USASK Highlights in Medicine - Public Lectures Presentations

Through the support of USask College of Medicine donors, the Highlights in Medicine Conference proudly presents three public lectures each year free of charge for the medical community to enjoy. This includes students, researchers, educators, and the greater medical community of Saskatoon, Saskatchewan and beyond.

Attendance Information

Attendance for each lecture is available in person, and through a livestream presentation.

In person: USask Health Sciences E-wing - Lecture Hall 1150

Livestream: A link for the livestream will be sent out 24 hrs prior to lecture commencement.

Lecture Schedule

8:30 AM | Dr. Terry Klassen - Clara and Frank Gertler Lectureship in Medicine

9:45 AM | Dr. Mark Ware - Betty-Ann and Wade Heggie Lectureship in Integrative Medicine

1 1:00 AM | Dr. Carla Barkman - Dr. Anita Chakravarti Lectureship in Health and Wellness

* Each session will include a lecture, an audience Q&A and time for a brief meet and greet.

Please note: Only those with paid registrations are eligible for MOC Section 1 credits.

Are you wanting to attend the entire Highlights in Medicine Conference itinerary? Click here to register for the full program: https://HighlightsInMedicine2024.eventbrite.ca

The Clara and Frank Gertler Lectureship in Medicine

Established in 2005, the Clara and Frank Gertler Lectureship in Medicine seeks to advance the USask College of Medicine’s strategic direction, with topics that are supportive of and linked to current health and medical trends.

Bio of Dr. Terry Klassen:

Dr. Terry Klassen is the Provincial Department Head of Pediatrics jointly the Saskatchewan Health Authority and University of Saskatchewan’s College of Medicine.

Dr. Klassen is a clinician-scientist whose clinical base is pediatric emergency medicine and has been active in Pediatric Emergency Research Canada collaborating on a national research program involving randomized controlled trials, systematic reviews and knowledge translation. He has a consistent record of national and international peer-reviewed funding, along with a publication record that has included many articles in the highest impact medical journals. Dr. Klassen’s research has had a large impact on the practice of Pediatric Emergency Medicine, which was recognized when he received a 2011 Canadian Institutes of Health Research - Canadian Medical Association Journal Top Achievements in Health Research Award. He was awarded a Canada Research Chair Tier 1 in Clinical Trials in 2020 until he assumed the Provincial Department Head role here in Saskatchewan.

Learning Objectives:

• Understand the key importance of the randomized trial to determine what works and what does not work in healthcare
• Learn some of the ways randomized trials have not achieved their full potential
• Explore the newest ways randomized trials are currently conducted and the central importance in evidence creation

The Betty-Ann and Wade Heggie Lecture in Integrative Medicine

Established in 2005, the Betty-Ann and Wade Heggie Lecture in Integrative Medicine seeks to provide continuing education opportunities for medical faculty, residents, and practitioners in the field of complementary and alternative medicine.

Bio of Dr. Mark Ware:

Dr Mark Ware is a family physician who has worked in clinical pain medicine since 2001. He is an associate professor of Family Medicine and holds the Alan Edwards Chair in Clinical Pain at McGill University. He also serves as Director of the interdisciplinary Alan Edwards Pain Management Unit at the Montreal General Hospital. His research interests include evaluating the safety and efficacy of novel approaches to pain management, such as cannabis and music.

He has advised the Canadian government on medical cannabis policy since 2001, and in 2016 he served as the vice Chair of the Federal Task Force on the legalization and regulation of cannabis in Canada, whose report informed the development of the Cannabis Act which came into force in October 2018. After 4 years with the private sector from 2018-2022, Dr Ware returned to McGill in 2023 to lead the pain mission to improve pain training, research and practice at the McGill University Health Centre.

Learning Objectives:

• Describe and quantify the human, social, and economic burden of non-cancer pain in Canada today
• Define integrative pain medicine and outline its relevance to the management of non-cancer pain
• Provide examples of evidence-based integrative treatments, including acupuncture, music therapy, and cannabis
• Identify potential challenges and strategies associated with the development of an integrative pain clinic
• Identify three actions you can take immediately, to begin introducing the principles and practices of integrative pain medicine into your clinical practice

Dr. Anita Chakravarti Lecture in Health and Wellness

Established in 2015, the Dr. Anita Chakravarti Lectureship in Health and Wellness seeks to empower healthcare and service professionals to develop their personal health and wellbeing in the context of their workplace and community.

Bio of Dr. Carla Barkman:

Dr. Barkman is a family physician, currently working in addictions and chronic pain. She graduated from the University of Saskatchewan College of Medicine in 1999, and the USask family medicine residency program in 2002. She went on to practice in northwestern Ontario and later in northern Saskatchewan. She completed a BA in English in 2021 and is now taking Visual Arts classes while also flailing around within a couple of big writing projects.

Her poetry has appeared in Intima, Grain, Vallum, Room and other literary journals, and has recently won the Saskatchewan Writers Guild’s inaugural flash fiction contest.

Last fall she tried, and failed, to walk across Spain.

Lecture Learning Objectives:

• To discover (or re-discover) why poetry is important… for medical practitioners, not just arts students!
• To consider what poetry is for you
• To introduce (or review) some ways to access your poetry
• To provide resources / next steps if you wish to take additional steps in this direction