Two University of Waterloo researchers specializing in population health are winners of the prestigious Trailblazer Award, the Canadian Institutes of Health Research’s Institute of Population and Public Health (CIHR-IPPH) announced today.
David Hammond and Scott Leatherdale won the Trailblazer Award from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research’s Institute of Population and Public Health. Photo credit: Jonathan Bielaski, Light Imaging
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.
About the University of Waterloo
University of Waterloo is Canada’s top innovation university. With more than 36,000 students we are home to the world's largest co-operative education system of its kind. Our unmatched entrepreneurial culture, combined with an intensive focus on research, powers one of the top innovation hubs in the world. Find out more at uwaterloo.ca
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