Get to know our special guest Dr. Lynne Postovit. Dr. Postovit earned her Bachelor of Science (Honours) at Queen’s University in 1999. After receiving her PhD in Anatomy and Cell Biology at Queen’s, Dr. Postovit completed a CIHR Postdoctoral Fellowship at Northwestern University in the Department of Cancer Biology and Epigenomics. Dr. Postovit was an Assistant Professor at Western University from 2007-2013 and has been an Associate Professor at the University of Alberta since 2014, where she co-directed the Cancer Research Institute of Northern Alberta.

As a recognized authority on ovarian cancer, Dr. Postovit has published more than 60 papers in peer-reviewed journals, including the International Journal of Molecular Science, Frontiers in Immunology, and Scientific Reports. Dr. Postovit has been invited to present her work at national and international research institutes and conferences, including the Karolinska Institute in Sweden and the Canadian Cancer Research Conference. In 2009, she was the recipient of the Peter Lougheed/CIHR New Investigator Award. Demonstrating excellence as a researcher, Dr. Postovit was elected as a Member of the Royal Society of Canada’s College of New Scholars, Artists, and Scientists in 2016.

In addition to her prolific research output, Dr. Postovit has made remarkable contributions to the wider community through her service to the profession. She serves on the editorial boards of Oncology Signaling, Scientific Reports, and the Journal of Cell Communication and Signaling. In 2018, Dr. Postovit chaired the Canadian Conference on Ovarian Cancer Research and was an organizing committee member for the Canadian Oxidative Stress Consortium. She has made outreach and public-facing research a priority as part of her career, participating in a number of community events such as Ovarian Cancer Canada Run for Hope and the Royal Alex Foundation.

Get to know our special guest Dr. Bernard Thébaud. Dr. Thébaud is a clinician-scientist with a focus on the clinical translation of stem cell-based therapies for lung diseases. Dr. Thébaud is a senior scientist with the Ottawa Hospital Research Institute (OHRI) and Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario Research Institute (CHEO RI), and a neonatologist with the Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario (CHEO), where he provides care to critically ill newborns. He is a Professor of Pediatrics at the University of Ottawa and holds the uOttawa Partnership Research Chair in Regenerative Medicine.

Dr. Thébaud obtained his MD at the University Louis Pasteur in Strasbourg, France in 1991 and trained in pediatrics and neonatology at the University Paris V in Paris, France, where he also obtained his MSc and PhD. He then completed a 2-year postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Alberta.

Dr. Thébaud has participated on numerous peer reviews committees and scientific advisory boards at the international, national and provincial level, including NIH and CIHR. He has over 120 peer-reviewed publications, and given over 80 lectures at leading international meetings and institutions in the past 5 years. He was a Canada Research Chair from 2005-2012. He received the “Rising Star in Perinatal Research” award from the CIHR Institute for Human Development, Child and Youth Health in 2008, and the “Best in Current Canadian Child Health Research” Sanofi Pasteur Research Award in 2007.

Get to know Dr. Annette Hay. Dr. Annette Hay is a Hematologist within the Department of Medicine, Queen’s University, cross-appointed to the Departments of Oncology and Pediatrics, and a Senior Investigator with the Canadian Cancer Trials Group (CCTG). She became Chair of the Division of Hematology in January 2021. Commencing at the University of Dundee (Sept 1996 – June 2001, MB ChB received July 2001), Dr. Hay completed her medical and hematology training in Scotland. In 2012 she undertook a 30-month Fellowship with the NCIC Clinical Trials Group (now CCTG), transitioning to a Senior Investigator role in 2014. Dr. Hay’s clinical practice includes all areas of Hematology, with special interest in hematological malignancies. Clinics are held at the Cancer Center of Southeastern Ontario.

Dr. Hay’s specific research interests, delivered through collaboration with national and international investigators, include:

• Clinical trial design, conduct and analysis: Completion of phase I, II and III trials for patients with lymphoma, leukemia, myeloma and myelodysplasia.
• Under-represented populations: Enhancing research opportunities and clinical trial uptake for the elderly, and adolescents and young adults with cancer.
• Economic analyses: Determining the costs and benefits of healthcare interventions, aiding policy makers.
• Data linkage: Piloting means to conduct clinical trials more efficiently, while maintaining patient safety and privacy, though linkage with existing data sources.
• Data sharing: Creating the infrastructure for responsible data sharing in Canada to accelerate health care advances.

Get to know Dr. Jennifer Flemming – Dr. Flemming is an Associate Professor of Medicine and Public Health Sciences at Queen’s University with clinical training in gastroenterology, hepatology and liver transplantation. After completing her Internal Medicine and Gastroenterology training at Queen’s University, she completed two years of advanced hepatology and a Master’s in Clinical Research at the University of California San Francisco.

