Celebrating a trio of medical visionaries
Gastroenterologists celebrate pioneers who created renowned program at U of A
There were so many gastroenterology specialists at the Royal Alberta Museum one night last week that nearly everyone could have pulled out a scope and performed an emergency endoscopy.
Some 300 guests were there to celebrate the work of three visionary doctors who pioneered the world-class Division of Gastroenterology at the University of Alberta.
Gastroenterologists focus on diseases along the alimentary tract, from the mouth to the anus, as well as the liver and the pancreatic gland.
The doctors honoured were Richard Sherbaniuk, Ronald Wensel and Wilfred Weinstein, who made it possible to qualify for a specialty without travelling abroad.
“Prior to the 1960s, the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada offered only two specialty qualifications for doctors in Canada, a fellowship in general medicine or a fellowship in general surgery,” said Jenna Bailey, an oral historian and documentary filmmaker whose film about the doctors was shown at the museum.
“It was a common postwar practice for Canadian physicians seeking specialty training to move for expert training to England or the United States, where sub-specialties had existed since the 1920s.”
Dr. Richard Fedorak, dean of the U of A’s faculty of medicine and dentistry and a former director of the Division of Gastroenterology, was aware of the tremendous impact the three doctors had made in Alberta’s health care.
He invited Bailey, affiliated with the Centre for Oral History and Tradition at the University of Lethbridge, to interview the physicians and tell their story, a project that created her film On the Shoulders of Giants.
Vegreville’s Sherbaniuk and Wensel — who grew up across the street from the U of A hospital — both graduated from the university’s medical school and sought further training in the United States before returning to Edmonton in the early 1960s to establish the field of gastroenterology in Alberta.
They created the gastroenterology division at the University of Alberta in 1967 and three years later recruited Weinstein, originally from Melville, Sask., to be the first full-time academic gastroenterologist at the U of A.
Together, the trio established what would grow into a gastroenterology fellowship training program, the first of its kind in Western Canada.
The program has gone on to attract more than 80 doctors from all over the world.
Wensel and Sherbaniuk were so committed to ensuring the fellowship program’s success that they invested their own money in the training of the fellows, including flying them to meetings.
Dr. Robert J. Bailey, the filmmaker’s father, was the first fellow in the training program and is currently a clinical professor at the U of A and a practicing gastroenterologist at the Royal Alexandra Hospital.
Bailey’s film also tells of hardships overcome by the pioneers, such as using antiquated equipment and being asked to find a closet that could be converted to a lab.
Bailey’s film can be seen at www.baileyandsoda.com.
THE WESTBURY AWARD
Bob Westbury and Marilyn Westbury were literally invited to stand under the spotlight Friday night when they were honoured for nearly two decades of work for the Fringe Theatre Festival.
“Bob became a board member in 1999 when Fringe Theatre was a small organization with a handful of staff producing a festival with 65 shows and an annual attendance of about 200,000,” board member Brian Heidecker said at the Fringe Theatre Art Barns.
“The festival has more than tripled with more than 800,000 visits, 220 shows and $1.2 million in ticket sales. A recent economic impact report determined the festival now generates more than $39 million each year in new revenue for our city.”
The Westburys, who headed a capital campaign that raised more than $9 million, were told by board member Willie Grieve that the Westbury Family Fringe Theatre Award had been created.
The $450,000 initiative will provide a $25,000 prize to a local artist each year to produce a full run of a live theatre production at the ATB Financial Art Barns.
“Through the Westburys’ guidance and support, the Fringe is now recognized as the largest fringe theatre organization in North America and one of the top five of the 200-plus worldwide,” Heidecker said.
GRADUATE KEEPS GIVING
One of Edmonton’s most successful homebuilders, who candidly jokes about taking seven years to graduate from a fouryear U of A program, handed his alma mater another $150,000 last week.
“I have pledged gifts for 10 years,” said Greg Christenson, owner and president of the sustainable homes-building Christenson Group of Companies.
“We are into our fourth year. Watch out for a very interesting partnership announcement next year as we continue our theme of giving to help healthy living and building sustainable communities, “
It was last year when Christenson announced a $2.5-million endowed professorship at the Nasseri School of Building Science and Engineering.
Funds this year created the Christenson Communities Lecture Theatre in the Van Vliet Centre. The U of A’s Kerry Mummery, dean of the Faculty of Education, hosted guests from the health and business community at the official opening.
The traditional university lecture theatre has been designed and retrofitted with a user friendly, state-of-the-art sound and video system that will result in a high usage, low maintenance facility.
It was a common postwar practice for Canadian physicians seeking specialty training to move for expert training.