Professor of Medicine, University of British Columbia
Division of Gastroenterology, Vancouver General Hospital, Chair
Medical Advisory Committee, Liver Canada, formerly called Canadian Liver Foundation, Chair

Dr. Eric Yoshida graduated from the University of Toronto’s medical school in 1986 and was a general practitioner in Toronto before coming to BC in 1989 for an Internal Medicine Residency and eventual Gastroenterology Fellowship at UBC with additional Liver Transplant education at the University of California, San Francisco. He is the Past President of the Vancouver General Hospital Medical, Dental and Allied Staff Association and the Vancouver Physician Staff Association (December 2019 to 2021) and has continued on the Board of the dual organizations until the end of 2025. He is the Past Head of Gastroenterology at UBC (2006-15) and the Vancouver General Hospital (2006-16). He is the former Medical Director of BC’s Liver Transplant Program (2000-10). He has served the Canadian Association for the Study of the Liver (CASL), the national organization of liver specialists, in multiple positions since 2000, starting with membership on the Research Committee from 2000-03. He been a continuous member of the Canadian CASL’s Governing Board since 2002 and is the longest serving member in the long-distinguished history of the organization. He was the Chair of the CASL Membership Committee from 2002-05 and was the President from 2008-10. He has been appointed as the inaugural Co-Chair of CASL’s Diversity and Equality Committee. He is the Chair of Medical Advisory Committee of the national Canadian Liver Foundation, now called Liver Canada (since 2010) and the Founder & inaugural Chair of the Royal College of Physician and Surgeons of Canada’s Diploma in Hepatology Committee. He is the founding Editor-in-Chief of CASL’s new journal, the Canadian Liver Journal, that is indexed in PubMed, and serves/has served as an Associate Editor and Editorial Board member of several well-known liver disease/gastroenterology journals. He served as a member of the Education Committee of the Canadian Society of Transplantation. He is a volunteer Specialist Consultant for Medecins sans Frontiers (since 2019) and has been a volunteer physician for the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics, the 2011 Canadian Open PGA tournament, the 2019-19 IIHF World Hockey Championships, the 2025 Invictus Games and is the Co-Gastroenterologist for the upcoming FIFA World Cup of Soccer, Vancouver games. Dr Yoshida is the Founder, and Chair, of the VGH/GF Strong/UBCH Hall of Honour, that is dedicated to preserving the legacy and memory of the physicians & surgeons who have served the institution with distinction since 1906 and the Advisor to the President of the UBC Royal Canadian Legion (branch 294). In terms of academic research productivity, he has over 400 peer-review publications in medical and scientific journals, > 170 non-peer review publications, > 30 miscellaneous articles and has been an author/co-author on 365 conference abstracts. He has been an invited speaker locally, nationally and internationally and has given many public education lectures and lectures to government leaders (ie. Ministers of Health), high-school students, the Chinese community, the Indigenous community etc. He has also given over 180 media interviews (newspaper, magazines, TV, radio) locally and nationally.

In terms of teaching, his effectiveness has been recognized as he has received 4 teaching awards and 3 mentorship awards from the UBC Division of Gastroenterology, a teaching Honour Roll for Clinical Teaching Excellence Award from the UBC Department of Medicine and the William A. Webber Award for from the Medical Undergraduate Society and is the 2025 recipient of the Canadian Society of Transplantation Teaching and Education Excellence Award. His advocacy on the part of trainees was recognized by the Professional Association of Residents of BC (now known as the Resident Doctors of BC) with their Resident Advocate Award in 2007.

Selected awards he has been the recipient of include: the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal (2012), the Martin M. Hoffman Award for Excellence in Research (UBC, Department of Medicine) (2013), the Vancouver Acute Medical & Allied Staff Award for Clinical Excellence (2015), the CASL Distinguished Service Award (2016), the Order of British Columbia (2016) and the King Charles III Coronation Medal (2024) and the Doctors of BC Silver Medal (2026).

