Dr. Sean Maurice wears many hats at the Northern Medical Program!  

He is a Senior Lab Instructor, and also NMP Assistant Director of Histology, NMP Site Director Years 1 & 2, and the Provincial Lead for the Healthcare Travelling Roadshow. And with a background in cell biology and biochemistry, Dr. Maurice also carries a busy research portfolio, balancing both bench research and community engagement research.

“My laboratory is broadly interested in understanding how extracellular matrix governs cell and tissue phenotype, in fibrosis in cancer,” says Sean. “I am specifically interested in proteoglycans and their metabolism in these processes. We are currently wrapping up a study on proteoglycans in the pre-invasive to invasive transition of breast cancer epithelial cells using 3D cell culture. We have recently published a review on proteoglycan fragments in Glycobiology

When he is not in the lab teaching students, or leading his various lab projects, Sean can be found out on the road every spring (when Covid isn’t around!) travelling the highways of Northern B.C. with the Healthcare Travelling Roadshow (HCTRS), through which health professional students help showcase healthcare careers to our northern region’s rural high school students.  

“The NMP was very much built in response to public demand for improved health services and healthcare training in the north. Our social accountability mandate demands that we train more doctors in and for the north,” explains Sean. “To succeed in this mission, we must also connect with the youth of our region and connect our trainees with the opportunities in our region - both things that the Healthcare Travelling Roadshow aspires to do.” 

Sean notes that research on the Roadshow involves asking questions like: Is this initiative successful? Why is this initiative successful? What could make this initiative more successful? How are youth in our region different from the youth in more urban regions? What are the challenges and opportunities of rural practice as seen through the eyes of healthcare trainees? What more can we do to support rural youth in pursuing healthcare training? 

A first report on the Roadshow was published in Rural and Remote Health, an international academic journal, in 2019.