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Simon Fraser University - Faculty of Health Sciences

29 April 2008

Research Chairs in Health Sciences at Simon Fraser University (SFU)
SFU is located in metropolitan Vancouver, one of the world’s most livable urban areas. SFU has over 25,000 students and 90,000 alumni, more than 700 tenure-track faculty and campuses in Burnaby, Vancouver and Surrey.

SFU aims to be the most research-intensive comprehensive university in Canada. In the 2007 Maclean’s ranking of Canadian Universities, SFU ranked in the top six of all universities in number of faculty awards, and average size of grants per faculty member (Maclean’s Nov. 19, 2007:81).

The Faculty of Health Sciences (FHS) was launched in 2004 and represents a major commitment by SFU to expanding research and education in the health sciences. FHS is Canada’s largest and only independent Faculty of Health Sciences with a focus on population and public health sciences. Forty new tenure track faculty positions were allocated to support the development of academic programs. To help build research excellence in FHS, applications are invited for the five Research Chairs described below (subject to final Senate and budgetary approval).


Applications for Endowed Chairs will be considered at either the Professor or Associate Professor level and resourced accordingly (consistent with Tier 1 and Tier 2 Canada Research Chairs). All Chairs are continuing tenured or tenure track positions at SFU. All Endowed Chairs have been developed in partnership with leading health care organizations in British Columbia and successful candidates will be supported by the research infrastructure in these organizations. Salaries and research support for these Chairs are very generous and competitive with research chairs at an international level.

Successful candidates will join a dynamic and expanding group of approximately 45 faculty who are developing collaborative, interdisciplinary research and educational programs in environmental and occupational health, global health, infectious diseases, chronic diseases, mental health and addictions, social inequities and health disparities, and public health practice (http://www.fhs.sfu.ca/People-in-FHS/faculty-members). The vision of FHS is to integrate social and natural science scholarship with population outcomes, societal application, and policy analysis to improve population and public health at local to global levels. This integration combines a broad spectrum of research approaches, methods of inquiry, and levels of analysis.

The Faculty is committed to social justice, and aims to improve public health and reduce health inequalities locally, nationally and globally. We value equity and are striving to develop a faculty that has a gender balance and that reflects the cultural and ethnic diversity of the communities we serve.

Blusson Hall, the new $58 million home of FHS, will open in the summer of 2008. It will contain both wet and dry laboratories, including the provision of space for the planned development of a BCL-3/P3 bio-containment facility, in a building designed to integrate natural and social science practices. A data warehouse is being developed within FHS to increase access to administrative health data for the research community.

We seek colleagues with demonstrated records of creative and visionary thinking, research excellence, and leadership. The Chairs will be accomplished communicators and able to work with and bring together diverse academic and health service groups to create research innovation and changes in health practice. The Chairs will be mentors to practitioners, scholars and students.

Simon Fraser University welcomes diversity in the workplace, and encourages applications from all qualified women and men, including visible minorities, Aboriginal peoples, and persons with disabilities. All qualified applicants are encouraged to apply; however, Canadian citizens and permanent residents will be given priority. Positions are subject to final budgetary approval. The positions are 12-month continuing appointments. Salary is not grant dependent and will be offered on a basis commensurate with qualifications and experience. Anyone wishing further information on any of these positions is invited to contact in confidence Dr. John O’Neil, Dean, Faculty of Health Sciences, joneil@sfu.ca, (778.782.5361).

Under the authority of the University Act personal information that is required by the University for Academic Appointment competitions will be collected. For more information, please visit: the Collection Notice, www.sfu/ca/vpacademic/Faculty_Openings/Collection_Notice.html


Applications for all positions will be considered starting August 1, 2008, but applications will be accepted until the positions are filled. Candidates are required to have a PhD or equivalent qualification. Please send a full C.V., a descriptive statement on research plans and past teaching activities, and the names of six referees to: fhs_recruit@sfu.ca


Canada Research Chair in Global Health (Tier 1)

FHS was founded with global health as a signature program. The Faculty has recruited a strong group of core faculty in this area over the last several years and seeks now to recruit an outstanding researcher who will provide leadership to this important program. Global health is broadly considered to include health systems development in LMICs, prevention and provision of care for infectious and chronic disease and mental health and addictions, global perspectives on environmental and occupational health including climate change, and global policy research related to the impact of globalization and foreign policy on the health of vulnerable populations including women and children. The Faculty is interested in applicants from a broad variety of disciplinary backgrounds including epidemiology, social sciences, health care management and policy sciences, and natural sciences. Applicants must have an active and well-funded global health research program that can eventually be transferred to SFU. Geographic areas of interest to FHS are broad but applicants with established research programs in Asia (India/Mongolia), sub-Saharan Africa (Uganda/Zambia), and/or Latin America (Mexico/Bolivia/Guatemala) will receive particular attention.

