Established in 1990, the Picchione Endowment Fund has enabled many internationally respected researchers to visit Dalhousie Medical School. These visits have brought new knowledge and perspectives to the Faculty, and have even paved the way for new collaborations. In 2002, the Picchione Endowment Fund expanded its scope by supporting Dalhousie efforts to recruit top researchers to Canada Research Chair appointments.
2008 Picchione Scholar to share expertise in cancer genetics and progression
Dr. Poul Sorensen, Johal Chair in Childhood Cancer Research at the University of British Columbia, will visit Dalhousie Medical School as Picchione Scholar in June 2008. This visit will strengthen Dr. Sorensen’s longstanding ties with Dalhousie and IWK researchers, including Drs. Mark Bernstein, Fergall Magee and Conrad Fernandez. When Dr. Fernandez noticed a genetic abnormality in an IWK patient’s kidney tumour, Dr. Sorensen used this information to discover and describe an important new cancer gene.
While in Halifax this spring, Dr. Sorensen will work closely with Dalhousie pediatric hematologist/oncologist Dr. Jason Berman, an expert in zebrafish models, to develop new ways of studying both cancer genes and cancer progression in zebrafish. Dr. Sorensen will also share his expertise with Dalhousie's Cancer Biology Research Group, childhood cancer specialists at the IWK, pathologists, and trainees in the Cancer Research Training Program.
2007 Picchione Scholars discuss cardiopulmonary disease and neuroimaging
Two esteemed researchers visited Dalhousie Medical School through the Picchione Visiting Scholar Awards program in 2007.
In April, Dr. Marlene Rabnovitch, a professor in the Department of Pediatrics at the University of Stanford and recipient of a Distinguished Scientist Award from the American Heart Association, shared her insights about cardiopulmonary diseases.
In October, Dr. Christoph Scherfler, associate professor in the Department of Neurology at the University of Innsbruck, gave two formal presentations.He has pioneered imaging techniques for the diagnosis of neurological disorders, particularly movement disorders.
Vision and neuroscience
Dr. Caroline Herron of University College in Dublin visited Dalhousie Medical School in 2005, thanks to a Picchione Visiting Scholar Award. She shared her expertise in synaptic physiology and advanced methods of central nervous system studies with neuroscience colleagues in the Retina and Optic Nerve Research Lab.
Dr. David Hubel of Harvard Medical School visited Dalhousie Medical School as a Picchione Scholar in 2004. A Nobel Prize Laureate, Dr. Hubel is an internationally known neuroscientist with expertise in the fields of vision and neural development. He received an honourary doctorate from Dalhousie in 1998.
Epidemiology of breast cancer
A breast cancer researcher in the Department of Community Health Epidemiology at Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario, Dr. Kristan Aronson spent several months at Dalhousie as Picchione Visiting Scholar in 2003. Dr. Aronson worked with the Perinatal Epidemiology Research Unit and the IWK Health Centre on a CIHR-funded study of the role of reproductive factors (such as maternal age and gestational diabetes) in the development of breast cancer.