> SFU unveils Blusson Hall: mean, green health science machine
SFU unveils Blusson Hall: mean, green health science machine
Contact:
John O’Neil, Faculty of Health Sciences: 778.782.5361 (o); 604.306.4987 (cell); joneil@sfu.ca
Phil McCloy, Campus Planning: 778.782.3385; 604.644.2311 (cell); pmccloy@sfu.ca
Marianne Meadahl/Julie Ovenell-Carter, PAMR, 778.782.4323; marianne_meadahl@sfu.ca; joc@sfu.ca
John O’Neil, Faculty of Health Sciences: 778.782.5361 (o); 604.306.4987 (cell); joneil@sfu.ca
Phil McCloy, Campus Planning: 778.782.3385; 604.644.2311 (cell); pmccloy@sfu.ca
Marianne Meadahl/Julie Ovenell-Carter, PAMR, 778.782.4323; marianne_meadahl@sfu.ca; joc@sfu.ca
September 10, 2008
It’s a building as innovative as the faculty it houses: Blusson Hall, the greenest building on campus and home of Simon Fraser University’s fledgling Faculty of Health Sciences (FHS), officially opens on Wednesday, Sept. 17.
The $56.9-million three-storey complex is named for Vancouver philanthropists Stewart and Marilyn Blusson who contributed $12 million to the project.
Designed by Vancouver-based architects Busby, Perkins and Will, the new building exceeds Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Silver standards with numerous planet-friendly features such as a green (planted) roof, sustainably harvested wood products, limited use of off-gassing construction materials, storm-water collection for irrigation, radiant-floor heating and abundant natural light.
The U-shaped building frames a tranquil courtyard that references Arthur Erickson’s original design for the AQ gardens. Inside features airy tiers of offices, classrooms and seminar rooms, a computing lab and lecture theatre, and open-plan wet and dry labs that ensure efficient use of research space and equipment.
A recent $4-million gift from Vancouver developer Djavad Mowafaghian will help build a containment lab for infectious disease research.
Cell-to-society research hub
It’s a fitting shelter for the four-year-old FHS - “a unique and logical extension of SFU’s commitment to excellence in teaching and research in the fields of science, public policy and interdisciplinary programs,” according to dean John O’Neil.
“Our cell-to-society focus in the areas of infectious disease, environmental health, mental health and addictions, and global health brings together experts from the social science, biomedical and public health sectors. Together, they provide students with the skills necessary to tackle pressing global issues and affect positive change in the lives and health of people in Canada and around the world.”
That ability to “explore and understand connections at the cellular, community and global level” is what convinced criminology undergrad Benjamin Lee to pursue an extended minor in health science. “It’s the only health sciences program in the country to offer such a comprehensive interdisciplinary education.”
Bruce Lanphear, one of the dynamic new faculty recruits (see more examples below), looks forward to “the new ideas coming from young, fresh investigators.” He acknowledges that FHS “is a new program still finding its way, but that just means it’s wide open to innovation—not set in its ways. And that’s when the most exciting and unpredictable things can happen.”
Quick Facts
More on Blusson Hall
State-of-the art wet and dry labs and teaching facilities
12,000 sq. m
Level 3 bio-containment facility
Data warehouse for health data research
The people figures
34 faculty members and five limited term appointments
First complement of faculty arrived in 2005
512 Health Science majors
141 graduate students
39 alumni
Undergraduate Programs
The Bachelor of Arts in Health Sciences and the Bachelor of Science in Health Sciences are multidisciplinary degrees with an overlapping focus on population and public health. The BSc offers three streams: general; environmental and occupational health; infectious disease.
Graduate Programs
The faculty currently offers a master’s degree in public health (MPH) that integrates core public health knowledge with professional skills to prepare graduates for leadership positions in the population and public health sector.
The MPH offers two options: an interdisciplinary concentration across a breadth of public health disciplines and a concentration in global health. Additional graduate degree concentrations are being developed.
