Emily Carr, Above the Gravel Pit, 1937
Jerilynn C. Prior BA, MD, FRCPC, Professor Emerita, Endocrinology/Medicine University of British Columbia
I’ve been thinking about the life and work of Emily Carr. Partly because December 13th was Emily Carr’s birthday. But mostly because of the strong impression her life and work have made on me. She feels to me like a kindred spirit, although I am in medicine and science and she was an artist.
She was a unique woman, with a strong vision as an artist, who excelled in both painting and writing. Although very much a British colonist woman of her day, she was open to the art and spirituality of Indigenous peoples. It was a time when they and their culture were scorned by her society. She was resilient in the face of sexual and artistic prejudice and economic stress. Uniquely, she was born in 1871 in Victoria, the same year that her small town became the capital of British Columbia and this Province joined Canada.
Why am I thinking about Emily Carr right now? Because her lifelong drive reveals a message we all need in our very different world today. She spent her whole life struggling to be and become recognized as an artist. Yet she understood in her later years: “A picture is not a collection of portrayed objects, nor is it an effect of light and shade. . .nor a magnificence of form, nor yet anything seeable and sayable. It is a glimpse of God. . .”
Emily Carr found inspiration and wholeness by sitting in silence in the deep forest. She found what we need to seek, in the busyness of this gift-buying and partying time of year. She learned the value of being open to the vast and positive connections we have with the natural world, with each other and within ourselves.
We at CeMCOR are gathering and wrapping gifts for a single mother and her young son through the YWCA Presents of Peace. We are continuing two studies for which we are still recruiting participants (normally ovulatory controls for the Brown Adipose Tissue activity in those living with endometriosis; a randomized controlled unfunded medical student project to improve treatment of menstrual cramps for those age 16-25 for which Pure Integrative Pharmacies has provided Ibuprofen therapy).
CeMCOR is celebrating the accomplishments of 2025, most important of which is the total revision and refresh of the CeMCOR website. That was possible thanks to the coordination of Dharani Kalidasan MSc, the graphic design and communications skills of Priyanka A. Poulose MDes, and web and UX design of Siddhant Singh MDes, with additional contributions from Sonia Shirin MBBS MPH MPhil MHSc, Nahid Shirazian MD, and Kaitlin Nelson MSc.
Our social medial presence has also continued to increase, resulting in my invited participation in 7 podcasts from Abu Dhabi to the United Kingdom. We have published four research studies this year, all first authored by trainees or volunteers. We presented three posters at the international Endocrine Society in San Francisco including the outstanding work of Kaitlin Nelson MSc, showing, in a 6-month feasibility study, that Cyclic Progesterone Therapy radically improved health-related quality of life of those living with androgenic polycystic ovary syndrome. With Virginia Vitzthum PhD anthropologist, now emeritus and University of British Columbia Honourary Professor, we have written and had accepted for publication, a major review titled, “Progesterone, for Reproductive Vitality and Healthy Ageing.”
Dharani Kalidasan, our skilled administrative coordinator, who has made possible everything CeMCOR has done since 2017, will be leaving this month. The Division of Endocrinology celebrated her exceptional commitment and abilities in a special luncheon on December 16th. She has been supported since July, when I retired, by the generosity of the UBC Department of Medicine.
We commit, in this first year of my Emerita status, to keep the CeMCOR website going. That will only be possible with the help of skilled volunteers and spendable amounts from CeMCOR’s endowment. I will do my best to continue to write and distribute thoughtful and trust-worthy monthly CeMCOR newsletters.
Most of all, thank you to those who have contributed to make CeMCOR possible over the years since 2002, and who continue to believe that knowledge of progesterone’s estrogen-counterbalancing whole-body actions during the menstruating years is necessary to create a holistic understanding of women’s reproductive health that can transform current clinical practice. To secure ongoing research funding to study progesterone and ovulation within endocrinology we need a new academic head to lead CeMCOR into the future.
We wish each of you and those you love a lovely and insightful holiday season and a safe, peaceful and fulling New Year.
