|
Name : |
Siavosh |
|
Surname : |
Nasseri Moghaddam |
|
From : |
Saturday, September 15, 2018 |
|
To : |
Friday, March 15, 2019 |
|
Position : |
Associate professor |
|
School/Research center : |
School of Medicine |
|
subject : |
Sabbatical |
|
Venue : |
McMaster University |
|
Sabbatical Leave Period : |
6 months |
|
Country : |
Canada |
|
1.Brief summary of Leave : |
I spent a six months sabbatical course at the department of gastroenterology of McMaster University, Hamilton, Canada from September 15, 2018, till March 15, 2019. During this time I participated regularly in their outpatient clinics, endoscopic procedures and educational activities including grand rounds, weekly noon rounds, and monthly meetings of the Hamilton gastroenterology association meetings. I also lectured for their GI fellows (called PG 4 & 5 residents there) and at their weekly noon rounds, both of which were received very well. I was invited again for these lectures on further occasions as well. I had the opportunity to participate in two of the SEE sessions dedicated to teaching performing better endoscopic techniques and learned a lot about endoscopic techniques with minimal sedation. I also had a chance to take part in the annual scientific meeting of the Canadian Association of Gastroenterology as well. Besides these activities, I kept lecturing our fellows at Shariati University on a weekly basis via whatsapp and took care of all gastroenterology and hepatology consultations at Shariati hospital for two months which took between three and four ours each day. I had research activities as well. I worked on updating a systematic review on the value of endoscopy in dyspeptic patients with Professor Paul Moayyedi which is at the stage of analysis now. Another project was development of a cost-utility analysis model for offering endoscopy to dyspeptic patients in Iran (a high incidence area for gastric cancer) with Professor Gordon Guyatt. This project, was based on a survey performed in Tehran simultaneously (performed by Dr Amir Anoushirvani and supervised and directed by Professor Guyatt and me) is at the stage of writing the final report. My other project was the JUICE (Japanese Upper GI symptoms compared to Iranian and Canadian patients presenting for Endoscopy. Correlation of symptoms with upper GI microbiome) study. I contributed to development of the protocol, added a part for evaluation of oral nitrate reductase assessment to it, prepared the set up for the latter, and contributed to the launch and continuing the study at McMaster. I am serving as the principle investigator of the study in Tehran and have made the set up for the Iranian part of the study which is predicted to last four years. The last project which I contributed to was designing and assessing a comprehensive format for reporting endoscopies and colonoscopies with Professor David Armstrong. This project remained at the design level and we look forward to it being completed and performed as well. |
|
2.List the objectives of your sabbatical leave as listed in your proposal and indicate how completely they were met : |
I planned to observe advanced endoscopic procedures, participate in educational activities, understand educational processes, do research in the field of gastroenterology and epidemiology especially systematic reviews, and bring back the experience. I believe that I had set pragmatic goals and I have achieved all of them fully. |
|
3.Acheivements(Publications,research,et.al.) : |
Two papers are getting ready as mentioned above and hopefully several others will come out of the JUICE study. |
|
4.Assessment of Value of Sabbatical leave(benefits,faculty development,future professional activities,...) : |
I had a chance to visit one of the most prestigious centers for clinical and basic research and education in the field of gastroenterology and hepatology. I understood how close the basic scientists are working with clinicians on leading edges of science and how well they understand and interact with each other. All the microbiology, immunology, molecular biology and related laboratories were located in the main hospital of the university and there were entire levels dedicated to these labs. Top notch researchers in each field participated in the weekly clinical meetings and interacted actively and effectively with the clinican researchers. There was a lso a vast, and very organized biorepository located within the main hospital of the university. In addition, each week there was a research progress session where the fellows, PhD students, and MSc students had a chance to present their research works and get feedback from other researchers, physicians, and colleagues in a very friendly and positive environment. The center I worked at was an excellence center for fecal transplantation. They had a huge resource of feces processed and ready for transplantation which was sent to various other centers for this purpose. A lot of research in this field went on there and I had a chance to learn from them on this very important and leading efge of science. Besides they had a very close collaboration with major researech and teaching centers within the North America and Europe, including the United Kingdom and many leading scientists from these centers lectured at the hospital while I was there. Besides learning the new science, part of which was still unpublished, I was able to see first hand the way these scientists think, work, and make progress for humanity. There was no propaganda and all the presentations were based on firm data which was the result of years of hard work going through the most rigorous criticism. Learning to tolerate correct feedback, how to provide it, how to receive it, and how to continue friendship and collaboration despite differences in perspectives and understandings and trying to get the best points of each person without personalizing the critics was a great observation and cultural development I was able to get during my stay at McMaster, Hamilton. I was able to experience a new educational system based on close interaction between learners, learners and educators, and learners, educators and the whole administrative infrastructure running the system. There I attended sessions of undergraduate training in small groups with the problem based method. There were nine learners in a group with a facilitator who was subject expert and the learners discussed the case for learning physiology of the gastrointestinal system. The session lasted almost three hours and the learners actively participated in discussions with each other and the facilitator tried to help them effectively through their learning, mostly by small hints and avoiding long lecturing or interrupting the flow of discussions. All these help me in better educating our graduate and undergraduate students, both at the school of medicine and at bedside. |
|
Department Head/Research Center Chair : |
Dr Nasseri-Moghaddam spent six months at McMaster University and brought back with him a very good experience, both in clinical activities and research, which is very helpful to the progress of our department, educational activities, and clinical services we provide. His experience also is useful for the educational activities at the school of medicine and the University, where he already contributes to these. |