THE UNIVERSITY OF SASKATCHEWAN’S MAIN CAMPUS IS SITUATED ON TREATY 6 TERRITORY AND THE HOMELAND OF THE MÉTIS.
THE UNIVERSITY OF SASKATCHEWAN’S MAIN CAMPUS IS SITUATED ON TREATY 6 TERRITORY AND THE HOMELAND OF THE MÉTIS.
KAROL KUDYBA
News Writer
A local medico from Lac La Ronge has been called to the big leagues to help Canadian doctors spread information more effectively and efficiently.
Dr. James Irvine, a University of Saskatchewan professor and provincial medical health officer, has been appointed to the advisory board of the National Collaborating Centres for Public Health Contribution Program. He joins a panel of experts dealing with health problems big and small.
The National Collaborating Centres has six centers across Canada, each focusing on a different area, and is under the jurisdiction of the Public Health Agency of Canada. They are involved in infectious disease research, healthy public policy and Aboriginal and environmental health.
The board meets two to three times per year in order to check up on the respective centers’ performance.
As an adviser, Irvine will guide the various centers in their development and research, the main goal of which is to facilitate the dissemination of all medical research across Canada in order to improve local public policies and practices.
Previously, the NCCPHCP has worked on trying to improve public health ethics; they promote health of groups and populations rather than individuals. The collaboration has worked to prevent the spread of waterborne diseases in small drinking water systems, like waterfountains, and to create more access to knowledge about bedbugs.
Their programs are meant to work in large cities as well as rural communities and be able to fill in gaps in knowledge across public health networks.
By appointing Irvine, whose practice has been focused in a rural area, the board will hopefully be able to maintain a focus on northern and spread-out communities. The rural perspective helps ensure that any program will not simply be designed to work in large urban centers where health services are easier to obtain.
Irvine obtained his medical degree in 1976 from the U of S and, in addition to being a professor of family medicine, he is an associate member of the Department of Community Health and Epidemiology. In fact, he has so many letters after his name I didn’t have time to research them all. He is more than qualified for the position.
With an office located in La Ronge, Irvine’s hire continues the NCCPHCP trend to choose advisors from all over Canada and not specifically from large urban centers.
The advisory board’s doctors hail from such varied Canadian communities as Vancouver, Montreal and Peel. The chair of the advisory council, Dr. John Frank, is also the director of the Scottish Collaboration for Public Health Research and Policy.
