Stronger Foundations: Dr. Munier Nour on Bone Development in Diabetic Youth
Release Date: 12/31/2023
In the Trenches: Dr. James Stempien on Emergency Medicine
Researchers Under the Scope
James Stempien (MD) has navigated some of the most challenging corners of emergency medicine, from the frigid isolation of Inuvik to the bustling corridors of Saskatoon’s emergency departments. His experience in low-tech outposts has shaped his approach to modern emergency care. “When things aren’t going well you see it in the emergency department first,” Stempien said. “We’re the front door. We’re always open.” As provincial department head of emergency medicine, Stempien sees patients on their worst days in hospitals bursting at the seams, struggling to...
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All’s Not Lost: A Roadmap to Treating Hepatitis C on the Prairies
Researchers Under the Scope
As the world aims to eradicate hepatitis C (HCV) by 2030, Carrielynn Lund and Dr. Alexandra King’s team created a how-to guide. is a step-by-step guide to tackling a spike of new infections across the three Canadian prairie provinces. Hepatitis C (HCV) causes severe liver disease, and was notoriously difficult to treat until the introduction of direct-acting antivirals a decade ago — antivirals which boast a remarkable 95% success rate. Despite this advancement, Lund and Dr. King say Saskatchewan, Alberta and Manitoba need to know why HCV cases keep rising, particularly in...
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Exercise Your Right to Breathe: Dr. Brianne Philipenko & Asthma
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Brianne Philipenko (MD) was midway through her respirology fellowship in Calgary when the Covid-19 pandemic shut down the city. She started interval workouts at home using Nike’s fitness app — when inspiration struck. “Coming up with a creative, innovative way to allow people to access an exercise program outside of the typical organized pulmonary rehabilitation in a gym setting was something that I became really interested in,” said Philipenko.. As a respirologist, Philipenko was already frustrated by the lack of ‘mainstay’ guidelines on incorporating exercise...
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Dr. Sarah Forgie: Why the New Dean of Medicine Taught Herself the Ukelele
Researchers Under the Scope
In this episode, we gain insight into Dr. Sarah Forgie, the new Dean of the College of Medicine. She discusses her innovative teaching methods, her career as a pediatric infectious disease specialist, and her vision for advancing Saskatchewan’s College of Medicine. Dr. Forgie also shares the story behind her decision to learn the ukulele. Born to family physicians, Dr. Forgie grew up in Lynn Lake, Manitoba, a remote fly-in mining community. Her family later relocated to Winnipeg, where Dr. Forgie credits much of her motivation to her mother, who encouraged her to pursue both medicine and...
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Grey Area: Dr. John Howland on Cannabis & Budding Brains
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A behavioural neuroscientist in Saskatoon is uncovering marijuana’s effects on fetal brain development. After recently winning a five-year CIHR grant of $960,076 in the spring of 2024, Dr. John Howland’s lab at the University of Saskatchewan is expanding its work examining prenatal exposure to cannabis smoke. Howland’s teams will assess the way cannabis exposure alters higher brain functions like memory and learning in both rats and mice. Compared to cannabis injections in the past, the professor of Anatomy, Physiology and Pharmacology at the College of Medicine said exposing...
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Innovating and Bridging Gaps in IBD Care: Dr. Juan-Nicolás Peňa-Sánchez
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Growing up in Columbia had a profound impact on Dr. Juan-Nicolas Pẽna-Sànchez. In this episode, hear why the former family physician pivoted, becoming Saskatchewan's lead in finding the best ways to treat Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis in rural and Indigenous patients. Even as a teenager, Juan-Nicolás Peña-Sánchez could see stark differences in health for those who had medical coverage — and those without, thanks to his stepfather, an emergency department physician. “I used to go with him sometimes on shifts to learn and shadow him,” said Peña-Sánchez said. “The...
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Cuts Like a NanoKnife: Dr. Mike Moser
Researchers Under the Scope
"When I got into medical school, the last thing in the world I wanted to be was a surgeon because I couldn't stand the sight of blood," said Dr. Mike Moser. Fast-forward to the present day, where Moser is now one of Saskatchewan's top kidney transplant surgeons, winning last year's Golden Scalpel Award for Pre-clerkship Education, the 2022 Logan Boulet Humanitarian of the Year Award, and numerous teaching awards. In this episode, the professor of general surgery at the University of Saskatchewan's College of Medicine takes us back to one pivotal day where everything changed, propelling...
