Urologic Sciences - VGH

department of urologic sciences at UBC and Vancouver Coastal Health highlights 2006–2012

About the department The Eagle is also a great instructor, teaching us to be wise to opportunities, recognize when change is necessary and find the courage to execute such change. In other words, the Eagle teaches us not to fear the unknown.

Inspired by these qualities, we chose the Eagle as a symbol for the Department of Urologic Sciences.

Our Eagle has six feathers on its wings, one for each of our primary programs:

The Department of Urologic Sciences is engaged in teaching and research at the University of British Columbia’s Faculty of Medicine, and in treatment, research, care and training at Vancouver General Hospital (VGH), UBC Hospital, and other hospitals across B.C. The Eagle, according to First Nations tradition, is a sacred creature that flies higher than any other living being. It can see into souls and its feathers have powerful healing powers.

• Oncology and the Vancouver Prostate Centre • Pediatric and Adolescent Urology • Kidney Transplantation, Minimally Invasive Surgery and Robotics • Bladder Care Centre • Stone Centre • Men’s Health Initiative Our Eagle also has four points on its tail feathers, one for each of the following areas: • • • •

Clinical Care Research Education Public Outreach

The wing and tail feathers are supported by the head and core—which would be nothing without the feathers that give our Eagle flight.

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The Department of Urologic Sciences members, 2012.

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Contents A message from Dr. Larry Goldenberg

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Oncology & the Vancouver Prostate Centre

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The Stone Centre at VGH

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Bladder Care Centre at UBC Hospital

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Pediatric Urology

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Transplantation, Minimally Invasive Surgery and Robotic Surgery

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Men's Health Initiative of B.C.

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Department of Urologic Sciences by the numbers

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Faculty

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Community Events

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Our Generous Donors

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A Message from Dr. Larry Goldenberg, Urologic Sciences Department Head for UBC and Vancouver Coastal Health The fully integrated, multi-disciplinary Department of Urologic Sciences opened in the University of British Columbia Faculty of Medicine in 2006. Our primary goals at the time were to provide the best of care to our patients, accelerate discovery, increase clinical trial activity, educate the public and health care professionals, and ultimately, to see the research translated into effective treatments at the bedside. These goals were all constructed within the frameworks of the University of British Columbia and Vancouver General Hospital academic and clinical strategic visions.

Since 2006, we’ve seen a remarkable rise in the number of promising new research projects and exciting discoveries—many of which have received national and international recognition—in each of our program areas: Oncology and the Vancouver Prostate Centre at VGH; Pediatric and Adolescent Urology; Transplantation, Minimally Invasive Surgery and Robotics; the Bladder Care Centre; Stone Centre; and the Men’s Health Initiative of B.C. What we’ve accomplished so far is noteworthy not only because it’s cutting edge or peer reviewed, but because it’s driven by a desire to improve the lives of Canadian families who are touched by the pain and heartbreak of urologic diseases such as prostate cancer, kidney stones and bladder disorders.

The idea that what we do here in the labs might translate into a better quality of life, with physical and psychological comfort, makes us especially proud and keeps us motivated to build on our achievements.

How did we accomplish so much in only a few years?

The answer is simple: People. With the support of philanthropists, governments and our educational institutions we have been able to build the valuable infrastructure that is so critically important in recruiting and retaining the very best in their fields. During our short history we have been joined by seasoned veterans in the medical scientific community as well as by rookie surgeons and scientists who have created a formidable scientific team. By working as a single unit, from the benches of our laboratories to the bedsides of our patients, we interact in a special way that is the basis of a translational model that has allowed us to “walk the walk.” The number of discoveries that we have moved along the translational continuum is extraordinary for a single group, comparable to and often exceeding the most highly touted units across the globe. Our scientists and surgeons are known and cited for their contributions to discovery, service and care.

Dr. Larry Goldenberg

So we’d like to share the highlights of the past five years with our stakeholders, especially our donors, whose generosity has made it all possible.

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oncology

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the vancouver prostate centre at vgh

Oncology is the study and care of people with cancer. In Urologic Sciences we are faced with the common cancers of the kidneys, bladder, testes and prostate. Almost 50% of the cases that our team looks after come from areas outside of the Vancouver Coastal Health Region—we are truly a provincial resource. Our surgeon-scientists are striving to make research discoveries in prostate, bladder and kidney cancers. The research takes place in our Vancouver Prostate Centre at VGH, a research facility that is certainly the jewel in our crown.

