Annual Report

Introduction by Dr. Irene Sadek

In 2024, the Department of Pathology marked substantial progress in our efforts to re-develop our infrastructure to meet the requirements of the future. We are looking 30 to 50 years ahead, gauging the needs of a population that is growing larger, older and more diverse. At the same time, we are mindful that medical testing is advancing rapidly, requiring flexibility and foresight in our efforts to plan for the future.

In the here and now, I am pleased to report that the MacKenzie Building’s seventh floor ventilation system is being renovated. This will dramatically improve air quality and will allow this building to remain in commission for many more years. In the shorter term, we are strategically relocating the MacKenzie Building laboratories that perform urgent tests required for inpatient care to the new building being constructed at the Halifax Infirmary site on Robie Street. This move will improve the speed and efficiency of this vitally important testing.

We have expanded our blood collection capacity at Dartmouth General Hospital by enlarging blood collection areas and extending hours of operation to include weekends. The newly implemented drive-through blood collection service is proving to be very popular with patients and an efficient means of collecting samples. Through these efforts at Dartmouth General and other sites, we have increased blood collection appointments in the Central Zone by nearly 20 per cent this year.

We continued to work with colleagues across Nova Scotia to prepare for the 2025 launch of the One Person One Record medical record system. We have done a lot of groundwork to ensure the smooth integration of this new system with the equipment in our laboratories, so test results can be uploaded straight into patients’ medical records. We are excited to see this project come to life, as it will streamline test-ordering processes and aid collaborative care in the province. In another large-scale collaborative effort, we are developing a system for evaluating, training and licensing international medical lab technology graduates who want to come and work in Canada. This will help us solve our ongoing human resources shortage in this specialized field.

Our faculty members are very involved in preparations for the opening of Dalhousie Medicine Cape Breton later this year. They are working with pathologists at the Cape Breton Regional Hospital to review the undergraduate curriculum to ensure medical students at the new campus receive the same learning experience as their counterparts in Halifax and Saint John. The addition of Cape Breton to our teaching sites will open up another community rotation opportunity for residents as well. Community rotations are a very important aspect of residency training, as you will see inside this report.

In terms of advanced specialty programs, we are introducing a graduate program (MSc/PhD) in Human Genetics and Genomics, as well as a clinical training program in Genetics and Genomic Diagnostics. These training programs will support the ongoing success of the new IWK Maritime Centre for Precision Medicine, featured in this report.

I would like to extend my sincere gratitude to Dr. Graham Dellaire for his many years of outstanding service as our research director. His determination and resourcefulness most recently allowed us to establish the HistoCORE facility. At the same time, I am delighted to welcome Dr. Shashi Gujar into the role of research director. You will learn more about his international vision for research later in this report. I look forward to seeing our global collaborations expand under his remarkable leadership.

It is bittersweet to bid farewell to Dr. Joanne Murphy and Dr. David Haldane. Both are retiring after decades of service to the department. We are grateful for their many contributions and wish them well as they embark on this next stage of their lives.

Finally, I am delighted to welcome Dr. Richard Wood to the Division of Hematopathology, Dr. Elizabeth Sims to the Division of Microbiology and Dr. Sean Rasmussen and Dr. Nicole Delaney to the Division of Anatomical Pathology. Dr. Delaney has joined us from Alberta, while the rest of the new faculty members are graduates of our own residency programs. It is gratifying to see how they have grown during their time with us and to watch them flourish in their new faculty positions.

I am looking forward to our continued progress in 2025. I am always impressed by the willingness, ingenuity and capability of our faculty, staff and learners, as they embrace new challenges and opportunities with enthusiasm and skill.