Session Descriptions

6/18/2020, 1300-1700 – Concurrent Workshop

Knowledge Translation Planning Mini-Workshop: Core Concepts and tools

Melanie Barwick

At the end of this session, participants will be able to:

  • Define KT and related terms
  • Describe the relevance of KT in their context and role
  • Identify strategies for sharing evidence with and engaging multiple knowledge user audiences
  • Use KT planning tools and resources to develop a KT plan (e.g., KT Planning Template©, KT Game©)

A well-developed knowledge translation (KT) plan is often a proposal requirement for research funding agencies in Canada and abroad. In addition, various sectors are demonstrating greater attention to the utilization and impact of research. The Specialist Knowledge Translation Training (SKTT™) workshop was developed on the premise that scientists, and increasingly, other practitioners and educators, are agents of change in creating research impact, promoting research utilization, and ensuring that research findings reach the appropriate audiences. The original 2-day course was designed to teach the unique skillset that surrounds KT practice. This ½ mini-course will provide a foundational overview of KT (dissemination and implementation), and introduce tools and resources to support KT planning

CanMEDS Roles

Speaker Bio:

6/18/2020, 1300-1700 – Concurrent Workshop

Test validation – How to Assess Uncertainty in Genetics

Stacy Hume

At the end of this session, participants will be able to:

  • Plan an approach to validate their lab assay.
  • Define uncertainty in their assay using a top-down approach.
  • Identify the two type of measurement errors.
  • Differentiate MU between qualitative and quantitative tests.

CanMEDS Roles

Speaker Bio:

6/18/2020, 1300-1700 – Concurrent Workshop

Test validation – How to Assess Uncertainty in Genetics

Chris Mattocks

At the end of this session, participants will be able to:

  • Plan an approach to validate their lab assay.
  • Define uncertainty in their assay using a top-down approach.
  • Identify the two type of measurement errors.
  • Differentiate MU between qualitative and quantitative tests.

CanMEDS Roles

Speaker Bio:

6/18/2020, 1815-1930 – Keynote Address

DNA on Loan: Considering genetics in clinical care and research with Indigenous patients, families and communities in times of reconciliation.

Laura Arbour

At the end of this session, participants will be able to:

  • Identify historical reasons why Indigenous patients may hesitate to be involved in clinical genetics care and research
  • Identify barriers preventing Indigenous patients from being involved in clinical genetics care and research
  • Identify solutions that can come from the field of clinical genetics with an aim to reduce health disparity

CanMEDS Roles

  • Medical Expert (the integrating role)
  • Communicator
  • Collaborator
  • Leader
  • Health Advocate
  • Scholar

Speaker Bio:
Dr. Laura Arbour is Professor in the Department of Medical Genetics situated at the UBC Island Medical Program, and an Affiliate Professor in the Division of Biomedical Sciences at the University of Victoria. Her clinical practice and research focus on northern and Indigenous health issues especially as they pertain to genetics.  After completing two Masters’ degrees in Genetics at McGill University (1988, 1989), she obtained an MD from McMaster University (1991). Trained as both a pediatrician and clinical geneticist (McGill University), her research integrates maternal child health issues and the understanding of the genetic component of the health of Indigenous peoples of all ages, such as congenital heart defects in the Inuit of Nunavut; Long QT Syndrome in Northern BC, and the potential risk of CPT1A P479L for infant mortality in northern populations.  She has extensively published on infant mortality, congenital malformations, and other determinants of adverse birth outcomes in Northern and mainstream populations as well as on inherited arrhythmias in all age groups. She leads the Community Genetics Research Program situated at the University of Victoria, and works with First Nations and Inuit partners on several projects. Her work in Northern BC led to the development of a multidisciplinary province wide program to address inherited arrhythmias in all British Columbians and she is the Medical Genetics Lead for the British Columbia Inherited Arrhythmia Program. She is currently the Project Lead (with co-leads Nadine Caron and Wyeth Wasserman) of the Large Scale Applied Research Project funded through Genome Canada/Genome BC, CIHR and others, entitled  “Silent Genomes: Reducing health care disparities and improving diagnostic success for children with genetic diseases from Indigenous populations”.

