General Internal Medicine

Internal medicine is the branch and specialty of medicine concerning the diagnosis and nonsurgical treatment of diseases in adults, especially of internal organs.

The Division of General Internal Medicine is comprised of 21 faculty, many of whom also participate in activities at Vancouver Acute, BC Women's and Children's hospital, and Lion's Gate hospital.  Basic to all the division is the provision of General Internal Medicine consultation and ongoing care, taking place in an inpatient setting, an outpatient setting or in both. Clinically we form the bulk of the CTU (clinical teaching unit) inpatient service and medical consultation service. We emphasize office-based medicine, rural outreach medicine and community medicine. We also focus on specialty medicine in the form of HIV care, ER, rheumatology, chronic pain management, addiction medicine, hypertension, maternal-fetal medicine, clinical pharmacology, and eating disorders.

Contact Information
Division of General Internal Medicine
5910 - 1081 Burrard Street
Vancouver, B.C., V6Z 1Y6
Telephone: 604-806-8668
Email: bcristofoli@providencehealth.bc.ca

Head
Dr. Barry Kassen, Division Head

Members
Dr. Barry Kassen, Clinical Professor and Head
Dr. Iain Mackie, Clinical Professor
Dr. Jake Onrot, Clinical Professor
Dr. C. Laird Birmingham, Professor
Dr. Anita Palepu, Associate Professor
Dr. Rose Hatala, Clinical Associate Professor
Dr. Jim Kennedy, Clinical Associate Professor
Dr. Laura Magee , Clinical Associate Professor
Dr. Nadia Khan, Assistant Professor
Dr. Ric Arseneau, Clinical Assistant Professor
Dr. Jim Busser, Clinical Assistant Professor
Dr. James Dunne, Clinical Assistant Professor
Dr. Irene Ma, Clinical Assistant Professor
Dr. May Ong-Lam, Clinical Assistant Professor
Dr. John Ward, Clinical Assistant Professor
Dr. Alex Chan, Clinical Instructor
Dr. Kenneth Cunningham, Clinical Instructor
Dr. R. Jane McKay, Clinical Instructor
Dr. Iain McCormack, Clinical Instructor
Dr. Debbie Rosenbaum, Clinical Instructor
Dr. Robert Rangno, Clinical Associate Professor (Emeritus)

Teaching
Education is a core element of our mandate and divisional members make significant contributions to the training of medical students and residents at St. Paul's Hospital and at other external venues. Our members are program leaders in medical education and many have key administrative roles in the Undergraduate and Postgraduate Training programs at the University of British Columbia.

Research
The Divisional research activities involve a core group of funded researchers with dedicated time for research. Dr. Anita Palepu is a Michael Smith Foundation for Health Research Senior Scholar whose interest is in urban health. Dr. Nadia Khan's research interests include social determinants of cardiovascular disease, and exploring gender and ethnic differences in patients with hypertension. Dr. Khan has received many prestigious supporting grants including CIHR operating grants and Michael Smith awards. Dr. Khan is a recipient of the CIHR New Investigator Award and the St. Paul's Hospital Foundation Physician Scholar Award.

Dr. Laura Magee continues her research in maternal-fetal medicine, concentrating on hypertension in pregnancy using randomized clinical trial methodology. She is supported by major grants from CIHR and holds a Michael Smith Foundation for Health Research Scholar award.

Medical education research is a focus for many divisional members and recently, Drs. Rose Hatala, Iain Mackie and Barry Kassen, along with Dr. Mark Roberts, were awarded a Stemmler Grant (from the National Board of Examiners).