The MUHC's incredible and historic art collection

This week on Health Matters, the MUHC Glen site is home to one of the largest public art collections in Quebec. Alexandra Kirsh, the curator of the RBC Art and Heritage Centre shares some of the incredible and historic pieces in the collection. Dr. Gabrielle Gobbi describes her fascinating research into psychedelics as a treatment option for difficult to treat anxiety and depression. Dr. Terry Hebert discusses creating muscle cells from stem cells and how this will advance personalized medicine. And, Andre Bonnici shares why he is fundraising and performing a capella in MUHC’s Got Talent. 

Cette semaine à Questions de santé, le site Glen du CUSM abrite l’une des plus importantes collections d’art public au Québec. Alexandra Kirsh, conservatrice du Centre des arts et du patrimoine RBC, présente certaines des œuvres incroyables de cette collection historique. La Dre Gabrielle Gobbi décrit ses recherches fascinantes sur l’utilisation des psychédéliques comme option de traitement pour les patients souffrant d’anxiété et de dépression difficiles à traiter. Le Dr Terry Hébert parle de la création de cellules musculaires à partir de cellules souches et de la façon dont cela fera progresser la médecine personnalisée. Et André Bonnici explique pourquoi il recueille des fonds et chante a capella dans le cadre du concours Le CUSM a du talent! 

Transcript

Tarah Schwartz: 0:00

Hello there. Thank you for joining us. I'm Tarah Schwartz and this is Health Matters on CJAD 800. There are fascinating and innovative discoveries being made at the MUHC and the Research Institute of the McGill University Health Center every day. On today's show, we speak with a researcher who is creating stem cells, special cells that have the ability to develop into any cell type from blood samples. He discusses all the incredible things these tiny cells can teach us. And later we speak with the MUHC's Pharmacist-in-chief about his not-so-secret talent, which will be showcased in our upcoming event- MUHC's Got Talent. But first, did you know that the MUHC Glen site is home to one of the largest public art collections in Quebec? A beautiful and modern hospital the McGill University Health Center features an extensive collection of indoor and outdoor art. The RBC Art and Heritage Center is responsible for keeping preserving displaying this extensive collection. And Alexandra Kirsh is the Curator of the RBC Art and Heritage Center at the MUHC and she joins us now. Hi, Alexandra.

Alexandra Kirsh: 1:07

Hi, thank you for having me.

Tarah Schwartz: 1:09

Thanks for coming on. So when we say the MUHC houses is one of the largest public art collections in Quebec, how many pieces are we talking about?

Alexandra Kirsh: 1:17

Well, that's a hard question to answer, mainly because when we started, there wasn't a formal inventory. So we've been working away at it, and we're well over 2000. But we're still going and the collection really ranges in timespan as well as materials. So it's an ongoing process.

Tarah Schwartz: 1:37

Yeah, 2000 pieces that's significant. And what kind of pieces? Tell us about a few different pieces that people can see if they walk through the halls?

Alexandra Kirsh: 1:44

Yeah, I think most people will recognize some of our major large scale artworks, the nicknamed 1%, because they're part of the public art collection, associated with the Ministry of Culture. The big ball on the front lawn, that's Linda Covit's the Havre. There's the teddy bear in behind the Children's. Those are some of our large scale sculptures. Now, we also have artwork in frames, throughout the corridors, talking to our contemporary art community today. Photography, paintings, as well as some of the older paintings that document our history, the founders' portraits and things like that.

Tarah Schwartz: 2:30

You say it goes really far back and you're still doing inventory and figuring out all the pieces that are in this collection? But where did those older pieces come from, and where are the newer ones coming from?

Alexandra Kirsh: 2:41

The older ones were not super well-documented. But were in the corridors of our hospitals at the old sites; not necessarily at the Glen where we are now. But when we were getting ready to move from the old RVH, the old Children's, the Chest Institute; like when you move a home, you have to take down your artwork and your more delicate items first. You pack them away, then you get all the other furniture ready for move. And similarly, we've started to unpack and put things back up on the walls. So a lot of our historical collection comes from the old sites and some of that was pictures of doctors as well as our founders. Other artwork was donated by the community and it continues to be today. A lot of the artwork is donated by the community. Sometimes artists as well donate artwork to us. And it's really a community hospital. It's by and for the community. So I really love to see that in our hallways.

