Student subcommittee active in range of events offering enhanced learning opportunities

February 10, 2011 – The McMaster Health Forum Student Subcommittee is involved with a full slate of activities during the winter term to give students in health-related fields of study and beyond opportunities to broaden their learning experiences.

Under the leadership of co-chairs Theresa Tang and Alyssa Cantarutti, the 16-member committee that includes representatives from a range of student organizations at McMaster University has helped organize a series of public talks on global health and a workshop on communications, and is planning a debate about evidence-based medicine as well as a panel discussion on universal healthcare.

The first of the global health talks was held on February 9, and featured Clifton van der Linden, a doctoral candidate in the Department of Political Science at the University of Toronto, who discussed the benefits, challenges and implications of talking about global health as a national and global security issue.

Three more global health talks are scheduled for March: Andrea Burton, the communications director of the Canadian Interprofessional Health Collaborative, on March 2; Sara Bennett, associate professor at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health whose research interests lie in health systems, on March 9; and Jacqui Lunday, chief health professions officer of the Scottish Executive Directorate of Nursing, Midwifery and Allied Health Professionals, on March 23.

The global health talks link with the curriculum of the Forum’s Global Health Advocacy course, taught by Forum adjunct faculty member Steven Hoffman, and are organized in partnership with the Bachelor of Health Sciences program at McMaster and with the support of the Form student subcommittee.

Subcommittee members also worked with the McMaster University Nursing Student Society, to present a communications workshop on Feb. 10 that received positive reviews from participants. The interactive workshop featured Sarah Elton, an author and CBC journalist, and Ken Marciniec, communications officer with the Ontario Nurses’ Association, who provided advice on how students can ‘make the news’ through traditional types of print and online media, as well as through social networking.

The evidence-based medicine public debate being organized by the Forum student subcommittee is planned for the evening of March 31. Experts in this field will discuss whether the evidence-based medicine movement is losing steam. The debate will be open to the University community as well as the public.

The student subcommittee is also planning a public panel discussion to be held early in the spring entitled Ill Informed. Panel members will discuss the future of healthcare in Canada, including potential enhancements to universal health care, and the impacts they would have on universality for both hospital and physician care.

For more information on the McMaster Health Forum Student Subcommittee, click here.To learn more about the various opportunities within the Forum for student engagement, visit our Students page on the website.