Dr. Yasser El-Sayed (right) receives Duhamel Award honorarium from Karen Fowler, St. Boniface Hospital Foundation President & CEO.
June 16, 2023
It was only fitting this year’s recipient of the Ronald J. Duhamel Innovation Award (Duhamel Award) could not be on hand to accept the award in person.
A clinician, researcher, and educator based at St. Boniface Hospital and Health Sciences Centre, Dr. Yasser El-Sayed travels far and often to grow worldwide knowledge in the challenging field of neonatal hemodynamics.
While the Duhamel Award was announced at St. Boniface Hospital Foundation’s annual Donor Celebration on April 29, El-Sayed was partway into a series of professional commitments that would take him to Turkey, the United Kingdom, and back to Canada (Prince Edward Island).
“I was in Panama, two minutes from going on stage, when I learned I’d be receiving the Duhamel Award,” he said, referring to a phone call from Foundation President and CEO Karen Fowler.
El-Sayed’s chosen field, neonatal hemodynamics, refers to the force of blood flow from a newborn’s heart through its body. When this force is unstable, it can result in serious illness including hypertension, shock, sepsis, and low blood pressure.
“These patients cannot tell you exactly what’s going on,” said El-Sayed. “We have to investigate the toughest, tiniest patients. Their first few hours may affect the rest of their life.”
El-Sayed completed medical training in pediatrics in his native Egypt before a move to Canada in 2009. While in a three-year Neonatal/Perinatal Medicine program at the University of Manitoba, he sharpened his focus on neonatal hemodynamics, which he characterizes as “a unique combination of pediatrics and cardiology.”
“Passion, knowledge, and drive”
Honouring the late St. Boniface Member of Parliament and Senator Ronald Duhamel, the annual Duhamel Award promotes innovation and leadership in the advancement of health care at St. Boniface Hospital.
Dr. Ruben Alvaro, Former Medical Director of Neonatology, St. Boniface Hospital, enthusiastically nominated El-Sayed.
“As an attending Neonatologist and former Director of Neonatology at the St Boniface Hospital NICU, I have shared a variety of roles and experiences with Dr El-Sayed,” Alvaro wrote.
“It was evident from early on, that Dr El-Sayed had the passion, knowledge, and drive to change the landscape of clinical care in Neonatology.”
Among Dr. El-Sayed’s innovations, he has advanced the integration of point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS) into neonatology, as a cleaner, safer, and more affordable alternative that reduces reduce neonatal exposure to X-ray radiation.
In 2020, he developed POCUSneo.org, an online hub for virtual educational modules in hemodynamics and other aspects of neonatal critical care.
A second online resource he founded, https://neopeds.academy/, also promotes learning, as well as collaboration. The website also houses a smart e-book of clinical algorithms for neonatal diseases to aid in critical decision-making.
The 2023 Duhamel Award honorarium – nearly $12,000 – will go toward supporting these online resources, said El-Sayed.
“Thanks to all Ronald Duhamel Innovation Fund Award committee members. This award is really encouraging me to continue with creating more innovations to help improving health care of our patients.”
Resources to aid clinical decisions
The online resources complement in-person workshops. El-Sayed estimates he has conducted 100 workshops in 20 countries to help clinicians improve prevailing standards of practice.
“We want to reduce human error. Artificial Intelligence, for example, can aid in clinical decision-making,” said El-Sayed, adding that affordable – or even free – access for clinicians to these resources he’s developed is an important goal.
El-Sayed’s innovations and leadership are gaining notice. He is the 2023 recipient of the Canadian Paediatric Society’s Emerging Leader in Neonatology Award. And last year the American Academy of Pediatrics called on El-Sayed to collaborate on policy.
“This is really a new discipline; there are only a small number of specialists in this area. But we’ve made a lot of progress in the last 10 years.”
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