Milan and Maureen Ilich\Merck Frosst Chair in Statistics & Information Sciences for Arthritis and Musculoskeletal Diseases


The Chair was established by three founding partners: the Arthritis Research Centre of Canada (ARC), Merck Frosst Canada Ltd., the Faculty of Health Sciences at Simon Fraser University (SFU), and a generous gift by the Milan and Maureen Ilich Foundation. The Chair-holder will hold a tenure or tenure-track appointment in the Faculty of Health Sciences of SFU and will be appointed as a Senior Research Scientist at ARC. The Arthritis Research Centre is an independent research facility affiliated with SFU and UBC. It has a full-time faculty of nine and more than 40 employees working in the areas of rheumatology, orthopedics, physical medicine, occupational therapy, epidemiology and health economics. In addition to ARC, the Faculty of Health Sciences has developed affiliations with health care agencies and research institutes in BC responsible for children’s and women’s health, environmental and occupational disease prevention, chronic and infectious disease prevention and care, and the delivery of public health programs. The successful applicant to this Chair will have the opportunity to develop linkages to clinicians and researchers in all of these areas in addition to working with scientists at the ARC.


Chair in Health Disparities in Cancer

Simon Fraser University (SFU) and the BC Cancer Agency (BCCA) have identified disparities in cancer as an important area for research development and have formed a partnership to co-fund a Chair in Health Disparities in Cancer. The research program will be developed in conjunction with the Sociobehavioural Research Centre at the BCCA. The intent with this position is to study the impact of disparities in cancer and to develop research findings that will influence public health and health care policy, practices, programs and interventions. The Chair will lead the development of data systems to monitor disparities in cancer. Along with the BCCA and the province’s health authorities, the work of the Chair will be influential in shaping public policies aimed at reducing disparities in cancer incidence and mortality and enhancing clinical management and treatment of cancer patients.

Pfizer/Heart and Stroke Foundation of BC & Yukon Chair in Cardiovascular Prevention Research at St. Paul’s Hospital

The Chair was established in 2007 by four founding partners: St. Paul’s Hospital Foundation (SPHF) on behalf of Providence Health Care and the Providence Heart + Lung Institute at St. Paul’s Hospital, Pfizer Canada Inc., the Heart and Stroke Foundation of BC & Yukon, and the Faculty of Health Sciences at Simon Fraser University (SFU). The Chair-holder will hold a full time tenure appointment in the Faculty of Health Sciences of SFU and will be based at St. Paul’s Hospital. The Chair will support the development of one of the world’s leading centres in the prevention and treatment of cardiovascular diseases. Research will be focused on the breadth of cardiovascular disease prevention and include such activity areas as:

• Research into critical health policy and interventions related to cardiovascular disease prevention and control particularly at the population level

• Cardiovascular disease epidemiology and database development particularly as it pertains to increasing research infrastructure and capacity in BC and beyond

• Health system outcomes with respect to cardiovacular disease and translational research for best practices, risk factor control, and economic and social analysis.

• Research on the global aspects of cardiovascular diseases particularly targeting low and middle income countries (e.g. low cost technologies for low income settings).


Chair in HIV/AIDS Research

The Faculty of Health Sciences at SFU and the BC Centre of Excellence in HIV/AIDS at St. Paul’s Hospital have formed a partnership to recruit a world class leader in HIV/AIDS research. SFU has established infectious disease as a primary focus for graduate training and research. FHS has recruited a significant group of faculty including virologists, immunologists, epidemiologists, behavioural and social scientists and global policy researchers. The Chair holder will be situated at the BC Centre of Excellence and will be expected to contribute to and expand the international excellence of the Centre. Although applicants with research interests in local issues are encouraged to apply, we are particularly interested in applicants with established global research programs in HIV/AIDS research.