Brighter diagnosis for Canadians: National health advisory board is born
McGill's Celeste Johnston joins newly created Canadian Academy of Health Sciences
Dr. Celeste Johnston, Associate Director for Research at the McGill School of Nursing, has been elected to serve on the advisory board for the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences (CAHS). CAHS is Canada's first national advisory body of healthcare leaders and researchers from across the country and is mandated to:
- develop informed, strategic assessments on urgent health issues;
- inform public policy on these issues;
- enhance Canada's readiness to deal with global health issues;
- provide a recognized and authoritative Canadian health science voice internationally.
The Academy's inaugural meeting will be held in Vancouver on September 21-22.
A noted pain specialist, Johnston adds the CAHS advisory role to a long list of achievements. "This is a special honour because it is multidisciplinary and has broad representation across all domains of health in Canada; thus it goes beyond my particular research world of pain, infants and children, and nursing," says Johnston.
According to Paul Armstrong, CAHS's first president, the establishment of the Academy is long overdue — and all the more pressing given the potential global health threats to Canadians, most recently exemplified by the SARS threat. "Ask Canadians what they care about most, and they answer, unequivocally, 'health,'" says Armstrong. "It makes sense, therefore, that Canada should have an organization that government — and Canadians — can turn to for sound, impartial advice and research on pressing health issues." The organization will also represent Canada's interests abroad and work closely with parallel agencies in other countries.
About Dr. Celeste Johnston
Dr. Celeste Johnston is a James McGill Professor and Associate Director for Research at the McGill School of Nursing. She is a consultant to Nursing and Pain and Palliative Care Service of the Montreal Children's Hospital, and to the Nursing Department of the Royal Victoria Hospital (McGill University Health Centre). Johnston's research interests focus on non-pharmacologic interventions for pain in infants, with a particular focus on pre-term infants. Other areas include measurement of pain in infants and improving pain management practices by healthcare professionals. Johnston can be reached via celeste.johnston [at] mcgill.ca (email) or at 514-398-4157.
McGill University faculty newly appointed to CAHS as fellows:
- Dr. Barry Pless, Developmental and Epidemiologic Research of the Montreal Children's Hospital
- Rémi Quirion, professor of psychiatry and Scientific Director of the Research Centre at the McGill-affiliated Douglas Hospital, and Scientific Director of the Institute of Neurosciences, Mental Health and Addiction (Canadian Institutes of Health Research)
- Sharon Wood Dauphinee, Interim Director of the School of Physical and Occupational Therapy
