An audience of over 120 students, adjudicators, volunteers, and participants attended the virtual 2021 UBC Okanagan Interdisciplinary Student Health Conference on March 9, 2021.

The event was kicked off by an inspiring keynote presentation from Dr. Daryl Wile, Centre for Chronic Disease Prevention and Management followed by a full evening of engaging posters and presentations from UBC Okanagan students.

Congratulations to all student presenters, and to the following students on their award-winning posters:

Category: Biomedicine, Drugs and Computational Research
Alexis Genereaux-Guidi, Applied Science
Development of an algorithm to process device-based physical activity and location data to characterize physical activity behaviours

Category: Child and Public Heatlh
Aashka Jani and Larissa Steidle, Medicine
Patient Factors that Influence Breast and Cervical Cancer Screening Participation 

Category: Community Health
Rachel Shim, Science
Mediterranean Diet compliance in patients with ulcerative colitis

Category: Rural, Clinical, and Emergency Care
Carley Paterson, Arts and Social Sciences
Being there: Understanding the support systems of adults 50 years and older with mental health concerns who live in a rural community in BC

Category: Student and Social Health
Rebekah Underhill, Health and Social Development; Lucas Standing, Arts and Social Sciences; Thomas Pool, Health and Social Development
Okanagan Overdose Response Project

Category: Virtual and Digital Health
Sarah Park, Medicine
TeleRehabilitation with Aims to Improve Lower extremity recovery post-stroke (TRAIL): Study Protocol

For full posters details, view the 2021 conference program.

As the number of cancer survivors continues to grow, family physicians are being increasingly relied upon to provide follow-up care to cancer survivors in primary-care settings.

Led by Co-Principal Investigators Dr. Christine Voss, CCDPM and Dr. Siavash Atrchian, BC Cancer – Kelowna, an interdisciplinary team of researchers, oncologists, family physicians, and Southern Medical Program students is exploring ways to optimize the integration of family physicians in post-cancer treatment across the BC Interior.

The primary goals of the study are to:

(1) identify barriers that family physicians in the Interior Health (IH) region face in providing post-cancer care.

(2) formulate solutions to address these barriers.

As a first step in the multi-phase study, family physicians in the IH region who provide post-treatment cancer care are invited to participate in a 15-20 minute interview via Zoom or telephone to share their experiences. All information will be kept completely confidential.

To learn more or participate in the study, please contact study lead and Southern Medical Program student Brian Hayes at brian.hayes@alumni.ubc.ca.