After much reflection by my family and myself, I have agreed to take on the post of Director, Scottish Collaboration for Public Health Research and Policy, a new MRC (U.K.) Unit based in Edinburgh, effective July 1, 2008. It is a start-up operation in applied population-based research, combined with knowledge transfer and exchange, in a natural laboratory with fabulous linkable health-databases, based on the Danish model -- so there is much opportunity.
After seven-and-one-half years, as of next summer, as inaugural SD for IPPH
If I were to identify the key accomplishments of the Institute during these last seven years, I would point to our larger granting programs, including: several novel Strategic Training Initiatives in Health Research across the country; seven national Centres for Research Development; our support, at CIHR as a whole, for the seventy-plus grants issued since 2002 by the Global Health Research Initiative (in partnership with IDRC, CIDA and Health Canada) for research on the pressing health, health system and policy challenges of the world's low-and-middle income nations; and our recent partnership with the Public Health Agency of Canada, to increase capacity in national public health research and knowledge translation into effective policy, programs and practice - through the establishment of dedicated Masters, PhD, Post-Doctoral Awards, and starting this year, Chairs in Public Health.
In addition, the Institute is proud to have taken an active part in the substantial re-structuring of public health in Canada since 2001, including the lead-up to, and establishment of the Public Health Agency of Canada, and analogous developments in other provinces, including the launching this year of the Health Protection and Promotion Agency in Ontario.
CIHR has put into motion an international search process for my successor to head up IPPH, via a broad call for applications, to appear later this month. In closing, I want to thank the entire "PPH" research, and research-user, community in Canada, for the last seven years of rich collegiality and stimulating interaction, and for the opportunity to work with you as part of CIHR's terrific team, including some of the most talented colleagues and staff I have ever met.
Sincerely,
John Frank