Associate Professor, University of British Columbia
Division of Gastroenterology, Vancouver General Hospital

Dr. Peter Kwan was born in Hong Kong. He came to Canada at a young age. He graduated from medical school at the University of Western Ontario and received his post-doctoral training at the University of British Columbia (UBC) and the National Institute of Health in Bethesda, Maryland. He is currently a Clinical Associate Professor at UBC and a liver specialist in the Division of Gastroenterology at the Vancouver General Hospital (VGH). Since he is one of few liver specialists who can speak Chinese, 80% of his patients are Chinese immigrants. As a result, he has a large hepatitis B practice and has worked tirelessly to promote hepatitis B awareness in the community and has been featured in the Chinese language media on many occasions. Dr. Kwan has participated in hepatitis B related research projects and was a primary investigator of “Hep Beware” a local hepatitis B epidemiologic study, and “Liver Beware”, a community FibroScan Screening study. Both projects are funded by Liver Canada, formerly called the Canadian Liver Foundation, BC/Yukon Chapter. Dr. Kwan has been a speaker at many LIVERight Health Forums over the years and has contributed to written articles for the LIVERight Gala program magazines.

Clinical Instructor, Division of General Surgery, University of British Columbia
HPB Fellowship Program Director
Hepatobiliary & Pancreatic Surgery, Vancouver General Hospital

Dr. Michael Bleszynski is a hepatopancreatobiliary (HPB) surgeon, liver and pancreas transplant surgeon at Vancouver General Hospital (VGH), and a clinical instructor at the Division of General Surgery, Department of Surgery at the University of British Columbia (UBC).

Dr. Bleszynski completed his medical school at the Jagiellonian University, Medical College in Krakow, Poland. He then completed his Master’s Degree in Surgery and his General Surgery Residency training at UBC. Following surgical residency, he completed a 1-year fellowship in HPB/Transplant at UBC and a 2-year abdominal transplant/HPB fellowship at the University of Toronto.

One of his main focuses is expanding the pancreas transplant program at VGH. His research interests include quality improvement and clinical outcomes in HPB and liver/pancreas transplantation.

His clinical practice includes, HPB oncology (pancreas, liver, and bile duct cancers), surgical management of chronic pancreatitis, liver, pancreas and islet cell transplantation.

Clinical Hepatologist

Dr. Edward Tam is a Clinical Hepatologist in Vancouver, BC. He has a full-time community-based clinical practice in General Hepatology with a focus on viral hepatitis, as well as an interest in non-alcoholic fatty liver disease and autoimmune liver diseases. He is active in teaching, clinical research, clinical guidelines development, has published extensively in peer-review journals and presented at international congresses, and has also served on the Board for Liver Canada, formerly called the Canadian Liver Foundation, BC/Yukon Region for many years.

He is most excited about global efforts working toward the elimination of hepatitis C, development of new therapeutics in the area of steatotic liver disease, and the future promise of curative therapies for chronic hepatitis B.

Psychiatrist
Department Head & Medical Director MHSU Vancouver Acute and Tertiary

Dr. JJ Sidhu is the Department Head of Psychiatry for Vancouver Acute and Community, as well as the Mental Health & Substance Use Medical Director for Vancouver Acute and Tertiary Services. Dr. Sidhu completed his medical training, including residency in psychiatry, at the University of British Columbia, and earned a Master of Public Health from Harvard University. Clinically, Dr. Sidhu currently works as a Consult Liaison Psychiatrist at Vancouver General Hospital.

MD, PhD, FRCPC
CLINICAL ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR

Dr. Howard Lim, a Clinical Associate Professor with the Faculty of Medicine’s Department of Medicine, is a medical oncologist at the B.C. Cancer Agency specializing in gastrointestinal cancer. He is also the Chair of the BC Cancer Research Ethics Board. He is involved in Post Graduate Medical Education and a Co-Lead for Competency Medical Education at UBC. He participates in clinical trials, drug access and approvals, education, ethics and genomic based research.

