Monday, May 2, 2016

Researchers are trailblazers in public health

Two University of Waterloo researchers specializing in population health are winners of the Canadian Institutes of Health Research’s Institute of Population and Public Health Trailblazer Award.

Professors Scott Leatherdale and David Hammond, both of the Faculty of Applied Health Sciences and the School of Public Health and Health Systems at Waterloo, are leading experts in developing and evaluating strategies for reducing the prevalence of chronic disease among the Canadian population. They both hold CIHR-PHAC Applied Public Health Chairs.

The one-time awards recognize Canadian researchers who are making exceptional national and international contributions in the area of population health interventions.

Professor Leatherdale’s COMPASS project is the world’s largest and most comprehensive study focused on chronic disease prevention among youth. Following more than 50,000 high school students annually, COMPASS evaluates how hundreds of real-world changes in programs, policies, or environments are related to changes in disease risk factors, such as tobacco and alcohol use, drug use, and obesity.

“Finding ways to help youth maintain a healthy lifestyle provides the greatest potential to reduce the future chronic disease burden moving forward,” said Professor Leatherdale. “To create a healthier future, we need to invest more energy to developing tools and systems to effectively understand what prevention approaches work, for whom, and in what context, as the traditional one size fits all approaches just don’t work.”

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) in the United States recently identified COMPASS as the new standard for advancing traditional prevention research methods with youth.

Professor David Hammond is recognized internationally as a leading expert on tobacco control. His research on the effects of plain packaging on smoking behaviour has shaped legislation in countries around the world including Australia, the UK and Ireland.

Professor Hammond has served as an advisor to the World Health Organization (WHO), and is frequently called upon by governments to testify against tobacco companies seeking to strike down new tobacco control laws.  In a new study spanning three countries, Professor Hammond is testing how regulations on e-cigarettes might influence vaping and smoking behaviour among youth.

“E-cigarettes have the potential to increase and decrease smoking, depending upon who is using them and for what reason. The extent to which they have a positive or negative public health impact may depend upon how they are regulated so that they help smokers to quit, rather than promote smoking among youth,” said Professor Hammond. “Our research seeks to provide governments with the evidence they need to effectively regulate e-cigarettes.”

Professor Hammond also specializes in nutrition policies, including ways to improve nutrition labels on food products and promote healthier diets.

“Professors Leatherdale and Hammond truly are trailblazing leaders in igniting population health solutions,” said James Rush, dean of the Faculty of Applied Health Sciences. “Their collaborative approaches to not just creating knowledge— but translating and mobilizing it, are shaping the field of population health, policy and practice in Canada and around the world. The awards are testament to Waterloo’s commitment to improving health and wellbeing through innovative, solution-oriented population health research.”

Waterloo’s School of Public Health and Health Systems is home to the first Master of Health Evaluation program, and offers the only Master of Health Informatics program in Canada focusing on public health and health systems.

The CIHR-IPPH Trailblazer Award in Population Health Solutions recognizes researchers who have made exceptional contributions in the area of population health intervention research and demonstrated leadership, mentorship, and innovation.

Traffic diversions as ION work closes Erb, Caroline

Expect increased traffic near the University's main campus as the intersection of Erb Street and Caroline Street closes for ION construction work beginning May 16.

GrandLinq will be fully closing the Erb Street and Caroline Street intersection in UpTown Waterloo for a period lasting approximately four months.
 
During this closure, the official detour for vehicle traffic will be:

• Westmount to University to King; and
• William to Regina to Erb

Caroline Street will remain accessible from Father David Bauer Drive to Allen and will be open to two-way traffic during the closure period. In addition, the currently-closed King and William and King and Union intersections will be reopened before the start of the Erb construction period.

As with all road closures, detour and way-finding signs will be placed in and around UpTown Waterloo so that customers understand the best route for travelling to and around UpTown Waterloo. Pedestrians, cyclists and drivers should take note that University Avenue will be picking up the slack as part of the official detour and take extra care when crossing at the South Campus entrance and other nearby intersections.

For more information, check the ION-related travel disruption website.

Excellence Canada certification for faculties, President's Office

Integrating Excellence Canada’s Excellence, Innovation, and Wellness (EIW) Standard is a key objective under the Strategic Plan’s Robust Employer-Employee Relationship theme. Following the lead of the Library, which piloted the integration of this quality standard in 2014, the Faculty of Applied Health Sciences, the Faculty of Mathematics, and the Office of the President all recently achieved certification. Efforts were led by Dean Jim Rush and Katherine Marshall in AHS, Dean Stephen Watt and Jack Rehder in Math, and President Feridun Hamdullahpur and Andrea Kelman in the Office of the President.

The EIW Standard focuses on six key areas: Leadership and Governance, Strategy and Planning, Service Excellence, People Engagement, Process and Project Management, and Partners and Suppliers. It challenges units to consider their performance in these areas and provides a framework for continuous improvement that emphasizes innovation, wellness, social responsibility, leadership involvement, and a commitment to good governance, among other things.

Human Resources, Organizational & Human Development, the Office of the Vice-President Academic and Provost, and St. Jerome’s University have recently started their Excellence Canada efforts and additional areas will be starting soon. For a full list of participating areas and for more information on this initiative, see the Excellence Canada at Waterloo website.

Pankratz named interim Grebel prez; other notes

Former Conrad Grebel dean Jim Pankratz will serve as interim president of the university college, following the recent announcement that Susan Schultz Huxman will be moving to Eastern Mennonite University in Harrisonburg, Virginia.

The transition will commence this fall around the time of the College’s annual general meeting on October 1.

Pankratz served as the College’s dean from 2006 until his retirement in 2014. Prior to that time he was in Fresno, California at the Mennonite Brethren Seminary and served as president of Concord College during the time of the creation of Canadian Mennonite University.

A search committee will be struck for a new president at Conrad Grebel's June board meeting.

Campus is back in action as lectures begin for the Spring term today. For students, the course add period ends on May 13, and the "Drop, No Penalty" period ends May 20.

The application deadline for the AC Jumpstart program run out of the Accelerator Centre in partnership with the University of Waterloo is Monday, May 9. AC JumpStart provides early stage technology startups with the seed capital, mentorship, and market-readiness tools, and is open to graduates who earned their last Waterloo degree (in any discipline) within five years.