Tarah Schwartz: 3:44

Yeah, that is a nice way of seeing it. That it's a community hospital and the community donates. We are speaking with Alexandra Kirsh and we're talking about how the MUHC Glen site house is one of the provinces largest public art collections. Now Alexandra, this art falls under the umbrella of the RBC Art and Heritage Center. Tell us about that, what it is and how it functions.

Alexandra Kirsh: 4:06

Overall, the RBC Art and Heritage Center is a center that is meant to collect, preserve and display our medical and social history. We've been speaking a lot about the art; but we also have an extensive medical collection of objects that chronicle the emergence of modern medicine as we know it. Because our hospitals originated in the 1800s, that was when we really got to see technology and germ theory start to really take hold in the scientific community. So we have a wonderful medical historical collection. And on top of that, we have this chronicled social history of the doctors and nurses and their lives surrounding this wonderful medical innovation and in Montreal. What it meant to Montreal so our collection really takes care of our internal MUHC history as well as the art collection, which ideally the artwork. Many people don't associate art and hospitals, but there really is a proven track record of how art can improve the recovery of patients. And, not just the patients, but then it also improves the working environment for our staff.

Tarah Schwartz: 5:28

Yeah, I think that I was thinking about asking you that next, and you sort of already touched on it. This idea that having art up on the walls is more for the more than just for the display. It's because it actually makes people feel better is what it comes down to. Is that what you were talking about?

Alexandra Kirsh: 5:45

Yeah, it definitely can. Art and also the medical, social history, I put on exhibitions of the medical, social history, as well as artwork, and both serve different purposes. The art definitely improves the environment. And that can in a way calm people down help with recovery in that way. But if you're also bored sitting in a waiting room, it's kind of nice to be distracted by something like that. And that's where the medical, social medical history helps, because it could be an interesting distraction, but it can also calm people down. Because if you're going in for whatever procedure and you're a little nervous, learning about how it's evolved over time and getting to understand the reasoning behind what's going on can also help gain your own confidence in the medical healthcare system and what we're doing.

Tarah Schwartz: 6:41

Alexandra Kirsh is the curator of the RBC Art and Heritage Center at the MUHC. I've definitely seen some of those objects that you were talking about as I walked through the hospitals, the paintings on the walls. Where can people see them? If someone's thinking, Oh, I'd like to go and explore. Are there other areas that they should pay more attention to if they're in the hospital, and they want to see some of the art that's on display? Or is it a bit kind of everywhere?

Alexandra Kirsh: 7:03

It is a little bit everywhere. But at the moment, we're trying to focus on more of the larger public areas, just so that everybody gets a chance to see some of our collection. But we are also working on specific units so that when you get to wherever you need to be, whichever clinic you're in, that you're not sitting in a space with empty walls. We do you have a program, we've partnered with the Friends of the MUHC, and we give tours of art. Right now they're on hold because of COVID. But we're hoping to bring them back soon. And we're happy to have a docent or to take you around the hospital, get to know the hospital, get to know the artwork. Especially if you've never been to the hospital before, it's a really wonderful way to get to know our institution rather than coming for something. Most people don't want to go to a hospital, it's understandable. And I don't want them to be there. But if you have to be there, we want to make the best of the experience that you do have. And if you come for a tour beforehand, at least you're less likely to get lost. You kind of get a sense of oh, this is how the space works.

Tarah Schwartz: 8:06

I love that idea of taking people on a tour. So once they do get up and running again. Once we have things under control with COVID. How do people find out about it and register?

Alexandra Kirsh: 8:16

You can check it out on our website at any point. We have an art and heritage page on the MUHC website. You can reach us there. You can check online, just Google the Friends of the MUHC art tours. They're also available, there are a number of different ways to get in touch with us. If you ever have any questions or you know something that pops up on top of your head, we have our email heritage@MUHC.McGill.ca. And we're happy to take questions.

Tarah Schwartz: 8:47

Perfect. I'm sure you'll get people interested because I really do think it's worth taking that tour. The hospital is beautiful and the artwork is something to see. Alexandra just final question for you. How does philanthropy help support this center and this art collection?

Alexandra Kirsh: 9:02

Tremendously, because we are fully funded by donations. I get that question often, how does the funding work? We don't take any money away from medical health care dollars like this is a fully community supported endeavor. We rely on donors to get our artwork framed or something fixed up. Every dollar really goes towards outfitting our hospital and taking care of the collection.

