Elverna Mailloux’ Son Earns $2.5M Brain Research Grant at Rutgers
MARK MACDONALD
NANAIMO – Ian Lindsay and Tim Down of Lindsay & Associates have recently joined RE/MAX of Nanaimo. They will continue to serve the residential Oceanside communities from Nanoose Bay to Deep Bay while expanding commercial services across Vancouver Island through their new extensive RE/MAX network of offices and agents.
Congratulations to Vicky Bi for achieving the RBC Dominion Securities President’s Club. The award was announced in Toronto in November.
Greg Sabo of Sabo, Jang & Co. Ltd. in Parksville has retired from his position as senior partner at his accounting firm, after 25 years, to concentrate on helping clients with all of their commercial real estate and business sales and acquisition needs and now is working with NAI Commercial Central Vancouver Island Ltd.
A tip of the hat to the GEM Real Estate Group at Royal LePage Parksville-Qualicum Beach Realty for achieving the Chairman’s Club Award from Royal LePage for 2022, which means they were in the top 40 agents from amongst the 20,000 Royal LePage realtors in the country.
Vicky Bi
A tip of the hat to owner Craig Little and his team at Arbutus RV & Marine Sales Ltd. which has raised $20,000 for food banks through its six Vancouver Island locations.
The Nanaimo Buccaneers of the Junior B Vancouver Island Junior Hockey League announces that Nanaimo native and current Coquitlam Express (BCHL) Chief Operating Officer and General Manager Tali Campbell has been added to the Ownership group, joining majority owner Nicole Brandenburg. Tali was also General Manager of the Nanaimo Clippers prior to joining Coquitlam in the BC Hockey League.
Tyler Brown, former Chair of the Regional District of Nanaimo, was recently re-elected to Nanaimo City Council, and he has also started a new position as Planner III in the Development Services Division of the Cowichan Valley Regional District. He previously worked in the RDN’s planning department.
Tyler also notes that Jodi Le Masurier has been appointed second deputy fire chief at the City of Nanaimo.
Courtenay Janjic Ndiaye has been promoted to Business Advisor, BDC Advisory Services at the Business Development Bank of Canada.
Hadi Abassi
The Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) has entered into an agreement to acquire 100 percent of the common shares of HSBC Bank Canada for $13.5 billion – believed to be the biggest acquisition in the history of Canadian banking.
Scott Henderson has announced that he will be closing the family-run Brud coffee shop on Dufferin Crescent on January 18. Henderson started The Buzz 14 years ago, and within the past two years, sold it and it moved. They opened another coffee shop, calling it Brud, at its current location
Horang Market is opening across from Popeye’s Restaurant adjacent to Woodgrove Centre in north Nanaimo.
Elverna Mailloux, well known for her work at the Vancouver Island Conference Centre and the Coast Bastion Inn, and long-time Manager of the Alberni Valley Chamber of Commerce, is one proud mama these days, and for good reason. Her son, neuroscientist Travis Baker, Assistant Professor at Rutgers University-Newark’s Centre for Molecular and Behavioral Neuroscience in New Jersey, has won a $2.5 million grant to treat substance abuse disorder from the National Institute on Drug Abuse. The grant is to develop new brain-based interventions to correct aberrant reward processes that sustain substance-use disorders. “I’d been trying for this grant for three years and was really happy that NIDA is now in a place to fund this type of research,” Travis says. “TMS has been successful in treating depression and has potential for addiction as well.”
The grant, which covers two phases of research over five years, will support Travis’ use of a cutting-edge robot-assisted brain-imaging technology called transcranial magnetic stimulation (Ri-TMS) to induce electrical currents inside the brain with great precision to alter reward-system circuitry, potentially complementing current drug regimens to help treat nicotine and other addictions. Travis explains that with drugs like cocaine, opiates or nicotine, the brain is triggered to release large amounts of dopamine, overstimulating the reward system and causing the brain to overlearn the behavior. The brain becomes oversensitive to cues that would predict drug-related rewards or behaviors, hampering our ability to make sound, healthy decisions.
Scientists have long known about the brain’s reward system, a network of regions and pathways that are activated with the release of neurotransmitters such as dopamine and seratonin when experiencing pleasurable stimuli. Dopamine, in particular, is associated with reward and motivation, with various pathways involved in causing us to memorize and want to repeat an activity that provides a rewarding sensation. It’s a tremendous accomplishment for amazing research, and congratulations to Travis, and of course, his Mom!
Travis Baker
Ladysmith’s Old Town Bakery is celebrating the 20th anniversary of the renowned cinnamon bun maker by creating a gingerbread bakery at 510 1st Avenue in Ladysmith.
MNP LLP is continuing to expand its operations in British Columbia. The national professional services firm has announced it will join forces with Kelowna-based Kerr & Company effective January 16, 2023. Founded in 1958, MNP has grown to more than 125 locations across Canada.
MNP Ltd., MNP’s insolvency subsidiary, also announced that it has merged with The Bowra Group as of December 1. The Bowra Group is a boutique financial advisory practice based in Vancouver with an additional office in Edmonton. Established in 2004, The Bowra Group specializes in corporate insolvency and restructuring.
Chartwell Retirement Residences has confirmed ownership transition of its Malaspina Care Residence and Carlton Care Residence to AgeCare Health Services Inc. and a fund managed by Axium Infrastructure Inc. for $112 million.
“Thank you to our experienced and dedicated teams at Carlton and Malaspina Care Residences for their ongoing commitment to delivering quality care to our residents at these residences,” says Vlad Volodarski, Chartwell’s Chief Executive Officer.
Atlas Engineered Products Ltd. has announced it has granted 800,000 incentive stock options to certain executive officers, senior management and key employees as part of its company stock option plan. Each option is exercisable for one common share of the company, which was 73 cents per share on the TSX Venture Exchange on December 19. Hadi Abassi is CEO, President and Founder of the truss and engineered products company headquartered on Boxwood Road in Nanaimo.
Mosaic Forest Management has donated $100,000 to the British Columbia Institute of Technology (BCIT)’s Trades and Technology Program at its Burnaby campus, which will help meet the growing need for workers in skilled trades.
A tip of the hat to those donating to the Vancouver Island University Foundation’s Giving Tuesday campaign, which has resulted in over $395,000 for scholarships, bursaries, awards and programs at the university. With matching funding, the total swelled to $515,000 which will directly support students.
Keith MacKenzie, founder and President of Chinook Business Advisory Ltd., announces that Dan Kucherka has joined the team and will look after Nanaimo and the surrounding area for the company.
Mark MacDonald is President of Communication Ink Media & Public Relations Ltd. and Author of the book “It Worked For Them, It Will Work For Me: The 8 Secrets of Small Business I Learned From Successful Friends”, which can be obtained by reaching him through: mark@communicationink.ca