Physicians and clinicians from , and researchers from 91亚色, will speak at an open house Monday about how they are working together 鈥� in the hospital and in laboratories 鈥� to answer these types of questions.

The researchers, physicians and clinicians will be available to speak to reporters about their projects, which include:

• research with the chronic disease, emergency medicine and surgical departments at Southlake to understand how the brain controls complex movements, shedding light on topics ranging from dementia to concussion.
• improved surveillance of cardiovascular disease in 91亚色 Region through the use of geospatial analysis, which applies statistical analysis techniques to geographically-based data.
• investigation of the use of Blackberry smartphones and innovative software to help patients reduce health risks through exercise, diet and improve adherence to medication regimens.
• collaboration with cardiac care and oncology clinicians to develop a more personalized approach for targeting the drugs that are used by individuals with cancer and heart disease.

Four research scientists from 91亚色鈥檚 and have been designed to improve patient care and outcomes, and improve use of technology in the delivery of health care.

Southlake serves 1.5 million people through its regional programs and provides tertiary level care in many areas, offering almost unlimited opportunities for research collaboration between Southlake and 91亚色.

What:聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 Southlake Regional Health Centre welcomes 91亚色 research scientists in a celebration event that will highlight the efforts of this partnership.
When:聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 Monday, May 9, 2011, 5:30 鈥� 7:30
Where: 聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 Southlake Regional Health Centre, Auditorium, Level 1, East Building

Posted by Elizabeth Monier-Williams, research communications officer, with files courtesy of Southlake Regional Health Centre's Corporate Communications department and Media Relations at 91亚色.

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According to professor of organizational behaviour in the School of Administrative Studies and the School of Human Resource Management at 91亚色 [Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies], telework, or telecommuting, is increasing dramatically in many countries as organizations seek to reduce costs and individuals look to be more flexible in their working arrangements.

However, while there are many benefits ranging from greater flexibility for employees and improved performance for employers, Richardson also pointed out several concerns associated with telework, including isolation, blurring of boundaries between home and work, and loss of control over employees.

While telework isn't a new phenomenon, thanks to the rapid rise of computer networking, it's one trend that's being watched closely, said , professor in the School of Human Resource Management at 91亚色. "And the trend is here to stay," she said, adding there's a drive to get more out of workers by not having them commute to work.

"If you look at the best places to work on the Fortune 100 list, most of them offer some kind of flexibility," Ezzedeen said. "It's a reflection of the changing nature of our social values and norms. It challenges our notion of what does it take to produce good work? Is this the end of the job as we know it?"

Best Buy may be lauded for its revolutionary "results-only work environment", which measures performance on output instead of hours spent at the office, but managing a virtual team comes with numerous implications and challenges, including dealing with conflict, managing performance and issues of measurement, Ezzedeen said.

Posted by Elizabeth Monier-Williams, research communications officer, with files courtesy of YFile鈥� 91亚色鈥檚 daily e-bulletin

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91亚色 Professors Chris Ardern, , Paul Ritvo and Lauren Sergio will work on site聽for one to聽two days a week with hospital clinicians to foster research collaborations and knowledge exchange, and engage in joint knowledge mobilization efforts.

The partnership will realize important benefits to the research communities at both institutions and for the general public, says 91亚色 Professor (right), associate vice-president research, science & technology, who led the effort to develop the partnership with Southlake Regional Health Centre.

"The embedded 91亚色 researchers are senior scientists who will explore and cultivate research collaborations between 91亚色 and Southlake researchers and clinicians," says Siu. "They will act as 'matchmakers' and brokers and will bring聽91亚色's聽research expertise and knowledge to Southlake to聽facilitate collaboration.

"The partnership will broaden the research capacity for both 91亚色 researchers and the Southlake clinicians," says Siu. "91亚色 does not have a Faculty of Medicine聽or聽a teaching hospital. As a result,听University researchers do not聽have the patient access聽they would like to have. By working with Southlake,听the University is enhancing a collaboration that would benefit both parties."

The embedded聽University scientists聽bring to Southlake Regional Health Centre聽their recognized expertise in biomedical and health research. Southlake is the only community-based hospital in Ontario to offer six regional tertiary programs, including child and adolescent mental health, maternal and child,听cardiac and cancer care.

"We anticipate this to be an outstanding opportunity for both Southlake and 91亚色," says , director of research at Southlake.