Tarah Schwartz: 9:28

Love it. Alexandra Kirsh, thank you so much for joining us on Health Matters. We appreciate your time and your insight.

Alexandra Kirsh: 9:33

Thanks.

Tarah Schwartz: 9:34

Coming up on Health Matters. Could psychedelic drugs help treat anxiety and depression? I'm Tarah Schwartz. Welcome back to Health Matters on CJAD 800. Psychedelic drugs have been used for recreational and therapeutic purposes. But there are still many aspects of these drugs that can be studied scientifically. For example, can these drugs be used to treat conditions like anxiety and depression? Dr. Gabrielle Gobbi is a senior scientist at the Research Institute of the McGill University Health Center. And one of her studies focuses on whether a psychedelic drug like LSD can be used to treat psychiatric and neurological diseases. Dr. Gobbi joins me now. Hello, Dr. Gobbi.

Dr. Gabrielle Gobbi: 10:17

Hello, hi, how are you?

Tarah Schwartz: 10:19

I'm well, thank you when we talk about a psychedelic drug like LSD. What is that exactly?

Dr. Gabrielle Gobbi: 10:26

Yeah, LSD is a psychedelic that was a synthesized in a laboratory many years ago by Dr. Hofmann. These are similar to psilocybin that is a natural psychedelic that you can find in mushrooms. So my laboratory studies mostly the effect of LSD in anxiety and social anxiety.

Tarah Schwartz: 10:54

So tell us a little bit about what that study entails. How exactly do you go about doing this study?

Dr. Gabrielle Gobbi: 11:00

First of all, this study was done in laboratory mice and not in humans. We tried to explain how LSD can work for social anxiety and anxiety in general. In the first study that we published two years ago, we saw that the LSD in a laboratory mice, increase the sociability increase the empathy. The mice communicate more with each other. And we saw that these effects of LSD were mediated by a receptor called serotonin, a two-way receptor. And up and in the prefrontal cortex that is a part of the brain that is very important for social behavior.

Tarah Schwartz: 11:49

I'm curious, Dr. Gobbi. How did you make the connection or think about studying LSD in this way? Where did that come from?

Dr. Gabrielle Gobbi: 11:57

Because LSD was very popular in the 60s, and now it's becoming popular again. But how LSD works in the brain? We didn't know. So the curiosity of our lab was really to understand the mechanism of action of LSD, and eventually to have the proof of concept to apply this concept later in humans.

Tarah Schwartz: 12:23

And is that what you're doing now?

Dr. Gabrielle Gobbi: 12:25

Yes. We now also publish how LSD decreases the anxiety in stressed animals. We saw that the results have an effect on anxiety. Very interestingly, this data has been recently corroborated by studies in humans. So where people with anxiety at the end of life or were treated with LSD. Their anxiety decreased. We have new clinical trials that demonstrate how LSD can be good for people that suffer from alcohol use disorder. So these our studies in the animal will be done corroborated by study in humans for finding new therapies for anxiety, for alcoholism, or possibly other mental disorders.

Tarah Schwartz: 13:23

We're speaking with Dr. Gabrielle Gobbi, and we're talking about using psychedelic drugs to treat conditions like anxiety and depression. Dr. Gobbi, who takes part or who is allowed to take part in this kind of study? People who are suffering from what who are your patients right now?

Dr. Gabrielle Gobbi: 13:39

The McGill University Health Center where I work as a psychiatrist, we have not yet started studies in humans. We are planning to do it but we have not yet these kinds of studies. Canada now has allowed some patients to use psilocybin in a special condition for end of life, but still access to these psychedelics is not so easy for patients. So I don't want to give advice to people. First of all, psychedelics are eventually new treatment only for people that don't respond to conventional therapies. But today, people to treat anxiety depression have a lot of different medicine, antidepressant, a typical antipsychotic, mood stabilizer. People should first try the first line of treatment for this condition. In the case that nothing works, then psychedelics eventually will become a valid the treatment. But we need more studies to use psychedelics on a large scale.

Tarah Schwartz: 14:59

You mentioned Dr. Gobbi, that you're working as a psychiatrist at the MUHC, are you seeing more cases? I feel like we're talking more about mental health. People are being more open about their conditions, which I think is wonderful. What are you seeing in terms of people coming forward and asking for help and asking for treatment?