Why is research into prostate cancer important?

Prostate cancer is the most common male cancer in Canada and the second leading cause of cancer deaths in men.

In B.C., doctors diagnose about 3,000 new cases each year. Canada-wide, the number is closer to 25,000.

Looking ahead, those numbers will only increase.

Within this country’s aging baby boomer population, prostate cancer will continue to rise—threatening the longevity and quality of life of our grandfathers, fathers, uncles, brothers and sons.

Our focus In battle, it helps to know the enemy. That wisdom holds true in the fight against cancer too. That’s why researchers at the Vancouver Prostate Centre at VGH are focusing on the disease’s genetic and cellular origins: why it progresses the way it does and why it becomes treatment-resistant.

Dr. Martin Gleave, Executive Director of the Vancouver Prostate Centre at VGH, speaks at the 2011 announcement of a five-year, $6 million grant from Terry Fox Research Institute. Dr. Gleave and a team of 20 co-investigators will delve deeper into understanding why patients with advanced cancer become resistant to hormone therapy.

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What we are learning at that level is helping us create novel drugs to overcome treatment resistance in patients with prostate cancer—as well as breast, lung, colon and bladder cancer—and to develop better diagnostic techniques. These techniques will more accurately predict which therapies prolong life without compromising its quality.

Highlights PC-TRIADD: from bench to bedside

Cracking cancer’s genetic code

PC-TRIADD stands for Prostate Centre’s Translational Research Initiative for Accelerated Discovery and Development. It may be a mouthful, but the goals are simple: to speed up the research process so that men with prostate cancer benefit from new therapies and services sooner than later.

Current methods for diagnosing prostate cancers cannot accurately predict the course of the cancer, which makes prescribing effective treatments challenging.

PC-TRIADD was recognized in 2008 by the Government of Canada as a Centre of Excellence for Commercialization and Research. Funding of almost $15 million from the federal government has helped propel PC-TRIADD’s discoveries forward.

The PC-TRIADD unit has a proven track record.

Drawing on strong partnerships with national clinical trials, research networks and industry, it has promoted regional growth and investment in biotechnology and accelerated new drug treatments into human trials, providing the patients involved with promising new treatments.

We’re pleased to report that our Centre of Excellence for Commercialization and Research grant has been renewed in 2013 for another $11 million over four years —further recognition of the success of our unique model.

Researchers at our Advanced Genome Centre hope to change that by identifying mutations in the DNA sequences of prostate cancers. That information could then be used to better detect tumors and predict their aggressiveness, as well as the best course of treatment based on the tumor’s unique DNA sequencing.

Clinical Trials lead to improved survival rates Our researchers are making new discoveries at a rate never before seen. And what they are learning about cancer at the cellular level is leading to new and better therapies. Four of these therapies are now in the final stages of approval before being made available at the bedside.

These new treatments wouldn’t be possible without our clinical trials unit, which typically runs about 20 trials at any given time. The goal is to grow the clinical trials component of our work by increasing patient enrollment every year. In 2012 alone, enrollment was increased by 22 percent.

Clinical research has shown that new medications developed by the Prostate Centre targeting patients with end-stage cancer have doubled the survival rate of patients, compared to 15 years ago. If research continues at its current pace, imagine what can happen over the next decade!

Comprehensive Prostate Cancer Care The mandate of the Vancouver Prostate Centre’s Comprehensive Cancer Care Program is to help prostate cancer patients and their partners address the challenges of decision-making and coping along the full disease trajectory. The program’s mission is to be truly comprehensive, clinical, educational, research-oriented and evidence-based, yet flexible enough to take into consideration the cultural and ethnic diversity within the cosmopolitan area of B.C.’s southern mainland. We are striving to produce a supportive care program that addresses both the physical and psychological needs of the prostate cancer community. The program involves medical specialists and allied health professionals in urology, radiation oncology, medical oncology, psychology, sexual medicine, endocrinology, cardiology, couples counseling, nutrition, physical therapy/exercise, and palliative care.

