The UBC Department of Emergency Medicine would like to congratulate our outgoing residents as they celebrate their achievements and look ahead to the next stage of their careers in emergency medicine! Meet a handful of our 2021 graduates and learn more about what’s next for them.
Adrianna Rowe
Hometown: Newmarket, Ontario
What inspired you to pursue emergency medicine?
The breadth of knowledge, the fast pace and team-based environment. It is pretty cool to be a generalist, yet also a specialist in managing high acuity presentations from all fields of medicine.
What is the most important thing you learned in the residency program?
No matter what, emergency medicine will always keep you on your toes. One minute you feel like a hero, and the next you are completely humbled. The program has given me an approach to the common things, the scary things, the weird and wonderful, the unexpected, and everything in between.
What’s next for you?
Toronto to complete my fellowship in Clinical Pharmacology and Toxicology, and working as an emergency physician at UHN.
David Kim
Hometown: Nanaimo, British Columbia
What inspired you to pursue emergency medicine?
For the diversity of care we deliver, the patients, and the opportunities within this great specialty.
What is the most important thing you learned in the residency program?
One of my mentors always said to me “patients and their loved ones will remember how you made them feel in their moment of crisis, not what you did or didn’t do – so never forget about that!”
What’s next for you?
Working on the Island and in the mainland, so I will be hard at work inventing a teleportation device!
Donovan MacDonald
Hometown: Prince Albert, Saskatchewan
What inspired you to pursue emergency medicine?
My Uncle, Dr. Louis Poulin is a retired family physician from Prince Albert. Growing up, I witnessed how gratifying his work was to him and how grateful members of the community were for his care. He inspired me to explore healthcare as a career and this was the beginning of my journey. A spontaneous pneumothorax during my undergrad was my first exposure to the emergency department. I had a problem, and they were there to fix it. The more time I spent in the ED, the more it became clear I had found my people!
What is the most important thing you learned in the residency program?
Medicine is a team sport. Each and every member of the healthcare team plays a vital role in the care of any individual patient – be a team player!
What’s next for you?
My fiancée and I are returning to Saskatchewan where I’ve accepted a clinical and academic teaching position in Saskatoon.
Elizabeth Purssell
Hometown: Vancouver, British Columbia
What inspired you to pursue emergency medicine?
I chose Emergency Medicine because I like the diversity of the specialty. I love the fast paced high acuity medicine, the breadth of pathology and presentations we see, and that no one shift is like another.
What is the most important thing you learned in the residency program?
The most important thing I learned in the program is the importance of supportive colleagues. Medicine is not always easy and kindness to one another makes a world of difference. I am so grateful for my team that supported me these last 5 years!
What’s next for you?
I am doing Emergency Medicine at Royal Columbian Hospital and Trauma and Emergency Medicine at Abbotsford Regional Hospital beginning this summer. I am very excited to be joining the teams at RCH and ARH!
Jamie Powell
Hometown: Vernon, British Columbia
What inspired you to pursue emergency medicine?
Coming from a blue-collar family, I discovered my aptitude for a medical career during University. I was further inspired during my volunteer work with Operation Smile in the Philippines, where I travelled with my (now) wife one summer to the rural area of Ormoc, assisting in cleft lip and palate surgeries for local children. It was here that I met an amazing group of selfless and passionate healthcare workers who demonstrated how every patient interaction can make a huge difference in someone’s life. Following this, I dabbled in an early career as a paid-on-call firefighter, gaining a taste for the adrenaline rush that only a massive trauma, a cardiac arrest, or a burning house fire can provide! Through this lens, Emergency Medicine seems like a natural fit for me: combining procedural skills, exciting and action-packed resuscitations, and continual opportunities to help people during some of their worst, most vulnerable times.
What is the most important thing you learned in the residency program?
The uniqueness of the UBC RCPSC-EM program lies in the ability for residents to travel, and practice Emergency Medicine anywhere in the province. Heading to almost every site that UBC provided funding for, I quickly learned that a positive attitude, dry sense of humor, and developing skills could be used anywhere! Whether seeing a patient on shift in the Emergency Department, off-service on the wards, or voluntarily as part of clinical skills teaching with the medical students, you can always find a way to enjoy the job and make any situation better for your patients, learners and colleagues.
What’s next for you?
I will continue my career as a staff Emergency physician in Edmonton, AB, while still maintaining ties throughout B.C. during the completion of my Fellowship and Master’s Degree in Clinical Medical Education.
Mark Sanderson
Hometown: Victoria, British Columbia
What inspired you to pursue emergency medicine?
I was inspired to pursue emergency medicine by the many fantastic mentors I had in medical school, and a love for acute care medicine and procedures that emergency medicine blends together so well.
What is the most important thing you learned in the residency program?
The most important thing I’ve learned in the program is how important it is to work as a team, and to support, and let yourself be supported by the many amazing nurses, respiratory therapists, social workers, pharmacists and consultants that work in the emergency department.
What’s next for you?
My plans for after residency are to continue my training with a Critical Care fellowship at the University of Alberta before hopefully returning to B.C.!
Nick Monfries
Hometown: Edmonton, Alberta
What inspired you to pursue emergency medicine?
I love the variety of clinical presentations, varied patient populations, and broad range of skills that you get to use in your everyday practice. Also, I really enjoy working alongside the amazing interprofessional ED team of RNs, RTs, SWs and more!
What is the most important thing you learned in the residency program?
Emergency Medicine is a very fascinating field of medicine, and you are always learning new things on every shift! However, in order to provide the best care for your patients, you must remember to attend to your own health and wellness too!
What’s next for you?
Fellowship in Pediatric Emergency Medicine at the University of Calgary and an MSc in Health Economics, Policy, & Management at the London School of Economics in the UK!
For more information about the UBC RCPSC-EM Residency Program, please visit our program website.
