Dalla Lana School of Public Health

DLSPH Open: Welcoming 2020 with research successes, faculty growth and community engagement

January 16/2020

Dear Colleagues,

I hope everyone had a restful holiday break and is settling into the New Year.

There are a number of exciting opportunities and events in the DLSPH community to kick off the winter term and I am pleased to provide an overview of a few of them.

First, I am delighted to echo the successes highlighted in the Office of Research’s 2018-19 Report to Faculty Members that was circulated earlier this month. We continue our strong trajectory of increased research growth with new CRC prospects, more institutional grant applications, and the launch of the interdisciplinary research clusters initiative. My thanks to all the principal investigators for their hard work and for not giving up despite the challenging funding landscape. Your resilience pays off and together we are creating a climate in which interdisciplinary collaboration will thrive.

In addition to research growth, the DLSPH community will also benefit from new faculty and staff positions as we begin to implement our Faculty Complement Plan this year. With several new faculty hires across the School planned for 2020-21, there is tremendous opportunity to boost excellence in public health and health systems teaching, research and service.

This growth will require innovative solutions to the office, teaching and meeting spaces within the Health Sciences Building. Our Senior Administrator Team is working closely with U of T’s University Planning, Design & Construction Office to maximize our existing footprint, taking inspiration from innovative office spaces globally. As a school of public health, we strive to integrate wellness principles into our physical spaces, and we will ensure there is ample consultation across the School on how to make the best strategic use of our space to benefit all members of our community.

Finally, DLSPH’s first major lecture of the decade is the Boehm Lecture, A Tale of Two Health Systems: Perspectives from Toronto and New York, taking place on Wednesday, January 22, 2020. It will feature an enlightening conversation with Professors Arjumand Siddiqi, Andrew Boozary and Dr. Dave Chokshi, Vice President and Chief Population Health Officer at NYC Health + Hospitals, moderated by Nakia Lee-Foon (SBHS PhD candidate).

I invite all members of our community — including alumni, students, faculty, staff and partners — to register for this event that will challenge the evolving role of prominent health care system players and debate whether their influence could and should support health care needs and the social determinants of health.

I look forward to engaging with all members of our community at this upcoming lecture and supporting your collective efforts to improve health and health systems in Ontario and beyond.

Sincerely,

Steini Brown
Professor and Dean
Dalla Lana School of Public Health