Our program has received startup funding from the Specialist Service Committee of the B.C. Medical Association and we are a member of a Canada-wide survivorship network being organized by Movember and Prostate Cancer Canada.

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The Stone Centre at VGH Why is research into kidney stone disease important?

Consider what a kidney stone is: a hard, calcified object in the middle of a soft organ—with the potential to disrupt normal tissue and cause excrutiating pain.

One out of 10 Canadians suffer from them. Ask anyone who’s had an episode: they cause so much pain and discomfort that work, play or normal functioning is out of the question.

Fifty percent of first-time sufferers will endure another stone within five years. Along with the pain, there’s the risk of infection and, over the long term, permanent kidney damage.

Apart from the cost in human suffering, North Americans pay in the billions of dollars ($3.5 billion USD) every year to treat kidney stones and cover the costs of lost workdays.

Our focus Kidney stone disease is known to have existed as many as 7,000 years ago, yet much remains a mystery. Here at the Stone Centre, researchers want to better understand the underlying chemistry of kidney stone formation. Once they know the answers to why kidney stones form in some and not in others, they can begin to develop new and effective medical interventions for preventing and treating them.

To ease the discomfort of patients after kidney stone treatment, investigators are also focusing on device-related biomaterials: the exploration of new designs for urinary catheters and stents that are more comfortable and less likely to result in complications such as infection.

The Stone Centre at VGH provides state-of-the-art treatment linked to an active research program.

The team includes Dr. Dirk Lange, Dr. Ben Chew, and Dr. Olga Arsovska.

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Highlights Understanding oxalate and the role of diet Eighty-five percent of kidney stones are of the calcium oxalate variety and we know oxalate is a major factor in kidney stone disease. Having found a link between the presence of certain oxalate-degrading bacteria in the intestinal tract and reduced risk of stone formation, researchers at the Stone Centre are investigating how these bacteria break down oxalate. It’s hoped that understanding these mechanisms will lead to medicines that can prevent recurrent stones.

Learning from our differences What is it that makes one person form kidney stones and another remain free of them? Investigators at the Stone Centre are attempting to answer that question by collecting blood and urine samples from people with and without kidney stones and comparing the results.

Using a technology called mass spectrometry, they can analyze thousands of proteins and compounds simultaneously. The results will bring them that much closer to solving the mystery of kidney stone formation.

What’s in a urine sample?

Plenty, it seems. Clinical trials are now underway involving patients with recurrent stones. The aim is to measure the effectiveness of a novel urinetesting method for diagnosing kidney stone risk.

Investigators believe the findings will show that, when compared to conventional urine testing (collected over an entire 24-hour period), the new technique is much more effective. Called spot testing because the urine is collected during potential “spike” periods, it will more accurately detect the tiny changes in oxalate, calcium, sodium and other mineral concentrations that signal increased risk for stone formation. With a more accurate diagnosis, doctors can then prescribe more effective dietary or medicinal therapies.

Clinical trials are about to begin on a promising new dissolvable stent that doesn’t require removal. The new stent, softer and more flexible than the old one, will also be more comfortable while inside the patient.

In other device-related research, investigators are looking at why catheters and stents become infected, resulting in prolonged hospital stays for patients. The goal is to understand how bacteria adhere to these devices and how to prevent that adherence without the use of antibiotics.

When the treatment is worse than the illness …

After kidney stone surgery, about 50 percent of patients receive a ureteral stent, or hollow tube, connecting the kidney to the bladder to help drain the kidney into the bladder. Often these are so troublesome that some patients say the stent is worse than the stone itself.

Dr. Marty McLoughlin with the lithotripter at the Stone Centre at VGH.

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Bladder Care Centre at ubc hospital Why is research into bladder care important?

An estimated 1.5 million Canadians, including 60,000 people in the Vancouver and Richmond areas, suffer from urinary incontinence, a demoralizing condition that often keeps sufferers inside for fear of losing control of their bladders in public. Apart from the impact on individual lives, the indirect and direct costs for Canadians add up to an estimated $2.6 billion annually—and those numbers are expected to double within 20 years as the population ages.

The statistics around urinary tract infections are even higher. About 27 to 48 percent of healthy women with normal urinary tracts have recurrent infections. It’s the most common reason for a doctor’s visit and for repeated use of antibiotics.