6/19/2020, 0915-0940 – Joint Symposium 1 – Indigenous Health: Time for Action

The Health Status of and Access to Healthcare by registered First Nations Peoples in Manitoba

Alan Katz

At the end of this session, participants will be able to:

  • Describe the differences in health status of First Nations in Manitoba
  • Describe some of the relevant underlying determinants of
  • Discuss the consequences for practice

The presentation presents results of an comparison between the health status and health system use between Registered First Nations People and all other Manitobans. The session will be of value to: Geneticists, Trainees, Medical Students, Residents to provide context to the care they provide.

CanMEDS Roles

  • Medical Expert (the integrating role)
  • Leader
  • Health Advocate
  • Scholar

Speaker Bio:
Alan Katz is the Director of the Manitoba Centre for Health Policy and professor in the Departments of Community Health Sciences and Family Medicine. He received his medical training at the University of Cape Town in South Africa.  His research interests are focused on First Nations health, Primary Care delivery, including quality of care indicators, knowledge translation and disease prevention. He is the principle investigator or co-investigator on CIHR grants totally more than $10 million.

6/19/2020, 0915-0940 – Joint Symposium 1 – Indigenous Health: Time for Action

The Health Status of and Access to Healthcare by registered First Nations Peoples in Manitoba

Leona Star

At the end of this session, participants will be able to:

  • Describe the differences in health status of First Nations in Manitoba
  • Describe some of the relevant underlying determinants of
  • Discuss the consequences for practice

The presentation presents results of an comparison between the health status and health system use between Registered First Nations People and all other Manitobans. The session will be of value to: Geneticists, Trainees, Medical Students, Residents to provide context to the care they provide.

CanMEDS Roles

Speaker Bio:

6/19/2020, 0940-1030 – Joint Symposium 1 – Indigenous Health: Time for Action

Kidney Check: Point of Care Testing for Chronic Kidney Disease Risk: A Public Health Approach to a Big Problem in Indigenous Comunicaties

Paul Komenda

At the end of this session, participants will be able to:

CanMEDS Roles

Speaker Bio:

6/19/2020, 0940-1030 – Joint Symposium 1 – Indigenous Health: Time for Action

Kidney Check: Point of Care Testing for Chronic Kidney Disease Risk: A Public Health Approach to a Big Problem in Indigenous Comunicaties

Cathy Woods

At the end of this session, participants will be able to:

CanMEDS Roles

Speaker Bio:

6/19/2020, 1100-1120 – Joint Symposium 1 – Indigenous Health: Time for Action

The Dream Initiative (Diabetes Research Envisioned and Accomplished in Manitoba)

Jon McGavock

At the end of this session, participants will be able to:

CanMEDS Roles

Speaker Bio:

6/19/2020, 1100-1120 – Joint Symposium 1 – Indigenous Health: Time for Action

The Dream Initiative (Diabetes Research Envisioned and Accomplished in Manitoba)

Taylor Morriseau

At the end of this session, participants will be able to:

CanMEDS Roles

Speaker Bio:

6/19/2020, 1115-1140 – Joint Symposium 1 – Indigenous Health: Time for Action

When rare becomes common: Understanding the genetics of sudden death and implications for other heart disease with the help of a Founder population

Laura Arbour

At the end of this session, participants will be able to:

CanMEDS Roles

Speaker Bio:
Dr. Laura Arbour is Professor in the Department of Medical Genetics situated at the UBC Island Medical Program, and an Affiliate Professor in the Division of Biomedical Sciences at the University of Victoria. Her clinical practice and research focus on northern and Indigenous health issues especially as they pertain to genetics.  After completing two Masters’ degrees in Genetics at McGill University (1988, 1989), she obtained an MD from McMaster University (1991). Trained as both a pediatrician and clinical geneticist (McGill University), her research integrates maternal child health issues and the understanding of the genetic component of the health of Indigenous peoples of all ages, such as congenital heart defects in the Inuit of Nunavut; Long QT Syndrome in Northern BC, and the potential risk of CPT1A P479L for infant mortality in northern populations.  She has extensively published on infant mortality, congenital malformations, and other determinants of adverse birth outcomes in Northern and mainstream populations as well as on inherited arrhythmias in all age groups. She leads the Community Genetics Research Program situated at the University of Victoria, and works with First Nations and Inuit partners on several projects. Her work in Northern BC led to the development of a multidisciplinary province wide program to address inherited arrhythmias in all British Columbians and she is the Medical Genetics Lead for the British Columbia Inherited Arrhythmia Program. She is currently the Project Lead (with co-leads Nadine Caron and Wyeth Wasserman) of the Large Scale Applied Research Project funded through Genome Canada/Genome BC, CIHR and others, entitled  “Silent Genomes: Reducing health care disparities and improving diagnostic success for children with genetic diseases from Indigenous populations”.

