Research Centres are established to facilitate collaborative research within a Faculty.
CENTRE ON GLOBAL HEALTH AND GOVERNANCE
Disease pandemics, climate change, economic crises, trade and investment agreements, and population movements all pose profound challenges for global health policy. How can we better understand these factors and what governance responses are needed to tackle them effectively? The Faculty of Health Sciences has assembled a group of leading scholars who bring a strong multidisciplinary approach to addressing global health challenges. Molecular biologists working on infectious disease control work alongside epidemiologists and social scientists to address a wide range of topics such as HIV/AIDS prevention, healthier practices in mining, trends in medical tourism, and the monitoring of tobacco industry activities. Financial support for this Centre will facilitate Canadian research on global health, strengthen partnerships and networks, and help attract and support students interested in global health as a career. | $5 million
CENTRE FOR URBAN HEALTH POLICY
Urban populations in Canada and elsewhere face unique health challenges related to poverty, lack of infrastructure and the patchwork of services and policies that often fail to meet the complex health needs of diverse populations. The Faculty of Health Sciences has major research and policy strengths in addressing significant urban health issues such as mental health, addictions, prevention and treatment of HIV/AIDS, prevention of chronic disease, and social and health policy related to children, women and Aboriginal people. Creating a Centre for Urban Health Policy with administrative locations on both the Downtown and Surrey campuses will enhance our capacity to ensure urban health policy and services in the greater Vancouver region are evidence-based and fully articulated with cutting edge research and student engagement. | $5 million
Chairs are established in order to recruit a world-class Scholar to provide research leadership in SFU and British Columbia.
ENDOWED CHAIR IN ABORIGINAL HEALTH GOVERNANCE
In Canada, First Nations and Aboriginal people experience lower life expectancies and significantly higher rates of chronic disease and mental health problems than other populations. Recent scientific evidence suggests that where health systems include higher levels of Aboriginal people in the governance processes, health disparities decline. In BC, First Nations are leading the country in developing new governance models for health care in their communities, in full partnership with provincial and federal agencies. As a member of SFU’s Faculty of Health Sciences, currently home to The CIHR Institute of Aboriginal People’s Health, creating this chair will allow us to attract a world-class scholar who will work with Aboriginal partners to determine best practices in health governance and attract Aboriginal students to develop careers in this critically important area. | $5 million
ENDOWED CHAIR IN DEVELOPMENTAL ORIGINS OF HEALTH & DISEASE
World-wide today, there is an epidemic of non-communicable or chronic diseases. Although environment and lifestyle are widely understood to be associated with these diseases, there is growing evidence that molecular and cellular changes at the earliest stages of fetal and infant development have lifelong consequences for the development of chronic disease later in life. We now know, for example, that poor fetal growth and small size at birth are followed by increased risk of coronary heart disease, stroke, hypertension, Type 2 diabetes and osteoporosis. The Chair in Developmental Origins of Health and Disease will oversee a broad program of interdisciplinary research with studies ranging from the effects of environment on the epigenome and how these changes are passed on to later generations, to the development of interventions that mitigate against diabetes, to translation of this new knowledge into public policy and lifestyle change across communities. | $5 million
