Mini-Medical School 2024-2025
The Snyder Institute's Mini-Medical School is designed for anyone who is interested in learning about chronic, infectious and inflammatory diseases. Our interactive lecture series features topics such as chronic inflammation, HIV, kidney diseases, autoimmune diseases, cancer, the microbiome, lymphatics, diabetes, respiratory diseases and much more.
You won’t graduate with a medical degree after attending our Mini-Medical School series, but you will gain insight into healthy living and chronic diseases.
There are no pre-requisites to attend these lectures and they are open to the public from high school students to retirees. Each lecture will combine basic science with real life clinical situations in order to give Canadians a better understanding of the effects of chronic diseases on the body. Each presenter is highly knowledgeable and respected in their field of research, and most are current members of the Snyder Institute for Chronic Diseases at UCalgary's Cumming School of Medicine.
As one attendee commented: "While your clinical trials may still be years away, I know you are on to something huge that is going to transform many people's lives!"
Mini-Medical School will take place one Monday evening per month from 6:30-8:00pm and each lecture will be presented in a hybrid format: both in person and online via ZOOM.
To attend in person, please register first, then join us in Clara Christie in the Health Science (HSC) Building on Foothills Campus. Directions to Clara Christie can be found here. Doors open at 6:15 PM.
Mini-Medical School is proudly sponsored in part by UCalgary's Cumming School of Medicine.
Should you have any questions or concerns please contact Hannah Reilly, hannah.reilly@ucalgary.ca
January 6, 2025
Presenters: Dr. Katharina Lahl and Dr. Merilee (Meredith) Brockway
Topic: Mom matters - Breastmilk Antibodies in Infant Immunity
Dr. Katharina Lahl
Dr. Katharina Lahl, PhD, is a mucosal immunologist with a focus on immunity to respiratory and intestinal viruses. Dr. Lahl is a recent tenured recruit to the Department for Microbiology, Immunology and Infectious Diseases at the University of Calgary. She previously held a split position at Lund University in Sweden and at The Danish Technical University in Denmark. Dr. Lahl received prestigious research awards such as the Ragnar Söderberg Fellowship in Medicine in Sweden and the Lundbeck Fellowship in Denmark for her work on mucosal dendritic cell subsets and their role in the orchestration of adaptive immunity in response to viral infections. In 2024, Dr. Lahl received the Distinguished Service Award from the Society for Mucosal Immunology in part for her efforts in establishing network opportunities for young professionals within the Society. Dr. Lahl’s group has expertise in mucosal dendritic cell biology and humoral immune induction to mucosal viruses. Her focus lies on neonatal and trans-generational immunity, and her lab explores the effects of maternal immunity on vaccination efficacy in nursing offspring.
Dr. Merilee (Meredith) Brockway
Dr. Merilee (Meredith) Brockway, PhD, RN, IBCLC, is a registered nurse, an International Board-Certified Lactation Consultant and an assistant professor in the Faculty of Nursing and in Community Health Sciences at the University of Calgary. She has expertise in human milk composition, infant feeding, and maternal-child health outcomes and holds a Tier II Canada Research Chair in Early Life Exposures and Child Health Outcomes. Dr. Brockway completed her PhD in nursing at the University of Calgary, examining maternal breastfeeding self-efficacy and infant feeding outcomes in moderate and late preterm infants. Following that, she completed a 3-year post-doctoral fellowship at the University of Manitoba, exploring human milk composition and clinical applications of donor human milk on the microbiome of preterm infants. Dr. Brockway’s program of research examines early life nutritional interventions, including donor human milk, to mitigate early life perturbations to the infant microbiome and how these relate to child health outcomes. When Dr. Brockway is not researching breastfeeding and human milk, she enjoys mountain biking, skiing and hiking with her family.
