2023-2024 Education Roundtable Series

Jieli Shirley Li, MD, PhD, holds the position of Assistant Professor-Clinical within the Department of Pathology and serves as Co-Director of the Clinical Chemistry & Toxicology Laboratory.  Dr. Li obtained her MD and PhD degrees from the Shanghai Jiao-Tong University School of Medicine and completed her fellowship training in clinical chemistry at the MD Anderson Cancer Center.  Her professional interests center around enhancing laboratory tests for the in vitro diagnosis, prognosis, and treatment planning of cancer, endocrine disorders, and cardiovascular diseases.  Dr. Li has authored over 40 scientific articles and contributions as an Ad Hoc reviewer for 20 different scientific journals.  She also plays a vital role in participating in guidelines writing for the Clinical & Laboratory Standards Institute (CLSI) and serving on the Expert Panel Committee of CLSI.  Furthermore, Dr. Li contributes to the field as an inspector for the College of American Pathologists (CAP) and is actively involved with CAP’s Chemistry Committee.

Cody Lewis is currently a Clinical Biochemist working for the Saskatchewan Health Authority with an academic appointment at the University of Saskatchewan. He oversees the general chemistry laboratory at St Paul’s Hospital and co-leads point of care testing in Saskatoon. Additionally, Cody has interests in testing associated with endocrine disorders. Prior to joining the team in Saskatoon, Cody completed his fellowship training 2021 in Calgary Alberta. Before that, he obtained a PhD in Cancer Sciences from the University of Alberta and an MSc from the University of Lethbridge.

• Division Head Chemistry Lab St Paul’s Hospital, Vancouver, BC since 2019
• Physician consultant Adult Metabolic Diseases Clinic, Vancouver General Hospital since 2006.
• Member of the multiple physicians and the environmental groups including Doctors for Planetary Health and the Royal College of Canada working group on CanMeds 2025 Planetary Health competencies.
  • Past Chair, Royal College of Canada National subspecialty committee in medical biochemistry.

Lawrence de Koning, Associate Professor and Clinical Biochemist, University of Clagary, Alberta Precision Laboratories and Alberta Children’s Hospital

Dr. Lawrence de Koning completed a PhD in Health Research Methodology from McMaster University in 2009, and concurrent postdoctoral fellowships in nutritional epidemiology and clinical chemistry at Harvard University from 2009-2012. He became board certified by the American Board of Clinical Chemistry in 2013 and a fellow of the Canadian Academy of Clinical Biochemistry in 2015. Dr. de Koning works as a pediatric clinical biochemist at Alberta Children’s Hospital, a consultant clinical biochemist for Rockyview General Hospital and has numerous clinical and research interests including biomarkers and epidemiology of pediatric and perinatal conditions, laboratory quality improvement, cardiovascular disease, and nutrition.

Ka Hang Brian Lam, University of California, Los Angeles

CASE 1:  Presented by Dr. Mattman:  Investigation of oxalate nephropathy

Oxlate nephropathy may be caused by primary and secondary etiologies. The investigation of oxalate nephropathy is complicated by the impact of nephropathy on oxalate concentrations in blood and urine. Nonetheless, oxalate nephropathy is responsive to etiology specific therapy – in some cases readily responsive – and so the laboratory’s role in documenting the etiology is an important piece of patient recovery.

At the conclusion of this session, participants will be able to:
1) Identify the common causes of acquired oxalate nephropathy.
2) Recognize that there are primary hyperoxaluria conditions which have distinct gene specific treatments (that area also distinct as compared to the acquired causes).
3) Identify the laboratory tests of utility in diagnosing primary and secondary hyperoxaluria

CASE 2: Presented by Dr. de Koning: Critically high ammonia in an adolescent girl

This session will review a case of repeatedly elevated plasma ammonia levels in an adolescent girl which were caused by specimen platelet contamination. Topics covered will include ammonia metabolism, urea cycle disorders, ammonia analysis, and the many preanalytical causes of elevated ammonia and how to minimize them.

At the conclusion of this sessions, participants will be able to
1) Describe the metabolism of ammonia
2) Understand the clinical manifestations of urea cycle disorders and appropriate treatments
3) Cite a number of common preanalytical causes for elevated ammonia, and identify ways to prevent them.

CASE 3: Presented by Dr. Bam: A suspected case of carbon monoxide poisoning consistent with fentanyl toxicity

This lecture sill describe a case of fentanyl poisoning that was consistent with carbon monoxide poisoning.
At the conclusion of this session, participants will be able to:
1) Understand the clinical presentation of fentanyl toxicity
2) Understand the diffence between a traditional opiate immunoassay methold and a synthetic fentanyl opioid immunoassay method.

Dr Doyle is a board‐certified clinical chemist and is an Associate Professor of pathology at the University of Utah. He is associate Director of the Clinical Chemistry Fellowship program and serves as the Medical Director of Special Chemistry and Endocrinology at ARUP Laboratories. He has a special interest in laboratory science education, the application of mass spectroscopy, and quality management.