AWARDS

Initiated in 1999, this award is presented to senior physician members of the Department of Medicine who have demonstrated leadership in education beyond their role as a clinician and lecturer throughout their career.

Dr. Chris Koilpillai received his degree in medicine from McMaster University in 1977. He joined the Internal Medicine residency at McMaster and then completed his Cardiology training from Toronto General Hospital. In 1983 he joined the Division of Cardiology as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Medicine at Dalhousie, and received Professor status in 2013. He was the first subspecialty trained echocardiographer in Nova Scotia, and was the Director of Echocardiography at the QEII Health Sciences Centre from 1988-2015.

Dr. Koipillai has demonstrated a passion for teaching over the years, always being the first one to volunteer for any teaching assignment, be it undergraduate or postgraduate. He received the Cardiology Resident Choice Teacher of the Year Award several years ago, and he has also receive the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Canadian Society of Echocardiography. Many of those who he has taught have also gone on to become leaders in this subspecialty.

Dr. Koilpillai plans to retire in March of 2025 and we congratulate him on his accomplishments over the years.

Dr. Scott Murray was a highly revered clinician and teacher in the Dalhousie Division of Dermatology over many years. In honor of his many contributions to education, the division hopes to preserve his legacy by the creation of an award in his name. By highlighting his unique skill set, we hope to encourage excellence in education, devotion to patients and the specialty and excellence in collaborative skills for future generations of dermatology trainees. Initiated in 2022, the award recognizes first and foremost, dedication to and excellence in medical dermatology. Like Dr Murray, the nominee will have demonstrated enthusiasm and dedication to medical education of learners, and strong interpersonal skills with a proven commitment to the advancement of dermatology clinical skills. A broad interest in humanities, music and a wicked sense of humor are also considered in nominees. This award will be presented periodically to a dermatology resident in any year based on nomination and support from division members.

Congratulations to this years' recipient, Dr. Leila Reguigui!

Initiated in 1987, the Department of Medicine Achievement Award is designed to recognize an individual’s sustained, exceptional commitment to the mission of the Department, where “together, we advance patient care by fostering excellence in research and education”.

Dr. Nick Giacomantonio is a Full Professor and joined the Division of Cardiology in 1999. Nick has taken on the project of educating the community and improving overall community health to a very high level. He has started several programs which includes the Hearts in Motion Program for people to access risk assessment and to get advice. Throughout his career Nick has promoted a healthy lifestyle in terms of walking and providing advice in terms of risk factor management. The Halifax Cardiac Rehab Program is a prime example where he started several programs dedicated to healthy lifestyles. The whole team that he has gathered around him works at improving cardiac health. He has been very successful at obtaining excellent results from these innovations and interventions.

Nick has collaborated with several researchers and published several papers which provide proof that his interventions in improving healthy lifestyles has an impact in reducing hospitalizations and mortality, especially for patients who already have established coronary artery disease. Nick is also an excellent speaker and has been involved in a number of media and public lectures and seminars where he addressed not just the medical community but also the general public to increase their awareness in managing their risk factors, he has received several commendations for his work. He is actively involved nationally and provincially in all his research and educational endeavors.

Dr. Gabrielle Horne joined the Division of Cardiology in 1998. She is also crossed the pointed at the school of biomedical engineering and faculty of graduate studies. Her fields of interest include echocardiography, septal mechanics in heart failure and connective tissue disorders and hereditary aneurysm syndromes.

She singlehandedly established the connective tissue disorder clinic for the Maritimes approximately 15 years ago. This is a collaborative clinic that now caters for more than 5000 patients across the Maritimes. She closely collaborates with cardiac surgery and genetics. Accreditation Canada recognized this clinic as leading practice. Nova Scotia health awarded her with quality award for excellence for her presentation at the quality summit. The Maritime Connective Tissue Clinic also received Innovation in Practice award as part of celebrating innovation in the public sector in Atlantic Canada. At times where cardiac surgery involvement dwindled because of lack of human resources she continued to support this clinic with all her vigor and enthusiasm. She is very passionate about her patients and provide them the best possible care.

