Inside the Next Chapter of Biomedical Science, with Dr. Linda Chelico
Researchers Under the Scope
As Researchers Under the Scope marks its 100th episode, we hand the microphone to Dr. Linda Chelico, who recently accepted a five-year term as Vice-Dean Research, Biomedical Sciences, at the University of Saskatchewan’s College of Medicine. Originally from Melfort, Saskatchewan, the virologist and biochemist outlines her two main priorities: upgrading research infrastructure and raising the public profile of her colleagues’ work. Since the Covid-19 pandemic, Chelico said biomedical researchers are now expected to team up producing multiple lines of...
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'Health Really Is Wealth': Dr. Holly Graham
Researchers Under the Scope
Dr. Holly Graham never planned on nursing. She wanted a police badge, then a law degree and a judge’s bench. Instead, she followed her mother’s wish and walked into nursing school as the only student from a reserve in a class of more than 200. The isolation was real. So were the health gaps she saw every shift. In this episode, Graham traces her path from being the only Cree nurse in her graduating class, to becoming a professor of psychiatry, registered doctoral psychologist, and . Her curiosity about widespread health disparities for Indigenous people pushed her back to university,...
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Inside a Drug Trial for a Rare Childhood Disease: Drs. Sarah Tehseen & Katie Felton
Researchers Under the Scope
Most childhoods don’t involve sitting at the hospital for an infusion of medication, transfusions on weekends, or worrying that classmates will comment on the colour of your skin. For one Saskatoon teen with an ultra-rare blood disease, that’s everyday life. She was diagnosed with a form of anemia so uncommon only a handful of cases have been identified globally. In this episode, & share how they’re working to change her “normal” by opening a phase 3 pharmaceutical trial and fighting for a better quality of life. We hear how Tehseen and Felton each got into...
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This Is Your Brain After Anesthetic: Dr. Peter Hedlin
Researchers Under the Scope
Peter Hedlin (PhD, MD) recalls being a ‘young, naïve medical student’ when he asked a mentor a question that’s stuck with him for years. “I remember asking how anaesthetics work on the brain,” said Hedlin. “And he said, ‘we actually don’t really know’. And I thought that was crazy.” Today, at the University of Saskatchewan’s College of Medicine. He examines what surgery and sedation do to the human body — in particular, to aging brains. Trained first as a microbiologist who earned his PhD as a vaccine researcher at , Hedlin was always drawn to medicine. He...
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Not Just Numbers: Vaidehee Lanke Tracks Opiate Use & Perinatal Health
Researchers Under the Scope
In this episode, medical student and researcher shares what large provincial datasets reveal about opioid use disorder, maternal mental health, and pregnancy. Armed with data, she hopes better support —before, during, and after birth—can change outcomes for mothers and babies. Lanke spent her summer working with epidemiologist and the Saskatchewan Population Health and Evaluation Research Unit on a pan-Canadian project tracking opioid use in perinatal populations across five provinces. “The question we set out to answer was: What is the association between...
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Cross-Linked Clues: Jack Walther on Depression and Alzheimer's
Researchers Under the Scope
As a student, Jack Walther's friends often came to him when they needed a listening ear, or help with relationship struggles. This summer, Walther took his fascination with the brain and mood disorders to , learning to untangle some of the tiny molecular threads that might explain why depression so often shows up alongside dementia. Walther and the research team dug into the physical interactions between serotonin and the beta amyloid peptides that build up in patients with Alzheimer's disease. . He admits going from the classroom to the laboratory felt like a sharp learning curve. "It was...
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EEEV-ident Passion: Eve Simpson on Doubt, Persistence and Viral Spread
Researchers Under the Scope
Eve Simpson knows from experience scientific research doesn’t always follow a linear path. In the first of three student research episodes, the fourth-year biochemistry, microbiology and immunology student looks back at a summer spent decoding Eastern Equine Encephalitis Virus (EEEV) in ’s lab. Simpson said she loved doing bench research, but felt frustrated in the moments where she hit setbacks and moments of doubt. “I felt like I was letting everyone down,” she said. “But everyone I spoke to said they'd been through that. It's part of being a researcher. That's what drives us to do...