Our focus Investigators at the Bladder Care Centre are working to better understand the physiology of the bladder muscle, as well as to develop and test novel treatments for lower urinary tract symptoms and more effective, less invasive diagnostic methods.

One of the primary areas of clinical study is to measure the effectiveness of complementary and naturopathic therapies, such as cranberry, as alternatives to antibiotics in the prevention and treatment of bladder infection symptoms.

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H i g h l i g h t s Out with the catheter, in with Near Infrared Spectroscopy (NIRS) Typically, doctors need to insert a catheter into the urinary tract to look at the function of a patient’s bladder, a procedure that can be uncomfortable, if not painful.

That’s no longer the case at the Bladder Care Centre, where researchers developed a technique using non-invasive nearinfrared spectroscopy. The new method allows doctors to view blood circulation to the bladder and measure rates of filling and voiding, all without the use of a catheter.

Clinical trials demystify the cranberry Investigators at the Bladder Care Centre have been working hard the past five years to unravel the mystery of cranberries, used for centuries for curative purposes, including bladder problems. Clinical trials in the adult population are now underway to explore why cranberries work and in what form—juice or tablet—as well as what amount is optimal and what the long-term benefits are.

Pediatric Urology Why is research into children’s urologic disorders important?

Every year, 1,000 children, anywhere from tiny premature babies to 16-yearolds, come from all over B.C. to undergo surgery in the Department of Urological Sciences’ Pediatric program. These are kids with complex urinary issues, from bladder control problems to urinary obstruction to kidney cancer. Often, they require intricate seven- or eight-hour surgeries requiring two-week hospital stays. Some will face complications for the rest of their lives. These kids are the future. And they deserve a chance to make it a bright one.

Our focus Urinary tract and bladder issues are challenging enough for adults; in children, they can be traumatizing. As a result, much of the research in Pediatric Urology is designed to ease the impact of these conditions on children’s lives as well as the medical interventions used to diagnose and treat them.

H i g h l i g h t s Replacing the catheter with child-friendly NIRS Historically, diagnosing bladder function has required insertion of a catheter, an uncomfortable, sometimes painful procedure. As an alternative, researchers are exploring the effectiveness of near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS), a non-invasive optical imaging method, for assessing blood flow and oxygen delivery within the bladder muscle.

Keeping kids with complex surgeries from falling through the cracks A major study conducted by our investigators assessed the long-term needs of children who’ve had complex bladder reconstruction surgery.

They found that for optimum outcomes, these kids need long-term follow up care well into adulthood.

The research also demonstrated that, typically, such follow up care ended when patients turned 17 and were no longer eligible for pediatric care.

It’s hoped these findings will impact urologic best practices and public policy.

Revisiting the meaning of quality of life Another study found that children who had undergone complex bladder surgery to fix incontinence showed no measurable difference in quality of life afterwards. The findings raised

awareness of quality of life as an abstract construct—and of the need for more objectivity when deciding whether the benefits of an intervention outweigh the side effects or adverse events associated with it.

Industrial strength cranberry juice beats kids’ bladder infections Urinary tract infections are not uncommon in children. Besides being uncomfortable, recurrent infections can eventually damage the kidneys in some children, the reason many doctors are quick to prescribe antibiotics to help prevent them. But antibiotics can have side effects and using them long-term can breed drug-resistant bacteria.

Finding an alternative was the goal of researchers when they tested cranberry juice made with high concentrations of proathocyanidins (PACS) on children who’d had at least two infections in the past year. The results, published in the Journal of Urology, showed that the juice cut kids’ risk of repeat infections by two-thirds, compared to a comparison juice.

The problem is, there’s no commercial juice currently on the market with the right concentration of PACS. So, researchers are working on creating a commercial product with enough PACS to knock down infection.

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Tr ansplantation, Minimally Invasive Surgery and Robotic Surgery Why is research into renal surgery and robotics important?

One out of every 20 Canadians is affected by kidney disease. Latest reports show that nearly 33,000 people in this country are on some form of renal replacement therapy. And that number is expected to double in the next decade, mainly due to the rise in diabetes and high blood pressure.

Dialysis prolongs lives, but it’s far from perfect.

