See today's newspaper for a feature on our latest publication in the Canadian Medical Association Journal (CMAJ). Canada.com: Parents strong watchdogs for kids' hospital care: study.

Walter Karlen has submitted an application to Grand Challenges Canada in the Canadian Rising Stars in Global Health program. With the Camera Oximeter project, we aim to reduce the cost of pulse oximeters by using the integrated camera of the mobile phone as the sensor. This novel approach could be used for diagnosis of sepsis and pneumonia in remote locations in low and middle income countries. Please vote for the Camera Oximeter project at: Canadian Rising Stars in Global Health. Voting ends November 11, 2011.

This morning the Phone Oximeter made its television debut on Canada AM (nationally broadcast live morning show). Watch Peter and Mark speak about the Phone Oximeter and the Saving Lives at Birth: A Grand Challenge for Development grant. Canada AM

Congratulations to Mark Ansermino and Peter von Dadelszen for leading the team to a seed grant for "Saving Lives at Birth: A Grand Challenge for Development". The project is entitled PIERS on the Move
The Challenge
You can read more about the award in our national newspaper, The Globe and Mail: July 28 newspaper article, July 28 online article, July 29 newspaper article
There is also a recording of the award ceremonies held in Washington DC on July 28. US AID
Thanks go to everyone who has helped us along the way! Your support is much appreciated.

Congratulations to Matthias Gorges on receiving a CIHR Post Doctoral Fellowship award! He will be working on his project entitled Development and Evaluation of a Mobile Patient Monitoring Device for Nurses in the Intensive Care Unit .

Congratulations to Mark Ansermino and Guy Dumont on receiving a collaborative Health Research Projects (CHRP) grant for The Phone Oximeter: A simple, mobile device for respiratory disease management in the community
2011 CHRP Awards

Members of the PART and ECEM participated in the annual CFRI Student Research Forum. Congratulations to Emma Whyte, Gill Lauder, Ashley Robinson, Joanne Lim, Nick West, and Mark Ansermino for the 1st place prize in the Clinical Fellows category for their work entitled "Caudal Ultrasound: A Safe and reliable way to identify local anesthetic in the infant caudal epidural space". Congratulations also to Christopher Brouse, Guy Dumont, Dorothy Myers, Erin Cooke, Joanne Lim, and Mark Ansermino for the 1st place prize in the PhD student category for "Wavelet transform cardiorespiratory coherence for monitoring nociception".

Congratulations to Jacqui Hudson, Specky Kimenye, Walter Karlen, Guy Dumont and Mark Ansermino for their award winning abstract entitled "Usability testing of a prototype Phone Oximeter with healthcare providers in high and low medical resource settings" at the annual UBC Department of Anesthesiology, Pharmacology and Therapeutics Research Day. Jacqui did an oral presentation of their abstract in the Anesthesia Resident's category.
Congratulations also to our other PART presenters Matthias Gorges, Walter Karlen, Emma Whyte, and Pamela Winton.

Congratulations to members of the PART and ECEM on their 2nd place award at the International Anesthesia Research Society (IARS) annual meeting for their Scientific and Educational Exhibit on "Intelligent Anesthesia Technology". Thanks to Matthias Gorges, Walter Karlen, Joanne Lim, and Chris Petersen for preparing the demos and manning the booth.

Congratulations to Matthias Gorges for winning a "Best of Category" (Equipment/Monitoring) at the International Anesthesia Research Society (IARS) annual meeting for his abstract "Development of a Mobile Monitoring and Communications Solution for Anesthesia Team Members". Congratulations also to abstract co-author Mark Ansermino.

Congratulations to members of the PART and ECEM on the world premiere of the musical promotion of the Phone Oximeter on YouTube. Please "Tweet, Facebook, Like" and send to all your friends and family. A big thank you to everyone involved!

Congratulations to Dr Simon Whyte for winning the Best Oral Abstract award at the TIVA-TCI 2011 World Congress of Total Intravenous Anaesthesia and Target Controlled Infusion in Singapore for his abstract on A pilot study to investigate plasma bupivacaine concentrations in children receiving total intravenous anesthesia and caudal analgesia. Congratulations also to co-authors Dorothy Myers, Mary Ensom and Diane Decarie.

The second issue of the official PART newsletter has been published. We have had a busy few months with conferences and awards! The upcoming quarter also looks like a busy time for the PART. The issue is available at: The PARTiculars.

Congratulations to Dr Mark Ansermino and Dr Guy Dumont for winning the 2010 Brockhouse Canada Prize for Interdisciplinary Research in Science and Engineering. This prestigious NSERC award recognizes outstanding Canadian researchers who combine their expertise in engineering and sciences.
See also:
NSERC media release
NSERC photos and video
NSERC impact story
UBC Applied Science blog UBC Faculty of Medicine
UBC Public Affairs

See the 2010 PART Annual Report. Full details of the PART's projects, awards, presntations and publications are available in this document. Congratulations to everyone on another successful year!

The inaugural PART official quarterly newsletter has been published. The first issue of The PARTiculars is available now. Thanks to everyone who helped to choose a name for our newsletter. Suggestions for future issues are welcome.