Professional Credential
<The Diploma in Public Health is of particular interest to clinicians, international aid workers, public-policy analysts and others interested in gaining more knowledge of current challenges in global health practice and research.
FHS Background
In September 2005 the FHS enrolled its first graduate students in a Master’s of Science program in Population and Public Health that has now been reconstituted as a Master of Public Health (MPH) with a Global Health as a major concentration.
In September 2006, a Bachelor of Arts program was launched and the following year a Bachelor of Science in Health Sciences began. New MSc and PhD programs are under development and will be introduced in 2009.
FHS’s mission is to integrate social and natural science research to address population health outcomes and to apply this knowledge in the development of healthy public policy.
FHS serves as an innovative platform to support and develop integrated, multidisciplinary education and research in the broad areas of health at SFU.
FHS is also committed to an expanded role in global health, and to providing students with practical opportunities to apply their knowledge to health problems in B. C. and around the world.
CENTRES:
CARHMA-Centre for Applied Research in Mental Health and Addiction
Director: Julian. Somers, 778.782.5148
http://www.carmha.ca/
CARMHA’s mandate is to develop knowledge and practices that enhance the effectiveness, efficiency, and quality of mental health and addiction resources.
CHPC-Children’s Health Policy Centre
Director: Charlotte Waddell, 778.782.7775
http://www.childhealthpolicy.sfu.ca/
CHPC is an interdisciplinary research group dedicated to integrating research and policy to improve children's health, focusing primarily on children's social and emotional development and children's mental health, as one of the most important investments society can make.
Faculty focus: Infectious disease
Zabrina Brumme
In collaboration with scientists from the BC Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS, researchers at Harvard Medical School and computational biologists at Microsoft Research, Zabrina Brumme used a supercomputer and an algorithm to identify specific viral mutations allowing HIV to hide from the body’s defenses. The results provide a “cheat sheet” of moves the virus can make and gives scientists an advantage in their quest to create a vaccine against HIV because it allows them to know which versions of the virus will trigger the immune system and which will evade it.
Zabrina Brumme, zbrumme@partners.org
Robert Hogg
In a recent issue of The Lancet, Robert Hogg and colleagues published the results of a large international epidemiological study that proved advances in AIDS drug treatments in the past 30 years have turned what used to be a fatal disease into a long-term chronic condition. The research demonstrated that a combination of antiretroviral drugs increases the life expectancy of HIV patients in high-income countries by more than 13 years. The researchers hope to carry out future work around life expectancy and AIDS that may include low-income countries where there are numerous confounding factors such as TB, poverty and a lack of medical resources.
Robert Hogg, 778.782.7629; robert_hogg@sfu.ca
Faculty focus: Environmental health
Bruce Lanphear
Formerly director of the Cincinnati Children’s Environmental Health Center at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital, Lanphear holds degrees in medicine, and public health and tropical medicine. A leading researcher in his field, Lanphear’s numerous population-based studies confirm that widespread exposures to environmental toxicants such as lead and tobacco have a demonstrably negative effect on children’s intellectual, behavioral and physical development. His first course, Children’s Health and the Environment (HSC1473), debuts next spring. Plans for his first Canadian research project, similar to a U.S. study he is directing, include investigating how exposure to environmental toxins elevates the risk of children developing ADHD or autistic behaviours.
Bruce Lanphear, 778.782.8650; blanphear@sfu.ca
Gratien Prefontaine
Gratien Prefontaine works on the latest frontier in a post-genetic era—epigenetics. This new field studies everything outside of the human genome that influences how and when genes are expressed (turned on and off), including environmental factors and even diet. For example, in genetically identical twins exposed to different environments or diets over time, differences in gene expression could explain why only one of the pair may develop a particular illness such as schizophrenia or cancer. A Saskatchewan farm boy who sought an agricultural degree to learn how to grow tomatoes that taste fresh year-round, Prefontaine looks forward to making great discoveries in epigenetics with far-reaching implications for human biology and disease, including aging and cancer.