Immediately upon joining the Division, Dr. Dixon began work in establishing a new clinic in Geriatric Medicine, designed to meet the needs of older adults presenting with movement disorders. The need for this area of clinical expertise was evident; older adults living with movement disorders are often frail and are living with a variety of geriatric syndromes. She provides care to her patients at a high standard, and is consistently recognized for her empathy, expertise, and advocacy in caring for older adults with movement disorders. Elective experiences with Dr. Dixon have become highly sought out, as trainees from a variety of programs (eg. geriatric medicine, geriatric psychiatry, neurology, family medicine, care of the elderly) are keen for the chance to learn from Dr. Dixon and her patients. Dr. Dixon astutely recognized the need for multidisciplinary involvement in this clinic. She collaborates with physiotherapy, nursing, and outreach nurses to best meet the needs of her patients.

She is often a mentor in sharing in her clinical expertise to new health care providers from a variety of disciplines, who join our division. She achieves a standard of clinical excellence in all capacities – patient care and advocacy, collaboration, leadership, and clinical education.

Dr. Barna De exemplifies a physician who truly cares about her patients first and foremost. She is always committed to using best practices when treating patients. She is very committed to improving diabetes care for all patients – as evidenced by her multi-level involvement. She has made significant improvements in hospital-based diabetes care. She is the medical liaison for the diabetes case managers and has been instrumental in updating safer and more effective diabetic ketoacidosis and hypoglycemia pre-printed order sets, which have now been implemented throughout the province. She is also the medical director for all the central zone diabetes management centres as well as the Nova Scotia Insulin Pump program diabetes centre. Nationally, she has co-authored chapters of our Diabetes Canada guidelines and sits on the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons Endocrinology Exam committee. Beyond this she is researching the lived experiences of young adults with type 1 diabetes to further be able to quantify the impact of diabetes on mental health and level of diabetes distress it causes. 

"She consistently stays on top of tasks and problem solves without the need of our input and enables our practices to run efficiently. She has particularly demonstrated this during the immense challenges imposed by COVID. She knows all of our patients and consistently responds to them in a timely fashion in a respectful manner." - Dr. Sunil Patel, MD, FRCPC

"In all regards, Nicole is a star. She has an exceptional work ethic. She is entirely dedicated to her job and was completely reliable as my personal administrative assistant. I did strongly encourage her to apply for the role of a Team Lead. In this capacity, she is a calming influence in a large complex team within the Division of Cardiology. She has maintained personal relationships with all the individuals. She leads from the front, exemplifying a level of professionalism and duty that I think most other assistants would strive to achieve. She is quiet by nature, does not seek the limelight, but is not afraid to deal with difficult and challenging tasks. She communicates clearly, openly and drives the direction to achieve the mission of the team." - Dr. Simon Jackson, MD, FRCPC, MMedEd

"Ms. Lively is organized and anticipates potential issues and errors that can arise with patient scheduling, follow up, and requested investigations. She directly improves patient care by preparing patient forms and requisitions and draws attention to time sensitive issues. Ms. Lively is hard working and her proactive nature and initiative consistently increases efficiency of workflow within the office directly benefitting patient care." - Dr. Joffre Munro, MD, FRCPC

“Carole is a pleasure to work with and has transitioned into her role as our new team lead beautifully. Her experience in working with people and helping foster a teamwork-ethic is very apparent… She fits into her role so well; it seems like she’s been here longer than she has. Our team finds her approachable, skilled, and tactful. And we’re so glad she’s ours.” - Dr. Paige Moorhouse, Division Head

"He is incredible responsive, keeps the division running, he is respectful. 

He goes out of his way to help promote educational activity within the division. He is entirely reliable." - Stephanie Carpenter

Initiated in 2019, the Department of Medicine Excellence in Leadership Award will honor and recognize a physician who is an emerging or established leader who has made, or continues to make, a significant contribution to leadership and development in the DoM. The recipient demonstrates leadership qualities including innovation, compassion, accessibility, mentorship, and the highest standards of the profession.

