Your Faculty / Fall 2005 - Faculty of Medicine - University of Calgary

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10 International Your Faculty / Fall 2005 Dr. Marc Poulin New mountain medicine program First of its kind in the world By Natalie St-Denis Y ou might say the incidence of high altitude sickness is on the rise. With 25 per cent of tourists choosing to holiday in the mountains, more travelers and sea level natives, working as porters, are experiencing symptoms. And yet very little is known about the underlying health problems related to too little oxygen reaching the body’s organs and tissues. A newly formed graduate program in Mountain Medicine and High Altitude Physiology at the Faculty of Medicine is working to change this by fostering partnerships and a place to study the body’s intolerance to low oxygen found at higher altitudes or in hypoxic environments. Located in the foothills of the Canadian Rocky Mountains, the University of Calgary is uniquely poised to tackle the health problems of high altitude regions. U of C is partnering with two other universities that make their home in mountainous regions – Tribhivan University in Katmandu, Nepal, which neighbours the Himalayas, and the Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia in Lima, Peru, near the Andes. According to the World Health Organization, tuberculosis is one of the leading causes of death in Peru and acute respiratory infections are one of the five leading causes of mortality in Nepal. “We hope our research will benefit altitude natives and high altitude sojourners, while bringing together one of the world’s richest countries and some of its poorest countries with a common cause,” says Dr. Marc Poulin, associate professor in the Department of Physiology and Biophysics at the Faculty of Medicine and acting chair of the graduate education committee overseeing the new graduate program in mountain medicine. The first of its kind in the world, the program will train experts in Peru, Nepal and Canada to better prepare them to address the acute and chronic health problems associated with altitude-related illnesses. The graduate program officially starts this fall. And it is already attracting inquiries and applications from around the world. By shedding light on the pathophysiological mechanisms underlying diseases related to hypoxia, the program will deepen our understanding of conditions such as acute and chronic mountain sickness (CMS), high altitude pulmonary edema and high altitude cerebral edema – often deadly if left untreated. Symptoms of these illnesses range from shortness of breath to dizziness and nausea, which can
Your Faculty / Fall 2005 International 11 progress into mental confusion and lethargy, caused by swelling of the brain. Other symptoms include severe coughing and chest fullness, caused by fluid retention in the lungs. Depending on the individual, the first noticeable symptoms can develop at 2,500 meters above sea level. Many of Nepal’s and Peru’s health care workers and researchers do not possess a broad knowledge of high altitude medicine and physiology. By getting a specialized degree through the University of Calgary, researchers and health care workers in mountainous countries will gain an extra edge when treating hypoxia-related symptoms, providing better overall health care for their people. “The high altitude pathologies, particularly chronic mountain illness and pulmonary hypertension, are increasing and getting more complex. We can no longer consider high altitude sickness to be a clinical entity affecting only a few individuals, but rather as a worldwide public health problem,” says Dr. Fabiola Léon-Velarde, professor at the Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia in Lima, Peru and member of the educational and scientific steering committee for the graduate program in Mountain Medicine and High Altitude Physiology at U of C. Léon-Velarde also says that the loss of acclimatization over time in native mountain people can affect, among other things, the circulatory, neurological and respiratory systems, and is too often confused with other illnesses or aging. With a population shift to high altitudes – mining for minerals in the Andes and taking tourists up the beaten track in the Himalayas – a critical need exists to better understand mountain-related diseases, thus the partnering of universities in mountainous regions. The migration of sea level natives to high altitude has also increased the prevalence of old and new forms of altitude-related illnesses, which need to be addressed. And the arrival of lowlanders, mixing with the traditional highlanders, is changing the genetic makeup of the mountain people who have acclimatized over generations. “Currently, among the 12 per cent of the world’s population living at high altitude – five to 15 per cent of those living above 4,000 meters – will develop chronic mountain sickness,” says Léon-Velarde. Although both the Tibetan and Andean people have acclimatized to high altitude over generations, they have adapted to their environment quite differently. For instance, Tibetans ventilate more than Andeans when at rest. This physiological response favours higher levels of oxygen transport in the body and, as a result, Andeans are more likely to suffer from chronic mountain sickness. “We’re interested in looking at these differences to gain a better understanding of hypoxia; what genetic and physiological differences can explain such differences?” ponders Poulin. Program participants will carry out controlled research studies simulating high altitude conditions in high-tech laboratories and chambers at the University of Calgary’s Health Sciences Centre, Heritage Medical Research Building, Foothills Medical Centre, and other U of C laboratories across campus. Investigators will complement their experiments with field studies in the breathtaking landscapes of the Himalayas, Andes and Canadian Rockies. Dr. Buddha Basnyat, medical director of the Nepal International Clinic in Katmandu, and professor at Tribhuvan University in Nepal and member of the educational and scientific steering committee for the graduate program in Mountain Medicine and High Altitude Physiology, is thrilled to be part of the partnership. Holding high expectations for the program and its research, he mostly looks forward to having specialized health care workers at his side. “Both Nepal and Calgary are bonded by the mountains. To enhance this bond for mutual good, what could be better than setting up a medical program that deals with hypoxia of high altitude? I think this will be a great mix of science, adventure and good human relationships – a combination hard to beat!” says Basnyat. A b o u t t h e w o r l d ’ s m o u n ta i n s 25 per cent of the world’s landscape is mountainous 75 per cent of the world’s countries have mountain ranges or high plateaus 12 per cent of the world’s people live in the mountains Thousands of languages are spoken in mountain regions Two billion people depend on mountains for food, hydroelectricity, timber, or mineral resources 50 per cent of the world’s people rely on mountain watersheds for freshwater 25 per cent of the world’s tourists choose mountains as a place to play or relax Source: The Mountain Institute www.mountain.org Dr. Marc Poulin obtained his Ph.D. in kinesiology at the University of Western Ontario followed by a D.Phil. in physiological sciences at the University of Oxford in 1999. His spouse, Dr. Jean M. Rawling, is a physician who worked as a volunteer physician at the Sir Edmund Hilary hospital in Kunde, Nepal (3,800 meters above sea level) in 2003.They are now proud parents of their first child, Maximillian Elliot Felix, born on June 22, 2005.
Page 1 and 2: Your Faculty A Faculty of Medicine
Page 3 and 4: Contents Vol 2 Issue 1 / Fall 2005
Page 5 and 6: Your Faculty / Fall 2005 New Initia
Page 7 and 8: Your Faculty / Fall 2005 Research 5
Page 9 and 10: Your Faculty / Fall 2005 Education
Page 11: Your Faculty / Fall 2005 Service to
Page 15 and 16: Your Faculty / Fall 2005 Alumni Pro
Page 17 and 18: Your Faculty / Fall 2005 Our People
Page 19 and 20: Your Faculty / Fall 2005 Our People

Your Faculty / Fall 2005 - Faculty of Medicine - University of Calgary

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