developing the bioinformatics for novel clinical tests used for diagnosing and characterizing pediatric brain tumors. In his free time Adrian enjoys mountain biking, snowboarding, and traveling with his fiancée.
Akie Watanabe
Akie completed her medical degree at the University of British Columbia and is currently a PGY-2 resident in General Surgery. Her clinical interests are specifically in the field of surgical oncology and her research interests are focused on developing methods to improve surgical treatments, quality, guidelines and outcomes for cancer patients. Her CIP project will focus on developing a national synoptic operative template for thyroid cancer and thyroid surgery to reduce inconsistencies in practice, improve surgical efficiency and quality of postoperative care. She will be working under the supervision of Dr. Sam Wiseman, Dr. Eitan Prisman, and Dr. Jonn Wu at St. Paul’s Hospital and the BC Cancer Agency. She is concurrently pursuing a Master of Public Health in Epidemiology at Harvard University.
Marie Yan
Marie completed her medical degree at the University of Toronto, followed by training in Internal Medicine and Respirology at the University of Toronto and University of British Columbia respectively. She is interested in mycobacterial diseases and will be pursuing a clinical and research fellowship in this area at the University of Toronto.