[img_inline align=”right” src=”http://padnws01.mcmaster.ca/images/Denburg.jpg” caption=”Susan Denburg, director of Collaborations for Health.”]A campus-wide initiative to position McMaster as Canada's premier health university is moving forward.

Collaborations for Health aims to capitalize on McMaster's unique culture of collaboration and experience in tackling complex health problems using the combined insights of many disciplines. It will leverage existing areas of strength and foster new strategic research and educational collaborations focused on health.

With its roots in Refining Directions, Collaborations for Health was launched early in 2005. It is being led by Susan Denburg, associate vice-president academic, Faculty of Health Sciences, at the request of Ken Norrie vice-president academic and Mamdouh Shoukri, vice-president research and international affairs. Denburg is supported by an advisory group with members from all six McMaster faculties.

“Collaborations for Health is a timely university-wide initiative that promises to build on McMaster's international reputation in health,” says Denburg, director of the initiative. “McMaster is already a health-intensive university. This will help us to leverage existing strengths and cultivate new interdisciplinary collaborations. It will enable us to respond effectively to the rapid increase in external opportunities for interdisciplinary health-related research and education.”

A Call for Proposals was sent out to the McMaster community last February to gather ideas on the direction and focus for the initiative. This resulted in more than 60 submissions from across campus. These submissions helped shape the agenda for a one-day retreat in June, organized to develop a shared understanding of the initiative and discuss a proposed organizational framework.

Approximately 100 faculty members from diverse disciplines participated in the retreat, reflecting widespread interest in the initiative. The retreat enabled participants to gain awareness of common health-related interests, validated the proposed organizational framework, and identified the challenges that need to be addressed in order for the initiative to succeed. Steps are now underway to address those challenges and to lay the groundwork to move the project forward.

A progress report, entitled Retreat and Advance, provides a record of the retreat and a roadmap for advancing Collaborations for Health at the university. Included in the organizational framework are institutional supports for networking, honing collaborative skills, and taking risks – all considered essential conditions for success in interdisciplinary research and education.

“Collaborations for Health will ultimately reflect the full scope of interdisciplinary health-related research and education at the University,” Denburg says. “Beyond cataloguing existing and emerging activities, it will encourage and enable faculty and students to break new ground in educational and research collaborations that will distinguish and differentiate McMaster University in the area of health.”

The initiative will focus on three broad thematic areas that reflect major existing strengths at McMaster: Health and the Environment, Health Services and Policy, and Development across the Lifespan. These 'umbrella' themes are intended to facilitate communication and gather within them groups of faculty who will identify foci for new interdisciplinary collaborations. Participation of hospital and community partners will be actively sought. Knowledge translation and information technology will provide enabling platforms for the initiative as a whole.

The theme leaders are Bruce Newbold and Warren Foster for Health and the Environment; Jerry Hurley and Susan Watt for Health Services and Policy; and Allison Sekuler and Parminder Raina for Development across the Lifespan. Currently, theme leaders are assembling small working groups to further define foci within the thematic areas.

The University's Refining Directions Funding Allocation Committee approved a one-time budget over two years for the initiative. The funding will help set up an administrative infrastructure, create an electronic clearinghouse of health-related expertise, fund workshops and visiting scholars, and provide seed money to support emerging research and educational initiatives. A half-time managing director and part-time administrative staff are now in place, a process to vet requests for support for new collaborative initiatives is being developed, and discussions to streamline the approval and administration of new interdisciplinary programs are underway.

“As the initiative evolves, there will be ongoing communication with key external stakeholders such as funding agencies and government bodies,” Denburg says. “This will ensure the activities planned within the three flagship themes represent new and innovative approaches to tackling relevant health questions in a way that differentiates McMaster from other universities and helps to brand McMaster as Canadas premier health university.”