UBC This Week | June 18, 2009

UBC This Week is a weekly summary of UBC people in the news, recent media releases and upcoming event highlights. UBC This Week past issues are also available on-line.

Sign up for UBC This Week and other UBC Public Affairs e-mail services at www.publicaffairs.ubc.ca/eservices.

Recent UBC Media Releases

• Jun. 18: UBC receives $38M in CFI funding for research infrastructure
• Jun. 17: UBC researchers develop new method to study gambling addictions
• Jun. 15: BC researchers to lead rapid vaccine clinical trials and data management
  for new national influenza research network

Upcoming Event Highlights

Visit UBCevents, UBC's new campus-wide calendar: www.events.ubc.ca

• Jun. 19: Anime Club Summer Informal Showings
• Jun. 20: Graduate Instructional Skills Workshops (ISW)
• Jun. 21: UBC REC - SUMMER PROGRAMS Registration Deadline
• Jun. 22: One-week Language Immersion in French, Spanish, Japanese, Mandarin
• Jun. 23: Towards a Precise Neutron Lifetime Measurement
• Jun. 24: CSICS presents John Lidstone
• Jun. 25: Emerging Issues of North Korean Foreign Policy

Find out what else is happening at UBC this week. For sports events, visit the UBC Athletics site at www.gothunderbirds.ca/schedule.asp.

UBC People

• UBC researchers to lead new research network
• UBC orthapaedics and anaesthesia team's visit to Uganda
• New Director for Liu Institute
• Archival science student awarded scholarship
• UBC Botanical Garden releases Physic Garden booklet
• Law prof named hero

UBC People

UBC researchers to lead new research network

UBC researchers at the Child and Family Research Institute (CFRI) at BC Children's Hospital will lead rapid vaccine trials to determine the safety, effectiveness, and dosing schedule for a pandemic vaccine and lead the data management for a new $10.8-million national Influenza Research Network.

CFRI's Dr. David Scheifele will lead the Network's rapid vaccine trials, which will involve 10 Canadian centres. Scheifele is professor of pediatrics at UBC and the Canadian Institutes of Health Research/Wyeth Chair in Clinical Vaccine Research.

Leading the Network's data management is Dr. Jean-Paul Collet , CFRI scientist and Director of Partnerships, and Director of Research for the UBC Dept. of Pediatrics.

For more information, visit http://www.cfri.ca/news/media/default.asp .

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UBC orthapaedics and anaesthesia team's visit to Uganda

Members of the UBC Dept. of Orthopaedics and Dept. of Anaesthesia have returned from Kampala, Uganda as part of a pilot visit for the Uganda Sustainable Orthopaedic Trauma Program.

This new collaborative initiative between UBC and Makerere University in Uganda is aimed at reducing the burden of traumatic injuries due to the increased use of motorcycles (boda-bodas) to carry multiple passengers over poorly maintained roads.

During the two-week visit, UBC orthopaedic surgeons Dr. Piotr Blachut and Dr. Ghassan Alami , anaesthesiologist Dr. Hamed Umedaly , anaesthesia resident Dr. Carly Peterson and nurses Naomi Roddick and Nancy Henderson were involved in 48 surgeries, mainly fractures of the femur and tibia.

A follow-up visit is planned for October.

For more information, visit http://www.med.ubc.ca/media/Uganda_trauma_program.htm

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New Director for Liu Institute

Prof. Peter Dauvergne has accepted the position of Director and Professor of the Liu Institute for Global Issues, effective July 1, 2009, for a five-year term.

Dauvergne is professor of political science and Canada Research Chair in global environmental politics. Since joining UBC in 2002, he has served as Director of the Environment Program at the Liu Institute for Global Issues (2003-05), Assoc. Dean for Strategic Initiatives and Development in the Faculty of Arts (2006-08), and Senior Advisor to the President (2008-09). In addition, he is a member of the Publications Board of the UBC Press and the founding and past editor (2001-08) of the MIT journal Global Environmental Politics.

The Liu Institute is one of sixteen research units within the College for Interdisciplinary Studies.

For more information, visit http://www.ligi.ubc.ca/sites/liu/files/Newsletters/2009_DauvergneAnnouncement.pdf .

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Archival science student awarded scholarship

UBC student Harrison W. Inefuku is one of two students to be awarded The Society of American Archivists (SAA)'s Mosaic Scholarship. The scholarship is given to minority students pursuing graduate education in archival science. The scholarship gives $5,000 in financial aid and offers mentoring support in pursuing a career as an achivist.

For more information, visit http://www.slais.ubc.ca/NEWS/current-news.htm .

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UBC Botanical Garden releases Physic Garden booklet

UBC Botanical Garden has released a new booklet that explores the history of medicinal gardens and introduces their Physic Garden with plant profiles for common medicinal plants.

For more information, contact the Garden Gatehouse at 604-822-4208.

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Law Prof Named Hero

UBC law professor Benjamin Perrin , whose book Journey of Injustice: Canada's Underground World of Human Trafficking has just been announced for publication in October 2010, has received a “Trafficking in Persons Hero” award from the U.S. Department of State.

Perrin was among seven people in the world and the only Canadian recognized as "heroes in the fight against modern-day slavery."

The award is part of the annual global Trafficking in Persons report recently released by Hillary Clinton, U.S. Secretary of State.

Perrin is a leading anti-trafficking activist in Canada and founder of The Future Group, an NGO dedicated to combating human trafficking and the child sex trade around the world. He has advocated for the adoption of a Canadian national action plan and has pushed for stronger enforcement and more effective victim services.

For more information on Perrin's work, visit http://www.publicaffairs.ubc.ca/ubcreports/2007/07sep06/reform.html

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