Dr. Robert Schellenberg is an Internist and Allergist / Immunologist at St. Paul's Hospital in Vancouver and a Professor in the Faculty of Medicine at the University of British Columbia (UBC). He is head of the division of Allergy and Clinical Immunology in the Department of Medicine, UBC. He earned his medical degree from the University of Manitoba in 1971 and completed internship and residency at the U. of Manitoba Teaching Hospitals. He did further postdoctoral studies in Allergy and Clinical Immunology at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, concentrating on basic research in mechanisms of allergic mediator release. He was an Assistant Professor in the Dept. Medicine at U. of Manitoba for 2 years prior to taking his first appointment at UBC in 1979.

Hospital and University Commitments:
Dr. Schellenberg is the Head of the Division of Allergy and Clinical Immunology and is responsible for the teaching schedules and elective rotations of medical students and residents. He is involved with Clinical Skills development and teaches in the Med I block as well as gives a lecture on allergic inflammation to Med I. He is involved with subspecialty teaching to other years of medical students as well as does general medicine sessions with Med III students.

Dr. Schellenberg is a member of the Executive Committee of the UBC Department of Medicine and has chaired review committees of various divisions. He has been a member of numerous other committees at both the hospital and university level. He performs consultations for allergy and clinical immunology at St. Paul's Hospital.

Research:
Dr. Schellenberg received both Fellowship and Scientist awards from the Medical Research Council of Canada. The focus of his research is on asthma and allergic inflammation with primary interests in the mechanisms of excessive airway narrowing of asthmatic tissues and the modulation of chemotaxis and apoptosis (programmed cell death) of basophils and eosinophils. His investigations of human airways has brought attention to the importance of changes in extracellular matrix elements as the cause of excessive smooth muscle shortening in asthma. He has been awarded the 1999 Research in Immunology Award by the Canadian Society of Allergy and Clinical Immunology for this contribution. His other area of ongoing research relates to the unique modulation of basophils versus eosinophils in terms of the chemokines inducing migration, the proteases involved in this process, and the cytokines leading to prolonged survival by inhibition of apoptosis. He collaborates with other members in the UBC Pulmonary Research group as well as with other investigators at UBC and U. of Manitoba. He currently holds grants from the BC Lung Association.

He has over 60 peer-reviewed manuscripts and 12 book chapters and has presented or co-authored over 80 abstracts at national or international meetings. He has been an invited speaker at numerous national and international meetings.

Provincial and National Responsibilities:
Dr Schellenberg is incoming president of the Canadian Society of Allergy and Clinical Immunology and a member of its Board of Directors. He also is a member of the examination committee for this subspecialty of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada. He is an editorial board member for the Canadian Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology. He co-chairs the local arrangements committee for the International Association of Clinical Immunology and Allergy Meeting in Vancouver, 2003. Dr. Schellenberg has been actively involved in grant review committees for the Medical Research Council and the BC Heath Research Foundation where he recently completed 14 years of volunteer activities, including being Chair of the Scientific Advisory Committee and member of the Board of Directors. He is presently a member of the Medical Advisory Committee of the BC Lung Association and Chair of the Clinical Research Scholarship Committee and a member of the Peer Review Oversight Committee of the Michael Smith Foundation for Health Research.

Education / Training:

University of Manitoba MD Medicine 1971

Recent Publications:

Roberts CR, Walker DC, Schellenberg RR. Extracellular matrix. Clin Allergy Immunol. 16:143-178. 2002.

Zheng X, Karsan A, Duronio V, Chu F, Bai TR, Schellenberg RR. IL-3, but not GM-CSF and IL-5, inhibits apoptosis of human basophils through phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3-K): requirement of NF-?B-dependent and independent pathways. Immunology 107:1-10, 2002.

Opazo Saez A, Schellenberg RR, Ludwig M, Pare PD. Tissue elastance influences airway smooth muscle shortening: comparison of mechanical properties among different species. Can J Physiol Pharmacol. 80: 865-871, 2002.

Schellenberg RR. Abstracts from the 11th annual Canadian resident fellow competition in respiratory research. Can Respir J. 10(6): 336-343. 2003.

Robinson PJ, Schellenberg RR, Wakai Y, Road J, Pare P. Canine Trachealis Muscle Shortening And Cartilage Mechanics. J Appl Physiol. 2003 Oct 31 [Epub ahead of print]