Dr. Ata Quraishi came to QEII Health Sciences Centre in 2003, after starting his career in Pakistan in 1988. He has been Division Head of Cardiology since 2017, where he has exemplifed "leading by example". His passion for his role is evident in everything he does. Under Dr. Quraishi, three new cardiology positions were created, he was instrumental in ensuring that urgent cardiology consultations still moved forward during the pandemic, and new dialysis beds were added to the IMCU to aid in the cardiac care of dialysis patients. Dr. Quriashi works tirelessly on the behalf of his patients, and is an inspiration to his colleagues and staff, to work together as a team where patient care is the forefront of our mission.

Dr. Ashley Sutherland completed her residency in 2019, and has already been instrumental in her contributions to the local Dermatology training program, but also at a national level with the Canadian Dermatology Association. She took over as the Dermatology Program Director 3 years ago, and she has taken the program and run with it. She has been working hard to implement the Royal College Competency by Design curriculum for our PGY1/2 residents while keeping up with the traditional curriculum that our more senior residents are still a part of. Balancing two different curricula with quite different evaluation methods is no easy feat. Additionally, she has had to bring most of our staff on board with understanding what CBD is and how to evaluate residents – also no easy feat. Along with this, she has been dedicated to meeting with residents on a regular basis to discuss any opportunities for improvement and to ensure they have career mentoring available. She ensures that residents are working on achievable scholarly projects and set up a resident Research Committee to guide this process. At the national level, Ashley has been the chair of the Education Committee and Board of Directors member of the Canadian Dermatology Association (CDA), a national organization. She has also ensured that the educational offerings at the annual conference for the last 2 years have been diverse and inclusive of all aspects of dermatology. This role also involves decision-making for accredited symposia and abstract acceptance and there have been some challenges with some of the abstracts that Ashley has handled gracefully and with discretion. She was co-chair of the Women in Dermatology Leadership Conference this past April in Toronto and is co-chair of the 2025 CDA Annual Conference (Halifax 100^th) also.

Dr. Ciorsti MacIntyre joined the Division in January 2017 following completion of her fellowship in Heart Rhythm and Inherited Arrhythmias/Inherited Heart Disease. Then she left us for Mayo clinic for approximately 18 months and rejoined Dalhousie University in July/August of 2023. She has been an excellent addition to the Division of Cardiology.

Dr. MacIntyre has been very successful in show casing her talents. She contributed heavily to education. She was the Coordinator for Undergraduate Medical Education for Cardiology and did a wonderful job. She is also very active in post graduate education involving Cardiology Residents and Heart Rhythm fellows.

Since her return she has taken a heavy load of teaching mostly undergraduate teaching. Prior to her departure to the Mayo clinic, she was the coordinator for the undergraduate medical education for cardiology. She took the responsibility of this role very seriously and was instrumental revising the cases and presentations. Her evaluations have been outstanding throughout her career.

Dr. Robbie Stewart joined the Division of cardiology in 2008 following his completion of his fellowship in echocardiography from Ottawa heart institute.

Robbie has been actively involved in teaching since his start. He participates in a high volume of teaching activities throughout the year at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels. He is highly regarded by the residents as a mentor. The morbidity and mortality rounds for cardiology are presented by the cardiology senior residents and Robbie is the chair of these rounds. He takes on the opportunity of teaching not only during the rounds but before and after the rounds. He regularly meets with the residents to select cases for presentation and continuously emphasizes the need for take home points at the end of the meeting. Under his leadership the morbidity and mortality rounds for cardiology have become very educational for all the attendees.

He is also a board member for the Canadian Society of Echocardiography. He is also the Director of the Echocardiography lab at our center. He has been successful and the establishing a fellowship program in echocardiography. All these positions provide him opportunity to be involved in teaching not only locally but at the national level.

