Global Health Initiative: Aboriginal Health Workshop
Date: January 12, 2011
Time: 6:30 – 9:00pm (food at 6:30, workshop at 7pm)
Location: MSAC
Speaker: Dr. Joseph Copeland
Please RSVP here: Aboriginal Workshop RSVP
Description:
Dr. Copeland will talk about the key issues that affect Aboriginal populations and will help us understand how to successfully partner with these populations to improve health outcomes. He will address some of the unique and common medical and public health challenges in the Aboriginal populations he has worked with, with a special focus on Nunavut and the Far North. He will talk about the challenges of geography, distance, cost, isolation, and language. He will also discuss some of the specific medical cases he has seen and will talk about working with Aboriginal populations as a non-Aboriginal physician.
The Aboriginal Health Initiative (a medical student led group) will be presenting on a unique and very inspiring First Nations Health Program in Whitehorse, Yukon. AHI students traveled there in the Fall of 2010 to learn about the history and efficacy of the program and will be sharing their experiences.
Dr. Copeland’s Bio:
Dr. Copeland obtained his first degree in International Relations, with a focus on Developing World health. He worked in HIV/Public Health in New England before deciding to go to medical school at UCLA (where he founded the International Health Interest Group). He took a leave of absence to work on a TB/HIV programme in Botswana, 1998. He then proceeded to do his residency in Family Medicine at the U of T, then Fellowship in Paediatric Emergency Medicine at the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto. He has done short-term work in a number of remote and rural communities, and developed an abiding interest in the North, doing locums in Canadian Arctic and Alaska a total of 10 times. He is currently an Emergency Doctor in the Lower Mainland, and a Clinical Instructor at the UBC Faculty of Medicine.
AHI Club Description/Mandate:
We aim to increase awareness among future health practitioners on issues related to Aboriginal Health. – We aim to introduce students to individuals and organizations providing care in Aboriginal communities, and allow students a means to establish mentorships with practitioners in Aboriginal Health. – We seek to develop the resources available to train and expose students to the practice of providing healthcare in Aboriginal communities. – We endeavour to participate in and initiate projects in Aboriginal Health with the guidance and support of the Aboriginal community and our mentors in Aboriginal Health.
GHI Workshop Coordinator: Angela Babuk, MD 2013