Gratien Prefontaine, 778.782.8645; gratien_prefontaine@sfu.ca
Faculty focus: Mental health and addictions
Benedikt Fischer
Benedikt Fischer’s research into illicit substance abuse and its consequences for public health and policy is revealing startling new trends that have yet to reach the radar of public and mental health agencies. Heroin has largely disappeared from many city streets, he says, replaced by crack cocaine and prescription opioid analgesics (opium derivatives like codeine or oxycontin used in medical pain management), the latter of which is becoming a problem even in the general population. Fischer wants to sound the alarm about the problems and challenges of illicit substance use and find ways to improve practices and policies.
Benedikt Fischer, bfischer@uvic.ca
Frank Lee
Pharmacologist Frank Lee has most recently investigated the neurotransmitter dopamine at Toronto’s Centre for Addiction and Mental Health. He is interested in studying how neurochemical imbalances occur by examining the biology of the proteins involved; by understanding how they normally function, he can examine what goes wrong in certain mental disorders or how to adjust the activity of the proteins to improve treatment. He hopes his research will lead to more effective and specific therapies that have global benefits for those suffering from mental health disorders.
Frank Lee, 778.782.8649; f_lee@sfu.ca
Faculty focus: Global health
Katie Brushett
Sex workers in the Indian city of Mysore have a new outlook on their personal health and safety – and that is reducing the number of HIV/AIDS cases, thanks to a new program that helps sex works empower themselves. Katie Brushett, a student in SFU’s Global Health master’s program, spent the summer studying the program’s progress and building a rapport with the workers’ community – a collective called Ashodaya, which means ‘dawn of hope.’ Brushett is among students who want to make a difference by improving population and public health in developing countries.
Katie Brushett, kebrushett@hotmail.com
Tim Takaro
Health factors influenced by the environment – whether the topic is global climate change, air pollution or deadly toxic fumes in the workplace – are Tim Takaro’s focus. The associate professor in health sciences studies disease susceptibility factors in environmental and occupational health, including inflammatory lung conditions such as asthma, chronic beryllium disease and asbestosis. Takaro, a physician and scientist, is part of a $12 million national study investigating the rise in respiratory illness in children. In another recent study he found homes that were environmentally and health-friendly may reduce asthma symptoms in children as much or more than medication.
Tim Takaro, 778.782.7186; timothy_takaro@sfu.ca
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The $56.9-million three-storey complex is named for Vancouver philanthropists Stewart and Marilyn Blusson who contributed $12 million to the project.
Designed by Vancouver-based architects Busby, Perkins and Will, the new building exceeds Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Silver standards with numerous planet-friendly features such as a green (planted) roof, sustainably harvested wood products, limited use of off-gassing construction materials, storm-water collection for irrigation, radiant-floor heating and abundant natural light.
The U-shaped building frames a tranquil courtyard that references Arthur Erickson’s original design for the AQ gardens. Inside features airy tiers of offices, classrooms and seminar rooms, a computing lab and lecture theatre, and open-plan wet and dry labs that ensure efficient use of research space and equipment.
A recent $4-million gift from Vancouver developer Djavad Mowafaghian will help build a containment lab for infectious disease research.
Cell-to-society research hub
It’s a fitting shelter for the four-year-old FHS - “a unique and logical extension of SFU’s commitment to excellence in teaching and research in the fields of science, public policy and interdisciplinary programs,” according to dean John O’Neil.
“Our cell-to-society focus in the areas of infectious disease, environmental health, mental health and addictions, and global health brings together experts from the social science, biomedical and public health sectors. Together, they provide students with the skills necessary to tackle pressing global issues and affect positive change in the lives and health of people in Canada and around the world.”