Dr. Joffre Munro is a lauded educator that is dedicated to ensuring an excellent experience for trainees. He is also in the unique situation of being strongly involved in both undergraduate (as assistant clerkship director) and postgraduate training (as associate program director). Dr. Munro is currently the associate internal medicine (IM) program director. When he joined the Division of General Internal Medicine, he eagerly became an academic advisor for the GIM subspecialty residency training program. This role in our program is more of a career mentorship role, but he also took additional time to explore academic progress with his mentee, which speaks to his desire to facilitate training success. His contributions will soon be increased further through scholarship. He is heavily involved with multiple teaching committees, and his dedication to and advocacy for the learner experience is truly deserving.

Dr. Jacquelyn LeBlanc is an esteemed infectious disease specialist and invaluable member of our Saint John Internal Medicine community, embodies the epitome of educational excellence, tirelessly dedicating herself to enriching the learning experiences of residents and learners at all levels.

Dr. LeBlanc plays an instrumental role in the planning and execution of our weekly noon teaching sessions, serving as a driving force behind the educational enrichment that takes place within our program. Through her meticulous planning and dedication, Dr. LeBlanc ensures that each session is thoughtfully curated, providing residents with invaluable opportunities to engage with experts from various specialties and deepen their understanding of medicine.

Dr. LeBlanc has a remarkable gift for seeing the potential in others and nurturing it with unwavering dedication and support. Whether it's providing constructive feedback, offering career advice, or simply lending a listening ear, Dr. LeBlanc goes above and beyond to ensure that each resident feels valued, heard, and supported.

Her impact extends far beyond the realm of medical education, as they actively contribute to the advancement of our field through scholarly pursuits and engagement with the broader medical community. Dr. LeBlanc's commitment to excellence in teaching and her genuine concern for the well-being and growth of students makes her a truly exceptional educator and mentor.

Initiated in 2019, the Department of Medicine Excellence in Quality & Innovation Award acknowledges excellence in quality and innovation among our departmental members, and to encourage their continued efforts in participating in quality improvement in the Faculty of Medicine and Nova Scotia Health.

Dr. Keigan More received his degree in Medicine in 2014 from UBC, beginning his Internal Medicine Residency at Dalhousie that year, He has gone on to become an Assistant Professor, Staff Nephrologist, and most recently, received his Masters of Science in Quality Improvement and Patient Safety from University of Toronto Institute of Health Policy, Management and Evaluation. Dr. More clearly shows a passion for quality improvement.

At the local level, Dr. More is currently leading a number of initiatives focused on improving patient outcomes, patient and provider experience, and reducing cost to the healthcare system. At the provincial level, Dr. More has helped lead a number of highly successful quality improvement projects. At the national level, Dr. More is a co-lead for a multi-province QI project designed to measure and treat chronic kidney disease associated pruritis in the hemodialysis unit using an evidence-based approach. Dr. More is also highly engaged in quality improvement education. He is a recurring lecturer for the CSN QUIS lecture series which provides QI education to nephrology trainees across the country. He serves as a QI mentor to local trainees and has overseen multiple trainee projects over the last two years. His trainees have gone on to present their work at division of nephrology rounds, DoM Quality Day, and the national CSN annual meeting. 

His success in quality improvement is further demonstrated by his productivity and recognized National presence. In the last two years, he has published two peer reviewed articles (with a third pending), had seven conference abstracts (three national and four provincial), and given five invited lectures (two national and three local) within the quality improvement and patient safety field.

For the T.J. Marrie Lecture presented on April 23, 2024 titled “Dissecting mRNA vaccine induced immune responses”

“Updates on Stroke Management – Thrombolysis and Antithrombotics”

"Updates on MAiD 2023"

Dr. Van Wijk embodies the spirit of the Outstanding Trainee Award and is he is looked at as one of the our most well-rounded physicians clinically. He can do it all, whether it’s making a rare diagnosis, managing a complex patient with competing illnesses, or compassionately speak to families when disclosing bad news. He can lead inpatient and consult teams without any assistance, while balancing all the competing demands of a junior attending. He continues to always seek external feedback and various opinions on challenging medical decisions. Dr. Van Wijk recognizes the importance of this characteristic of a physician and role models this behavior for others. When a patient is in danger of adverse outcomes, he puts aside all other aspects and directly provides the necessary management. He demonstrates excellent judgment for when to stand firm in order to preserve the system and when to take charge because an unwell patient is stuck in a vacuum of responsibility. Dr. Van Wijk’s sense of duty to the patient is what sets him apart as an outstanding consultant.