Dr. Gabrielle Gobbi: 15:16

Yeah, we've see a big increase after COVID. We have a statistic about an increase in 24% in case of anxiety and depression. We have more people that consult among people that needs help for these. But I want to be very cautious because a lot of people come to see me who contact me say I want to try psychedelics for my anxiety. No, it doesn't work like that. First of all, you have to go to standard medicine, you have to go talk to your doctor, you have to see a psychiatrist, we have a lot of treatments for this condition. Again, I insist psychedelics may one day become a medicine for some condition but only for treatment-resistant patients, not for everybody. Also because of psychedelic are not easy drugs because they can cause psychosis, they can trigger mania in people with bipolar disorder, so they must be used with a lot of attention and caution. And so we're in terms of the study you're doing now, what phase are you at? What are you working on now and what do you hope to find from this study? Now we will continue to work in animal models, and we try to compare LSD and psilocybin that belongs to the same category of psychedelics. And now with the other colleagues, here in Montreal, we are moving on to bring these therapies in clinical trials with humans. But I must say it will be long because we have to ask a lot of permissions. Psilocybin and LSD are controlled substances. So we need special permission to keep these substances in the hospital to administer to patients. There is some work to do with the Health Canada. So it's not something that can be done in two or three months. It takes time. But of course, we try to push the research in this direction.

Tarah Schwartz: 17:24

What drew you to that field to the field of psychiatry and to these kinds of studies, Dr. Gobbi? What led you in that direction? What was of interest? Psychiatry in general, and these kinds of studies, what drew your interest there?

Dr. Gabrielle Gobbi: 17:41

It's a long story. I started to study psychedelics about eight years ago, because I was fascinated by the fact that psychedelics cannot open spirituality to people. So I started a little bit by curiosity, how a simple molecule as LSD or psychedelics can push people to think in a transcendental way, to think about God, to think about meaning in your life, to think about being connected with the universe, with society. So I was very, very fascinated by these aspects of psychedelics. So I started my research in this sense, then I found that that the psychedelics are also important for mental disorders so can be applied to mental disorder. And today, we think that the mechanism of action of psychedelics in mental health is also because psychedelics open this new meaning, this new interpretation to the trauma, to the suffering, to the depression. Comparing psychedelics with the standard antidepressant, some feel more, because they help people to think in a different way, about suffering, about trauma, about challenging in life.

Tarah Schwartz: 19:15

Very interesting. Very, very interesting. I'm glad I asked you that question, because I really found your answer; it was not what I was expecting. But I really enjoyed listening to you talk about it. So Dr. Gabrielle Gobbi, I want to thank you, senior scientist at the Research Institute of the MUHC. Thank you for your time today. Appreciate it.

Dr. Gabrielle Gobbi: 19:32

Thank you very much. Have a nice day.

Tarah Schwartz: 19:35

Next up on Health Matters how a simple blood sample can be used in so many innovative and fascinating ways. I'm Tarah Schwartz, and this is Health Matters. There is so much incredibly innovative research going on at the MUHC and the Research Institute of the MUHC. One of the projects we've talked about on the show a few times is the Heart in a Dish project. It's a study that is growing heart said cells in a petri dish so that researchers can study the patient's heart and test certain medical treatments outside of the body. This project would not be possible without the lab of my next guest, Dr. Terry Hebert's lab creates the stem cells from a patient's blood sample. Dr. Hebert is the director of the McGill Regenerative Medicine Network. And he joins us now. Hello, Dr. Hebert.

Dr. Terry Hebert: 20:22

Hello, it's fantastic to be here, Tarah.

Tarah Schwartz: 20:25

We're happy to have you here. We love this project. I love this project so much. How did you get involved in the Heart in a Dish project?

Dr. Terry Hebert: 20:32

Well, it was kind of by accident. My lab works on heart disease and mainly we had been using animal models. We made a conscious decision a few years ago to switch over to do it in human cells. To start with stem cells, and make muscle cells or other cells in the heart. And by accident, because of that interest, I ran into Dr. Giannetti. She didn't really know that we were working on this and she said, I have patients who would like to have stem cells made and made into muscle cells to study, dilated cardiomyopathy, which they suffer from and the rest is history, as they say,

Tarah Schwartz: 21:17

The rest is history. So you've mentioned stem cells a couple of times and your lab takes stem cells made from patients and uses them to generate other cells to study this disease. But tell us about like help us break down for the average person, what stem cells are and how they work? Because it's sort of a buzzword, we thrown around a lot. But really, what are stem cells? And how do they work?

