Like millions of people around the world, Dr. E. Paul Zehr is a big fan of Batman. In fact, Dr. Zehr, who works in human discovery science at ICORD (International Collaboration On Repair Discoveries), uses Batman as a way to teach people about science and medicine. He’s also written a book about the caped crusader—Becoming Batman: The Possiblity of a Superhero.
“Batman is the only superhero who is a human being. So people really relate to him,” says Dr. Zehr. “Batman’s popularity is a great tool to spotlight real world issues.”
Around Christmastime in the year 2000, three clinician researchers got together in Vancouver General Hospital (VGH)’s cafeteria to discuss a common frustration: too many women were dying from ovarian cancer. Despite global research efforts, back then the five-year survival rate for women with the disease was less than 50 per cent. Fuelled by a desire to improve those outcomes, the three doctors sketched an outline—on the back of a napkin—for a concentrated, multi-disciplinary ovarian cancer research effort.
A new study shows men with glaucoma are two and a half times more likely to have erectile dysfunction (ED) than men without the eye disease. The link between the two conditions has been firmly established by Vancouver Coastal Health Research Institute research scientist Dr. Frederick S. Mikelberg. Using population data and a clinical study, Dr. Mikelberg followed up on a Taiwanese study that first linked erectile dysfunction to glaucoma. Dr. Mikelberg and his colleagues were curious to see if they could find a reason for the correlation.
Two Vancouver Coastal Health Research Institute scientists are uncovering surprising statistics about the cost of asthma in British Columbia. Dr. Mohsen Sadatsafavi of the Centre for Clinical Epidemiology and Evaluation, and his colleague Dr. J. Mark FitzGerald, director of the Centre for Heart and Lung Health, just completed a series of clinical trials and descriptive studies that all tell a similar story: asthma patients are costing BC a lot of money. And most of that spending could be avoided if patients were properly using available, affordable medications.