The Dalhousie University Department of Medicine Lifetime Achievement Award is presented to a member of the Department who has demonstrated outstanding achievement and excellence in research. This award will publicly recognize and honor the individual for their contribution to research.

Dr. Ratika Parkash completed her IM Fellowship in 2000, a Cardiology Fellowship in 2002 at Ottawa Heart Institute, and completed a Cardiac EP Fellowship in 2004 at Brigham and Women's Hospital. She started her Research career in 2004 when she joined the Division of Cardiology, and she became a full professor in 2015. She has made significant contributions to the understanding and treatment of atrial fibrillation and cardiac implantable electronic devices. Her commitment to advancing medical knowledge is reflected in her involvement in numerous clinical trials focused on AF mechanisms, management strategies, and catheter ablation in heart failure patients. She is also the Associate Scientific Director of CANet.

Dr. Samira Nazarali has already made a name for herself in her research capacities. She had taken on the work of analyzing the Nova Scotia pancreatic cancer database and her work led to a poster presentation entitled “Does metformin use effect overall survival for patients with

pancreatic cancer” presented at the Gastrointestinal Cancers Symposium (GI-ASCO) in San Francisco, CA during January 19th, 2024. Acceptance for a poster presentation at this prestigious meeting is rather difficult and denotes the importance of her research. This project was the first of its kind to examine the role of metformin in treating pancreatic cancer and provided new insight into its inability to improve outcomes for this horrible disease. We are currently working on the manuscript from this project with the hopes of submitting it to Current Oncology. Dr. Nazarali has worked efficiently, tirelessly to get this completed and in a very organized manner.

Dr. Joel Bergman has recently completed his scholarly project entitled, “The global prevalence and incidence of cutaneous malignancy following renal transplant in adults: A systematic review and meta-analysis”. This project has been an impressive undertaking and he has spent many hours on data collection, statistical analysis and more recently presentation of his work. He has been successful in presenting his work at the American Academy of Dermatology annual conference, the Dalhousie Department of Medicine Research Day and will presenting it at the upcoming Atlantic Provinces Dermatology Association annual meeting. This was a large project with 5690 scientific papers initially identified meeting criteria. After the pool of literature was screened, 32 studies were included in this analysis with data from more than 450,000 patients analyzed. This is an important project which lays the foundation for further work examining specific global trends in skin cancer prevalence and may help identify patterns in the incidence of these skin cancers in the transplant population. Dr. Bergman has shown tremendous work ethic and commitment to research and scholarly work during the completion of this project.

Dr. Hayden Nix, in only his first year with us, has demonstrated a serious understanding of medical ethics. Working on a trial that looks at far-UVC light as a respiratory viricidal agent, Dr. Nix has proven to be a "man of many parts", approaching the project with real-world assessment of risks and benefits, and has shown that he welcomes criticism, has a strong desire to learn and understand and engages in discussion about issues such as autonomy and beneficence in patients whose views of such matters might differ from what often is assumed. He more than holds his own with the most brilliant in his group, and what distinguishes him from the rest is his maturity, creativity, and energy.  

A new award for the 2021-2022 academic year, the Undergraduate Students’ Choice Teaching Award recognizes a faculty member within the Department of Medicine who has demonstrated excellence in undergraduate teaching. Nominations are solicited from medical clerks who participated in the IM-clerkship rotation.