6/19/2020, 1140-1200 – Joint Symposium 1 – Indigenous Health: Time for Action

Reminder Alert – How We Got Here

Brian Postl

At the end of this session, participants will be able to:

CanMEDS Roles

Speaker Bio:

6/19/2020, 1200-1500 – CCMG Trainee Program

At the end of this session, participants will be able to:

CanMEDS Roles

Speaker Bio:

6/20/2020, 0900-0950 – Joint Symposium 2 – Differences of Sexual Differentiation / Transgender

Management of Intersex Newborns: Legal and Ethical Developments

Bernard M. Dickens

At the end of this session, participants will be able to:

CanMEDS Roles

Speaker Bio:

6/20/2020, 0940-1015 – Joint Symposium 2 – Differences of Sexual Differentiation / Transgender

Gender 101: A Beginner’s Guide to Being a “Gender Bandit”

Eliot Newton

At the end of this session, participants will be able to:

  • Identify and explain the nuances between sex, gender identity, and gender expression, as well as appropriate applications of each
  • Describe the importance of cultural humility in the treatment of queer and trans persons
  • Make connections between trans lived experience and their own identity

Join Eliot Newton, our resident “gender bandit”, in an introduction to the basic tenets of gender theory and how it relates to biology and identity. With humour, grace, and audience interaction, Eliot will use their own story as a starting point for your understanding into the world of queer and trans experience. Leave your assumptions at the door and bring your “stupid” questions as we learn together about trans identities and journeys… and maybe even a little about ourselves.   This session will be of value to: General practitioners, NPs, trainees, medical students, residents, psychologists, psychotherapists, counselors, and anyone else who wants to better understand gender and identity.

CanMEDS Roles

  • Medical Expert (the integrating role)
  • Communicator
  • Collaborator
  • Leader
  • Health Advocate
  • Scholar

Speaker Bio:
Eliot is a nonbinary trans consultant and educator with over five years experience who has had the privilege of working with local, provincial, and national organizations on LGBTQS+ inclusion. Their clients have ranged from kindergartners to doctors to the heads of political parties. They graduated from the University of Ottawa in 2016 and are a published academic. Eliot lives in Ottawa with their partner and two cats.
Form Website:
Eliot is a 26-year-old, self-described “gender bandit” living on the traditional territories of the Algonquin Anishnabek (also known as Ottawa, Ontario) with two cats and too much coffee. In 2016, they graduated with an undergraduate degree in History from the University of Ottawa. Eliot has worked as a professional researcher, a teaching assistant, and a government office lackey. They once interned at a museum and built a Haunted House for kids with a zero-dollar budget. They were well-loved as the Education Co-ordinator at the internationally recognized Canadian Centre for Gender and Sexual Diversity, and enjoyed their tenure as Education and Training Facilitator for Rainbow Health Ontario. Their private workshops have also been popular at high schools across the province and churches across the country.
Eliot is a white settler of English and Christian descent, and strives to remain actively aware of the privilege that goes along with that. They work from an anti-oppressive and intersectional framework, but also acknowledge that they are always, and will always, be learning and unlearning the systems in which they were raised and can be complicit in. In other words: they get that the system is broken, and they’re trying very hard to make it better–but they’re also fully prepared to make mistakes, and be humble about that.
In their downtime, Eliot enjoys embroidery, adult colouring books, and marathoning tv shows with strong female protagonists. They’d probably like to meet you.