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That’s So Metal: Dr. Jessica Sheldon Targets Acinetobacter Baumannii
Researchers Under the Scope
Jessica Sheldon (PhD) is on a mission to starve out Acinetobacter baumannii —one of the world’s most virulent hospital-borne pathogens. Notorious for its speedy evolution and multi-drug resistance, the hospital-borne bacteria lingers on dry surfaces and infects critically-ill patients, leading to sepsis, pneumonia and high mortality rates. In this episode, delves into the real-life events that drove her to investigate histamine, and its role in bacterial survival and immune response. In 2022, Sheldon joined the University of Saskatchewan’s College of Medicine as an assistant professor...
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Fluid Endeavour: Kirk Haan's Medical Balancing Act
Researchers Under the Scope
Kirk Haan graduated from high school, thinking he’d study pharmacy at the University of Saskatchewan, and walk out five years later. After one summer at a pharmacy, Haan realized he was after a more ‘hands-on’ career in medicine. “I’ve kind of worked with my hands my whole life, just between rummaging around on a farm and always kind of building things,” he said. “Now it’s using them to help people in a direct way.” Then, Haan found his passion — inside the laboratory. In 2018, Haan landed a summer position in , studying osmoregulation — the mechanisms that govern...
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Dr. Sébastien Gauvrit: Fishing for Answers in Vascular Development
Researchers Under the Scope
Sébastien Gauvrit (PhD) was only ten when his family let him have his first tank of guppies. Within weeks, he was hooked. “I actually had to understand genetics directly by mixing these different fish together to get the colour or fin shape I was interested in,” said the vascular biologist and genetic modelling pioneer. From his home in France, to post-doctoral work pioneering new models for vascular disease in Germany, to his current position as an assistant professor of Anatomy, Physiology and Pharmacology at the University of Saskatchewan’s College of Medicine — tropical fish...
info_outlineHaissam Haddad inadvertently horrified his family when he signed up for engineering courses in his first year of university.
The teenager returned the next day to change his major to medicine -- a move he's glad he made.
Dr. Haddad practiced family medicine in Syria for three years, then arrived in Canada in 1986 to visit his wife's family, who urged him to stay.
Haddad faced an uphill battle when he investigated the possibility of becoming a Canadian doctor. One colleague even told him he’d be better off opening a Syrian grocery store.
“This gave me a lot of energy to prove him wrong,” said Haddad.
His early years in Canada were characterized by relentless perseverance, as Haddad confronted the arduous process of certification and integration into the medical system. He focused on learning English every weekday, picking up back-to-back twelve-hour shifts at a Halifax laundromat every weekend, to support his family.
“The first day it took me, like, almost 16 hours to read one page,” Haddad said. “I had no option to fail.”
After three years of English lessons and intensive studying, Dr. Sam Haddad earned a passing score on Canada’s medical licensing exam.
In this episode, Dr. Haddad recounts pivotal moments that steered him towards cardiology, including formative experiences in cardiac surgery during his residency at Dalhousie, which took place during the HIV epidemic.
“I’ve always liked the heart,” said Haddad. "I decided to do cardiology because it has less blood and less risk.”
Haddad’s dedication to improving patient outcomes through research soon became evident, as he tackled clinical gaps and treatment efficacy in heart failure management and heart transplant protocols.
“Almost on a weekly basis, you have a patient who did not respond to the usual treatment,” said Haddad. “This is the research question. How come this patient is not getting better?”
As his expertise grew, Haddad became one of only two Canadian cardiologists who were part of the National Institutes of Health Heart Failure Network. His patients took part in clinical trials that led to significant advancements.
“A lot of our patients didn't have private insurance,” Haddad said. “We can do a lot of work to help patients who are not able to buy their own medication."
Haddad led the cardiac transplant and heart failure programs at the University of Ottawa’s Heart Institute, exponentially increasing the number of transplants performed. At the same time, he said at cardiovascular medicine was making revolutionary strides with artificial hearts and improved anti-rejection medications.
When he began, half of heart failure patients died within a year. Now, over 90 per cent survive.
After moving to Saskatoon to become Saskatchewan’s Provincial Head of Medicine in 2016, Haddad continued his clinical practice, taking on leadership roles in medical education and research.
Instrumental in recruiting almost half of the specialists practicing in Saskatchewan today, Haddad also established the University of Saskatchewan Cardiovascular Research Group, fostering a collaborative environment for innovative research initiatives.
Last year, Dr. Haddad was appointed as an Officer of the Order of Canada..
“Nothing comes easy,” said Haddad. “You have to work hard. You have to fail multiple times before you're successful.”