Once again, the School of Population and Public Health has been fortunate to have several faculty members honoured with prestigious awards. We would like to congratulate:

Dr. Stuart Peacock who won a Faculty of Medicine Distinguished Achievement Award for Excellence in Clinical or Applied Research
Dr. Mieke Koehoorn, who won a Faculty of Medicine Distinguished Achievement Award for Service to the University and the Community
Dr. Michael Brauer, who won a Faculty of Medicine Distinguished Achievement Award for Overall Excellence

SPPH's Dr. Patricia (Patti) Janssen has been nominated in the Science, Research & Innovation category for a YWCA Women of Distinction Award.

However, in addition, the nominees are also eligible for the Connecting the Community Award. Nominees collect votes and Scotiabank will donate $10,000 to the YWCA program area of her choice.

Voting has now started and will continue until May 22. Please visit the voting site and vote for Patricia Janssen! Then tell others, using Twitter or Facebook or even word of mouth, to vote for Patricia as well!

Thank you.

The YWCA Women of Distinction Awards is recognized as one of Canada's most prestigious awards for women. YWCA Metro Vancouver's 29th annual YWCA Women of Distinction Awards honours women whose achievements contribute to the well-being and future of the community.

This year, SPPH's Dr. Patricia (Patti) Janssen has been nominated in the Science, Research & Innovation category.

In addition, the nominees are also eligible for the Connecting the Community Award where they select a YWCA program area that they are interested in and use social media such as Twitter and Facebook to promote votes. From April 19–May 22 the public can cast their votes for and the nominee with the most votes receives the Connecting the Community Award and Scotiabank will donate $10,000 to the YWCA program area of her choice.

The winners will be announced on May 24, 2012. Tickets for the Silent Auction and Awards banquet can be purchased here

The 2011 James M. Robinson Award, for significant contributions to public health, was presented to Dr. Danuta Skowronski. Dr. Skowronski is a Physician Epidemiologist at BCCDC and a Clinical Professor with UBC's School of Population and Public Health.

Danuta Skowronski receives award from SPPH's Jane Buxton

The 2011 George Elliot Award, for lifetime contribution to public health in BC, was presented to Dr. Sam Sheps, who is a Professor with UBC's School of Population and Public Health and the Director of the School's MSc and PhD Program.

Congratulations to Danuta and Sam.

Sam Sheps receives award from SPPH's Jane Buxton

James M Robinson and George Elliot
More information about James M Robinson and George Elliot, for whom these awards were named.

Selection of winners
BC Medical Health officers, Public Health Association of BC members and SPPH faculty members have the opportunity to nominate individuals for these awards. The final list of nominees is reviewed and the winner selected by a committee composed of a Chair, a Provincial Health Officer, a retired member of the public health community, and a representative from SPPH.

SPPH's Associate Professor Mieke Koehoorn and Professor Aslam Anis are two of the three recipients of UBC's Faculty of Medicine Award for Excellence in Mentoring Early Career Faculty. Dr. Gavin Stuart, Dean of the Faculty of Medicine, called their success a "very strong affirmation of [their] contribution in mentoring".

The two will receive their awards at the Faculty of Medicine's Annual Awards Reception in May.

CONGRATULATIONS!

The Faculty of Medicine announced that the Centre for Health Evaluation & Outcome Sciences (CHEOS) is its newest Faculty of Medicine approved Centre. This internationally renowned Centre, led by Dr. Aslam Anis, brings together a very talented interdisciplinary group of investigators that is addressing health interventions on populations to understand how to improve health and transform health for the future.

For more information about CHEOS click here

This project involves the transfer of occupational exposure data stored by Workplace Safety and Health (WS&H), Family Services and Labour into an accessible, electronic data format. The data in its new format will improve the tracking of occupational exposures, workplace prevention and policy development. The database will enable WS&H to obtain better estimates of provincial carcinogen hazards and create a province-wide electronic database.Project funding will support an occupational hygienist to assess the documentation and input of the data.

The data from Manitoba will be added to the Canadian Workplace Exposure Database (CWED) which is a national carcinogen exposure surveillance project initiated in 2008 by the Canadian Partnership against Cancer. The CWED is being developed to house measurement data on exposures to known, probable and possible carcinogens from a variety of sources in Canada.

More information

Dr. Evan Adams named Deputy PHO for Aboriginal health

VICTORIA - Aboriginal Health Physician Advisor Dr. Evan Adams has been appointed Deputy Provincial Health Officer, announced Minister of Health Michael de Jong, the First Nations Heath Council and the interim First Nations Health Authority today.

In his new overseeing role, Dr. Adams will work alongside Provincial Health Officer Dr. Perry Kendall and Deputy PHO Dr. Eric Young by providing independent direction on First Nations and Aboriginal health issues to the Ministry of Health, reporting to citizens on health issues affecting the general population, and setting out a path for the improvement of First Nations and Aboriginal health and wellness. Dr. Adams's new role reflects a strengthening of the partnership between the Province of B.C. and B.C. First Nations.

Dr. Adams is a Coast Salish physician and actor from the Sliammon First Nation located near Powell River. Previously he served as Aboriginal health physician advisor to government and the First Nations Health Council, contributing to positive developments in health for all citizens in B.C. while making substantial improvements in service delivery to First Nations in the province.

As the chief resident during his family practice residency in the Aboriginal Family Practice Program at St. Paul's Hospital in Vancouver, he won the provincial Family Medicine Resident Leadership Award from the College of Family Physicians of Canada (CFPC) and the Murray Stalker Award from the CFPC Research and Education Foundation. He was named as a role model by the National Native Alcohol and Drug Abuse Program and has worked with First Nations youth in health promotions and life-skills workshops across Canada.

Dr. Adams is the past president of the Healing Our Spirit B.C. First Nations AIDS Society, which provides prevention education for Aboriginal people in urban and rural communities throughout the province, as well as being a past president of the Indigenous Physicians Association of Canada, and the director of the Division of Aboriginal Peoples Health in the University of British Columbia Faculty of Medicine.

From a directive and overseeing position since his appointment as the top physician advisor on Aboriginal Health, down to working first-hand with one of the most at-risk Aboriginal populations in the country in Vancouver's downtown eastside, Dr. Adams brings invaluable on-the-ground and executive experience.

His appointment is yet another positive step for First Nations health-care representation in B.C., bringing greater Aboriginal perspective and representation to the provincial table with the goal of raising the quality of life for First Nations and all citizens.

Dr. Adams is a full-scholarship alumnus from Victoria's St. Michaels University School and Lester B. Pearson College of the Pacific. He also studied general science at the University of B.C., completed his medical doctorate at the University of Calgary, and a masters of public health at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in Baltimore, Maryland. As a successful actor, he has starred in mainstream films and television, and has won a best actor award from the American Indian Film Festival as well as a 1999 Independent Spirit Award. He was also awarded a Gemini for "Best Host" for his appearance on the National Aboriginal Achievement Awards broadcast.

Dr. Adams's appointment takes effect April 1, 2012.

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