Every April, PSI Foundation invites stakeholders, including its House of Delegates, Board of Directors, recent grantees, and other guests, to take a look back at the previous year’s highlights. On April 25th, 2018, PSI had its 2018 Annual General Meeting (AGM) at the Chelsea Hotel in downtown Toronto.
The meeting commenced with opening remarks and report by the PSI President, Dr. Jim King. During this first half of the meeting, our stakeholders engaged in PSI’s business. Dr. Andrew Baker, Grants Committee Chair, presented his report on the Foundation’s granting and program activities. Mr. John Sharp, Finance Committee Chair, tabled the 2017 audited financial statements for ratification; he, moreover, provided a brief financial summary.
In addition to the reports on granting activities and financial results, special guest Dr. James Rourke, former Dean of Medicine at Memorial University of Newfoundland, presented his report on PSI’s external review, which was completed in 2017. For more information on PSI’s highlights in 2017, please take a look at our 2017 Annual Report.
PSI’s business was followed by the Scientific Session. Three PSI grantees presented their projects and outcomes during this session: Dr. Jennie Johnstone from St. Joseph’s Health Centre Toronto, Dr. Andrew Morris from Sinai Health System, and Dr. Alex MacKenzie from University of Ottawa. Dr. Johnstone spoke about PROSPECT (PRObiotics to prevent Severe Pneumonia and Endotracheal Colonization Trial), emphasizing the importance of preventing ventilator associated pneumonia (VAP). Dr. Morris presented his work in Antimicrobial Stewardship Programs in critical care units, discussing the challenges in effective change management. Dr. MacKenzie shared the scale and complexity of rare diseases by outlining his research in spinal muscular atrophy (SMA).
In between these sessions, the attendees interacted with three PSI Resident Research grantees, who presented posters of their PSI grant at the meeting. This year’s resident poster presenters included Dr. Laurence Bernard from University of Ottawa, Dr. Benjamin Kwan from Western University, and Dr. Christopher Witiw from University of Toronto.
On behalf of PSI and its Board of Directors, we would like to thank all our attendees and presenters, including the scientific session, resident poster presenters, and Dr. James Rourke. PSI invites you to follow us on Twitter (@PSIFoundation) to stay on top of the latest news and updates.