Interventional Radiologist

Dr. Ravjot Dhatt is an Interventional Radiologist practicing at Vancouver General Hospital (VGH) and BC Children’s Hospital (BCCH). He completed his medical degree at the University of Toronto, followed by residency training and fellowships in both adult and pediatric Interventional Radiology at the University of British Columbia. Over the past five years, he has been dedicated to clinical practice at VGH/BCCH, with a specialized focus on interventional oncology. He is an active and proud member of the multidisciplinary liver tumor board, contributing to collaborative patient-centered care.

Pharmacist, London Drugs

Josh Kim is a pharmacist at the London Drugs head office in Richmond, where he oversees programs and services related to complex diseases and specialty pharmacy products. He graduated from pharmacy school at the University of British Columbia (UBC) and earned a Master of Business Administration degree from Simon Fraser University (SFU).

He has worked in a variety of roles and projects as a community pharmacist, including Certified Diabetes Educator, anticoagulation management, and asymptomatic Covid-19 testing services.

Over the past four years, Josh has played an integral role in the successful delivery of the Liver Beware Project (a community based FibroScan initiative aimed at identifying the prevalence of excess liver scarring and fat). He has contributed to the project through coordination, resource development, and close collaboration with Liver Canada and the project's clinical team.

Liver Journey

My name is Madilynn Ukranitz and I am a 23-year-old female who has been diagnosed with a rare liver disease called Primary Sclerosing Cholangitis (PSC). PSC is an autoimmune disease that impacts both the small and large bile ducts inside the liver's anatomy. PSC does not yet have a cure, which means, transplantation is the only option for survival. There are currently very limited treatment options available. For patients with PSC, a new liver does not mean that their journey is over. Because PSC is an autoimmune disease, there is a high probability that it can return in the new organ. This is why many individuals with my disease undergo multiple transplants throughout their lifetime. In April of 2021, at the age of 19 years old, I went into liver failure. I was finally diagnosed with PSC in September of 2021 and am now waiting for a new liver that will hopefully save my life.

In June 2024, Canadian Liver Foundation, now called Liver Canada, held the Stroll for Liver event and asked me to speak. I registered a team with Jyoti Gill, mother of one of my closest friends. She was diagnosed, just before me, with another rare liver disease called Primary Biliary Cholangitis (PBC). We anxiously posted a link for the team sign-up on our social media pages. Next thing we know, a team of over 60 people and multiple donations were being sent in to support us. The ten different teams participating that day were able to raise over $30,000 for liver research. For a long time, I had been ‘masking’ and pretending that I could fight this battle all on my own. In actuality, the symbolism of everyone that day essentially walking the journey with me demonstrated that I did not have to be so isolated in this illness and that there was a community.

This year, Liver Canada hosted Move for Liver, which was an extended version of the walk event. The experience featured exciting fitness circuits with activities, such as yoga, zumba, pilates, and wellness stations. Every step you took at the event helped to make a difference for Canadians impacted by liver disease, including myself. My team, ‘PSC & PBC Warriors’ gathered 35 people that day to participate in the initiative and once again, Liver Canada gave me the opportunity to speak in a room full of people who were all wanting to support the cause, as well as, educate themselves about rare diseases.

Living with PSC is exhausting. It’s pain, fatigue, nausea, itching, infections, hospital visits, and the constant uncertainty of not knowing how fast or how far the disease will progress. It’s explaining to people that yes, I look fine today. But what you don’t see is the toll it takes on my body and my mind. It’s trying to live a full life while your body keeps fighting against you. Through Liver Canada, I’ve found a voice. I’ve found a community. I’ve met people who understand what it means to live with uncertainty and who still show up with strength and resilience. Being able to talk openly about my illness has been a gift, not a burden. It’s allowed me to step out of isolation and into connection. And it’s helped me realize that I’m not alone and I never have to be.