6/20/2020, 1045-1125 – Joint Symposium 2 – Differences of Sexual Differentiation / Transgender

Transgender Talk

Margaret Yau

At the end of this session, participants will be able to:

CanMEDS Roles

Speaker Bio:

6/20/2020, 1125-1200 – Joint Symposium 2 – Differences of Sexual Differentiation / Transgender

Pink, Blue, and the Uncertainties in-between: Novel Approaches to Differences of Sex Development.

Eric Vilain

At the end of this session, participants will be able to:

  • Decipher the biological mechanisms of sexual development.
  • Analyze the role of genetics in diagnosing differences of sex development.
  • Describe the current controversies in the management of differences of sex development.

A defining moment of our lives begins when we embark on a male or female path in the womb; disruption of typical male or female development results in Differences of Sex Development (DSD), which collectively occur frequently- in about 1% of the human population. The quality of life of people affected by DSD and their families is often threatened by uncertainty about what caused the condition, doubt over choices in care, and the chronic stress associated with anticipated or experienced stigma, and lifelong clinical care. To inform emerging clinical practice guidelines for the assessment and management of DSD, we present data that uncovers the genetic causes of DSD and examines connections between the genetics, patient and family psychological adaptation, and both medical and surgical decisions. The session will be of value to: Geneticists, Pediatricians, Trainees, Medical Students, Residents, and Basic Scientists.

CanMEDS Roles

Speaker Bio:
Eric Vilain, M.D., Ph.D., is the director of the Center for Genetic Medicine Research at Children’s National Health System and the Chair of the Department of Genomics & Precision Medicine at George Washington University. His laboratory explores the impact of genetic changes on human development in health and disease. Dr. Vilain has a longstanding interest in the genetics of sexual development, focusing on the molecular mechanisms of gonad development, as well as on the genetic determinants of brain sexual differentiation, including sexual orientation and gender identity. He has identified a large number of mutations in sex-determining genes and developed animal models with atypical sexual development. In addition, he has published extensively in the fields of genetics and endocrinology.  Dr. Vilain earned his medical degree from the Paris Children’s Hospital Necker, his Ph.D., from the Pasteur Institute in Paris, France. He then completed a post-doctoral fellowship in medical genetics at the University of California, Los Angeles, where he became professor of Human Genetics, Pediatrics and Urology in the David Geffen School of Medicine and the Chief of Medical Genetics. He has received numerous awards, notably from the National Institute of Health, the March of Dimes, the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation and the Society for Pediatric Research. He is a fellow of the American College of Medical Genetics, a Member of International Olympic Committee on Hyperandrogenism in Athletes and a member of the Board of Scientific Counselors for the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD).

6/20/2020, 1330-1410 – CCMG Symposium 3 – Update on Therapies of Genetic Disorder

Genome editing: A new era for genetic disease therapeutics

Natalia Gomez-Ospinba

At the end of this session, participants will be able to:

  • Describe existing genome editing platforms and repair mechanisms
  • Compare and contrast ex vivo and in vivo delivery approaches
  • Update and appraisal on clinical testing of genome editing approaches for hemoglobinopathies and lysosomal storage disorders

CanMEDS Roles

Speaker Bio:

6/20/2020, 1410-1445 – CCMG Symposium 3 – Update on Therapies of Genetic Disorder

Development of HPBCD for NPC

Forbes D. Porter

At the end of this session, participants will be able to:
CanMEDS Roles

Speaker Bio:

6/20/2020, 1445-1515 – CCMG Symposium 3 – Update on Therapies of Genetic Disorder

Frontiers in Metabolic Therapy – Finding Our Way

Neal Sondheimer

At the end of this session, participants will be able to:

  • Compare approaches to resolving metabolic blockades that occur in inborn errors.
  • Discuss the differences between gene therapy, gene editing and mRNA-based approaches to treatment.
  • Summarize the requirements for the development of novel therapies to metabolic disorders.