That ability to “explore and understand connections at the cellular, community and global level” is what convinced criminology undergrad Benjamin Lee to pursue an extended minor in health science. “It’s the only health sciences program in the country to offer such a comprehensive interdisciplinary education.”
Bruce Lanphear, one of the dynamic new faculty recruits (see more examples below), looks forward to “the new ideas coming from young, fresh investigators.” He acknowledges that FHS “is a new program still finding its way, but that just means it’s wide open to innovation—not set in its ways. And that’s when the most exciting and unpredictable things can happen.”
Quick Facts
More on Blusson Hall
State-of-the art wet and dry labs and teaching facilities
12,000 sq. m
Level 3 bio-containment facility
Data warehouse for health data research
The people figures
34 faculty members and five limited term appointments
First complement of faculty arrived in 2005
512 Health Science majors
141 graduate students
39 alumni
Undergraduate Programs
The Bachelor of Arts in Health Sciences and the Bachelor of Science in Health Sciences are multidisciplinary degrees with an overlapping focus on population and public health. The BSc offers three streams: general; environmental and occupational health; infectious disease.
Graduate Programs
The faculty currently offers a master’s degree in public health (MPH) that integrates core public health knowledge with professional skills to prepare graduates for leadership positions in the population and public health sector.
The MPH offers two options: an interdisciplinary concentration across a breadth of public health disciplines and a concentration in global health. Additional graduate degree concentrations are being developed.
Professional Credential
<The Diploma in Public Health is of particular interest to clinicians, international aid workers, public-policy analysts and others interested in gaining more knowledge of current challenges in global health practice and research.
FHS Background
In September 2005 the FHS enrolled its first graduate students in a Master’s of Science program in Population and Public Health that has now been reconstituted as a Master of Public Health (MPH) with a Global Health as a major concentration.
In September 2006, a Bachelor of Arts program was launched and the following year a Bachelor of Science in Health Sciences began. New MSc and PhD programs are under development and will be introduced in 2009.
FHS’s mission is to integrate social and natural science research to address population health outcomes and to apply this knowledge in the development of healthy public policy.
FHS serves as an innovative platform to support and develop integrated, multidisciplinary education and research in the broad areas of health at SFU.
FHS is also committed to an expanded role in global health, and to providing students with practical opportunities to apply their knowledge to health problems in B. C. and around the world.
CENTRES:
CARHMA-Centre for Applied Research in Mental Health and Addiction
Director: Julian. Somers, 778.782.5148
http://www.carmha.ca/
CARMHA’s mandate is to develop knowledge and practices that enhance the effectiveness, efficiency, and quality of mental health and addiction resources.
CHPC-Children’s Health Policy Centre
Director: Charlotte Waddell, 778.782.7775
http://www.childhealthpolicy.sfu.ca/
CHPC is an interdisciplinary research group dedicated to integrating research and policy to improve children's health, focusing primarily on children's social and emotional development and children's mental health, as one of the most important investments society can make.
Faculty focus: Infectious disease
Zabrina Brumme
In collaboration with scientists from the BC Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS, researchers at Harvard Medical School and computational biologists at Microsoft Research, Zabrina Brumme used a supercomputer and an algorithm to identify specific viral mutations allowing HIV to hide from the body’s defenses. The results provide a “cheat sheet” of moves the virus can make and gives scientists an advantage in their quest to create a vaccine against HIV because it allows them to know which versions of the virus will trigger the immune system and which will evade it.
Zabrina Brumme, zbrumme@partners.org
Robert Hogg
In a recent issue of The Lancet, Robert Hogg and colleagues published the results of a large international epidemiological study that proved advances in AIDS drug treatments in the past 30 years have turned what used to be a fatal disease into a long-term chronic condition. The research demonstrated that a combination of antiretroviral drugs increases the life expectancy of HIV patients in high-income countries by more than 13 years. The researchers hope to carry out future work around life expectancy and AIDS that may include low-income countries where there are numerous confounding factors such as TB, poverty and a lack of medical resources.
