Dr. Alfonso Lopez (DVM, MSc, PhD), a professor within the Atlantic Veterinary College at UPEI’s Pathology and Microbiology Department and co-ordinator of the College's international programs, was recently awarded the 2007 Innovation in International Education Award by the Canadian Bureau for International Education at a ceremony in Ottawa. The award recognizes outstanding achievement, of national and international magnitude, in the field of international education.

“This award acknowledges Dr. Lopez’s contribution to the internationalization of veterinary medicine, his work with developing countries, and his innovative contributions to international education throughout his 30-year career,” says Dr. Tim Ogilvie, Dean of the Atlantic Veterinary College (AVC). “We are extremely proud of Dr. Lopez and feel his recognition is very much deserved.”

Since joining AVC in 1988, Lopez has successfully designed several international education initiatives including two academic mobility projects. The mandate of these projects was to promote and fund international experience and the cultural enrichment of Canadian students, and to facilitate Mexican and American students to experience academic life at AVC. The projects succeeded and became models for other mobility projects at other academic institutions. Also, Dr. Lopez implemented a major project financed by the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA).

Lopez’s contributions to international education also include the establishment of an International Veterinary Medicine Rotation that allows AVC students to receive credit for courses or professional experiences in Latin America, Asia, Africa, Europe and Australia. “In a globalized society, it is essential to create opportunities for our students to travel and learn from other places and cultures,” says Lopez.

Lopez is an advocate for sharing AVC course materials with the world via the Internet. “There is nothing more professionally rewarding to me than knowing students, veterinarians, and specialists in remote areas of the world benefit from what we do for students at AVC,” continues Lopez. “The work done at AVC can advance the quality of education and diagnostic services in developing countries.”

Funded by the four Atlantic Provinces, the Atlantic Veterinary College at UPEI is committed to excellence and innovation in education, research, and professional services. The College has graduated more than 1,000 doctors of veterinary medicine, is known around the world for its research capabilities, and is Atlantic Canada’s only full-service veterinary referral hospital.

CBIE is a national, bilingual, not-for-profit, membership organization dedicated to the promotion of Canada’s international relations through international education.

Photo:

Dr. Alfonso Lopez accepts the Canadian Bureau of International Education (CBIE) Excellence Award from CBIE Board Member Nancy Blain.

The University of Prince Edward Island was recognized for its leadership in research and innovation on Monday, January 21, with the announcement of up to $4.3-million from the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency's (ACOA) Atlantic Innovation Fund (AIF) for major projects focusing on cancer treatment and lobster health.

The funding was announced on Monday, January 21, by Rob Moore, Member of Parliament for Fundy Royal, on behalf of the Honourable Peter MacKay.

"UPEI continues to emphasize innovation and education through ground-breaking research projects such as these," says Dr. Katherine Schultz, Director of UPEI's Office of Research Development. "P.E.I. is an important generator of new knowledge through significant growth in research initiatives and capacity. External research at UPEI has grown by more than 600 per cent in the past ten years."

With this round of funding, UPEI has garnered close to $30-million in AIF support since the fund was established in 2002 for top-quality research projects, including bioactive compounds, marine bioproducts, biomedical research, aquatic health and milk quality research.

A biophotonics research project, led by Dr. Bill Whelan, Canada Research Chair in Biomedical Optics at UPEI, will receive up to $2-million over five years to develop new biomedical imaging and cancer treatment technologies that may lead to improved treatment options for cancer patients.

Initially focusing on prostate cancer, the project will see the development of laser thermal therapy and optoacoustic imaging technologies that use light and sound to destroy solid tumours and monitor treatment effectiveness. Equipment designed through the project will supplement existing cancer therapies and diagnostic medical devices.

The project will also enhance P.E.I.' s capacity for the development and manufacture of biomedical instruments. Private sector partners include Seno Medical Instruments in San Antonio, Texas, and Fiber Connections in Summerside, P.E.I.

The Atlantic Veterinary College's Lobster Science Centre will receive up to $2.3-million over five years for a research project that aims to develop a greater understanding of the life cycle of the lobster, including health, moulting and reproduction. The project will focus on the wild lobster fishery in southwestern Nova Scotia and the Northumberland Strait.

This project is significant because of the economic importance of the Atlantic Canada lobster fishery, estimated at $1-billion annually. The southwestern Nova Scotia lobster fishery makes about 40 per cent of total lobster landings in Atlantic Canada.

