::: KEYNOTE SPEAKER :::

Drug Use – a Worldwide Problem
by Richard Pound

We live today in a pharmacological world.  Some drugs bring useful contributions to a healthier society, while others have the opposite effect.  Two of the principal problem areas are the so-called recreational drugs and performance-enhancing drugs.  This presentation will deal with performance-enhancing drugs, used mainly in sport, but also by those who have no interest in sport, but who wish to have athletic-looking bodies.  The problem is international in scope, requiring international solutions.  The fight is led and coordinated by the World Anti-Doping Agency, headquartered in Montreal, of which the keynote speaker was the founding Chairman.  The presentation will deal with the extent of the problem, the unique cooperation between the sports movement and governments, the steps taken to lead the fight and the challenges ahead.

Richard Pound is the former Chancellor of McGill. In the past he has served as president of the World Anti-Doping Agency, as well as vice-president of the International Olympic Committee.

::: SEMINARS :::


How To Win A Competition
by Patrick McColm

The "How to Win the Comp" seminar is designed to give first time competitors a look into how the competition works and is scored. For veteran competitors the seminar highlights best practices in order get the most points, and give them an insight into what judges are looking for. This seminar should prove to be useful for anyone thinking of competing in either the Mixer or NCCER competitions.

Therapeutic Communications
by Patrick McColm

Communicating to patients can be very difficult. Therapeutic communications are rarely talked about, and if they are, typically the only guidance given is what not to do. This seminar will discuss the benefits of therapeutic communications, along with outlining specific strategies on how to approach ill or injured patients. 
 

Patrick McColm is currently a Paramedic working for the Region of Peel. He is an alumnus of the Trent University Emergency First Response Team. Patrick was previously the President of ACERT and has worked on the Board of Directors for many years. 



The Organics Behind Drugs - HERBS, HYPE AND HOPE
by Dr. Joe Schwarcz 

Herbal supplements have escaped from health food stores and are filling the shelves of pharmacies.  They promise to prevent, and in some cases, cure disease.  What is the truth?  Is there magic behind echinacea, St. John's wort or ginseng?  What risk do these remedies present?


Joe Schwarcz is Director of McGill University’s “Office for Science and Society.  He is well known for his informative and entertaining public lectures on topics ranging from the chemistry of love to the science of aging.  Professor Schwarcz has received numerous awards for teaching chemistry and for interpreting science for the public.  He is the only non-American ever to win the American Chemical Society’s prestigious Grady-Stack Award for demystifying chemistry.  He hosts "The Dr. Joe Show" on Montreal's CJAD and Toronto’s CFRB and has appeared hundreds of times on The Discovery Channel, CTV, CBC, TV Ontario and Global Television.  Dr. Schwarcz also writes a newspaper column entitled “The Right Chemistry” and has authored a number of books, “Radar, Hula Hoops and Playful Pigs,” “The Genie in the Bottle,” "That's The Way The Cookie Crumbles," “Dr. Joe And What You Didn’t Know,” “The Fly In The Ointment” “Let Them Eat Flax.” and “An Apple A Day” a national #1 best-seller. His latest book is “Brain Fuel.” He is also an amateur conjurer and often spices up his presentations with a little magic..



Recognising Shock: The Triangle of Life
by Blair

In this dynamic lecture, Blair will discuss the physiology of perfusion and the pathophysiology that affects it and leads to shock.  Numerous types of shock will be explored, and participants will gain an understanding of the unique mechanisms that lead to different types of shock in various diseases and the medical interventions that can help. The advantages (and limitations) of certain assessments, like vital signs, skin condition and SpO2 will be discussed from a practical viewpoint, and case studies will invite participants to apply the knowledge covered in the workshop.

Blair is an advanced care flight paramedic and prehospital scientist in
Ontario, Canada.  His clinical work takes place in both land and rotor
wing settings for York Region and Ornge and his research at St.
Michael's Hospital and U of T focuses on prehospital resuscitation and
knowledge translation.  Blair has been a member of the ACERT Board of
Directors since 2003 and currently chairs the Emergency Standards
Committee.  He collaborates with clinicians and scientists from across
the globe and enjoys kayaking and hiking when he's not working in the
skies, the streets or the office.




Symptoms and Scenarios to Help Identify the Use of Drugs
by Dr.Tellier

This interactive presentation will cover commonly used substances in the party environment.   It will include a demonstration of paraphernalia, discussing each and relating them to the drugs they are commonly associated with.   A few patient cases will be used to demonstrate the effects of substances such as ecstacy, GHG, ketamine and cocaine.

Dr. Pierre-Paul Tellier is an associate professor in Family Medicine and Director of Student Health at McGill. For the past ten years he has coordinated the on site infirmary for large rave like parties such as Black and Blue.   He has lectured on Substance Use in a for physicians, nurses, the Montreal Police Department and RCMP.   He also has authored a chapter on Designer Drugs for a soon to be publish book on adolescent health by the American Academy of Pediatrics.
 



Pain, Friends, Sex and your Mother: The Emerging Science of Pain Control
by Jeffrey S. Mogil, PhD

Chronic pain is likely the primary human health problem, and despite a rapidly growing understanding of the molecular and cellular basis of pain processing, very little has changed in the clinical treatment of pain.  There is growing consensus that the “one size fits all” paradigm is inappropriate in this field, and that pain and analgesic responses     are highly individualistic, depending on experience, genetic inheritance, and gender.   Our laboratory and others have found robust evidence that the sexes may differ qualitatively in their neural processing of pain and analgesia.  That is, different brain circuits, neurochemicals and genes may be relevant to pain modulation in males and females.  Experiments will be discussed showing that pain can be powerfully modulated by social interactions and communication, even in mice.  Finally, recent experiments in my laboratory pertain to the other meaning of  “sex and pain.”  We are studying the effect of pain itself on sexual behavior in mice using standard and “paced” mating paradigms.


Jeffrey S. Mogil was born in Toronto, Ontario, Canada in 1966.  He received a B.Sc. (Honours) in Psychology from the University of Toronto in 1988, and a Ph.D. in Neuroscience from UCLA in 1993.  After a postdoctoral fellowship in Portland, OR from 1993 to 1996, he joined the faculty of the Dept. of Psychology at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.  He moved to McGill University in 2001, and is currently the E.P. Taylor Professor of Pain Studies (a Chair previously occupied by Dr. Ronald Melzack) and the Canada Research Chair in the Genetics of Pain (Tier I). Dr. Mogil has made seminal contributions to the field of pain genetics and is the author of most major reviews of the subject, including an edited book, The Genetics of Pain (IASP Press, 2004).  He is also a recognized authority in the fields of sex differences in pain and analgesia, and pain testing methods in the laboratory mouse.  Dr. Mogil is the author of over 145 journal articles and book chapters since 1992, and has given over 170 invited lectures in that same period.  He holds or has held funding from the U.S. National Institutes of Health, the Canadian Institutes for Health Research, the Canada Foundation for Innovation, Genome Canada, Neuroscience Canada and the pharmaceutical/biotech industry.  He is the recipient of numerous awards, including the Neal E. Miller New Investigator Award from the Academy of Behavioral Medicine Research (1998), the John C. Liebeskind Early Career Scholar Award from the American Pain Society (1998), the Patrick D. Wall Young Investigator Award from the International Association for the Study of Pain (2002) and the Early Career Award from the Canadian Pain Society (2004).  He currently serves as a Section Editor (Neurobiology) at the journal, Pain, and is the chair of the Scientific Program Committee of the upcoming 13th World Congress on Pain.