No climate adjustment was necessary for Dr. Christian Fibich when he came to Prince George to begin his new job as a medical oncologist.
He's been living the past six years in Saskatoon, where winter and its icy grip rarely takes a season off.
"It's warm here," said Fibich.
Fibich, hired to work in the BC Cancer Agency Centre for the North, now under construction, is impressed with his new work environment after 10 days on the job at UHNBC and is looking forward to the cancer centre's opening later this year.
"I've found a very motivated dedicated crew in the community at Northern Health that have put an extremely valuable and effective effort into getting this cancer centre off the ground and to improve cancer care for northern B.C.," said Fibich, a native of Germany who is also certified in internal medicine and hematology.
"There has been a chemotherapy and oncology department working here for over 30 years, so we are trying to follow the footsteps and widen the path, and I've enjoyed it so far. Obviously, not everything is there yet in terms of infrastructure, but things are expanding rapidly, and think we will have a next-to-perfect setting in the next nine to 12 months."
As a medical oncologist, Fibich is diagnosing and treating patients using chemotherapy drugs and hormone therapy. He joins Dr. Suresh Katakkar, the first medical oncologist hired by the new cancer centre.
One of the attractions of the Prince George posting for Fibich is UHNBC's role as a teaching hospital working in conjunction with the Northern Medical Program at UNBC, and the fact his job will involve cancer research.
"It's a brand-new state-of-the art facility and I hope we get it right in terms of planning and putting everything up so that we are going to happy in there for a long time," said Fibich.
The new cancer clinic has also recruited medical physicist Piotr Dubrowski, both of whom will be in Prince George when the cancer centre opens at University Hospital of Northern B.C. in late 2012.
Dubrowski received his medical training in B.C. and has performing clinical work with the BC Cancer Agency in Surrey. Having conducted post-graduated cancer research at UBC, he has a background in biomedical optics, cancer genetics, and radiation oncology physics. He is currently working in Surrey with Dr. Narinder Sidhu, the medical physics leader of the Cancer Centre for the North.
Dubrowski's duties will be to oversee the radiation therapy equipment, working with physicians and radiation therapists to develop treatment plans for patients. Radiation therapy is currently unavailable at UHNBC and patents are forced to travel to Vancouver or Kelowna for treatments.
"Dr. Christian Fibich and Piotr Dubrowski are very important additions to our regional oncology team in the North," said Karim Karmali, B.C. Cancer Agency's chief operating officer. "We look forward to providing enhanced cancer services for northern cancer patients when the Centre for the North opens."
When it becomes operational, the new cancer centre will create positions by about 100 full- and part-time staff. The centre will continue to try to recruit one more medical oncologist, radiation therapists, nurses, pharmacists, social workers and clerks.
