Daily News

Health care funding crisis a myth, says McMaster researcher

Contrary to popular belief, health care spending in Canada has remained stable over the last decade, argues McMaster researcher Gordon Guyatt in an article published in today's Canadian Medical Association Journal. In fact, outcry over rising health care costs is designed to undermine universal health care, says the professor of clinical epidemiology & biostatistics and medicine in McMaster's Faculty of Health Sciences. "For the last 15 years," he says, "Canadians have faced uncertainty regarding the availability of public funds to provide universal, high-quality health care. In this paper, we point out the essential stability of Canada's health care spending during the last decade and the need for resources to ensure that an aging population will have access to the increasing range of beneficial health technologies and services it legitimately expects. We lay out principles and options for structural changes necessary to ensure the stability of public health care funding." Guyatt's article can be found on the CMAJ Web site.

New researchers awarded $1.8 million for research equipment, labs

Ten new McMaster researchers are celebrating after receiving a total of $1.8 million to build labs and acquire machinery to help them do their research. The research awards are from the New Opportunities Fund distributed by the Canada Foundation for Innovation. The New Opportunities program is designed to help launch the careers of new and talented faculty members. The faculty members have to be at the University less than 18 months to be eligible for the funding. Mamdouh Shoukri, vice-president research & international affairs, welcomed the investment for cutting-edge infrastructure support. "Recruiting excellent faculty is a high priority for McMaster and this program has allowed us to do just that," said Shoukri. "This investment will help our new faculty to expand their research programs and build their research capacity." For assistant professor Alison Sills in the physics & astronomy department, her $174,422 award means she can get a rare hybrid teraflop supercomputer - one of a handful in the world - for her research into the dynamics and evolution of globular clusters (dense groups of 100,000 stars). "This will help me study the oldest objects in our galaxy, which constrain the age of the universe and trace how our galaxy was formed," said Sills. "This is amazing really. It will put me in the forefront of computational stellar astrophysics."

Med Students debuts tonight

Med Students, a new 13-part documentary series featuring McMaster's medical students and residents, airs tonight on the Life Network at 9 p.m. The series provides audiences with a behind the scenes look at the innovative style of learning in the Faculty of Health Sciences. Filmed by Breakthrough Productions, each episode chronicles the diverse experiences of medical students as they work alongside faculty and hospital staff within McMaster Health Sciences and its affiliated teaching hospitals. The distinct environment in which these future health care professionals are educated and trained will be portrayed along with the perspective of staff participants who facilitate this unique process. By allowing viewers to witness McMaster's self-directed and problem-based learning styles, the series places a human face on McMaster's rigourous academic programs. "The film series offers important opportunities for all of us in Hamilton," says John Kelton, dean and vice-president of McMaster's Faculty of Health Sciences. "First, it will help support our students since all profits will be used for student scholarships and bursaries. Second, the series will enhance the image of our city, our University, our hospitals, our students and all of our dedicated health care providers." The series also raises McMaster's profile nationally while highlighting the University's many attributes and innovative learning style, Kelton says. The series focuses on individuals as they experience real life challenges on their journey to becoming doctors. A range of stories will showcase the spectrum of challenges unfolding at McMaster as well as the contribution students offer to the health care system. Students experience first-time exposure to a trauma, a birth, surgery and everyday emergencies. The documentary series will air every Monday on the Life Network at 9 p.m. beginning tonight and again on Discovery Health this fall.

Lautens legacy lives on in McMaster Libraries

McMaster University Library has acquired the papers of distinguished journalist, humorist, and McMaster alumnus, Gary Lautens '50. Born in Fort William, Ontario, Lautens moved with his family to Hamilton in the early 1930s and completed his high school education at Hamilton Central Collegiate Institute in 1946. He graduated from McMaster with a bachelor's degree in history. Lautens' apprenticeship as a journalist also occurred at McMaster. Editor of the Silhouette from 1948 to 1950, he joined the staff of the Hamilton Spectator after graduation and worked there for a dozen years. His newspaper work as a columnist continued at the Toronto Star from 1962 to 1982. He was executive managing editor of the Toronto Star from 1982 to 1984 and editor emeritus and columnist at the same newspaper until his death of a heart attack in 1992 at the age of 63.