Metabolic disorders impair energy production, waste clearance and/or macromolecular synthesis through defects in enzymes and transporters. In this presentation, we will discuss classical and modern approaches to their therapy. Classical approaches to therapy focused upon substrate reduction or providing a required endpoint of a metabolic process. Newer approaches have focused on enzyme replacement and pathway bypass. Our inevitable future is the restoration of gene function. This session will be of value to geneticists, trainees, students and counselors involved in the management and diagnosis of metabolic disease.
CanMEDS Roles

  • Medical Expert (the integrating role)
  • Leader
  • Scholar
  • Professional

Speaker Bio:
Neal Sondheimer is a Clinical and Metabolic Geneticist at The Hospital for Sick Children and an Associate Professor of Paediatrics and Molecular Genetics at the University of Toronto. His graduate work and medical degree were at The University of Chicago. His graduate mentor was Susan Lindquist and in his studies he identified novel prion elements. His post-graduate medical training in paediatrics, genetics and biochemical genetics was at the University of Pennsylvania and The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. His post-doctoral work with Narayan Avadhani was focused on mitochondrial transcription. He joined the Hospital for Sick Children in 2015. His clinical work focuses on mitochondrial disorders, phenylketonuria and other rare inborn errors of metabolism. His research is focused on the impact, dynamics and inheritance of mitochondrial variation.

6/20/2020, 1555-1630 – CCMG Symposium 3 – Update on Therapies of Genetic Disorder

TBD

Roberto Mendoza-Londono

At the end of this session, participants will be able to:

CanMEDS Roles

Speaker Bio:

6/21/2020, 0900-0950 – CCMG Symposium 4 – Pre-Natal Issues

Determining Zika Virus as a Cause of Birth Defects: Lessons for Future Potential Teratogens

Sonja A. Rasmussen

At the end of this session, participants will be able to:

  • Understand the different types of criteria used in medicine to assess causality
  • List how causality assessment in teratology differs from causality assessment in other fields of medicine
  • List the criteria used to assess the association between Zika virus and serious defects of the brain
  • Apply these criteria to another agent that has been suspected to possibly be a teratogen

In 2015, a sharp increase in the number of babies born with microcephaly and other birth defects was noted in Brazil, leading to concern that the Zika virus was a new cause of birth defects. However, this hypothesis was met with much skepticism by the general public, as well as by some members of the medical and public health communities. Researchers at CDC were tasked with reviewing previously developed criteria for establishing teratogenicity and applying those to the association between Zika virus and birth defects. Dr. Rasmussen will review the criteria used to establish Zika virus as a cause of birth defects that led to a publication in the New England Journal of Medicine (Rasmussen et al.,, N Engl J Med 374:1981-7, 2016) and discuss application of these criteria to other potential teratogens.
CanMEDS Roles

Speaker Bio:
Sonja Rasmussen, MD, MS is Professor in the Departments of Pediatrics and Epidemiology at the University of Florida (UF) College of Medicine and College of Public Health and Health Professions. In this role, she serves as a clinical geneticist, seeing a broad range of genetics patients, and as director of UF’s Precision Health Program, which focuses on integration of genomics into clinical care. Dr. Rasmussen recently joined UF after 20 years at the CDC in Atlanta. Dr. Rasmussen was lead author of the paper confirming Zika virus as a cause of birth defects, published in the New England Journal of Medicine in 2016. She served in leadership roles during several CDC responses to public health emergencies, including 2009 H1N1 influenza, H7N9 influenza, Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS), and Zika virus. She is an author of >220 peer-reviewed papers and is the lead editor of The CDC Field Epidemiology Manual, released by Oxford University Press in 2018. She is board-certified in Genetic Counseling, Pediatrics, and Clinical Genetics.

6/21/2020, 0950-1040 – CCMG Symposium 4 – Pre-Natal Issues

The Contribution of Genomic Technologies for Elucidating the Etiology of Fetal Anomalies

Brynn Levy

At the end of this session, participants will be able to:

CanMEDS Roles

Speaker Bio:

6/21/2020, 1040-1110 – CCMG Symposium 4 – Pre-Natal Issues

Fetal Treatment

Greg Ryan

At the end of this session, participants will be able to:

CanMEDS Roles

Speaker Bio:

6/21/2020, 1040-1110 – CCMG Symposium 4 – Pre-Natal Issues

Fetal Treatment

Tippi MacKenzie

At the end of this session, participants will be able to:

CanMEDS Roles

Speaker Bio: