2020 Distinguished Achievement Awards
Congratulations to the recipients of the 2020 Distinguished Achievement Awards. These awards are for recognition of meritorious performance.
Roxanna Geoffrion
Excellence in Education
Dr. Roxana Geoffrion is an associate professor at UBC, director of the UBC fellowship in Female Pelvic Medicine and Reconstructive Surgery and chair of the Obstetrics and Gynecology residency research committee. She values high teaching standards and guides trainees towards academic careers through combined clinical and research mentorship. Dr Geoffrion constantly strives to improve her teaching methods. She initiated two randomized controlled trials and built low-fidelity simulation models for teaching and evaluation of surgical skills in gynecologic surgery. Her latest research includes knowledge translation through innovative whiteboard animation videos of pelvic floor health, based on clinical practice guidelines she co-authored.
Janice Kwon
Excellence in Clinical or Applied Research
In 2019, Dr. Janice Kwon received a MSFHR Health Professional Investigator award to evaluate the costs and benefits of tumour testing in ovarian cancer. On this topic, she was a plenary speaker at the Society of Gynecologic Oncology meeting in Honolulu, keynote speaker at “Il Simposio Internacional de Tumores Femininos” in Salvador-Bahia, Brazil, and guest professor at the National Cancer Centre in South Korea and Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario. Dr. Kwon was awarded the Mike Turko Surgical Teaching Award by the residents in Obstetrics and Gynecology. She was appointed the Associate Head of Research for the Department.
Jessica McAlpine
Overall Excellence – Mid-Career
Dr. McAlpine is a gynecologic oncologist at UBC and the BCCA and a translational researcher with OVCARE. She has led the development and now implementation of a novel low-ost molecular classification tool that reliably categorizes endometrial cancers and provides prognostic and predictive information to guide management. This classifier is viewed internationally as transformative for clinical practice. Dr McAlpine has also been a leader in implementing the BC initiated ‘opportunistic salpingectomy’ campaign for ovarian cancer prevention. She serves as Chair on multiple national and international research, clinical practice and patient advocacy committees and has mentored over 35 trainees in research endeavors.