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Student website reduces food waste and helps people in need Raja Wariach, a fourth year human geography major at UBC's Okanagan campus has developed a unique and sustainable solution to match...
UBC and Vineyard Networks partner on advanced networks research Internationally respected Kelowna-based company Vineyard Networks is collaborating with UBC to create a new approach to data storage and retrieval. This partnership...
1st Place, Alden Blair: Socio-cultural drivers of HIV-associated vulnerabilities for conflict-affected male youth populations in IDP and refugee camp settings.
Runner up, Stephen Pan: Sociocultural HIV risk factors among ethnic minority men who have sex with men in Beijing, China.
People's Choice, Jason Tan de Bibiana: What is the impact of Housing First on emergency department use among homeless individuals with mental illness in Vancouver?
Thank you to all participants for sharing their research: Jason Tan de Bibiana, Abdulla Moussa, Stephen Pan, Angeli Rawat, Allison Watts, Katie Muldoon, Alden Blair, Caitlin Frame, Daniel Naiman, Jasmina Memetovic, Rabia Kahn, and Siavash Jafari
Thank you also to the 2012 judges: They were extremely impressed with the professional and engaging way our students presented their research.
Dr Mark Gotay – Assistant Director of the Pacific Institute for the Mathematical Sciences (PIMS at UBC).
Dr Michelle Riedlinger – A Faculty member in the Communications Department at the University of the Fraser Valley, and former academic writing instructor at UBC.
Jenni Metcalfe - Director of Australian based Science Communication company econnect communication and former president of the Australian Science Communicators. Michelle and Jenni hosted a workshop at this year's AAAS conference in Vancouver Communicating in a Minute: reaching Decision-Makers.
We would also like to thank all Faculty that supported the event in 2012. This event is having huge success at UBC and is quickly being adopted by universities throughout North America.
Thank you, on behalf of the students, to:
Mike Brauer, Martin Schechter, Kay Teschke, Charlyn Black, Joel Singer, Mieke Koehoorn, Arminee Kazanjian, Mike Marin, Chris Richardson, Gary Poole, David Patrick, Kim McGrail, Chris Lovato, Sam Sheps, Jim Frankish, Aslam Anis, Patricia Spittal, and Patti Janssen.
To continue to support the 3MT competition, and our SPPH students, please attend the semi-finals Wednesday February 29th 1:30pm and 3pm. Location: TBA
Tuesday, February 21, 2012
SPPH graduate one of Environmental Health Sciences’ 2012 Science Communication Fellows
SPPH PhD Graduate, Dr. Glenys Webster, is one of ten scientists specializing in environmental health and green chemistry who have been named Environmental Health Sciences’ 2012 Science Communication Fellows.
The Fellows will spend the next year polishing their communication skills and learning effective ways to inform journalists and the public about new research findings in environmental health and green chemistry. They will work with editors and writers at Environmental Health Sciences (EHS) to produce original research reviews and commentaries on media coverage. Additionally, they will be available as sources to journalists seeking information for stories.
The Fellows' training begins with a conference March 8-10 in Washington, DC.
Congratulations, Glenys!
Thursday, February 09, 2012
Canadian Orthopaedic Surgeon Honored for Creating Clubfoot Treatment Program in Uganda
The American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons (AAOS) presented its 2012 Humanitarian Award to Shafique P. Pirani, MD, of British Columbia, Canada, during an awards ceremony at its 2012 Annual Meeting. The Humanitarian Award honors members of the Academy who have distinguished themselves through outstanding musculoskeletal-related humanitarian activities in the United States or abroad. This award also recognizes those orthopaedic surgeons who help to improve the human condition by alleviating suffering and supporting and contributing to the basic human dignity of those in need.
Dr. Pirani established the Uganda Sustainable Clubfoot Care Project (USCCP), a nonprofit organization dedicated to reducing widespread disability and poverty from neglected clubfoot.
“Clubfoot is a birth defect where the foot is twisted inward and downward.” said Dr. Pirani. “Early on in life, the deformity causes few symptoms. But as you get bigger, it hurts when you stand and walk. Life then starts to become more difficult. Walking becomes increasingly painful. Children suffer social isolation and stigmatization. Children appear different to friends and village mates, and are given strange names.
“Children with clubfoot are less likely to attend school, less likely to have a job or get married, and more likely to suffer from poverty.” said Dr. Pirani. “They are a burden to themselves, their family and society.”
