Faculty of Health Sciences celebrates author achievements

[img_inline align=”right” src=”http://padnws01.mcmaster.ca/images/FHSWrites09.jpg” caption=”FHS Writes is an event recognizing the publishing achievements of the Faculty of Health Sciences community. Image courtesy of FHS.”]F. Scott Fitzgerald once famously said, “You don't write because you want to say something, you write because you've got something to say.”

For the researchers and clinicians in McMaster University's Faculty of Health Sciences (FHS), that approach to writing has resulted in hundreds of publications in top scientific journals over the last year, as well as significant contributions to leading health-care books and manuals.

Now, for the first time, those authors will be honoured at FHS Writes, an event recognizing the publishing achievements of the Faculty of Health Sciences community, on Tuesday, Feb. 24 in the Jan and Mien Heersink Reading Pavilion, Health Sciences Library in the Health Sciences Centre. The event will feature a poster exhibition from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., followed by a reception for the authors at 4 p.m.

Liz Bayley, director of the Health Sciences Library, said nearly 700 authors – including faculty, staff, students and alumni – published works in 2008.

“By bringing together these authors, we can help to encourage greater collaboration and foster new knowledge within the Faculty of Health Sciences,” she said. “The event also serves to highlight the essential role of the Health Sciences Library in supporting education and research excellence within our Faculty.”

Nabeel Ghayur, a post-doctoral fellow in the Department of Medicine who studies the physiology of kidney vasculature, is one of the authors. He published 11 peer-reviewed articles in 2008 and wrote two book chapters on the role of medicinal plants in combating disease.

“It's a wonderful idea to bring people together and highlight all that has happened in 2008 in terms of publications and research at McMaster,” he said.

“Publications are imperative for any person in research. If I don't publish, I wouldn't be able to share the progress that I'm making in the laboratory or the new answers that I'm getting to different questions or problems in medicine.”

In 2008, FHS researchers published more than 1,000 scientific articles in journals such as Nature, The New England Journal of Medicine and The Lancet. Faculty, staff and students also contributed to 15 books and manuals related to health care and health-care research including Evidence-based nursing: An Introduction and Evidence-based rehabilitation: A guide to practice (2nd edition).

As well, two alumni of McMaster's medical school published their memoirs in 2008. Cambodia Calling: A memoir from the frontlines of humanitarian aid was written by Dr. Richard Heinzl (MD '87) and Dr. James Orbinski (MD '89) wrote An imperfect offering: Humanitarian action for the 21st century.