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University of Alberta, Faculty of Medicine & Dentistry Department of Medicine Annual Report 2016
InProfile
General Internal Medicine
Educator
Dr. Jennifer Ringrose
Faculty Recruit
Dr. Peter Hwang Dr. Jennifer Ringrose is the director of the General Internal Medicine Residency Program, which in 2016 had 15 residents. She has received awards for her teaching and mentorship including, in 2016, the Postgraduate Medical Education Teacher of the Year award from the Grey Nuns Community Hospital and Postgraduate Teacher of the Year from the Grey Nuns Medical Staff Association. She attends the Clinical Teaching Unit and sees a full range of general internal medicine patients in her outpatient practice. She also sees patients in the hypertension clinic and has a related research interest in blood pressure measurement.
Clinician-scientist Dr. Peter Hwang recently joined the division as an assistant professor. He studies the structure and function of cardiac troponin, a calciumdependent molecular switch that turns heart contraction on and off with every heartbeat. A single gene mutation can lead to abnormal heart muscle growth, heart failure and fatal arrhythmias because of its effect on calcium sensitivity in cardiac troponin. With support from the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada, Dr. Hwang is designing molecules to correct the effect of genetic mutations on cardiac troponin. The work could lead to the first treatments for hereditary cardiomyopathy.