[img_inline align=”right” src=”http://padnws01.mcmaster.ca/images/Denburg_Susan.jpg” caption=”Susan Denburg, director of Collaborations for Health, and Anthony Levinson. File photos.”]The University's Collaborations for Health initiative has launched a directory of expertise aimed at facilitating dialogue between faculty and students interested in engaging in interdisciplinary health research and education.

The directory, launched today, can be accessed from the Collaborations for Health website or the staff directory of McMaster's University Technology Services. It is designed to allow McMaster faculty and students as well as those from other universities or research organizations to quickly locate and contact McMaster faculty with specific experience and expertise in a wide range of topics.

“The application for the directory has been designed to allow people to search for collaborators by a series of topic categories, and further refine those categories by keywords denoting special areas of expertise,” said Anthony Levinson, a co-leader for the knowledge translation theme of Collaborations of Health. “We've brought together the directory into one integrated 'dashboard' that can be easily accessed online, and represents one of the first efforts to not only catalogue the health research expertise across the University, but search and display people's contact information.”

This first iteration of the directory includes contact details for about 170 faculty members from McMaster, and many have links to further information on their research interests and ongoing projects.

“Collaborations for Health is about addressing important health-related questions in an innovative way that brings together multiple perspectives, including biological, behavioural, economic and sociocultural,” said Susan Denburg, director of Collaborations for Health. “This directory is designed to encourage and enable individuals from both inside and outside of McMaster to connect with interested faculty from various disciplines and explore the possibilities for working together.”

Collaborations for Health developed from the University's strategic plan, Refining Directions, which includes a focus on growing McMaster's reputation and strengths in interdisciplinary health research.

In addition to knowledge translation, the other priority themes for Collaborations for Health are development across the lifespan, health and the environment, and health systems.

The new directory of expertise is set up with more than 20 subject categories that fall within these four themes, and each area has a list of keywords that will allow for more refined searching.

The directory is open to all faculty members interested in participating in health-related research, and will be updated on an ongoing basis. Feedback is welcome.

Faculty members interested in enrolling in the directory should contact Margaret Shkimba at shkimba@mcmaster.ca.