In 1972, when Dr. Pirani was just 15-years-old, he and his family were forced to leave Uganda by the country’s dictator, Idi Amin. They moved to England, where Dr. Pirani became a doctor. He later moved to Canada where he completed his residency in orthopaedic surgery and fellowship in pediatric orthopaedics, joined the Department of Orthopaedics at the University of British Columbia, and began a successful practice specializing in pediatric orthopaedics, and specifically the treatment of clubfoot at the Royal Columbian Hospital in Vancouver.
In 1998, Dr. Pirani returned to his native country on a social visit. While there, he met with Norgrove Penny, MD, a Canadian orthopaedic surgeon who was working in Uganda treating disabled children. Dr. Penny told Dr. Pirani that an estimated 10,000 children were living with neglected clubfoot in Uganda, and another 1,500 were born each year with the condition. In a country of 20 million people, there were only eight orthopaedic surgeons available to surgically correct the condition. More often than not, children failed to access treatment and grew up suffering the consequences of neglected clubfeet.
After hearing about the “terrible” clubfoot situation in Uganda, Dr. Pirani said that he “immediately thought that the Ponseti Method needed to be brought to the country. This affordable, minimally invasive method corrects the deformity with gentle manipulation and casting, followed by cutting of the heel cord under local anesthetic (the tendon heals normally). Bracing prevents relapse. The method is very successful in young children, who then grow up no longer disabled and fully able to participate in society.”
“I told Dr. Penny, ‘you should do this.’ And he said, ‘no, you should do this,’” said Dr. Pirani. “That’s how it started. I was ready at that point in my life to try to do something altruistic.”
Dr. Pirani and Dr. Penny communicated over the next year via email, “and formulated a strategy to bring Ponseti clubfoot treatment to Uganda. We had some obstacles that we had to get over. There were few orthopaedic surgeons. Who was going to do the treatment?”
They decided to train a “cadre of nurses and health care workers” called “orthopaedic officers” to oversee the treatment. Training began in November 1999 at the Mulago Hospital in the city of Kampala with funding from Rotary International and the Canadian International Development Agency. The new “officers” immediately began treating children with clubfoot with locally made, inexpensive braces and plaster. Dr. Pirani and Dr. Penny held additional trainings each year, ultimately integrating the program into the country’s health system.
The USCCP has been instrumental in teaching and institutionalizing the nonsurgical Ponseti Method of treatment throughout Uganda’s health and higher educational systems. Today, there are 40 clubfoot clinics and more than 4,000 health care professionals and students trained in the Ponseti Method in Uganda. Over the past 15 years, more than 3,000 children have been successfully treated. Dr. Pirani regularly returns to Uganda to evaluate the outcomes of the program. He also presents the “Ugandan Model” of Ponseti clubfoot care in other under resourced countries and jurisdictions. Recently the World Health Organization recognized the success of USCCP and recommended its model as a way of helping the disabled worldwide.
“Years ago, if you went to the orthopaedic ward at a major hospital in Uganda you would see many children with neglected clubfeet waiting for surgery,” said Dr. Pirani. “Now there are very few children waiting for surgery. They are being treated by the Ponseti Method. That surgical time can now be utilized for other surgeries to treat other conditions.
The USCCP “is an incredible effort and a spectacular outcome that sits on the shoulders of one of the humblest men I know,” said Peter O. Newton, MD, who nominated Dr. Pirani for the Humanitarian Award. “I can think of no one more deserving and representative of this award than Dr. Shafique Pirani.”
“I am honored to receive this award. The most important thing about receiving this award is that it raises the awareness of problems experienced by children in developing nations affected with orthopaedic problems such as clubfeet, and that orthopaedic surgeons are instrumental in developing solutions.” said Dr. Pirani.
SPPH has been a strong supporter of this research and fully supports the award.
Monday, January 30, 2012
Congratulations to our UBC Faculty Research Award winners
Congratulations to the 2011 recipients of UBC’s Faculty Research Awards. These awards recognize talented researchers on campus, and recognition at the university level can also lead to similar honours at the national and international level.
This year, three members of the SPPH family won awards:
UBC KILLAM FACULTY RESEARCH FELLOWSHIPS
Junior Category: Hugh Davies, School of Population & Public Health Steve Morgan, Centre for Health Services and Policy Research Sabrina Wong, Nursing, School of Population and Public Health
These winners, and the winners in all categories, will be honoured during this year’s Celebrate Research Week Awards Reception to be held on March 8, 2012 at the Museum of Anthropology.
