Dr. David MacLean
David MacLean started his career as a family practitioner in rural northern Nova Scotia. He says it was a wonderful experience in which he "learned a heck of a lot." But he quickly realized it wasn't enough. He wanted to find the answers to the broader, more far-reaching medical questions that determine health policy.

"I saw that my ability to influence the health of the people in my community was limited: sure I could sew them up after an accident with a chain saw, but that was about all," he says. "I guess I wanted to have more of an impact."

MacLean's desire to have more input led him to do postgraduate training in epidemiology and public health at the University of Toronto. That led to a job as medical officer of health for the City of Halifax. But still it wasn't enough.

"I really enjoyed the work, but I found a lot of unanswered questions there too, so I started to do some research. But that's hard to do in a government bureaucracy." And then Dalhousie University came calling, and MacLean was at last able to spend his time looking for the answers to the questions that affect us as a population. He is perhaps best known for his work in heart health and with studies like one completed last year that indicates Americans are faring better than Canadians in preventing, treating, and educating people about high blood pressure.

Now MacLean is heading up SFU's new Institute for Health Research and Education (IHRE), where he continues to explore the policy and education issues that drive him. His aim is to bring together health researchers from all departments to make SFU a multidisciplinary national centre of excellence on health research and education.

At first glance, one might not think of SFU as a potential centre of excellence in health, but MacLean points out that the university has more than 110 researchers who identify themselves as mainstream health researchers. We don't have a medical school but MacLean says that's not a problem.

"There are advantages and disadvantages in being attached to a medical school," he says. "When I came to see what SFU had to offer, I realized that not having a medical school is not an issue. "

IHRE is a strategic initiative by the university to enhance the capacity and infrastructure for research in health and education and to take full advantage of the increasing national and provincial support for research and training. MacLean sees his role as one of trying to find approaches and vehicles to promote interdisciplinary research among the various individuals within different faculties. "One of the issues at SFU is that research is being done in an unconventional configuration and we need to figure out how to deal with that in order to be as effective as we can be."

Health policy should be of critical interest to everyone, particularly now, says MacLean. "The whole course of our lives is often determined because someone, somewhere put some policy in place. My view is that policy matters, that this is the best country in the world in terms of health care, and that we need to keep it so." aq

Photograph of Dr. MacLean by Carol Thorbes, SFU Media & Public Relations

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