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Walking the Talk: Dr. Daniel Fuller on Urban Health and Mobility
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As an undergrad, Daniel Fuller didn’t have a car, nor was he keen on taking the bus. “I rode my bike to university every day in the fall and then just kept on going and never stopped,” said Fuller, a former national and international canoe/kayak athlete. As he pedaled, Fuller watched the way people used trails, sidewalks and roads. “I really started to get into active transportation, how people move around cities and how we can get people active -- outside of the sport environment,” said Fuller, now an associate professor in Community Health and...
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Anatomy of Success: Three Researchers, Three Grants, One Goal
Researchers Under the Scope
From the laboratory to saving lives, this episode brings together three outstanding researchers from the University of Saskatchewan’s Department of Anatomy, Physiology, and Pharmacology (APP) as they discuss their work and its implications for cardiac care. Dr. Michelle Collins, Dr. Scott Widenmaier, and Dr. Changting Xiao are all recent recipients of research grants from Heart & Stroke (formerly the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada). In Canada, one per cent of newborns have congenital heart defects. Thanks to advances in cardiac care, up to 85 per cent of these...
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Dr. Jacob Alhassan and the Politics of Expendability
Researchers Under the Scope
"Pushing politicians to do what is good for the health of the people, there's no way around it," said Dr Jacob Alhassan. Born and raised in a rural Ghanaian village, Alhassan grew up without electricty and paved roads. He watched women die in childbirth. He grew resentful of health systems that left the poorest people to fend for themselves, while the rich thrived. Alhassan decided to take action. At first, he thought he would study hard to become a local hospital administrator. Partway through his university years, Alhassan began to dream even bigger. In this episode, he looks back at his...
info_outlineDr. Munier Nour said osteoporosis is often seen as a disease that affects older adults. But compared to their peers, kids with Type 1 diabetes grow into adults eight times as likely to suffer bone fractures.
“Osteoporosis may actually have its origins during pediatric years,” he said. “Because Type 1 diabetes occurs so early in life ….. it influences that bone development that occurs during your peak growth.”
Now, Nour is a co-lead on a national team trying to figure out why.
The pediatric endocrinologist has always taken a logical approach to problem-solving. When he first enrolled at the University of Calgary, he took engineering courses, in case medicine didn’t work out.
Nour was accepted to medical school, where he found himself drawn to both pediatric intensive care and internal medicine, until one last-minute elective.
In this episode, Nour credits his supervisor, retired University of Calgary professor Dr. David Stephure, with changing his mind.
“It certainly wasn’t on my radar at all,” said Nour. “He was just a wonderful mentor. I think he really kind of sparked quite an interest and passion to pursue pediatric endocrinology.”
Nour completed his fellowship at the University of Calgary, along with his medical doctorate and master's degree in biomedical sciences. He completed his pediatric residency at Queen’s University, then joined the University of Saskatchewan’s College of Medicine in 2014. He spent his first year as the province’s lone pediatric endocrinologist.
Since then, the associate professor has embarked on a mission to understand why children with Type 1 diabetes exhibit a higher risk of impaired bone health and osteoporosis than their peers.
Nour said although it’s often overlooked as an endocrine organ, bone is ‘quite dynamic’, playing a crucial role in hormonal regulation.
“Some hormones produced by bone include things like fibroblast growth factor-23 (FGF23), which has a lot to do with our phosphate metabolism. As well, there's another hormone called osteocalcin, which actually has quite a role in diabetes as well,” said Nour.
Today, he and Dr. Saija Kontulainen are overseeing the Canadian Bone Strength Development in Children with Type 1 Diabetes Study: a national longitudinal study.
Using a grant of $1,352,140 from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) and with help from Diabetes Canada, they’re evaluating differences in bone development between children with Type 1 diabetes and their peers.
Dr. Nour said they’ll recruit up to 210 boys and girls between the ages of 10 and 12, tracking them over three years with annual bone health assessments. The study includes Saskatchewan patients, along with pre-teens in Calgary, Toronto and Ottawa.
Using high-resolution peripheral quantitative CT scans (HR-pQCT), hormonal measurements, muscle strength testing, bone density scans, and force plate tests, his team will assess key markers and differences in bone micro-architecture as the preteens’ radius and tibia grow.
“There's even fairly advanced engineering techniques that can be used to kind of simulate a fracture load and see when that bone would actually fail," said Nour.
Dr. Nour hopes this research will lead to interventions for children with type 1 diabetes that potentially strengthen their long-term bone health.
“So little is understood right now about what is different and why,” said Nour. “What can we do to prevent it?”