Eric Keil

Born and raised in Cranbrook, BC, Eric Keil came to our program following completion of respiratory therapy training at SAIT Polytechnic in Calgary, undergraduate training at the University of Saskatchewan, medical school training at Saba University School of Medicine, and pediatric residency training at SUNY Upstate School of Medicine. It was an absolute pleasure working with Eric over the past two years and watching him develop the skills to function as a consultant neonatologist, including his interests in neonatal respiratory pathology. Eric served as co-chief for this past year and he served on the Neonatal Mortality Committee and NICU Family Advisory Care Team. It was a pleasure getting to know Eric’s family, including his wife, Julia, and four children, Carol, Sairalyn, Cally, and most recent addition, Paxson. We wish Eric luck as he has accepted a position as an attending neonatologist in Windsor, Ontario.

Camille Noël

Camille Noël joined our program following completion of undergraduate studies at Université de Montréal and pediatric residency training at Université de Sherbrooke. Camille has excelled in our program. It has been a pleasure to see her knowledge base grow and watch her develop her own style of practice. Camille served as co-chief for this past year. She was actively involved in various academic activities, including Radiology Rounds, Neonatal Mortality Committee, World Prematurity Committee, and Resident Well-Being Committee. We are fortunate that Camille has decided to stay at the University of Alberta for one more year to pursue a Stollery Children's Hospital Clinical Fellowship on transport medicine and point of care ultrasound.

Eyad Bitar

Eyad has been in our program for three years and completed his core training, as well as training in targeted neonatal echocardiograophy. Eyad is not only excellent academically but he is also kind, friendly and funny. He had his two sons during fellowship. He surprised us all by celebrating his son's first birthday during the fellows retreat last year, we had a blast! It was a pleasure getting to know Eyad and his family these past few years, and we wish him the best in all his future endeavors.

Renjini Lalitha Kumari

After completing her core fellowship in London, Ontario Renjini joined our program to train in targeted neonatal echocardiography. There are not enough words to describe her; she is kind, supportive and always there to help. Renjini always has a smile on her face even after the busiest nights on call. She is an excellent clinician and has a bright future as a scholar. She is completing a much-anticipated RCT on multimodal hemodynamic assessment of the extremely preterm infant. In July, Renjini will join the NICU at London Health Services Centre as a neonatologist. We wish her the best.

Chung-Kwun (Amy) Wong

Amy completed her core training in neonatal-perinatal medicine here at the University of Alberta. Following that, Amy dedicated the past year to developing her expertise in point-of-care ultrasound. Amy is a pleasure to work with, she is a hard worker who is always ready to go the extra mile for her patients and colleagues. She has decided to explore Canada by lining up locums around the country. Enjoy your upcoming adventure, Amy. We wish you all the best with your future endeavors.

As our first ever EEG fellow, thank you to Robert Ogilvie for making everyone's life easier and enhancing Stollery patient care with timely EEG reports. We particularly appreciated your efforts in facilitating the U of A Hospital Neurophysiology Lab's transition into Connect Care (no easy feat!). It is a pleasure to work with you. Your attention to detail, inquiring mind, and tech savviness will serve you well in your emerging and promising career. On behalf of the Division of Pediatric Neurology and the Department of Pediatrics, we wish you all the very best, both now and in the future.

Congratulations to the largest graduating class of pediatric respirologists at the U of A ever! Coming from next door, across the country and around the world, you all brought unique perspectives that enriched our program and the lives of our patients and families. We look forward to watching your careers grow!

To the graduate students in the Department of Pediatrics who are convocating in Spring 2020’s celebrations,

I am sure that you did not think the culmination of all your hard work, long nights in the lab, revised experiments, and endless hours of writing would be a virtual crossing of the stage. It is truly unfortunate that a pandemic has taken the ability to celebrate with pomp, circumstance, handshakes, and hugs away from you, but it also demonstrates the importance of research in a real world setting. Your hard work has paid off, and while you may not be able to celebrate with your loved ones in person, be sure to hold your achievements and accomplishments in your heart for your next steps — we are so proud of you for doing the work, asking the hard questions, and completing your program. While this is not the final step on your journey, we are grateful you spent some time with us in service of advancing knowledge and outcomes for some of the most vulnerable patient populations.

Sujata Persad, Director, Graduate Studies

Mikhaila Skehor, Graduate Studies Coordinator