Dr. Charlyn Black appointed as UBC SPPH’s new Associate Director

I am very pleased to announce the appointment of Dr. Charlyn Black as Associate Director, School of Population and Public Health, effective July 1, 2015.

Dr. Black is Professor in the School of Population and Public Health, and the Centre for Health Services and Policy Research (CHSPR). She is a health policy researcher with interests in health quality, quality improvement, health information systems, and developing data-driven approaches to improve health care delivery. She joined UBC in 2002 and served as the Director of UBC’s Centre for Health Services and Policy Research (CHSPR) from 2002 to 2007. As director, she brought clarity and focus to CHSPR’s strategic direction, and oversaw the integration of the Centre’s five research units into a single coordinated entity.

Dr. Black has a longstanding interest in the educational mission of the School of Population and Public Health, and has participated in a range of activities related to that mission, from involvement in professional training programs (e.g. medicine, nursing, and pharmacy), to supervising graduate students in several of the School’s programs, to chairing the MSc/PhD Admissions Program and PhD Thesis Screening Panel. She has also been a key player in curriculum improvement, and developing new courses where gaps have been identified.

Dr. Black obtained her medical degree from the University of Manitoba and her doctorate in health services and policy research from The Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in Baltimore, Maryland.

Dr. Black’s appointment will follow the leadership of Dr. Gary Poole who is stepping down from this role prior to his retirement later this year. Gary met all our hopes and accomplished everything we could have asked for during his tenure in the position. I would like to take this opportunity to, once again, thank Dr. Poole for his leadership and commitment to the School and wish him all the best.

David Patrick
Professor and Director
School of Population and Public Health
University of British Columbia

“Tuum Est” (It is up to you)
– Frank Fairchild Wesbrook (1868-1918)
Public Health Physician, Bacteriologist and First President of the University of British Columbia