"We are delighted that UPEI and AVC have once again been successful in attracting AIF funding with these two important research projects," says Schultz.

Photo #1: Dr. Bill Whelan

Photo #2: Dr. Jean Lavallée, Dr. Spencer Greenwood and Dr. Andrea Battison

The PEI Health Research Institute’s (PEI HRI) Café Scientifique, postponed due to a major snow storm in December, will be held on Thursday, January 31, from 3-5 p.m., at the Culinary Institute of Canada, Room 246.

Members of the public are invited to attend this free event, which will explore ways to improve the health of Canadian youth through discussion and debate.

Dr. Colleen MacQuarrie, of the UPEI Department of Psychology, will give a presentation called “Inviting pregnant adolescents into tobacco research: How can we improve our reach into the community?” And Dr. Jennifer Taylor, of the UPEI Department of Family and Nutritional Sciences, will give a presentation called “Beyond Hotdogs and Potato Chips: Do school nutrition policies work?”

Sponsored by the federal Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), Café Scientifiques offer insight into health-related issues of interest to the general public, and in turn provoke questions and provide answers. This is the first time that a Café Scientifique has been held on P.E.I.

Located at UPEI, the PEI HRI supports, promotes and enhances quality research related to human health on Prince Edward Island, contributing to the health of Islanders and Canadians, and to the economy of P.E.I.

For more information, contact Jennifer Jelley, PEI Health Research Institute, at (902) 894-2812 or peihri@upei.ca.

The University of Prince Edward Island celebrates diversity and multiculturalism during its seventh annual International Development Week from February 4 to 8.

The week begins on Monday, February 4, with two showings of the award-winning 1997 Iranian movie, Children of Heaven, the first at 1:30 p.m. in Room 211 in the Robertson Library and the second at 4 p.m. in Room 104 of the K.C. Irving Building. A discussion hosted by University 100 and psychology students will follow.

On Wednesday, February 6, students will discuss global issues affecting children and possibilities for youth action during a student symposium on global change in the W.A. Murphy Student Centre’s McMillan Hall. Participants will include high school and first-year UPEI students, with education students as facilitators.

Nigel Fisher, president and CEO of UNICEF Canada, will give the keynote address at the symposium. Fisher has considerable experience in advocacy for the protection of civilians, especially children, in zones of conflict, and has worked extensively in basic education and child development. He worked with UNICEF for over 20 years in Africa, Asia and the Middle East, as well as at UNICEF headquarters in New York.

Diana Youdell, special advisor to the Director General of the Afghanistan Task Force, Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade, will give a talk called “Canada … Making a Difference in Afghanistan” on Thursday, February 7, at 10 a.m. in the Atlantic Veterinary College’s Lecture Theatre C. Her presentation will be followed by a question and answer period.

Youdell recently returned from Afghanistan where she served as Head of Development Programs for CIDA from August 2006 to September 2007. She is currently on temporary assignment from the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA). Under her guidance, more than $100 million of CIDA funds was disbursed to support national programs run by the Afghanistan government, including microfinance, sustainable livelihood, gender equality and girls’ education.

The week wraps up on Friday, February 8, with the annual UPEI International Development Scholarship Luncheon at the Rodd Royalty Inn, starting at noon. Nigel Fisher will be the guest speaker at this event.

Members of the public are invited to take part in the week’s activities. All events are free except the luncheon, which costs $30 per person or $270 for a table of 10. People may also sponsor a UPEI international student to attend the luncheon. Proceeds from the fundraising luncheon go toward an international student scholarship at UPEI. For information and tickets, please contact Beverly Gerg at (902) 894-2842 or bgerg@upei.ca by February 1, 2008.

In conjunction with International Development Week, an exhibition called International EXPOsure 2008 will be held on February 5 and 6 in the W.A. Murphy Student Centre’s concourse. The expo will include informative displays about the many cultures that are part of the UPEI community.

Canadian horse-owners will have access to an innovative technology that enhances the healing of equine tendon and ligament injuries, thanks to a new partnership between UK-based VetCell Bioscience Ltd and the Atlantic Veterinary College at the University of Prince Edward Island.

The two organizations have entered into a partnership establishing the Atlantic Veterinary College as the Canadian centre for the introduction of VetCell’s equine stem cell therapy technology. VetCell’s technology involves extracting stem cells from an injured horse’s healthy tissue, multiplying those cells in the laboratory, and re-injecting the cells into the soft tissue wound of that horse to improve healing rates and reduce re-injury.

