The University of Prince Edward Island expanded its expertise in the areas of education and epidemiology with the addition of two Canada Research Chairs (CRC).
Dr. Crawford Revie, CRC in Population Health: Epi-informatics, uses tools of informatics — hardware, software, databases, and other methods of storing large and complex sets of data — to help answer questions about how diseases spread through populations. He’s currently tackling a problem that affects salmon farms in Atlantic Canada: drug resistance among sea lice.
“Sea lice have a tremendous ability to adapt to the treatments salmon farmers use to control them,” explains Dr. Revie. “By collecting data and finding new ways to sort through it, we can predict when they might develop a tolerance. We can help the aquaculture industry deal with a problem before they even know they have one.”
Dr. Kate Tilleczek, CRC in Child/Youth Cultures and Transitions, is examining the cultures and experiences of Canada’s young people in comparison with children and youth around the world and at different times in history. She’s now completing a major study for the Ontario Ministry of Education about why and how students may stumble as they make the transition from elementary to secondary school. She is launching a further study on youth mental health in schools.
“We’ve followed a group of students in as diverse locations as downtown Toronto, and from remote fly-in communities in the far north, and everything in-between,” says Dr. Tilleczek. “For many students, high school is a chance to start fresh, but for many it’s so overwhelming a change that we lose them. We’re trying to find out why, and what can be done about it.”
“Two of our strongest areas in research are now stronger,” says Dr. Schultz, UPEI’s Vice President of Research and Development. “The Canada Research Chair in Population Health: Epi-informatics boosts our already globally recognized centre of veterinary epidemiology at Atlantic Veterinary College. Our chair in Child/Youth Culture and Transitions advances knowledge in key aspects of human development and health. Both chairs bring significant benefits to work with our many and diverse communicates and we are proud that these research leaders extend our existing research excellence.”
The Canada Research Chairs program is part of a national strategy to make Canada one of the world’s top countries in research and development. UPEI is proud to be home to seven Canada Research Chairs.
