Murray Wood: Who's hot... and who's not
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The future of children’s health may be shaped long before a child ever enters a doctor’s office.
This week, the Hospitals of Regina Foundation announced a $4 million commitment to establish the Hospitals of Regina Foundation Pediatric Chair in the Origins of Health and Disease at the University of Saskatchewan’s College of Medicine. The funding will support the recruitment of an internationally recognized clinician-scientist who will lead research efforts, while also providing pediatric care to children in Saskatchewan.
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Dino Sophocleous, the foundation’s president and CEO, said the investment represents a strategic commitment to improving health outcomes long before young patients require treatment.
“We aim to deepen our understanding of how chronic diseases begin early in life, help prevent chronic conditions, and strengthen pediatric care in Saskatchewan and indeed across the country,” Sophocleous explained.
The investment represents the largest single contribution to a research project in the foundation’s history, and Sophocleous said it signals an increased focus on supporting medical research, alongside patient care.
“We do this because we believe that the health of our community is not served only through acute-care delivery, but also through understanding how disease comes about in all of us, and especially in our children,” he said.
The research chair will focus on investigating how genetic, environmental, social and lifestyle factors influence the development of chronic diseases.
Dr. Vince Bruni-Bossio, the University of Saskatchewan’s president, said the investment demonstrates the power of the province’s partnerships.
“Today we’re celebrating a research chair that came about from a partnership grounded in Saskatchewan, for which the outcome will be to advance knowledge that shapes pediatric care nationally and internationally,” he expressed.
Dr. Sarah Forgie, dean of the College of Medicine, said the new chair will help build research capacity while creating opportunities to recruit additional experts to the province.
“This clinician-scientist that we’re recruiting will be an excellent person to train our undergraduate medical students, our residents, our graduate students and collaborate with colleagues in the community,” she said.
“By studying the origins of disease, we can focus on prevention rather than just treating.”
That vision was supported by Dr. Alan Rosenberg, a professor of pediatric rheumatology whose work has focused on the earliest origins of disease and the importance of prevention.
“There is almost no disease that does not begin before it begins,” Rosenberg explained “The origins of almost all diseases occur long before they become apparent.”
Rosenberg said the chair will work on identifying how diseases develop in there earliest stages, and then translate what they have learned into prevention strategies.
“The solution to improving health and having the capacity to sustain our health-care systems is to discover early origins of disease to guide prevention,” he said.
“Winnie-the-Pooh once said to Christopher Robin, ‘Eating honey is a very good thing to do, but there is a moment just before you begin to eat, which is even better.’”
For Rosenberg, that anticipation captures the promise of what lies ahead.
“Today’s announcement is a testament to the power of partnership,” he said.
“The children and families are the enduring inspiration for this bold initiative announced today.”