VetCell’s Chief Operating Officer, Dr. David Mountford, says that the company’s technology is currently in use in some of the world’s leading equestrian countries, including the UK, Australia, France, Germany, Holland, the United States and Japan. “We’ve been very particular about the expertise of the partners we’ve chosen in each country where we are currently active,” says Mountford. “The technical expertise and the equine focus that the Atlantic Veterinary College has demonstrated make them our obvious choice in Canada.”

Dr. Laurie McDuffee, an equine surgeon, associate professor and researcher at the Atlantic Veterinary College, will lead the Atlantic Veterinary College laboratory in delivering this new leading-edge equine health service. Dr. McDuffee has ten years experience in regenerative medicine and cell therapies for horses.

“The Atlantic Veterinary College is very excited to be the Canadian leader in the introduction of this technology,” says Dr. McDuffee. “We are eager to provide a new tool to treat horses’ injuries right now. Our laboratory also has an ongoing research program in cell-based therapies and is exploring further collaborations with VetCell in the research and development of cell-based therapies for bone fracture healing and treatments for companion animals.”

VetCell and the Atlantic Veterinary College are currently offering this equine health service to selected veterinary clinics in Canada. To-date, ten horses have been treated and it is expected that the service will be widely available to veterinarians and horse owners from across Canada by May 2008.

VetCell’s stem cell technology will be made available to veterinary clinics across Canada through training sessions delivered by Drs. McDuffee and Mountford. The first session is scheduled to take place at the Atlantic Veterinary College in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island on March 5, 2008. A second session will be delivered in Ontario on March 7, 2008. Additional sessions are being planned across Canada.

The Atlantic Veterinary College at UPEI is committed to excellence and innovation in education, research, and professional services. The college is known around the world for its outstanding educational programs, aggressive research agenda, and being home to more than a dozen centres of expertise that range from veterinary epidemiological research to aquatic health. The Atlantic Veterinary College’s Veterinary Teaching Hospital is the only full service referral hospital in Atlantic Canada.

VetCell BioScience Limited is a leading provider of stem cell technology to the world of animal health. VetCell was founded to investigate and develop the veterinary use of stem cell technologies. The company was formed in London, UK in partnership with the Royal Veterinary College and the Institute for Orthopaedics and Musculoskeletal Science. VetCell is committed to working with top veterinary research establishments across the world to improve and expand the range of species and conditions treated using regenerative medicine.

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For further information, please contact:
Charlotte McCardle or Trina Paquet, External Relations
Atlantic Veterinary College at UPEI
(902) 566-0533 / cmccardle@upei.ca

David Mountford, Chief Operating Officer
VetCell Bioscience Ltd
+44 207 691 2062 / info@vetcell.com / www.vetcell.com

Dr. R. Bruce Craig, a history professor at the University of Prince Edward Island, is using his expertise in espionage to unlock Cold War secrets.

His knowledge of Cold War history will be used to petition the federal court in New York City for the release of grand jury records from the 1951 indictment of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg who were accused of running a spy ring that passed American atomic secrets to the Soviet Union. They were convicted of spying and executed in 1953.

The National Security Archive, along with several leading US historical associations, filed the petition to unseal the Rosenberg grand jury records on January 31. Supported by extensive declarations from Craig and other experts, the petition describes the trial as a defining moment in the Cold War, and argues that 57 years later, scholarly and public interest in these transcripts far outweigh any remaining privacy or national security interests in continued secrecy.

Craig, who is the author of Treasonable Doubt: The Harry Dexter White Spy Case, published by the University Press of Kansas, has considerable experience in petitioning grand jury records that pertain to espionage, on the Rosenberg case and several others.

'I spent the good part of this last year preparing the lead historical declaration that was just filed with the National Security Archive petition to force open these grand jury records and I'm very excited about the current prospect of unsealing the Rosenberg records," stated Craig. "A victory in court not only would strike a blow against government secrecy, but the grand jury records we'd get access to would clarify much that remains divisive and unknown about this controversial trial."

Grand jury minutes are not generally made public and are supposed to remain secret in perpetuity. However, one of Craig's previous court filings, "Craig v. USA," set the precedent that makes it possible for historians to gain access when it can be clearly established that the historical values outweigh the need for continued secrecy. In the late 1990s Craig was the lead petitioner in another case that resulted in the unsealing of the Alger Hiss espionage case grand jury records.

