Introducing the Department’s Summer Program

The Department’s participation in the Vancouver Summer Program (VSP) in Medicine begins July 21, 2015. The VSP is a 4-week academic program for undergraduate students from international universities. The VSP provides the opportunity to take 2 academic courses while learning about Canadian medical practices and culture.  Several Departments within the Faculty of Medicine are participating; in addition to the academic exposure students receive they can also take advantage of evening and weekend social activities and trips run by the Faculty of Medicine Dean’s Office, the Provost’s Office, or an external tour company.

Dr, Janice Eng (Program Director) and Post-Doctoral Fellow, Dr. Brodie Sakakibara (Program Coordinator) have put together two fantastic courses that capitalize on the research and teaching strengths of our Department.  The first course is titled Introduction to Rehabilitation Sciences: A case-based approach to understanding the recovery from injury and disease. Assisting Drs Eng and Sakakibara in teaching will be Professor Lara Boyd, Assistant Professor Jordan Guenette, Assistant Professor Naznin Virji-Babul and Post-doctoral fellow Gillian Hatfield. Also helping out as teaching assistants are Doctoral candidates Amy Krikham and Dominik Zbogar.  The course consists of 6 hours per day coursework over a two week period, including lectures, practical labs, presentations, and examinations. Students will simulate several different types of body impairments to gain a better understanding of what it is like to live with an impairment.

The second course offering titled, Exercise is Medicine will provide an exploration of exercise and physical activity in the treatment of chronic disease and aging. Students will gain an appreciation of the effects of exercise on brain function, bone health, and cardiovascular function.  Topics will also include the epidemiology of physical inactivity across the world, measurement of physical activity in chronic disease, strategies to get a nation more active, role of health professionals in physical activity prevention and treatment, and mobile technology to motivate physical activity in chronic disease.  Drs Eng and Sakakibara will be joined by Associate Professors Linda Li, Teresa Liu-Ambrose, Kristin Campbell and Michael Hunt as well as Assistant Professor Pat Camp in providing instruction in this course offering.