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Update on GIM 2010 – 2011, by Dr. Kelly Zarnke

  1. Welcome to our new division members, Drs. Lynn Lambert and Doug Hamilton:
    Dr. Lynn Lambert started with us on September 1, 2011. She came to Calgary from Birmingham, UK, trained as a General Internist and Geriatrician with a PhD in Pharmacology. She was most recently appointed as a consultant in acute care medicine and the clinical service lead at the University Hospital Birmingham Foundation Trust. With her extensive experience in developing a large medical assessment unit at the Selly Oak Hospital, her experience will help us organize high quality acute service delivery within AHS.

    Dr. Doug Hamilton joined the GIM division as of October 1, 2011 from Baylor College of Medicine, the Canadian Space Agency and NASA in Houston, Texas. Doug has been trained as an electrical engineer, an internist and a PhD cardiovascular physiologist here in Alberta before moving south to Houston for the past decade and a half. His academic work will be with the W21C and the University of Calgary Biomedical Engineering Department and his clinical work in Calgary will be with Chronic Complex Disease Management Clinics.

  2. GIM Fellows and Scholars: Careers in Transition
    Currently we have seven GIM fellows and two clinical scholars. The division is mentoring them to achieve their future career aspirations. Some will be spreading their wings outside of the Calgary teaching environment, some we hope to recruit as clinician educators, and others we will support in further academic studies with the hope of bringing them back as academic clinicians.

  3. Clinical Activities:
    GIM continues to provide extensive clinical services to the Calgary Zone. Eight Medical Teaching Units and one General Medical Unit run 24/7 365 days per year at three acute care hospital sites. Five inpatient consultation services, including an Obstetrical Medicine service provide consultation services to our surgical, hospitalist and psychiatry colleagues. Pre-operative surgical admission clinics also operate five days per week at each of three sites.

    Both UCMG and private GIM outpatient clinics provide a large consultative capacity to the community, including the Chronic Complex Disease Management clinics, Atrial Fibrillation clinics and the Outpatient Anticoagulation services. Last year, the FMC outpatient UCMG clinics were successfully transitioned to RRDTC that now, combined with the RGH clinics, provide over 1000 clinics per year. A new Chronic Complex Care Clinic just got off the ground this fall at the RGH site. The GIM Obstetrical Medicine group provides almost 300 clinics at the three acute care sites. Outreach clinics also occur at the Southern Alberta Clinic (SAC), the Calgary Urban Project Society (CUPS) and outside of the city in Brooks, Canmore, Claresholm, Didsbury, Strathmore, and Morley.

  4. Academic Accomplishments:
    Regarding research, division members published 86 manuscripts, six book chapters, and 26 technical reports in the most recent annual reporting period. Over one hundred invited presentations were given by division members and over $4M in research funding was held. Two CIHR research chairs and one local Chair in GIM were held by two division members and put to good use. Areas of research growth for the division include health services, obstetrical medicine, physician wellness, medical education, and cardiovascular health.

    Regarding education, all division members participate extensively in the teaching of undergraduate and postgraduate trainees in all clinical settings. Many members also contribute thousands of hours of instruction outside of clinical settings at undergraduate, postgraduate and CPD levels. Members also serve as mentors and supervisors, both formally and informally, to trainees, graduate students and faculty members.

    Division members are very active in educational research and have also led the implementation of simulationbased education at the three acute care sites. The leadership of the Department of Medicine Residency Program (Director and three Associate Directors) currently lies within the GIM division.

  5. Leadership:
    Members of the division have taken on sizable leadership roles. A partial list includes positions in the following spheres:
    • International (e.g., Chair Pan-American Health Organization Salt reduction committee; Chair, World Health Organization Quality and Safety TAG for ICD-11; Associate Editor, Open Medicine)
    • National (e.g., Chair, RCPSC Internal Medicine Executive Committee; President, Canadian Society of Internal Medicine (CSIM); Integrated three national HT societies in single entity (HT Canada); CSIM Chair Globalization committee; Common Drug Review)
    • Provincial (e.g., AHW Expert Committee on Drug Evaluation and Therapeutics, AHS Medical Lead for Chronic Disease Management)
    • Regionally, members of the GIM Division, under the leadership of Robert Herman, organize and Chair the annual Rocky Mountain/ACP Internal Medicine Conference, an annual CPD Internal Medicine conference for Western Canada
    • University (e.g., Scientific director, Calgary Institute for Population and Public Health; both co-directors W21C; Vice Chair, Health Promotion, Libin CV Institute)
    • Zonal (e.g., PLC Medical Directors, SHC Departmental Physician Lead; Zone Medical Director of Therapeutics)
    • Departmental (e.g., Vice Chair, Strategic planning; Vice Chair, Physician Wellness; IM Resident Training Program Director)


  6. Looking Forward:
    • SHC planning: Like all divisions, we look forward to the challenge of staffing the South Health Campus. As deadlines rapidly approach, there will be increasing clarity regarding parameters and options for recruitment.
    • The national CSIM meeting in 2014 will be in Calgary. The Division looks forward to hosting the largest national GIM meeting in Canada.


Copyright© Department of Medicine 2011, all rights reserved.