For end-stage renal disease patients, where the kidneys have completely shut down, transplants not only vastly improve quality of life, they have been shown to increase patient survival by 100 to 300 percent when compared to dialysis.

Yet waitlists of 10 years or longer still exist in this country because of organ supply shortages.

Patients on these waitlists require careful evaluation and re-evaluation and the associated costs are substantial. What’s more, if the health of these patients isn’t properly maintained while they’re on the waitlist, the transplant is much more likely to fail.

Our focus Through both clinical and basic research, investigators in the Transplantation, MIS program are looking at ways to improve transplantation outcomes for recipients and donors. They are also exploring how new technology can be used to enhance surgical procedures overall, including the procedures used in transplantation.

Dr. Chris Nguan is the director of the Surgical Technologies Experimental Laboratory and Advanced Robotics (STELLAR) facility at VGH.

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Highlights STELLAR Facility: safer, less invasive surgeries through cutting-edge technology Much of the research in the Transplantation, MIS program takes place in our high-tech laboratory, called the STELLAR facility. Here, researchers refine and develop new surgical innovations, including robotics, image guided surgery and surgical navigation.

This is where the daVinci Si HD surgical robot devoted entirely to research is located. Our research team is now one of only three in the world with the necessary technical infrastructure and software controls for advanced robotics research using da Vinci.

Refining renal surgeries through real-time image guidance Minimally invasive, laparoscopic surgery is increasingly the gold standard in operating rooms for obvious reasons: less pain and faster recovery time for patients, and reduced health care costs. But it has limitations when it comes to increasingly complex surgeries such as partial nephrectomy, a procedure used on people with renal cancer, in which only the part of the kidney with the tumor is removed. Partial nephrectomy

has been shown to be an effective way of balancing cancer removal with preserving renal function. To avoid serious complications such as hemorrhage and cancer recurrence, it requires meticulous dissection.

Robot assisted laparoscopic surgery mitigates some of the limitations, but not all of them. So researchers in the Transplantation, MIS program are developing technology that will incorporate 3D imaging techniques, such as ultrasound and magnetic resonance imaging into robotassisted laparoscopy. The new capability will increase the accuracy and success of robotassisted laparoscopic surgery, as well as having applications for other kinds of laparoscopy.

A pilot trial of the new technology has already been completed with encouraging results and plans are now in the works for a full clinical trial.

Basic research: super protein staves off injury to cells and the entire kidney organ In a published paper, investigators identified clusterin as a protein capable of staving off injury to kidney cells and the kidney organ as a whole, directly improving transplantation outcomes.

The next step is to identify the active portions of the protein responsible for this protection and to manufacture the peptide, optimize its function and test its application in all areas of transplantation: from donor management to cold storage to recipient maintenance.

Say goodbye to the needle If researchers have their way, transplant patients will soon be able to forego the needle based kidney biopsies used to monitor rejection or infection after transplant surgery.

The alternative is a new kind of ultrasound using acoustic radiation force impulse. It’s a far less uncomfortable procedure without the potential complications associated with needle biopsy, or the need for a hospital visit.

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Men’s Health Initiative of B.C. Why is a Men’s Health Initiative important?

Canadian men have a life expectancy of 76 and in B.C. live, on average, close to five years less than women.

More revealingly, Canadian men may experience 11 or more years of poor health and disability before they die. And they are more likely than women to die at a younger age from stroke or heart disease or as a result of suicide, reckless behaviour or workplace incidents.

Behind the numbers are families who must deal with the loss of a father and male role model, a loss that has significant negative impact on child development. The wives suffer too. Fifty percent of women are widowed by age 65; and more than half of elderly widows living in poverty were not poor before the death of their husbands.

What’s truly heartbreaking is that many of the illnesses or behaviors that kill men before their time are preventable or, with the right testing, can be predicted and managed, adding years to men's lives.

The modern women’s health movement has been strong, vibrant and productive for over 20 years.

It’s time the men’s health movement followed suit.

Our focus The Men’s Health Initiative, the first of its kind in Canada, is the newest program in the Department of Urologic Sciences. Officially opened in 2009, this initiative is the result of the strategic thinking of many individuals from multiple disciplines.

