Canadian health policy expert to speak on population health

Canadian public health policy and the concept of “population health” will be the focus of a lecture next week at the Health Sciences Center.

Dr. Clyde Hertzman, professor of health care and epidemiology at the University of British Columbia (UBC) will speak at a Public Health Grand Rounds presentation from 3:30 to 5 p.m., Tuesday, Oct. 6, in room T-739 of the Health Sciences Center. The lecture is open to everyone.

His topic is “Evolution of the Concept of ‘Population Health’ in Canada and its Impact on Public Policy.” Hertzman completed training in medicine, community medicine and epidemiology at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, between 1976 and 1985, and then joined the faculty at UBC. In addition to his professorship, he is associate director of the Centre for Health Services and Policy Research there.

Nationally, he is a fellow of the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research and director of its Program in Population Health. Through this institute, he has played a central role in developing the framework for identifying “determinants of health” and pointing out the critical role of early childhood development.

Many studies of the health of populations have found that the level of health care available has little overall effect on significant statistics such as life expectancy, leading to considerable debate in Canada on the value of public health care funding.

Hertzman has also recently been studying the sharp decline in life expectancy in Russia and neighboring countries since the breakup of the former Soviet Union. On this topic, he has been a consultant for the World Bank and edited a book in 1996 on the East-West life expectancy gap in Europe. ¶

Claire Dietz