In her clinical practice she manages a wide variety of patients with chronic liver disease from early disease stages to decompensated cirrhosis, hepatocellular carcinoma and liver transplant. She is a clinician scientist who leads a research program which leverages Ontario administrative data housed at ICES to evaluate the epidemiology and outcomes of patients with cirrhosis and recently appointed as the ICES-Queen’s Site Director. Her research has been supported by the Canadian Institutes for Health Research (CIHR), American Association for the Study of Liver Disease (AASLD), the American Gastroenterological Association (AGA) and the Canadian Donation and Transplantation Research Program.

In addition, Dr. Flemming is an Associate Editor of the American Journal of Gastroenterology, serves as the Chair for the Guidelines Committee of the Canadian Association for the Study of Liver Disease (CASL), and is a member of the CASL Equity, Diversity and Inclusion committee, AASLD Women’s Initiatives Committee, and the Canadian Task Force on Preventive Health Care.

Get to know Dr. Amer Johri – a professor and clinician in the department of medicine at Queen’s University, Kingston, Ontario. Dr. Johri is an expert on 3D echocardiography, interventional echocardiography, and Handheld Cardiac Ultrasound. His research focus involves patient-oriented research projects and the innovation of non-invasive techniques to predict and diagnose atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease. This includes: carotid intimal medial thickening, 3D strain and 3D stress testing, cardiopulmonary point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS), screening of special populations such as competitive athletes and women, analysis of vulnerable atherosclerotic carotid plaque through 3D, composition, and novel ultrasound contrast applications. He is chair of the ASE guideline for the Assessment of Carotid Arterial Plaque by Ultrasound, and also chaired the ASE Statement on Point-of-Care Ultrasound during the 2019 Novel Coronavirus Pandemic.  

In our first podcast, get to know our guest Dr. Paula James, a Professor in the Department of Medicine, with cross-appointments to Pathology & Molecular Medicine and Pediatrics. She is also the Principal Investigator in the Clinical and Molecular Hemostasis Research Group at Queen’s University with an active basic and clinical research program investigating the genetic basis of inherited bleeding disorders as well as the quantitation of bleeding symptoms. Her groups research includes validating and publishing bleeding assessment tools (BATs), which have gained international recognition for optimizing a protocol for culturing ECFCs (Endothelial Colony Forming Cells) from patients with both inherited and acquired diseases. In 2015 she launched the Let’s Talk Period website and aligned social media accounts were launched to increase knowledge about abnormal bleeding.

In medicine, we often use reviews and guidelines to inform best practices that are safe, and effective and are updated regularly based on new forthcoming evidence. The treatment of malignant superior vena cava syndrome, a rare condition where cancer causes obstruction to the blood flow to the heart, is less well studied and has not been reviewed in over a decade. We found that there was very little evidence on common practices like use of steroids or diuretics to treat this condition. The evidence on using conventional treatments like chemotherapy and radiation therapy, were from many decades ago and does not account for new treatments like immunotherapy and biologic therapy. When looking at studies examining endovascular stenting (mechanically opening the blood vessels), these studies demonstrate high success rates and are safe. This paper advocates for incorporation of new and effective treatment including stenting in treating this rare but important condition.

Guests: Dr. Don Thiwanka Wijeratne (Queen’s University) & Dr. Kristin Wright (Queen’s University)

Host: Dr. Charlie Hindmarch (Queen’s University)

Link to the article: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jtho.2023.04.019

Synopsys: Irritable bowel syndrome, or IBS, is a common disorder characterized by abdominal pain and altered bowel habits. While there may be multiple mechanisms that lead to development of IBS, the bacteria in our gut appear to play an important role in a number of IBS patients. We discuss novel research by scientists at Queen’s University and McMaster university where they found that a proportion of IBS patients have a specific bacteria in their intestine that produces large amounts of histamine, a mediator that can increase pain signaling in the gut. In mice that were colonized with patient stool containing this high histamine producing bacteria there was markedly increased pain signaling. This increased pain may be occurring, at least in part, due to the bacterial histamine signaling to immune cells in the gut, that also release histamine as well as other pain mediators. Additionally, the study showed that production of bacterial histamine could be triggered by specific foods in our diet. Thus, identifying key pathways involved in this diet-microbiota-host interaction that causes abdominal pain may ultimately lead to development of more efficacious targeted therapy in a number of IBS patients.

Guests: Dr. David Reed (Queen’s University), Dr. Stephen Vanner (Queen’s University), Dr. Premysl Bercik (McMaster University), Dr. Giada De Palma (McMaster University)

Host: Dr. Charlie Hindmarch (Queen’s University)

Link to the article: https://www.science.org/doi/epdf/10.1126/scitranslmed.abj1895