Dedicated solely to the pursuit of excellence in men’s health, our goals are to reach out to make men aware of their health risks, conduct research on men’s attitudes about health, develop and promote best practices, facilitate educational partnerships and lobby all levels of government to address a broad spectrum of malespecific health issues: biological, psychological, social and cultural.

Dr. Larry Goldenberg is the driving force behind the Men’s Health Initiative of B.C.

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Ultimately, of course, we want to help B.C.’s male population achieve optimum wellness and eventually, apply what we learn here to a Canada-wide Men’s Health Strategy.

Highlights A Roadmap to Men’s Health: Current Status, Research Policy and Practice

A Report on the Statistical Health Indicators of Male Youth

The first major project to come out of the Men’s Health Initiative was the 2010 Roadmap to Men’s Health, in which investigators looked extensively at the status of men’s health in B.C. The report explains the field of men’s health, sets out a framework for making sense of male health conditions and makes recommendations for improving the knowledge base and service delivery.

Another major project undertaken by the Men’s Health Initiative is a report on the major health issues facing B.C.’s boys (12 to 18 years old) and young men (19 to 25 years old), released in December 2012. The report examines specific health conditions or illnesses affecting these two groups, as well as the environmental or risk behaviors linked to illness, disability or death in boys and young men. These illnesses and behaviors may impact health right now or set patterns that can lead to poor health or early mortality later on in life.

The report recommends resources be focused or refocused on the conditions that lead to premature loss of life years and develop a malebased approach to messaging and behavioural change. We are developing a brand that men will identify with and which they will use for information seeking and guidance. The report has already been useful in raising awareness of men’s health issues among healthcare providers, researchers, educators, policymakers and the general public.

Among the report’s major findings: • Violence and victimization are a key contributor to a range of health issues in B.C.’s male youth • Suicide is the second leading cause of death among B.C. boys and young men • Binge drinking is strongly linked to mental health issues and traffic incidents, injuries and death in this group • Work-related injuries affect young men under the age of 25 in B.C. more than any other age group or gender

As a wide-angle snapshot of the health status of male youth in B.C., the report can serve as a guide for setting health promotion and policy priorities related to Western Canada’s young male population.

On-line self-risk assessment tool To appeal specifically to men in this era of technology, the Men’s Health Initiative is developing an interactive, properly validated online self risk-assessment tool, a Canadian and global first. The tool will connect the dots between lifestyle, diet, family history and activity and the seven top male diseases and conditions: heart attack, stroke, diabetes, low testosterone, prostate cancer, erectile dysfunction and depression.

Unlike other health risk assessment tools, this one will also provide scenarios to demonstrate how two or three simple behavioral changes can improve health or reduce risk for these diseases and conditions.

The Initiative is currently testing the tool to ensure accuracy, with the goal of a national launch in 2013.

• Up to one in three boys and nearly half of young men are overweight or obese, higher rates than for girls and young women the same age • Tobacco use in this group remains a health concern

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Department of Urologic Sciences by the numbers Between 2006 and 2012, the Department of Urologic Sciences r aised more than $84 million in gr ants and awards Urologic Sciences Research Funding (2006 – 2012)

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faculty Professor Collins, Colin C Gleave, Martin E Goldenberg, S Larry McLoughlin, Martin G MacNeily, Andrew E McDougall, Elspeth M Stothers, Lynn Teichman, Joel Associate Professor Afshar, Kourosh Cherkasov, Artem Cox, Michael Guns, Emma Kozlowski, Piotr Nelson, Colleen So, Alan Wang, Yuzhuo

Assistant Professor Black, Peter C V Chew, Ben Dong, Xuesen Du, Caigan Gourlay, William Lange, Dirk Nguan, Christopher Paterson, Ryan Zoubeidi, Amina Honorary Professor Cunha, Gerald Rennie, Paul Clinical Professor Fenster, Howard N Masterson, John S Nigro, Mark J Clinical Associate Professor Chow, Victor Kinahan, Thomas J Leone, Ercole Franco Pommerville, Peter J Steinhoff, Gary E