Thursday, January 26, 2012
A Moving Study: Heart and Stroke Foundation InSight 2011
Neighbourhoods designed to encourage physical activity can literally be a lifesaver. People tend to walk more and be physically active when shops and services are nearby – and are more likely to be overweight if they need to drive everywhere. Drs. Lawrence Frank and Michael Brauer’s team are exploring how different design features make an impact by comparing the layout of neighbourhoods and people’s health before and after they move to a new, more walkable, and centralized neighbourhoods.
Call for Abstracts - Priorities 2012: Partnerships for Improving Health Systems
PRIORITIES 2012: Call for Abstracts Reminder
Abstract Submission Deadline: March 26, 2012
We wanted to remind you of the submission date for oral and poster presentation at Priorities 2012, the biennial conference of the International Society on Priorities in Health Care, taking place September 16 – 19, 2012, at the Westin Bayshore, in Vancouver, BC.
We are excited to be accepting submissions for both Papers, and for Organized Sessions, which allow for further flexibility in your presentations and participation in the meeting.
Both Calls for Abstracts are available online at the following links:
The theme of this year's meeting is "Partnerships for Improving Health Systems." Program details will be available on the conference website in January 2012.
UBC Access and Diversity is seeking a tutor to work 2 hours per week tutoring a student in SPPH 500. Preferrence will be given to persons who have taken SPPH 500 (Analytical Methods in Epidemiological Research) in the past, or have experience with advanced statistics.
This position is on-campus and will continue to April 2012; the pay is $19.96/hour. Job Posting ID is 788553.
For more information email A&D Advisor Ruth Warick
Thursday, January 26, 2012
Fellowships offered by The Population Reference Bureau (PRB)
The Population Reference Bureau (PRB) is now accepting applications for its 2012-2013 Policy Communication Fellows Program. The program is funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID).
These fellowships are open to individuals from developing countries enrolled in academic institutions in the United States, Canada as well as other selected countries pursuing doctoral programs that are between their 3rd and 5th year of studies.
Developing-country applicants may be in any field of study but their research focus should be related to one or more of the following:
Family planning and/or reproductive health (FP/RH), including family planning/HIV integration.
Maternal and child health (MCH), including family planning/MCH integration.
Contraceptive use/behavior.
Population growth.
Adolescent reproductive health.
Poverty and health equity.
Gender issues, including gender-based violence (GBV), early marriage, and male engagement.
Population, health, and environment interrelations.
The main aim of the Policy Fellows program is:
To understand the process by which research informs the policy environment.
To learn various ways to communicate findings to policy audiences.
The Policy Fellows program initiated in the 1980s has close to 400 alumni. The main motto of the program is to bridge the gap between research findings and the policy development process. The research often has profound policy implications which must be communicated effectively to a variety of nontechnical audiences to make an impact. The Fellowship awards will be announced in March 2012.
The Three Minute Thesis (3MT) is an academic competition that assists current graduate students with fostering effective presentation and communication skills. Participants have just three minutes to explain the breadth and significance of their research project to a non-specialist audience.
In 2010, more than 30 universities from across Australia and New Zealand have participated in this fun, highly informative and very entertaining event. In 2011, more than 40 universities from across Australia and New Zealand participated in their annual international 3MT competition; a fun, highly informative and very entertaining event.
UBC is one of the first Universities in North America to host a 3MT competition.
The semi-finals and finals, with cash prizes, will take place at the Graduate Student Centre on Wednesday, February 29th and Friday, March 2nd, respectively.
Wednesday, January 25, 2012
IHHS 408 elective: Topics in Aboriginal Health – A Community Based Experience
The Division of Aboriginal People's Health is once again offering their IHHS 408 elective, entitled Topics in Aboriginal Health – A Community Based Experience. We have had much success with this course, which provides an exceptional experience to students.
The course is interprofessional and practice-based, and provides students with the unique opportunity to live and work in an Aboriginal community for four-weeks. They coordinate the living arrangements for students and provide and two-day orientation to help get students started.
IHHS 408 will be offered from May 31-June 30, 2012. If students are interested in the course but the start date conflicts with their exam period, they are invited to contact the Division of Aboriginal People's Health to inquire about making arrangements.
