Message from Dr. Nancy Edwards
I am writing this letter as I fly home from Brussels, having been at an independent expert advisory group meeting to discuss the future of public health research in the European Union Framework Programme for Research and Innovation. This is just one example of how our Institute is working with international colleagues to foster cross-learning on a range of issues that are pertinent to our strategic directions. Contributing to these types of deliberations extends the reach and impact of our Institute's efforts to build the field of population health intervention research.
There have been a number of recent opportunities for these kinds of interactions. I attended the World Congress of Public Health Associations event in Ethiopia in April. Some highlights of this Conference are provided in this newsletter. Erica Di Ruggiero attended the American Public Health Association Conference, Sarah Viehbeck and I attended the European Public Health Association Conference, Emma Cohen and Kim Gaudreau attended the CIHR Gender and Health Research Conference, and I also attended the Second Global Symposium on Health Systems Research. These venues provide an important means to work with other partners to foster joint initiatives between CIHR and international funding agencies. These have already led to a number of joint initiatives and funding opportunities. Among these are the series of symposia on population health intervention research held jointly with the CDC, meetings with journal editors that led to a special issue on population health intervention research in Preventive Medicine, and joint efforts to strengthen the area of population health ethics.
Institute Advisory Board members continue to play a critical role in helping to build these networks and the opportunities afforded by them. I want to thank IAB members who completed their terms with us this summer -they have each left an indelible mark on the Institute. Susan Kirkland ably served as our Vice Chair and provided highly valued input on evaluation matters. Margaret Whitehead completed her second term with the IAB. The depth of her reflections on determinants of health and the links she helped to forge with research councils in the UK was much appreciated. Tim Evans was one of our global health gurus, who added critical and pragmatic insights to our deliberations. Norman Daniels was the ethics designate for our board and provided expert advice from this perspective. We will miss all of them. But IAB membership renewal continues; at our October IAB meeting, we welcomed three new members, who bring international experience and diversity to our Board. David Peters is Professor and Associate Chair of the Department of International Health and Director of the Health Systems Program at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. He is a Canadian, originally from Manitoba. Mark Petticrew is a Professor of Public Health Evaluation in the Department of Social and Environmental Health Research in the Faculty of Public Health and Policy at London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and has worked with the IPPH-funded Population Health Intervention Research Centre at the University of Calgary and participated in our population health intervention research conference earlier this year. Angus Dawson is Professor of Public Health Ethics and Head of Medicine, Ethics, Society & History at the University of Birmingham, UK. Angus is our new IAB ethics designate. He was based at the University of Toronto from 2007-2009 and continues to be involved in a number of projects in Canada including being part of the working group that produced the recent white paper on ethical considerations relating to non-research public health interventions for Public Health Ontario. We look forward to their ongoing contributions at our board meetings.
Wishing you and your networks a wonderful fall and winter and see you again in 2013!
Dr. Nancy Edwards
Scientific Director
CIHR Institute of Population and Public Health