December 2, 2024
Presenters: Dr. Christina Thornton and Dr. Ranjani Somayaji
Topic: Entering the lung zone: Unraveling cystic fibrosis and bronchiectasis
Dr. Christina Thornton
Dr. Christina Thornton, MD PhD FRCPC, is an adult respirologist in the Division of Respirology, Departments of Medicine and Microbiology, Immunology and Infectious Diseases at the University of Calgary, Canada. Dr. Thornton is a clinician scientist specializing in cystic fibrosis and bronchiectasis. She completed the MD/PhD program at the University of Calgary as part of the Leaders in Medicine program. Her PhD thesis looked at the lower respiratory microbiome and microbial interactions in cystic fibrosis patients. She completed her internal medicine residency, followed by a respirology fellowship at the University of Calgary in 2021. Dr. Thornton then went on to the University of Michigan, where she completed a postdoctoral fellowship in advanced microbiome community analysis in cystic fibrosis patients. She is now an assistant professor as of Aug 2022 at the University of Calgary. Dr. Thornton runs a research lab with key interests around the role of polymicrobial infections at times of clinical stability and pulmonary exacerbation in diseases such as cystic fibrosis.
Dr. Ranjani Somayaji
Dr. Ranjani Somayaji, MD, MPH, FRCPC, is an infectious disease specialist, an Associate Professor at the University of Calgary and a member of the Snyder Institute. Dr. Somayaji has advanced expertise in the care of persons living with cystic fibrosis. Dr. Somayaji runs a large translational research program with international collaborations focused on improving care and outcomes from acute and chronic infections. Dr. Somayaji holds the GSK Professorship in Inflammatory Lung Disease and is focused on building research capacity at the institute and more broadly the University of Calgary with an equitable and inclusive lens.
November 4, 2024
Presenters: Dr. Justin Chun, Dr. Craig Brideau and Dr. Bjӧrn Petri
Topic: How is research done at the Snyder Institute?
Dr. Justin Chun
Dr. Justin Chun, MD, PhD, is a nephrologist (kidney doctor) and an Associate Professor of Medicine at the University of Calgary. He obtained his MSc and PhD in Cell Biology at the University of Alberta and a medical degree from the University of Calgary. He then completed an internal medicine residency and nephrology clinical fellowship at the University of Calgary followed by a post-doctoral research fellowship at the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Harvard Medical School. He is the Co-Director of the Human Organoid Innovation Hub and Assistant Director of the Precision Medicine Program in Nephrology in the Snyder Institute for Chronic Diseases.
Dr. Chun’s current research interests include diabetic kidney disease and bioengineering stem cell derived kidney organoids for regenerative medicine, disease modelling and drug testing. His molecular medicine, patient-oriented research program focuses on identifying biomarkers and new therapies to improve patient care.
Dr. Craig Brideau
Dr. Craig Brideau, PhD, MASc, is a Biomedical and Electrical Engineer with over 20 years’ experience in laboratory equipment design and automation. This includes construction, modification, and operation of advanced sample handling, imaging, and spectroscopic platforms for a wide variety of cell and tissue types. He has successfully published on topics ranging from Coherent Anti-Stokes Raman Scattering microscopy to custom 3D printing for microscopy applications. He is also a contributor to the international QUAREP-LIMI protocol for reproducibility in microscopic imaging and, along with Dr. Pina Colarusso, assisted with the development of an internationally recognized optical power measurement device for microscopy applications.
Dr. Bjӧrn Petri
Dr. Bjӧrn Petri, PhD, is the Scientific Director of the Snyder Institute Mouse Phenomics Resource Laboratory. He obtained his PhD (Dr. rer. nat.) in Immunology/Cell Biology and Genetics from the Westfalian Wilhelms-University and the Max-Planck-Institute for Molecular Biomedicine in Münster, Germany. Before he started his studies in the field of Immunology Dr. Petri obtained his MSc (Diploma) in Zoology and Physiology at the Max-Planck-Institute for Heart and Lung Research in Bad Nauheim and the Philipps-University in Marburg, Germany investigating mechanisms of body weight regulation. He can look back at over 20 years experience working with in vivo models in the field of physiology and immunology.