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New faculty pioneers multi-disciplinary health research
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David MacLean, 604.291.5361; dmaclean@sfu.ca
Irene Rodway, 604.291.6778; inrodway@sfu.ca
Carol Thorbes, Media & PR, 604.291.3035; cthorbes@sfu.ca
David MacLean, 604.291.5361; dmaclean@sfu.ca
Irene Rodway, 604.291.6778; inrodway@sfu.ca
Carol Thorbes, Media & PR, 604.291.3035; cthorbes@sfu.ca
December 15, 2003
A new faculty of health sciences at Simon Fraser University "will fill a gap in services in BC," says John Blatherwick, chief medical health officer of the Vancouver Coastal Health Authority. The regional health administrator elaborates, "SFU is the first post-secondary institution to dedicate a faculty to taking a multi-disciplinary approach to health, something very much needed in the 21st century."
SFU President Michael Stevenson says the faculty is a natural evolution of the university’s deepening focus on health. Stevenson notes that the new faculty could not be timelier. "Concerns about HIV, West Nile virus, SARS and potential bioterrorist agents have heightened awareness of the need for more effective ways to contain or eradicate historic and new infectious agents."
The faculty’s research and teaching programs will bridge social and natural science research with a variety of health-related investigations spanning a number of disciplines. The areas of investigation include: social roots of disease; organization and social dynamics of clinical practice; factors that control health-related institutions, systems and policies; and population health outcomes based on factors such as health education, socio-economics, genetics, and biomedicine. Using multiple modes of inquiry and levels of analysis, researchers will collaborate to develop a big picture of health. "The end result," says David MacLean, "is an integrated understanding of health and its biological and social determinants that can form the foundation of new discovery."
MacLean, named a Canadian Health Hero in 2002 by the Pan American Health Association, is the director of SFU’s Institute of Health Research and Education (IHRE), the architect of the new faculty. It will accept its inaugural Master of Science program’s first students in September 2005. The program in population and public health will explore collaborative community health research, disease prevention, the complexities of societal investment in health, and public policy-making.
—30—
(photo available)
Websites:
Pan American Health Association; www.paho.org/
Health Research & Education; www.ihre.sfu.ca/
Vancouver Coastal Health Authority; www.vch.ca/home_page/index.htm
SFU President Michael Stevenson says the faculty is a natural evolution of the university’s deepening focus on health. Stevenson notes that the new faculty could not be timelier. "Concerns about HIV, West Nile virus, SARS and potential bioterrorist agents have heightened awareness of the need for more effective ways to contain or eradicate historic and new infectious agents."
The faculty’s research and teaching programs will bridge social and natural science research with a variety of health-related investigations spanning a number of disciplines. The areas of investigation include: social roots of disease; organization and social dynamics of clinical practice; factors that control health-related institutions, systems and policies; and population health outcomes based on factors such as health education, socio-economics, genetics, and biomedicine. Using multiple modes of inquiry and levels of analysis, researchers will collaborate to develop a big picture of health. "The end result," says David MacLean, "is an integrated understanding of health and its biological and social determinants that can form the foundation of new discovery."
MacLean, named a Canadian Health Hero in 2002 by the Pan American Health Association, is the director of SFU’s Institute of Health Research and Education (IHRE), the architect of the new faculty. It will accept its inaugural Master of Science program’s first students in September 2005. The program in population and public health will explore collaborative community health research, disease prevention, the complexities of societal investment in health, and public policy-making.
—30—
(photo available)
Websites:
Pan American Health Association; www.paho.org/
Health Research & Education; www.ihre.sfu.ca/
Vancouver Coastal Health Authority; www.vch.ca/home_page/index.htm