Congratulations to Dr Walter Karlen for garnering the Excellence in Technology Award at the Society for Technology in Anesthesia Annual Meeting in Las Vegas, USA for his abstract on Location independence in patient monitoring. Congratulations also to co-authors Mark Ansermino and Mike Blackstock (MAGIC at UBC).

Check out our latest developments about the Phone Oximeter project. The interest on this project from many sectors has led us to create its own website. Some of the latest developments include: hosting an international meeting on pulse oximetery in May 2011, and OLPC projects.

Congratulations to our department members who received the 2010 Telethon Awards Competition research funding. Dr Simon Whyte-A pilot study to investigate plasma bupivivaine concentrations in children receiving total intravenous anesthesia and caudal anesthesia. Dr Gillian Lauder-Naloxone infusion for the prevention of neuraxial opioid induced pruritus: a double-blind prospective, randomized, controlled study in children

Dr Mark Ansermino presented "The Future of Personalized Sensors for Health and Disease" at the BC Wireless Health Forum sponsored by DigiBC. The forum was well attended by the leading wireless and digital media developers in BC, and many representatives from academia and industry. We are currently in contact with potential partners and collaborators who are interested in learning more about research within PART.

Congratulations to Dr. Walter Karlen who presented Capillary Refill Time Assessment Using a Mobile Phone Application (iRefill) at the 2010 American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) annual meeting. This abstract won the Best Abstract Award for the Society of Technology in Anesthesia (STA) Excellence in Technology Innovation. Congratulations also to co-authors Drs. Chris Petersen, Amelia Pickard, Guy Dumont and Mark Ansermino and the rest of the team!

Our submission entitled "Cell phone oximetry workshop: Canadians working towards improved anesthesia safety around the world" was awarded a grant from CIHR Meetings, Planning and Dissemination Grant: Circulatory and Respiratory Health. We will be organizing a workshop early in 2011.

Congratulations to Dr. Simon Whyte for presenting “Evaluation of the Intubating Laryngeal Airway in Children” at the 14th Annual Society for Airway Management Scientific Meeting (September 24 – 26, 2010). The abstract received the 2nd Place Award (of 88 submissions).

Congratulations to our summer students who participated in the CFRI Summer Student Research Program Poster Day yesterday. In the Clinical Research division: Srinivas Raman - 1st place - Estimating Respiratory Rate from the Photoplethysmogram; Jules Sleiman - Honourable Mention- Mobile Phone Pulse Oximetry: A Usability Study of iPleth; Serena Shum - A quality assurance audit of pain management at home following pediatric day surgery at British Columbia Children's Hospital.

Congratulations to our departmental recipients of the 2010 iACT Grant Competition research funding:
Dr Simon Whyte-A pilot study to investigate plasma bupivivaine concentrations in children receiving total intravenous anesthesia and caudal anesthesia
Dr Carolyne Montgomery-Pharmacokinetics of oral morphine and pharmacogenetics of CYP2D6 and UGT2B7 in an urban pediatric population (2-6years of age) presenting for elective surgery

Congratulations to Dr. Gillian Lauder and Dr. Carolyne Montgomery for their success in the Canadian Anesthesiologists' Society (CAS) 2010 Research Awards Program.

Dr. Lauder's project (Naloxone for the Treatment of Opioid-Induced Pruritus in Children: A Double-Blind, Prospective, Randomized, Controlled Study) received the Baxter Corporation Canadian Research Award in Anesthesia in the New Investigator Awards category. Dr. Montgomery's project (Pharmacokinetics of oral morphine and pharmacogenetics of CYP2D6 and UGT2B7, in an urban pediatric population (2-6 years of age) presenting for elective surgery) received the Canadian Research Award in Pain Research and/or Regional Anesthesia.

Congratulations to Dr. John Chandler in his success at the UBC Department of Anesthesiology, Pharmacology and Therapeutics 4th Annual Research Dayfor winning 1st place in the Fellows division in the oral presentation competition ("Arterial and plethysmograph waveform relationship in chldren: two sides of the same coin?"), and 1st place in Anesthesiology in the poster competition ("Visual cues for the interaction of two physiological parameters improve change detection performanace").
Congratulations also to Dr. Amelia Pickard for presenting "A novel method of measuring capillary refill time using photoplethysmography" and Jeremy Daniels presenting "The effectiveness of standard pediatric daycare surgery discharge communication: a quality improvement gap analysis".

Webinar: "The Bedside Observer Project". Join us on Webex on May 20, 2010, 12 - 1pm PDT. Presenters: Mark Ansermino [Director of Research, Department of Anesthesia, BC Children's Hospital], Jeremy Daniels [MD Program, University of British Columbia].
The presentation describes an innovative approach to learning from safety events at BC Children's Hospital. The Bedside Observer Project involved family members in reporting safety incidents and near misses using a system integrated with the Patient Safety Learning System. This unique project provided valuable information for learning from safety events while engaging families as a valued part of the care team. Click here for more information.