About PoCUS East

Our goal at PoCUS East is to provide excellent educational opportunities in point of care ultrasound (PoCUS). Together we would love to welcome you to Halifax, Nova Scotia — Canada’s Ocean Playground.

MEET OUR INSTRUCTORS

John Carter, MD

Director of PoCUS East, Emergency Physician and Director of Emergency Ultrasound at Dartmouth General Hospital, Dartmouth, Nova Scotia. John has taught at EDE 1 and Island PoCUS and has trained countless physicians to IP certification since 2009. He currently heads the primary site for PoCUS certification in the maritime provinces.

Chuck Wurster, MD

Director of Island PoCUS, current President of the Canadian Point of Care Ultrasound Society, full-time emergency physician and Ultrasound Director at the Nanaimo Regional General Hospital. Chuck has been teaching PoCUS since 2003 and has taught in every province and territory in Canada. He teaches EDE 1, EDE 2, EDE 3, has personally certified hundreds of physicians in PoCUS from coast to coast, and is a regular speaker/educator at international PoCUS conferences.

Maria Graham, BSc, MLA

Course Coordinator, PoCUS East. Maria has been involved in the management of a local family owned small business and she now coordinates all of our PoCUS courses. Maria is an expert problem solver and is your primary contact for our courses. You can reach her using the link below.

Dan Boudreau, MD

Emergency Physician at the Dartmouth General Hospital in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia. He has been known to eat from hospital trays and has been involved in training physicians to IP certification since 2011.

Chris Cox, MD

Introduced in 1996 to the basic PoCUS modalities at Bellevue/NYU Emergency Medicine residency. Hospital credentialed in PoCUS since 2002. CEUS IP in 2008 and CEUS Master Instructor 2011, ACEP Teaching Fellowship 2016. Creator EM learning module “EM Clerkship PoCUS” currently in the clinical curriculum at Dalhousie University and Univ. of Saskatchewan. Interests include: PoCUS modalities for undifferentiated dyspnea, abdominal pain and shock.

Sonya Hanson, MD

World travelling Surfer and Emergency Physician at the Dartmouth General Hospital in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia. Sonya is an enthusiastic educator and has taught EDE 1 and trained countless physicians to IP certification in Dartmouth since 2008.

Lynne McMahon, MD

Emergency Physician at the Dartmouth General Hospital in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia. Lynne has been training physicians to IP certification since 2009. “Way back in the mid aughts I took my first PoCUS course given by the illustrious Dr. Wurster. Within days of that course, my shiny new skills identified a 7cm aneurysm in a man complaining of constipation and abdominal free fluid in a woman with a positive pregnancy test. I was sold! IP certification, EDE 2 and teaching these skills followed.
Can’t imagine working in the ED without my good pal, PoCUS!”

Jenn Wurster, RN

Jenn is a talented, insightful educator and graduate of a certification workshop run by Island PoCUS in Nanaimo, BC and now teaches in Nanaimo and Dartmouth.

Irina Sainchuk, MD

Clinical Associate, Cardiology, Prince George Regional Hospital. Graduate of the EDE Bootcamp in Brantford, Ontario. Teaches at EDE 1, the EDE Bootcamp, Island PoCUS and PoCUS East IP certification workshops.

Xin Mei Liu, BSc

Xin is a founding member of the peer-to-peer Proficiency initiative at McGill university and a resident in Emergency Medicine at UBC in Vancouver. She is CORE and RESUS IP certified and has taught across the country at both CORE and RESUS workshops. She recently took a place on the CPoCUS Board of Directors, joining other Canadian PoCUS leaders and innovators in guiding the future of PoCUS education.

James Gould, MD

James completed his medical doctorate at Dalhousie University in 2015 and is currently a resident in the Emergency Medicine program at Dalhousie University. James has been using PoCUS in his practice since 2015. He is actively involved with teaching and research for the Emergency and Critical Care Ultrasound (ECCU) PoCUS course for paramedics.

Lucas Richardson, MD

Currently completing the Emergency Medicine Program at Dalhousie University. Luke has been using PoCUS now for 5 years, starting with courses during medical school. Luke is involved in research focusing on the use of PoCUS in shock.

Darryl Chickness, CCP

Darryl works as a Critical Care Paramedic in both the flight and emergency department environments. Having been exposed to PoCUS and seeing the benefits to patient care, Darryl became involved as an IP in 2018. Since that time Darryl continues to use PoCUS regularly in both the patient care and education environments.

Natasha Caminsky, MD

Resident in General Surgery at McGill. A founding member of a peer-to-peer ultrasound teaching initiative called Proficiency. She is now IP certified for both CORE and RESUS and enjoys teaching ultrasound whenever she can. She has a love for rowing and other outdoor activities, traveling, and hopes to pursue a career that will allow her to engage and give back to the underserved areas of Quebec and Canada.

Kelly Eggink, MD

Brian Tran, MD

Resident in Anesthesia at McGill and a founding member of Proficiency along with Natasha and Xin. Brian is IP certified in both CORE and RESUS with CPOCUS and is an excellent teacher, repeatedly rated as a favourite instructor by course participants. He is also really good at folding shirts!