Clinical Assistant Professor Goodman, Saul Krahn, Corrie G Clinical Instructor Beristain, Guillermo Carter, Michael Cassidy, Darby Chartrand, James Guy Cripps, Stephanie Eng, Michael Kai-Hong Hennessey, Kiara Hoag, Christopher Jamieson, Clark Jonat, Lee Michael Kwan, Herman Christopher MacMillan, Robert McCracken,J effrey Mohamedali, Zeid Morrison, Kevin Nazif, Omar Osei-Tutu, Francis Palmer, Geoffrey M Paterson, Guy Paulus, Edmund Marcel Poon, Christina I

Poon, Kenneth Prestage, Keith Rapoport, Daniel Skepasts, Peter Treissman, Simon Truong, Vu Ngoc Warner, John Arthur Wiesenthal, Joshua Yang, Brian Yong, Robert Adjunct Professor Davison, Barbara Joyce Wassersug, Richard

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Community Events

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Community Events Harry’s Spring Run-off Since the inaugural event in March 2007, participants in Harry’s Spring Run-Off, an annual eight-kilometre run through Vancouver’s Stanley Park, have raised more than $1 million for prostate cancer research. Driven by Larry Rosen’s vision and supported by Harry Rosen and other event sponsors each year, the most recent Run-Off in March 2012 raised more than $150,000.

Climb for Prostate Project It took two years of preparation, beginning in 2007, for a team of 12 adventurers between the ages of 47 and 60 to climb Argentina’s towering Cerro Aconcagua. But the effort paid off in more ways than one. Even though only six of them made it to the summit 6,962 metres above sea level, together all 12 raised $90,000 for prostate cancer research.

1 | The Prostate PSA Team at Harry's Spring Run-Off. 2 | The Climb for Prostate team.

3 | Don and Gord Konantz.

Step Into Action Pounding the pavement has certainly paid off for Dr. Riley Senft, whose grandfather died of prostate cancer in 2010 and whose father has been diagnosed with the disease. Riley spent most of 2011 running across Canada to raise awareness and money for the cause, to the tune of $580,000, which he donated to the Vancouver Prostate Centre. The crossCanada run is just the launch of Riley’s fundraising campaign, called Step Into Action, which will continue until money raised hits the $1 million mark.

GranFondo—This Ride’s for Don In September 2011—just a few weeks shy of his 79th birthday—Gord Konantz completed the annual GranFondo cycle event, 120 kilometres long with a vertical climb of 2,400 metres! Gord was inspired to undertake the ride when his son

Don Konantz was diagnosed with aggressive prostate cancer in March of 2011. Gord logged 120 kilometres riding from downtown Vancouver to Whistler Village—and raised $28,000 for the Vancouver Prostate Centre where Don is undergoing treatment.

Gear West, Our Ride for Men Gear West is another Konantz family achievement. While most university students head for the job site after final exams, first year Western students Willy Konantz and Taylor Scholz headed instead for their bikes—and the other side of the country. They spent the summer of 2012 riding from London, Ontario to Vancouver in honor of Willy’s dad, Don, who was diagnosed with prostate cancer the year before. Together, Willy and Taylor raised $108,000 for prostate cancer research at the Vancouver Prostate Centre.

4 | Gear West supporters Yongku Jung and Mikhail Zalesky with riders Willy Konantz and Taylor Scholz.

5 | Riley Senft, centre, with his family at the end of his cross-Canada run.

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The Department of Urologic Sciences is gr ateful to the many donors who have made generous gifts to support our progr ams.

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to make a gift In support of one of the Department of Urologic Sciences' initiatives, please visit: vghfoundation.ca or call 604 875 4676 Toll-free: 1 877 875 4676

190 – 855 West 12th Avenue, Vancouver, BC V5Z 1M9

1 | Gordon Diamond (right) supports the Department’s vision of excellence in research, teaching and patient care.

5 | Dr. Robert H.N. Ho officially opens the Robert H.N. Ho Research Centre at Vancouver General Hospital.

2 | Mrs. Lilian Hudson, centre, with Dr. Martin Gleave of the Vancouver Prostate Centre and Jim O’Hara of VGH & UBC Hospital Foundation.

6 | Joanne and Syd Belzberg and their family are generous supporters of the Department of Urologic Sciences.

3 | Jim Pattison gets a close look at the surgical robot.

7 | Anita and Arnold Silber have supported the development of the Department of Urologic Sciences for many years.

4 | B.C. men are benefiting from a $5 million provincial grant to the Vancouver Prostate Centre announced in March 2012.