This year marks the 20th anniversary of the Honours Bachelor of Health Sciences.
Our school continues to grow. We’re proud to note that more and more students are choosing our programs and that new professors are deciding to join us.
In addition to this anniversary, I’d like to mention that we added two new professors this year. David Landry, who’s fluently bilingual, joined the School in September. His research looks at the developmental origins of health and disease (DOHaD) and seeks to understanding how the hostile endocrine environment of polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) in mothers may promote aberrant epigenetic reprogramming, leading to physiological changes in the fetus and the emergence of PCOS and obesity during adulthood.
Lei Cao, also bilingual, will join our team in September 2023. Her research area is genetics and population health. She seeks to understand how the genome and the epigenome, as well as the interaction between genes and the environment, contribute to our health and wellness. Her approach relies on both bioinformatics and biology laboratory techniques.
As far as research goes, the School wishes to fill a Tier 2 Canada Research Chair in population health data science. School members published many texts over the past year:
- Well-being in Later Life: The Notion of Connected Autonomy
- Borders, Boundaries, and Pandemics
- Sex in the Middle East and North Africa
- “A case study on ageism during the COVID-19 pandemic” (published on the Government of Canada website)
School members received many research grants from Canada, the U.S., France and India. The Commissionaires Ottawa Research Chair held by Annie Robitaille at Perley Health was renewed. Raywat Deonandan, Angel Foster and Tracey O’Sullivan attracted attention, respectively, by writing and submitting two affidavits to Ontario courts on COVID-19, giving many media interviews on changes in the American legal landscape regarding abortion and taking part in a WHO panel during an international conference on catastrophes. Finally, the Psychosocial Impact of Assistive Devices Scale, co-authored by Professor Jeffrey Jutai, has now been translated for language and culture over a dozen times worldwide.
Some of our professors received awards:
- Raywat Deonandan — Award of Merit for Professional Achievement — Western University
- Pascal Fallavollita — Global Visiting Professorship Award — Technical University of Munich
- Sarah Fraser — Community Engagement Award — University of Ottawa
This year, six people chose adjunct positions or cross-appointments. James Gomes (who recently retired and continues to contribute to our activities), Céline Delacroix (a school alumna) and Josette Renée Landry (former CEO of the Institut du Savoir Montfort and new CEO of Génome Québec) have joined us as adjunct professors. Nafissa Ismail, who will take over as director of the LIFE Research Institute when Linda Garcia leaves, was granted a cross-appointment. Lisa Morgan (Equanimity Midwifery Consulting) and Naomi Tschirhart (school alumna) renewed their status as adjunct professors.
We’re very pleased that Rodrigue Deuboué and Charles Daboné, both professors with long-term appointments, have decided to renew their contracts. The School is currently working on a new nomination.
A big thank you to my team and to the administrators who strive to improve our programs of study. Finally, we warmly congratulate our graduates — four doctorates and 12 masters — on receiving their degrees. We wish you great careers!