Check out the full Education & Awareness Day Agenda & register here.
Maureen – Patient Speaker, Patient Panelist
Maureen Medved, whose pronouns are she/her, is a writer of screen, fiction, stage, and a reviewer of film and television. Her screen adaptation of her first novel, The Tracey Fragments, starring Elliot Page and directed by Bruce McDonald, opened the Panorama program of the 57th annual Berlinale, winning the Manfred Salzgeber Prize and numerous other awards. Her work has featured at international festivals, won awards, and has screened at MOMA. She works and lives in Vancouver, situated on the unceded traditional territories of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), and səlilwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations. The UBC School of Creative Writing, where she is an Associate Professor, was founded in 1963 on the unsurrendered territory of the hən̓q̓əmin̓əm̓-speaking xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam) people. https://creativewriting.ubc.ca/about/land-acknowledgement/
Dr. Sarah Lohrenz – Adult Care Spotlight
Dr. Sarah Lohrenz is a Clinical Immunologist and Allergist who sees adult and pediatric patients in Vancouver. She works in the Primary Immunodeficiency Transition Clinic (PITC) with Dr. Persia Pourshahnazari and Dr. Catherine Biggs. The clinic serves adolescents transitioning into adult care and adults with immunodeficiencies. Dr. Lohrenz also works with the immunology team at BC Children’s Hospital to care for children with primary immunodeficiency.
Dr. Kyla Hildebrand – Paediatric Spotlight
Dr. Kyla Hildebrand is a Pediatric Clinical Immunology and Allergy specialist and clinician educator at BC Children’s Hospital in Vancouver, Canada. She is a Clinical Associate Professor in the Department of Pediatrics and Division of Allergy & Immunology at the University of British Columbia, an investigator at the BC Children’s Hospital Research Institute and the director of the Pediatric Clinical Immunology and Allergy Residency Training Program at UBC.
Dr. Kevin Lee – PI Quality of Life Research Update
Dr. Kevin Lee completed his medical school and internal medicine training at the University of Alberta, then completed his subspecialty training in Allergy and Immunology at UBC. During his training, he and his mentor, Dr. Catherine Biggs, received a research grant from ImmUnity Canada to assess the barriers of health care in adolescents and young adults with PID; he will present some preliminary results of this study today.
He currently practices at the BC Children’s Allergy Clinic & Peak Medical Clinic. Starting Jan 2025, he will be joining the Vancouver Coastal Allergy & Immunology Clinic. Outside the clinic, he serves on the executive board for the BC Society of Allergy and Immunology.
Carol M. Slinn – Learn How Positive Language Empowers Your Life
Carol M Slinn lives in Vancouver’s Lower Mainland where she offers one on one training as well as a variety of courses such as groups on communication strategies to improve performance and prevent misunderstandings in the work place, particularly in fast paced pressure situations. These strategies are the foundation to address the various natural communication styles for better understanding and collaboration.
Carol also offers Experiential Workshops where groups learn communication skills and from her unique style of behaviour change to get past blocks that prevents the people from reaching their goals, make decisions easily, co-operate, and improve their performance.
Delia – Patient Panelist
Delia lives in Coquitlam, BC where she was a teacher until she took early retirement. She developed RA at age 12, but her immune deficiency was not diagnosed until 14 years ago when she began IgG replacement therapy. Delia has not been deterred by this and is an experienced speaker, a Past President of the Tri-Cities Arthritis Community Group (Hang Tough) and currently is a Facilitator of this group of about 75-100 members. Delia also completed a Masters in Leadership at the University of Oregon, and is really dedicated to using her facilitation and leadership skills to host our CommUnity Connect groups.
Dylan – Patient Panelist
Dylan (she/her) was diagnosed with CVID at age 25. She works as a Registered Clinical Counsellor and is a passionate advocate for mental health and wellness accessibility. She enjoys travelling, eating great food and spending time with her dog, Stanley.
Check out the full Education & Awareness Day Agenda & register here.