| Reproductive
Biology
The Government
of Ontario/Pharmacia Canada Inc./Genesis Research Foundation/OBGYN
Graduate Scholarship in Science and Technology at the
University of Toronto, Faculty of Medicine.
(Scholarship:
Dr. Elyse Levinsky, Mount Sinai Hospital)
“The
Application of Bioethics to Issues in Obstetrics and
Gynaecology”
The field
of obstetrics and gynaecology is fraught with a multitude
of ethical issues and dilemmas. The practicing clinician
is faced with such dilemmas on a daily basis. With further
advances in research and technology, new bioethical
issues will continue to emerge, requiring careful deliberation
on all of the important aspects that each issue presents.
As an obstetrician-gynaecologist in an academic teaching
centre, it is important that one recognizes these ethical
issues and considers them carefully so that the resulting
resolution is fair and morally sound. This is significant
not only as a practicing clinician, but also as an educator
and researcher. In an academic department, it is key
that there are members who are formally trained in the
approach to ethical issues within the clinical, research
and educational spheres.
Dr. Elyse
Levinsky is an obstetrician-gynaecologist who is well
aware of the relevance and importance of training in
the approach to bioethical issues. She is pursuing a
Masters degree in the field of bioethics. Consequently,
she has dedicated time to undergo such training through
a two-year Masters of Health Science programme in Bioethics
offered through the Joint Centre for Bioethics at the
University of Toronto. This full-time Masters programme
teaches the clinician-teacher and clinician-researcher
about the fundamentals of bioethics in order to equip
the students with the knowledge, understanding and approach
to bioethical issues that will enhance their expertise
as a clinician, as a teacher and as a researcher.
Dr. Levinsky
has just completed the first of the two-year programme
and will begin her second and final year in September
2002. Particular areas of study within the field of
obstetrics and gynaecology include female sexual dysfunction,
chronic pelvic pain and endometriosis, high-risk pregnancy
(especially multiple gestations), and adolescent medicine
and contraception. Additionally, the issues pertaining
to infertility such as the ethics surrounding new reproductive
technologies, surrogacy as well as adoption are areas
where continued technological advances have resulted
in the continued evolution of new and exciting ethical
challenges for the obstetrician-gynaecologist. The Masters
program studies these and other ethical issues in depth,
specifically the approach to such difficult dilemmas
that are often confronted. Additional areas of study
during the Masters program include ethics and the law,
qualitative research, research ethics, ethics committees
and consultation, and the issues surrounding resource
allocation and priority setting.
Maternal-Fetal
Medicine
Government
of Ontario/R. Howard Webster Foundation/Genesis Research
Foundation/Physiology Graduate Scholarship in Science
and Technology at the University of Toronto.
(Scholarship: Ms.
Michelle S. Chow - Mount Sinai Hospital)
Thesis:
“Mechanisms Involved with the Onset of Labour”
Pre-term
births account for only 5-10% of pregnancies in Canada
but pre-term babies are more likely to suffer from diseases
and complications such as cerebral palsy and respiratory
illness, or neonatal death. Despite decades of research,
the cause of pre-term labour is still unknown, except
that early myometrial (uterine muscle) contractions
are characteristic of threatened pre-term labour. Myometrial
contractions are initiated by changes in the hormonal
levels and changes in uterine tension (stretch) at the
end of the pregnancy. As the pregnancy progresses, the
myometrium gradually stretches to accommodate the growing
baby. However, the mechanism by which the myometrium
senses the changes in stretch is currently under investigation.
As part of Michelle's project, she is examining how
stretch is sensed by the myometrial cells and how the
cells translate these mechanical signals into a molecular
signal that can in turn regulate the expression of proteins
that are necessary for the initiation of contractions.
She will also examine the location of these proteins
at different stages of pregnancy to determine the effect
of different degrees of stretch on the location of these
proteins. Hopefully these studies will contribute to
the understanding of the mechanisms behind pre-term
labour and that these studies will identify potential
targets for drug therapy of pre-term labour.
|
