September 2020

The start of a new academic year is always a special time at Dalhousie Medicine New Brunswick (DMNB) and the ongoing pandemic did nothing to change that. Despite things looking a little different than they have in years previous, DMNB was still able to welcome a new cohort of students into the study of medicine with one of its flagship events: the annual First Light Ceremony.

This year's recipients of Dalhousie's top honour for alumni include chemist and neurologist Sultan Darvesh (MD’88); Stantec Vice-President of Practice Services and Indigenous Relations Denise Pothier (BEng’93), accountant and community leader Doug Reid (BComm’82); and health-care leader and philanthropist Robert Zed (MHS’86).

As he nears the start of his own independent practice, Dr. Henry Annan is taking time away from his residency to complete the Master of Public Policy (MPP) program at Oxford University.

Dr. Shashi Gujar, a scientist with the Department of Pathology at Dal, together with partners in France, Demark, Germany, the United States and India, is examining whether the immune response to SARS-CoV-2 could be repurposed as the next generation of cancer immunotherapy.

Thumbing through Dr. Rishi Gupta’s Reflections of a Pupil, published as an ophthalmology textbook, it’s clear this is no ordinary course reading. Chapter headings like “Never Operate on the Wrong Eye,” “Put me in, Coach!” and “Don’t Smoosh the Eye” are dead giveaways.

Black people are living in a moment with multiple public health crises: COVID-19, police brutality and anti-Black racism. Racism impacts our health; racist responses to COVID-19 continue to place all of us at greater risk.

Dr. Sandra Meier, the Canada Research Chair in Psychopathology and Youth Mental Health, is working to use smartphones to monitor the impacts of social distancing and isolation on youth during the COVID-19 pandemic.