Dr. Terry Hebert: 21:38

The most famous stem cell, of course, would be the egg, right? When fertilized by a sperm, that one cell becomes every other cell in your body. That's a lot of different types of cells, right? But we can't get eggs to make stem cells. So what happened a few years ago, well, almost 10 years ago now was we started to be able to make stem cells from adult cells. From cells that adopted their working lives, for example, like skin cells or blood cells. And this got a Nobel Prize for Shinya Yamanaka because he figured out how to turn cells that were totally differentiated back into a stem cell from an adult. So there's no ethical issue. It's technically not so difficult now. And so we can make those stem cells from a blood sample from a patient. And then from the stem cells that we make from those blood cells, we could turn that into any other cell type in the body.

Tarah Schwartz: 22:44

When did research on stem cells begin? Was that when you had mentioned in terms of receiving a Nobel Prize for it, was it only 10 years ago?

Dr. Terry Hebert: 22:52

There's a long history of people working on stem cells. McGill has its role to play in that one of the first stem cells identified was identified by some research team at McGill, CP Leblond, for example. The problem for people doing stem cell research was the main source of stem cells was embryos. So ethical considerations aside, it's just difficult to get those stem cells. It's difficult to try different things and fail repeatedly, if the experiments don't work. But since 2007 or so, we've learned to turn adult cells that you can get from blood or from skin back into effectively stem cells that turns back that developmental clock in in a way that is reproducible. It's simple to obtain another sample of blood if you want, and we can make those cells back into stem cell lines, which we can then preserve in perpetuity. And the really cool thing is you can do that from one person, 100 people, or 1000 people and you can build a bank. And that's what the Heart in a Dish project is. It's a bank of these stem cells that we can then use to model disease.

Tarah Schwartz: 24:14

We're speaking with Dr. Terry Hebert and we're talking about stem cells, how to create them, how special they are. So Dr. Hebert, once you've created these stem cells, what can you do with them? Is it sort of an infinite possibility of everything that can be done with them? Are researchers sort of dying to get their hands on them because they want to learn more and try different things? Tell us a little bit about that.

Dr. Terry Hebert: 24:34

You've hit the nail on the head. When we used to isolate muscle cells from animals last maybe two or three days in culture at most. So the number of experiments or the type of experiments we could do was very limiting. But when we make muscle cells from human-induced pluripotent stem cells. They'll last in culture for months, that is an amazing feature of cells made that way. We can do repeated experiments in them. We can do many different types of experiments that take more time. We can use all of the modern tools of molecular biology to understand the biology of those cells; to understand how muscle normally works, or to understand how muscle is altered during the progression of the disease. Being able to make the cells from patient-derived stem cells has given us is the time and the resources to basically turn all of the tools of molecular biology loose on a problem that we haven't been able to solve yet, which is how do hearts fail and what can we do to prevent it or reverse it?

Tarah Schwartz: 25:47

What is it like for you to be working in a field that is evolving so rapidly? And it's so fascinating?

Dr. Terry Hebert: 25:57

I've always been interested in, in these things. I'm not a medical doctor. And you always wonder, sometimes as a scientist does what I'm doing have any value to anyone other than me? Am I just satisfying my own curiosity? Or am I helping people? I think that this particular project has given me a place to engage what little skills I have, but in the service of patients who are suffering from a fairly important cardiovascular disease. It's given me the opportunity, for the first time in a long career, to really think about giving something back to these patients and helping to understand- person by person- how the disease manifests in them, and how to think about how to treat that disease in them to personalize medicine, and to make it more precise. To be involved in that it's kind of been a life changing event for me, because now I really think that there's a place where I can help.

Tarah Schwartz: 27:04

I'm feeling really moved by your answer. I'm sort of surprised by it and really touched by it. Because I certainly can't imagine a scientist who does the work you do not feeling that what you're doing is so valued. I know that one of the patients who is part of the Heart in the Dish program came in to sort of meet her own heart cells beating in a petri dish. Were you there for that? And what was that like for you?

Dr. Terry Hebert: 27:25

That was really cool to watch. Because for all of us who do these things, when we take a stem cell and turn it into a muscle cell, it starts to beat.