Craig and his fellow petitioners believe they have made a strong case for the release of the Rosenberg records. In the words of one such petitioner, New York Times reporter Sam Roberts, "Few cases in American jurisprudence have stirred emotions, generated debate in and out of government and the judicial system, and have had as enduring and divisive a political impact as the prosecution of the Rosenbergs."

Before moving to Prince Edward Island, Bruce Craig represented the historical and archival communities on Capitol Hill for seven years. He served as Executive Director of the National Coalition for History in Washington DC, and his efforts were directly responsible for the public release of the records of the notorious House Committee on Un-American Activities.

Dr. Janet Bryanton, Associate Professor with the UPEI School of Nursing, is passionate about nursing.

For her passion, she received a national nursing award from Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Health Minister Tony Clement at the official launch of the Centennial Year of the Canadian Nurses Association (CNA) in Toronto on February 1.

Dr. Bryanton is one of 14 extraordinary and diverse Canadian nurse leaders from across Canada who received a CNA Nurse to Know Centennial Achievement Award for their contributions to the health system and the health of Canadians during the ceremony.

Prime Minister Harper praised the over 270,000 registered nurses in Canada for their essential work on the front line of health care, and in research, advocacy, innovation, health policy development and education.

'CNA's nurses are setting national standards for our public health system, increasing patient safety, enabling technology, and ultimately improving access for all Canadians to get the care they need at the right time, in the right place. Our nurses are collaborators and leaders who have made a tremendous difference in the lives of all Canadians,' said the Prime Minister.

A native of P.E.I., Dr. Bryanton has been a nurse and a nurse educator for over 30 years. After graduating from the University of New Brunswick's nursing program in 1977, she worked for a year in the maternity unit of Charlottetown's now-closed Prince Edward IslandHospital. She moved on to the Prince Edward Island School of Nursing and spent the next 15 years instilling her passion for nursing in her students.

Her love for education inspired her to further her own credentials; she became a certified perinatal nurse in 2000 - the same year she began teaching at the University of Prince Edward Island's School of Nursing. And she received her PhD from McGill University in 2007.

At UPEI, she teaches third-year students in the nursing degree program. She teaches them about the importance of making parents feel as good as possible about themselves and their parenting skills. 'If they (parents) feel confident, their baby will benefit,' she says.

In addition to her teaching and research responsibilities, Dr. Bryanton sits on CNA's perinatal certification exam committee and has been closely involved with the Association of Registered Nurses of Prince Edward Island, having chaired its board of examiners for 13 years. Currently, she is a member of the PEI Breastfeeding Coalition, a provincial working group dedicated to promoting breastfeeding in PEI.

Dr. Marlene Smadu, president of the CNA, and associate dean of Nursing at the UniversitySaskatchewan, acknowledged the nurses recognized at the launch for applying their nursing education and skills to advance many important areas in the health system, and called on young Canadians to consider nursing as a career choice.

At the event, the CNA launched its new centennial website, www.CNA100.ca, outlining a number of activities throughout 2008 which will celebrate the centennial and commemorate the achievements of registered nurses to date.

Photo (left to right): Minister of Health, Tony Clement; Marlene Smadu, president of the Canadian Nurses Association, Janet Bryanton; and Prime Minister Stephen Harper

Newfoundland-raised novelist Michael Winter returns to PEI with his new novel, The Architects Are Here. Winter will give a public reading on Monday, February 11, at 7:30 p.m. in the UPEI Faculty Lounge, Main Building. A reception and book signing will follow.

Winter was born in England, grew up in Cornerbook, and divides his time between Newfoundland and Toronto. After university, Winter started writing semi-autobiographical fiction about his family and friends and his romantic troubles, some stories set in St. John’s, others in Toronto. A recurrent main character and alter-ego, Gabe English, emerges in this early fiction and his breakthrough novel, This All Happened (2000), which won the Winterset Award and was nominated for the Rogers Writers' Trust Fiction Prize.

The Big Why (2004) was loosely based on New York artist Rockwell Kent’s sojourn in Newfoundland in the early twentieth century, and was nominated for Ontario's Trillium Book Award and the Atlantic Book Awards’ Thomas Raddall Fiction Prize, and long-listed for the IMPAC Dublin Literary Award.

Gabriel English returns in Winter’s new novel, The Architects Are Here. Gabe is drifting into middle-age, settling into a domestic idyll with his girlfriend Nell, and being led into trouble by his childhood friend David, a dot-com millionaire. About this novel and Gabe, Winter says, “I think we’re all struck by the moment we realize we are the same age our parents were when they had us. You’ve succeeded in some ways and failed in others.”

