Assistant Professor
The staff and residents of the Department of Otolaryngology at The University of Western Ontario bring you greetings as we begin the Year 2003. We have now put Y2K and 9/11 behind us and let's hope that 2003 will see the end of the trashing of our RRSPs by the current stock market debacle. We again are hoping that this Newsletter finds you healthy and hopeful of better things to come.
Dr. Howard Lampe, after 12 years of blood, toil, tears and sweat as Chairman of this department at a time of much turmoil, has decided that now is a good time to see an injection of new blood and has resigned as Departmental Chairman. A Selection Committee is currently active in finding a replacement. All of us here in London thank Howard for his incredibly hard work during this very troubled period, and wish him every success in his future endeavours.
In keeping with past editions, we update our alumni on the current status of recent graduates.
Dr. Kevin Fung, as expected, successfully completed his certification in the specialty last June and is now doing a 2-year Fellowship in Head and Neck Surgery at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. His future plans are unknown at this time.
Dr. Raj Sindwani is likewise doing a postgraduate Fellowship year. He is currently at the Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary in Boston doing a Fellowship year in Endoscopic Sinus Surgery and, as with Kevin Fung, his ultimate plans are unknown at this time.
Dr. Eytan David completed a Fellowship in Neuro-otology at the University of Toronto in June and is currently in practice in North Vancouver.
Dr. Kam Yue, after many years of meritorious service in the practice of otolaryngology in London, has been forced by illness to "close out" his practice. We wish him well in his premature retirement and hope he will continue his connection to the department.
THE VOICE LAB continues its clinical and teaching role at Victoria Hospital under the directorship of Dr. Simon McBride.
RHINOMANOMETRY LABORATORY at St. Joseph's Hospital continues to be an active part of the Rhinosinology Centre under the direction of Drs. Janzen and Wright.
COCHLEAR IMPLANT PROGRAM at University Hospital continues to thrive under the very capable direction of Dr. Lorne Parnes. Ms. Kim Twitchell has joined the program from the Hospital for Sick Children as one of the cochlear implant audiologists. This spring we will become the first program in Canada to implant the newly approved Med-El device from Austria. Lorne continues to be the sole Cochlear Implant provider in southwestern Ontario.
This continues to be very much a moving target. As of this date Otology/Neuro-otology will continue to be performed by Lorne Parnes at University Hospital. Sometime within the next 12-14 months the I.C.U. and the Emergency Departments at St. Joseph's Health Care London will be closing which will necessitate a concentration of all major Head & Neck Surgery to the Westminster Campus of the London Health Sciences Centre. Therefore Drs. Matthews and Lampe will be moving to the Westminster campus providing there are facilities there to receive them. Drs. LeBoldus, Janzen, Ruby, Wright and Moore will likely remain at St. Joseph's for another four or five years.
Again because of the earlier scheduling of the Canadian meeting (and it looks at this point in time that this will be pretty much a routine event in the future), the Residents' Research Day was held quite early in the year on April 12. Not surprisingly with the date this early in the year we were not blessed with the kind weather we've often had when the meeting has been held in mid to late May. However, that did not dampen the spirits of the participants and an excellent program was enjoyed by all and sundry. Our Guest Adjudicator was one of our illustrious alumni, Dr. Sandy Fetterly of St. Thomas who gave us an interesting and often humorous perspective on Solo Practice of Otolaryngology in a Small City. Because of the early date of Residents' Day, there was no opportunity to go to Stratford.
The prize winners for the Residents' Research awards included: The Charlie Thompson Award was given to Dr. Jason Franklin for his paper entitled "Prospective Impact Analysis of Altered Peri-operative Fluid Management in Free Flap Reconstruction of the Head and Neck". The Innovative Research Award went to Dr. Kevin Fung for his discussion of "Quality of Life Following Medialization Thyroplasty". The Golden Throat Award went to Dr. Raj Sindwani for his paper on "The Role of Endoscopic Septoplasty in the Treatment of Atypical Facial Pain". Finally, the Most Caring Resident Award went to Dr. Kevin Fung.
This year the department implemented a new Undergraduate Teaching Award for the resident with the highest teaching evaluation from the medical students. The award was then presented to Dr. Kevin Fung.
Again, as mentioned previously, the earlier scheduling of the Canadian Society Annual Meeting necessitates a very early Residents' Research Day hence the April 25 date. This though is a bit later than last year and hopefully the Golf Tournament will be doable. I am not as yet sure whether or not Stratford is an option at this time. Our Guest Adjudicator this year is Dr. Mario Imola from the Center for Craniofacial Skull Base Surgery in Denver, Colorado. As usual, following the academic part of the program there will be, of course, the Awards Ceremony and banquet that evening at the London Hunt and Country Club.
Again we would remind you that we have applied to have this Residents' Research Day accredited for 2 hours of MOCOMP M1 credits.
The research papers and resident line up are as follows:
DR. AVIK BANERJEE is the first of our PGY3 residents. Avik was born in Kitchener but grew up in Windsor where he received his secondary school diploma and undergraduate B.Sc. degree from the University of Windsor. He received his M.D. from the University of Toronto before coming to London to do his residency program. Avik will discuss "An assessment of the efficacy of Canadian Otolaryngology training programs over the past 10 years".
DR. BRIAN HUGHES is our second PGY3 resident. Brian is that rare avis, a native Londoner who went to high school in London and did all of his university schooling at The University of Western Ontario. Brian's paper is entitled "Transcrusal approach for intracranial lesions: Our experience and outcomes".
DR. JASON ATLAS is a PGY4 resident. Jason is a native of Toronto but also received some education at McGill as well as his M.D. from Western. He will be discussing "Endoscopic ligation of the sphenopalatine artery to control posterior epistaxis".
DR. TIMOTHY WALLACE is our second PGY4 resident. Tim is a native of Moncton, has an undergraduate degree from Bishops University in Lennoxville, Quebec and graduated from medicine at Dalhousie. Tim will be telling us about "Transantral and transnasal endoscopic repair of orbital fractures".
DR. JASON FRANKLIN is in the final year of the program. Jason is a native of Kingston and got his M.D. from Queen's before coming west to London to do his residency. Jason will be discussing "A randomized, controlled, single blinded, study of biocompatible nasal packing on outcomes of surgical treatment of rhinosinusitis".
DR. MARC RAYMOND is also in his final year of the program and follows a long line of illustrious residents from the rock being a native of Corner Brook, Newfoundland. Marc received his undergraduate education at Acadia and his M.D. from Western. He will be describing "Ionized calcium as a predictor of clinically significant hypocalcemia: A prospective analysis".
DR. MANSOUR AL-ASSIRY (aka Manny) is our last final year resident and is part of our ongoing contingent from Saudi Arabia. Manny was raised in Riyadh and obtained his M.D. from King Saud University in that city. He then came to London to enter the residency program. His topic is "Data mining predictors of postoperative radiation treatment (PORT) in oral cancer patients".
In the spirit of "saving the trees", please send us your email address so that the Newsletter could be emailed to you in the future. Our email address is listed below.
We think the scientific program will be interesting and informative and of course we have our usual excellent social program on Friday evening. Be optimistic and throw in your golf clubs and if there is any hope for Stratford we will communicate this information to you.
Again the residents and staff of the Department of Otolaryngology in London wish you a Happy and Prosperous 2003 and hope to see you on April 25.
Ralph R. Ruby, M.D., F.R.C.S.(C), F.A.C.S.
Professor Emeritus
Syd Sukerman, M.D., F.R.C.S.(C)
Assistant Professor
Emerson E. MacRae, M.D., F.R.C.S.(C)
Assistant Professor