Tarah Schwartz: 27:36

Yes, so cool.

Dr. Terry Hebert: 27:37

Every time I see, every student who does it in my lab, it kind of brings a tear to my eye. To see a lady with the disease do it and to see her excitement to see her engagement with that. That was a really moving event. For me and my students who were who were there at the time. It was incredible to watch. And I think it's really changed the direction of how I look at my work and how I look at how it's valued. And how I want to make people understand that it is really in the service of patients like that. You feel that. I've never had that connection to a patient before because I'm not a doctor as I said. But having her watch her cells beat in a dish was really a very moving event.

Tarah Schwartz: 28:27

I'm sure yeah, just it was a beautiful story. We had some wonderful media coverage that was able to help people see what it's like. So that's wonderful. So Dr. Terry Hebert, we were talking about stem cells, how to create them, how special they are. So what now then? You've seen the impact of the Heart in the Dish program with the work that you do. What do you think is going to happen in the next couple of years? What are you eyeing?

Dr. Terry Hebert: 28:51

So now that we have a fairly large number of patients who we have stem cells from those patients. Just to say, it's not just my lab that makes the stem cells. My colleague at the Glen, Dr. Renzo Cecere, his lab is there too. They do most of the conversion to stem cells, and we do a lot of the conversion to muscle cells. I feel like my entire career, I've been building assays and building tools and experimental processes to understand muscle function and how it changes. And now that work is going to finally find a place where it can all be applied in a way that actually will benefit patients. So we can try to understand how the disease affects those individual patients. How the drugs that are normally given to such patients are working in those patients. How changing combinations of drugs might actually be better for those patients. And finally, can we actually use those systems to discover new drugs? To identify new ways to treat these patients by seeing them as individuals rather than one size fits all clinical solutions that any cardiologists will tell you aren't working for many of these patients. So can we kind of find new medicines? Can we find new ways to ideally eventually replace the lost tissue in these diseases? I think that's where we want to go.

Tarah Schwartz: 30:28

Yeah, so much possibility. Dr. Terry Hebert is the director of the McGill Regenerative Medicine Network. I want to thank you for your time today. It was absolutely wonderful to talk to you.

Dr. Terry Hebert: 30:37

Thank you very much.

Tarah Schwartz: 30:38

Next up on Health Matters, another health care professional performing at MUHC's Got Talent for a fundraising cause close to his heart. I'm Tarah Schwartz, you're listening to Health Matters. Last week, we introduced you to an upcoming event called MUHC's Got Talent. It's the first edition of a talent show which will showcase the not-so-hidden talents of the health care professionals who work at the MUHC. Andre Bonnici is the Pharmacist-in-Chief at the hospital. He is also an acapella singer, and will be performing at MUHC's Got Talent, which takes place November 16, at Montreal's Corona theater. Thanks so much for coming on the show.

Andre Bonnici: 31:12

Thank you.

Tarah Schwartz: 31:14

So how long have you been with the MUHC, Andre?

Andre Bonnici: 31:19

As a pharmacist, I'm going on 30 years this year. So for quite a long time. And I actually worked as a student before that for four years. So I you can say I pretty much a product of the MUHC.

Tarah Schwartz: 31:32

Amazing. So tell us a little bit about what you do there. Your title is Pharmacist-in-Chief?

Andre Bonnici: 31:37

That's correct. Basically, I run the operations of the pharmacy department on all sides. I'm ultimately responsible to make sure that the pharmacy meets standards, that practice of both my pharmacists and my technicians are up to par with the norms and that we provide the safest medication care that we can.

Tarah Schwartz: 32:03

So someone approached you and said, what do you think about performing in MUHC's Got Talent. What did you first think when you heard about it?

Andre Bonnici: 32:14

Well, when I first heard about it, this was actually from a physician who I've known for many years. We had discussed different music. He was in a band, and I was in a band, so we had a lot of fun discussing music. But then when they approached me, I said, Oh my God, and I was kind of frightened at first. But at the same time, I was excited to know that other physicians and colleagues would be taking part. And so I was very excited to say, oh this will be a very cool experience, I think.

Tarah Schwartz: 32:52

So tell us about your talent. What will people be hearing from you at this big event on November 16?

