Trainees Present Projects at the First Virtual Research Day

The Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology's 37th Annual Research Day was held on Friday, May 7, 2021. This year's event was a little different! As the COVID-19 pandemic forced the closure of many in-person events, our Department took Research Day virtual and hosted the event online via Zoom.

Research Day celebrates and showcases the depth and diversity of research conducted by trainees within our Department. A total of 107 abstracts were submitted; 12 were selected for presentation during two oral sessions, and 91 were presented during two poster sessions to an audience of over 250 attendees.

A key event incorporated into Research Day is the D. Nelson Henderson Lecture, first established in 1965. This year's lecture was especially poignant as the Department remembered two very important individuals whose support of Research Day throughout the years made the Henderson lecture possible: Donald Henderson and Anne Stanfield. Don and Anne were the children of Dr. D. Nelson Henderson, a highly respected clinician-scientist and eminent member of our Department at Toronto General Hospital from 1930 to 1965. After his retirement, Don and Anne honoured their father’s extraordinary career in medicine and education by establishing the Henderson Lecture. They became active participants in our annual event, attending almost every Research Day and meeting with our invited lecturers. The Department dedicated this year’s lecture to Don, who died in 2017, and to Anne, who passed away just this year. Our community's thoughts are with the Henderson and Stanfield families during this difficult time, and we thank them for their years of dedication to improving the education of the next generation of obstetrician-gynaecologists.

In Don and Anne’s memory, the Department presented our D. Nelson Henderson Lecturer for the 2021 Research Day event. Professor Lucilla Poston is the Tommy's Charity Professor of Maternal & Fetal Health at King’s College London and Director of the Tommy’s Maternal & Fetal Research Unit based at St Thomas’ Hospital. She is the Research Lead for King's Health Partners' Institute of Women and Children's Health and leads a large multidisciplinary research team which investigates disorders of pregnancy including premature birth, pre-eclampsia and the complications arising from maternal obesity. Her own research focuses on maternal nutrition, obesity and gestational diabetes, with a focus on the early life origins of health and disease. At our Research Day, Professor Poston spoke about Developmental Origins of Health and Disease Interventions in Pregnancy. 

The day ended with a celebratory awards reception where the day’s JW Knox Ritchie Research Award winners were announced.

Congratulations to our award winners, and we hope to see everyone next year at (hopefully) an in-person celebration!

Oral Presentation Winners

Graduate Student - Anum Rahman
Abnormal fetal brain development in a mouse model of hypoplastic left heart syndrome
Supervisor: John Sled

Resident - Anand Lakhani
Determining the optimal anticoagulant strategy for pregnant women with mechanical heart valves using clinical decision analysis
Supervisor: Rohan D’Souza

Clinical Fellow - Eran Ashwal
Gestational diabetes and fetal growth in twin compared with singleton pregnancies
Supervisor: Nir Melamed

Poster Presentation Winners

Medical Student - Julia Dmytryshyn
Learning on the Go: assessing knowledge gained from medical podcasts created for vulvovaginal disease education
Supervisor: Amanda Selk

Graduate Student - Amna Nadeem
Local Metabolism of Progesterone Regulates Cervical Remodelling and Timing of Labour Onset
Supervisor: Stephen Lye

Resident - Ana Maria Iancu
Examining prescribing practices with respect to oral iron supplementation for post-partum anemia: a retrospective review
Supervisor: Nir Melamed

Clinical Fellow - Michael Chaikof
Psychological Safety and Workplace Gossip Among Post-Graduate Trainees
Supervisor: Evan Tannenbaum

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