Social, Prevention and Health Policy Research Department: Research Annual Report 2003

Director: Dr. Louis Gliksman

The Social, Prevention and Health Policy Research Department contains six research units; while each has different mandates, they often collaborate on research projects with each other and with other programs at camh. Our department staff have diverse professional backgrounds in fields such as, among others, criminology, epidemiology, history, nursing, psychiatry, psychology and sociology.

This multidisciplinary team environment provides a synergy of ideas, theories and approaches that is both exciting and creative. All scientists in the department have university affiliations, and many are actively engaged in teaching.

Our research ranges from surveys of the general population and sub-populations (e.g., school children, women, immigrant populations) to policy interventions, community studies and health systems delivery. The information that we produce informs the research community, the public, policy makers and program developers; we disseminate this knowledge through reports, papers, conference presentations, peer-reviewed publications, position papers and media releases. Our end goal is to develop and disseminate resources and services that will improve the lives of people with mental health and addiction problems.

We are committed to working with our community partners, and all the research units are actively involved with government, agencies and special interest groups. In addition, we have resources dedicated to help agencies and community groups develop and evaluate resources and services in which these community groups may be engaged.

We continue to pursue and be involved in international research. In addition to North American collaborations, our staff have worked with the World Health Organization and Swiss, Norwegian, British, Brazilian and Mexican researchers on various projects.

As CAMH is a designated World Health Organization (WHO) Collaborating Centre, we expect that our internationally recognized scientists will continue to be asked to undertake or collaborate on international research projects in the areas of mental health and substance use. We have committed to being part of the WHO mhGAP program, which is designed to train researchers in developing countries, and we have created the camh/who Centre of Excellence for training in research as part of our agreement with the who. We have accommodated one international fellowship scientist this past year and will be hosting another one in the coming year.

Our extramural funding, an indicator of excellence, continues to grow. Researchers in the Department received $9,330,000 in extramural funding during the 2000/2001 fiscal year and $10,600,000 for 2001/2002. The majority of this funding has come through peer-review granting agencies, such as CIHR, SSHR, CC, Robert Woods Johnson and NIH.

Social, Prevention and Health Policy Research Sections

Social, Prevention and Health Policy Research Department: Research Annual Report 2003

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