Andre Bonnici: 33:01

I've gotten the offer to present the acapella band. We have a band that it has been running for almost 30 years, just like I've been here at the MUHC. And this band has both acapella and some with instruments. In this case, we're going to be presenting only the acapella version. So you'll be hearing some well-known songs that are going to be performed only by our voices, and we're five people in the band. And so it's going to be a little bit like a barbershop affair. You know, a sort of old school acapella.

Tarah Schwartz: 33:42

We're speaking with Andre Bonnici, the Pharmacist-in-Chief at the MUHC and a performer in the upcoming fundraising talent Show, MUHC's got talent, how many people are in your band, Andre?

Andre Bonnici: 33:54

There's five of us, including myself.

Tarah Schwartz: 33:58

And what are you going to be fundraising for?

Andre Bonnici: 34:02

We have a bunch of projects that we need to fund for at the pharmacy. One of them is the Medication Research Unit, which we're working on. We support a lot of research from physicians in the department. But now we're also having a working on a new unit, which would study more medications that we're already using in the hospital, drug safety and different topics like that; which the pharmacists would be their main researchers. In order to do that, we need help. We need people to collect the data, we need computer analysts, and that kind of thing. So those are the funds we're looking for so we can contract out some of these tasks and have the unit up and running, hopefully by next year.

Tarah Schwartz: 34:52

So if you would like to vote for Andre Bonnici, or any of the other health care professionals performing in MUHC's Got Talent; just head over to MUHC Foundation dot com. You'll find what you need. Each vote is a $10 donation. And that goes to a cause close to the hearts of those performing. You just heard Andre tell you what he's going to be raising money for. You can also join the MUHC Foundation at the big event. It's taking place November 16 at the Corona theater. Tickets are also available at MUHCFoundation.com. Are you very used to performing and public, Andre? Is this going to be a new experience for you in your band? I feel like you've done this before.

Andre Bonnici: 35:29

Yeah, we have. We started way back and like I said, 30 years ago, for the acapella version, I would say, our experience has been quite funny. It actually started in Old Montreal and it was sort of really unofficial. We were having supper, all of us and we started just singing on a terrasse. After that we said, that was kind of cool. And people sort of gathered around us. So we decided after that, this was maybe a good addition to the band that we already had going. We started performing in different events. Part of our performances were for fundraisers. We've done a few of those school system, other hospitals, certain other events, and we've performed in a few festivals and Canada Day a few years back. We had a contract there where we did an hour which was quite an interesting experience. So we do have experience, none of us do this professionally. But we've done quite a few shows. And I think we've mounted a significant amount of experience. And we're always very excited. And I must say that all my other buddies, they're quite good singers. So even though nobody does it for a living, they've got good voices, good musicians. So it'll be fun.

Tarah Schwartz: 37:00

And it will be fun. Absolutely. Now, you are up against a bunch of other MUHC health care professionals, is there a bit of a competitive aspect there? Are you sort of rooting for each other at the same time?

Andre Bonnici: 37:13

It's a very friendly competition, for sure. But, you know...

Tarah Schwartz: 37:16

That's a good way to put it.

Andre Bonnici: 37:18

We got to look at each other's demo tapes that people gave in which were videos for the most part. And so everybody's sort of looking at each other say, Oh, wow, he's quite good. I didn't know he was that good. And so it's quite fun. But it's very amicable. So everybody's sort of rooting for each other. We're going on each other's social media encouraging. So we're were really more together. But of course, the day of the competition, there will be no friends.

Tarah Schwartz: 37:52

Well, I think it's a really fun start. You're the second performer that we've talked to on the show, and we'll be featuring the others as well. So if you'd like to vote for Andre Bonnici, his acapella group, or any of the other health care professionals head to MUHCFoundation.com. And that's where you'll find what you need. And feel free to buy tickets to the big event as well. If you want to see everybody performing live. That's also on MUHCFoundation.com. And it's November 16, at Montreal's Corona theater. Andre, I want to thank you so much for your time today. It was fun talking to you and I wish you great luck in your fundraising efforts. And look forward to seeing you perform live.

Andre Bonnici: 38:27

Excellent. It was my pleasure. Thanks.

Tarah Schwartz: 38:29

That's it for today's show. I'm Tarah Schwartz. Thank you for tuning in, head to our website MUHCFoundation.com to learn all about what we do and to learn more about MUHC's Got Talent. Thanks so much for listening to Health Matters and stay healthy.