Robert Hogg, 778.782.7629; robert_hogg@sfu.ca
Faculty focus: Environmental health
Bruce Lanphear
Formerly director of the Cincinnati Children’s Environmental Health Center at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital, Lanphear holds degrees in medicine, and public health and tropical medicine. A leading researcher in his field, Lanphear’s numerous population-based studies confirm that widespread exposures to environmental toxicants such as lead and tobacco have a demonstrably negative effect on children’s intellectual, behavioral and physical development. His first course, Children’s Health and the Environment (HSC1473), debuts next spring. Plans for his first Canadian research project, similar to a U.S. study he is directing, include investigating how exposure to environmental toxins elevates the risk of children developing ADHD or autistic behaviours.
Bruce Lanphear, 778.782.8650; blanphear@sfu.ca
Gratien Prefontaine
Gratien Prefontaine works on the latest frontier in a post-genetic era—epigenetics. This new field studies everything outside of the human genome that influences how and when genes are expressed (turned on and off), including environmental factors and even diet. For example, in genetically identical twins exposed to different environments or diets over time, differences in gene expression could explain why only one of the pair may develop a particular illness such as schizophrenia or cancer. A Saskatchewan farm boy who sought an agricultural degree to learn how to grow tomatoes that taste fresh year-round, Prefontaine looks forward to making great discoveries in epigenetics with far-reaching implications for human biology and disease, including aging and cancer.
Gratien Prefontaine, 778.782.8645; gratien_prefontaine@sfu.ca
Faculty focus: Mental health and addictions
Benedikt Fischer
Benedikt Fischer’s research into illicit substance abuse and its consequences for public health and policy is revealing startling new trends that have yet to reach the radar of public and mental health agencies. Heroin has largely disappeared from many city streets, he says, replaced by crack cocaine and prescription opioid analgesics (opium derivatives like codeine or oxycontin used in medical pain management), the latter of which is becoming a problem even in the general population. Fischer wants to sound the alarm about the problems and challenges of illicit substance use and find ways to improve practices and policies.
Benedikt Fischer, bfischer@uvic.ca
Frank Lee
Pharmacologist Frank Lee has most recently investigated the neurotransmitter dopamine at Toronto’s Centre for Addiction and Mental Health. He is interested in studying how neurochemical imbalances occur by examining the biology of the proteins involved; by understanding how they normally function, he can examine what goes wrong in certain mental disorders or how to adjust the activity of the proteins to improve treatment. He hopes his research will lead to more effective and specific therapies that have global benefits for those suffering from mental health disorders.
Frank Lee, 778.782.8649; f_lee@sfu.ca
Faculty focus: Global health
Katie Brushett
Sex workers in the Indian city of Mysore have a new outlook on their personal health and safety – and that is reducing the number of HIV/AIDS cases, thanks to a new program that helps sex works empower themselves. Katie Brushett, a student in SFU’s Global Health master’s program, spent the summer studying the program’s progress and building a rapport with the workers’ community – a collective called Ashodaya, which means ‘dawn of hope.’ Brushett is among students who want to make a difference by improving population and public health in developing countries.
Katie Brushett, kebrushett@hotmail.com
Tim Takaro
Health factors influenced by the environment – whether the topic is global climate change, air pollution or deadly toxic fumes in the workplace – are Tim Takaro’s focus. The associate professor in health sciences studies disease susceptibility factors in environmental and occupational health, including inflammatory lung conditions such as asthma, chronic beryllium disease and asbestosis. Takaro, a physician and scientist, is part of a $12 million national study investigating the rise in respiratory illness in children. In another recent study he found homes that were environmentally and health-friendly may reduce asthma symptoms in children as much or more than medication.
Tim Takaro, 778.782.7186; timothy_takaro@sfu.ca
-30-