Michael Winter’s reading is sponsored by the UPEI English Department, with support from The Canada Council for the Arts.

Climate and environmental change, and biomedical physics will be the hot topics at the 2008 Atlantic Undergraduate Physics and Astronomy Conference (AUPAC), which will be held at the University of Prince Edward Island from February 8 to 10.AUPAC is an annual conference that showcases the research activities of undergraduate physics and astronomy students across the region.

“AUPAC really gives students the opportunity to share and discuss their ideas and knowledge with friends and colleagues from other universities in a friendly, slightly competitive environment,” says physics professor Dr. Sheldon Opps, who is chairing the conference along with students Chris Lund and Ali Fatehi Hassanabad.

The conference, which will be attended by over 125 delegates, including more than 100 undergraduates from across Atlantic Canada, will include invited talks by high-profile researchers, presentations by the students, a poster session, an NSERC panel discussion and a graduate fair.

Dr. James Drummond, Canada Research Chair in Remote Sounding of Atmospheres in Dalhousie University’s physics and atmospheric science department, will give a plenary speech on Friday, February 8, at 7:30 p.m., about the role that Canada has to play in the International Polar Year (IPY), a scientific program focused on the Arctic and the Antarctic from March 2007 to March 2009. One component of Canada’s contribution to IPY is the Polar Environment Atmospheric Research Laboratory (PEARL), a laboratory in Eureka, a laboratory in Eureka, Nunavut, where scientists conduct research in the areas of climate, ozone and air quality.

Island native and UPEI physics graduate Heather Auld will speak on Saturday, February 9, at 4 p.m., about her work as a meteorologist and climatologist for Environment Canada for nearly 29 years. Currently a manager with the Adaptation and Impacts Research Group of Environment Canada, she has worked as a weather forecaster across Canada and as an engineering climatologist.

On the biomedical side, Dr. Bill Whelan, Canada Research Chair in Biomedical Optics at UPEI, will be the guest speaker at the conference banquet, which will be held on Saturday, February 9, at 6:30 p.m. An associate professor in the UPEI physics department, Dr. Whelan will speak about his research into the use of light and sound to diagnose, treat and monitor disease.

On Sunday, February 10, at 11:30 a.m., Dr. Cécile Fradin, assistant professor of physics and astronomy at McMaster University, will talk about her research on fluorescence and how it can be used to detect the motion of proteins in living cells, and how biological systems such as cells and molecules can be used to probe or modify physical systems.

The presentations by Drummond, Auld and Fradin take place in the Duffy Science Centre Amphitheatre and are free to the public.

Award-winning playwright Don Hannah will give a public reading at 7:30 p.m. on Friday, February 15, in the Main Building Faculty Lounge, University of Prince Edward Island.

Born in Shediac, N.B., Hannah is also a prolific director and novelist. The East Coast has long been a focus in his work. His first plays, The Wedding Script (winner of the Chalmers Award), Rubber Dolly and In the Lobster Capital of the World, were produced at Toronto’s Tarragon Theatre. The Wooden Hill, based on the journals of L.M. Montgomery, won the AT&T OnStage Award. In 2002, Hannah was nominated for the prestigious Simonovitch Prize for Outstanding Playwright.

Of The Wise and Foolish Virgins, his first novel, The Globe and Mail writes, “Hannah's novel uses sprawling energy and a dozen colourful characters to break the pattern of ‘dour’ and ‘morose’ Maritime fiction.”

In his new novel, Ragged Islands, it is September 2001, and eighty-five-year-old Susan Ann Roberts lies dying in a Toronto hospital, when she resolves to return to the places in the Maritimes that defined her as a girl, wife, and mother. Her children are at her bedside, but her dearest grandson Tommy is stuck in New York, where something dreadful is happening. Susan begins her magical journey at the family farm where she spent childhood summers. She then travels to Ragged Islands, N.S., and the house she shared with her husband – pondering why she was given away to relatives at birth, when siblings born earlier and later were kept.

Hannah has been writer-in-residence at the Tarragon and Canadian Stage theatres, the University of New Brunswick, and for the Yukon Library System. He is a founding member of the Playwrights Atlantic Resource Centre and, for the last eight years, has directed the Tarragon Theatre’s Young Playwrights Unit. He is associate program dramaturge for the Banff PlayRites Colony, and works in the playwriting department at the National Theatre School of Canada.

Hannah’s reading is sponsored by the UPEI English Department, with support from the Canada Council for the Arts.