"Dr. El-Feghi's exceptional teaching abilities and unwavering dedication to the education of medical students make him a standout candidate for this prestigious recognition. Dr. El-Feghi consistently goes above and beyond to ensure students comprehensively understand complex medical concepts. His teaching style is engaging and effective, as he effortlessly breaks down complicated topics into digestible pieces of information. Dr. El-Feghi's patience and willingness to clarify doubts create a supportive learning environment that fosters growth and confidence among his students. What truly sets Dr. El-Feghi apart is his ability to tailor his teaching to the individual needs of each student. He recognizes that every learner has a unique approach to understanding and adapts his teaching methods accordingly. Dr. El-Feghi's personalized guidance and constructive feedback have been invaluable in my development as a medical student. His dedication to fostering a supportive learning environment and inspiring students to achieve their full potential is truly remarkable." 

Stephen Couban Outstanding Faculty - Residents' Choice Award

Dr. Colin Turner

Excellence in Summer Grand Rounds 2022

Drs. Yusing Gu and Samira Nazarali

Outstanding Academic Performance Award - PGY1

Dr. Sage Dixon

Outstanding Academic Performance Award - PGY2

Dr. Michael Chen

Outstanding Academic Performance Award - PGY3

Dr. Jacob Michaud

Outstanding PGY1 Internal Medicine Resident Award

Dr. Sage Dixon

Outstanding PGY2 Internal Medicine Resident Award

Drs. Patrick Gallagher and Tajdeep Brar

Angie McGibbon Outstanding PGY3 Resident Award

Dr. Joshua Kandiah

Co-Chief Medicine Residents – Halifax 2023

Drs. Joshua Kandiah and Gabrielle Melanson

Chief Medicine Resident - Saint John 2023

Dr. Karen Cholmondeley

Chief Medicine Resident - Medicine Teaching Unit 2023

Dr. Philip Hillier

Chief Medicine Resident - Saint John Medicine Teaching Unit 2023

Dr. Kayla Chubbs

Academic Advisor of the Year Award in Core Internal Medicine

Drs. Krista Kemp and Alison Rodger

Fastest EPA Completion “Trigger Finger Award” Faculty – New Brunswick

Dr. Tawfiq Shwiri

Fastest EPA Completion “Trigger Finger Award” Faculty – Nova Scotia

Dr. Alexandra Legge

Fastest EPA Completion “Trigger Finger Award” Resident

Dr. Mary Purcell

Highest Number EPA Completed Faculty – New Brunswick

Dr. Aaron LeBlanc

Highest Number EPA Completed Faculty – Nova Scotia

Dr. Kyle McCoy

Highest Number EPA Completed - Resident

Dr. Tajdeep Brar

Outstanding EPA Narrative Feedback Award *New*

Dr. Cassidy Brothers

*EPA: Entrustable Professional Activities

Promotion to Associate Professor as of July 1, 2024

Dr. Mahmoud Elsawy - Division of Hematology

Dr. Mary Margaret Keating - Division of Hematology

Dr. Krista Kemp - Division of Respirology

Dr. Ashley Miller - Division of General Internal Medicine

Dr. Andrew Moeller - Division of Cardiology

Promotion to Full Professor as of July 1, 2024

Dr. Amir Abdel Wahab - Division of Cardiology

Dr. Jennifer Jones - Division of Digestive Care & Endoscopy

Faculty of Medicine Award for Excellence in Research Mentorship of Trainees

Dr. Leah Cahill

Faculty of Medicine Wayne Putnam Award

Dr. Babar Haroon

Faculty of Medicine Excellence in Clinical Research Award

Dr. Sage Dixon

The Ross Stewart Smith Memorial Fellowship in Medical Research

Dr. Tommy Brothers

Killam Postgraduate Medical Scholarship

Dr. Lucy Eum

Best Overall Resident Research Award

Dr. Jasmine Mah

Faculty of Medicine Early Career Award of Excellence in Education

Dr. Jaclyn LeBlanc

Faculty of Medicine Early Career Award of Excellence in Clinical Practice

Dr. Alison Dixon, Division of Geriatric Medicine



Faculty of Medicine Award of Excellence in Teaching (PhD Faculty)

Dr. Ross Davidson, Department of Pathology

Faculty of Medicine Career Excellence in Research Mentorship

Dr. Susan Howlett, Department of Pharmacology