Tag Archives: Grad Reception

Congratulations November 2012 Grads – MRSc Valedictorian Speech

On November 22, 2012, faculty, instructors, staff, learners, colleagues from the rehabilitation community and families joined together to congratulate the graduates of the rehabilitation science graduate programs.

Doctor of Philosophy graduates include:

  • Shalini Lal
  • Mineko Wada

Master of Science graduates include:

  • Allison Ezzat
  • Stephanie Glegg

Master of Rehabilitation Science graduates include:

  • Kim Mullens
  • Mireille Delorme
  • Tammam El-Khodor

The Vancouver Yacht Club decorated for the holidays added to the celebrations which were enriched through carefully crafted speeches by the graduates, graduate program directors Dr. Lara Boyd and Sue Stanton, and Faculty of Medicine Vice Dean Academic Dr. Frederick Mikelberg. Dr. Mikelberg’s speech is also posted on this blog.

The November 2012 MRSc valedictorian speech humorously and thoughtfully captured what it’s like to study for a master’s while working full-time and balancing life’s other commitments. MRSc Program Director Sue Stanton completed the evening’s celebrations with some simple but very wise advice that she received from her grandpa.

Please listen to these speeches. Unfortunately at the present time the speeches work best using a recent version of Internet Explorer. We are working to correct this.

In the first few minutes Sue recognizes all the 2012 MRSc graduates with special acknowledgement of May 2012 grad Rebecca Shook who won a peer-nominated research award.

The Master of Rehabilitation Science (MRSc) graduates’ research abstracts and those from previous graduation classes are available on the program website.

Please join us in congratulating our November 2012 graduates.

UBC Vice Dean of Academic in Faculty of Medicine Congratulates November 2012 Rehabilitation Science Grads

On November 22, 2012 Dr. Frederick Mikelberg attended the joint graduate reception for the Master of Rehabilitation Science, and Master of Science and Doctor of Philosophy in Rehabilitation Science graduates. His speech is reproduced here with his permission.

I’m very pleased to be a part of this celebration of your accomplishment. And I am very much aware that a speech from the Vice Dean is not what makes this day special for you. 

It’s probably fair to say that I was more eager to speak to you today than you were eager to hear me, because I am very new to my role as Vice Dean. And since representing the Faculty of Medicine, at events like this, is now one of my responsibilities, I need all the practice I can get.

But I also have a personal connection to rehabilitation sciences that added to my eagerness. My wife, before stepping out of the workforce, was a physical therapist herself. I can tell you that physical therapy was a profession and calling that she took to heart. So if there is one insight I can bring to you today, it is this: Rehabilitation professionals make for good partners. But then, you probably already knew that.

One thing you also probably know, as rehabilitation professionals: The range of your expertise, and the significance of your role in our health system, is so much greater than the public truly comprehends. This, too, I learned from my wife. And believe me, she does not let me forget it.

  • Helping people cope with chronic illness, such as COPD…
  • Helping others adapt to permanent disabilities such as spinal cord injury…
  • Or to regain basic movement after a stroke…

These are weighty responsibilities.

 By providing care for people in such a wide range of circumstances, and often desperate circumstances at that, each of you serves as ambassadors of the profession, representing the power of occupational therapy and physical therapy to help individuals regain some or all of what they have lost. As you continue your careers, I urge you to embrace that role.

Approach every new patient, and their families, as persons to be enlightened through the quality of your care.

 In the process, I urge you to approach every new patient as someone who can teach you a thing or two.
 Maybe those lessons will be about the human condition – about vulnerability, resilience, stubbornness, or about our responsiveness to simple but heartfelt words of encouragement.
 Or maybe those lessons will be about the limits of your own knowledge.

Yes, it’s true. Even though you have earned advanced degrees, your education is far from over. There are still major gaps in your knowledge of rehabilitation science, and the roles it can play in our health care system. But that should come as a bit of a relief, because none of us – no matter how long we have practiced – can be expected to know all there is to know.

What’s most important is that you know the pathways to access the information you need, and to access the people who might be able to help you with this piece or that. Don’t be afraid to let your patients, as well as collaborating health care professionals, see that dimension of your work.
 It’s better to show them your curiosity, your determination and your commitment, than to get caught up in maintaining a façade of omnipotence. Having pursued advanced knowledge about rehabilitation, I have no doubt that you — more than most people —  realize that there’s always more to learn.

And you should be particularly proud that you are helping to contribute to the corpus of research in rehabilitation science, thus helping the various professions included under that umbrella to come into their own, and most likely, evolve even more dimensions.

So perhaps I’m preaching to the choir here. Maybe that’s just an unavoidable hazard of graduation speeches. Or maybe it’s a rookie’s mistake. But that shouldn’t detract from its importance, and its relevance to the rest of your careers. So before I commit the other rookie’s mistake of going on too long, I would like to extend my congratulations to you, and to let you know how proud I am of your accomplishment, and of your contribution to our scholarship in the health sciences.

Good luck to you.

Spring 2009 Joint Grad Reception

This year’s graduate celebration was held on May 19, 2009 at the Royal Vancouver Yacht Club and recognized Master of Rehabilitation Science graduates as well as those graduating from the Master of Science and Doctor of Philosophy programs. Program heads, thesis and project supervisors, and faculty, joined colleagues, friends and family to honour the Fall 2008 and Spring 2009 graduates.

Jocelyn Harris and Dana Anaby are the first Doctors of Philosophy from the graduate program. Amelia Payne, Amira Tawashy, Christina Ekegren graduated from the Master of Science program.

Master of Rehabilitation Graduates included Nancy Wellwood and Colette Widmer Leu from the Spring 2009 class, and Aylssa Barrie, Deirdre Thornton and Astrid St. Pierre from the Winter 2008 class.

From l-r: Astrid St. Pierre, MRSc Grad November 2008, Nancy Wellwood, MRSc Grad May 2009 and Sue Stanton, UBC Rehabilitation Science Online Programs Coordinator

From l-r: Astrid St. Pierre, MRSc Grad November 2008, Nancy Wellwood, MRSc Grad May 2009 and Sue Stanton, UBC Rehabilitation Science Online Programs Coordinator

L-r: MSc Grad Amelia Payne, PhD Grad Jocelyn Taylor, MSc Grad Amira Tawashy, and Dr. Lyn Jongbloed, Coordinator of the UBC Research Graduate Programs in Rehabilitation Science

L-r: MSc Grad Amelia Payne, PhD Grad Jocelyn Harris, MSc Grad Amira Tawashy, and Dr. Lyn Jongbloed, Coordinator of the UBC Research Graduate Programs in Rehabilitation Science