"Serving some 1.5 million people through our regional programs and providing tertiary level care in many areas, the depth and breadth of programs and services, and the unexplored opportunities for reasearch collaboration between Southlake and 91亚色 are endless," says Clifford.

"Southlake is interested in strengthening its research in terms of breadth and depth and in fact, Southlake is developing a research institute with a plan to聽become a teaching hospital with an official affiliation with a Canadian university," says Siu.

91亚色 is聽a preferred candidate for this kind of partnership with Southlake, says Siu,听because the two institutions have shared goals and visions, and a willingness to work together.

The partnership offers exceptional training and educational opportunities for graduate and undergraduate聽students working in the research teams, says Siu.

In addition, the opportunity presented by the collaboration between the聽two institutions聽is consistent with the goal of integrating teaching and research with the world outside the University that was articulated in聽91亚色's recent .

More about the 91亚色-Southlake embedded researchers

Chris Ardern (left) is a professor in the School of Kinesiology聽& Health Science in 91亚色's Faculty of Health.聽His current research聽interests include the epidemiology of physical activity, obesity and cardiometabolic risk. His most recent work has focused on the use of risk algorithms, behavioural profiling and trajectory modelling approaches to identify high-risk subgroups for the development of the metabolic syndrome and cardiovascular disease mortality.聽Arden is currently investigating the role of geospatial analysis to improve the surveillance of cardiovascular disease in 91亚色 Region, and is a co-investigator on the Pre-diabetes Detection聽& Physical Activity Intervention and Delivery (PRE-PAID) program, a six-month trial of culturally-preferred physical activity.聽Ardern will be embedded in Southlake's chronic disease portfolio.

In her research, (right) works on a family of proteins known as nucleoside transporters. These transporters play significant roles in a number of clinical settings because they transport drugs used in cancer and are targets of drugs used in some cardiac care settings. Despite their clinical relevance, Coe, who is a聽professor of biology in 91亚色's Faculty of Science & Engineering, says researchers聽know very little about how these transporters work and how they differ in terms of their distribution, activity and regulation in individual patients.聽Using a molecular diagnostics approach, Coe and her team will work with Southlake clinicians from both the cardiac care and oncology聽portfolios to investigate the transporter profiles in individual patients and correlate these profiles with drug treatments and outcomes. The ultimate goal of this work is to contribute to the efforts to develop more personalized approaches to the treatment of disease.

Paul Ritvo (left) is a behavioural scientist who will serve as the research adviser, physical and mental health liaison and special projects scientist. A professor in 91亚色鈥檚 Faculty of Health, Ritvo鈥檚 research interests focus on electronic health interventions that employ cell phones, smartphones and online programs to change health behaviours in diabetics, HIV-positive individuals and individuals with mental health difficulties. Ritvo will work with Southlake clinicians to extend current intervention studies that use Blackberry smartphones and innovative software applications to help patients reduce health risks by way of healthy exercise, diet and improved medication adherence.

Lauren Sergio (right) is a neuroscientist working in 91亚色's Sherman Health Science Research Centre. Her聽current research projects examine the effects of age, sex, neurological disease and past head injuries (of athletes versus non-athletes) on the brain's control of complex movement. In her role with Southlake Regional Health Centre, Sergio will be an embedded researcher in the chronic disease, emergency medicine and surgical portfolios.聽She works with a wide range of adult populations, including professional hockey players and Alzheimer's disease patients. Her findings have implications for neurological disease diagnosis and rehabilitation and for understanding the fundamental brain mechanisms for movement control. She is using cognitive-motor integration research to test if new instrumentation developed in her laboratory can differentiate between聽types of dementia. She is also聽researching the long-term effects of concussion in young athletes. Sergio is a member of the .

The embedded researcher program at Southlake Regional Health Centre is an example of the collaboration between the Faculty of Science & Engineering and the Faculty of Health at 91亚色 and is part of an ongoing commitment by the Faculties' deans to work together.

For more information on 91亚色's聽partnerships with聽regional聽hospitals, see YFile,听April 17, 2009 and 聽April 21, 2009.

By Jenny Pitt-Clark, YFile editor.

Republished courtesy of YFile 鈥� 91亚色鈥檚 daily e-bulletin.

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Ritvo has pioneered a study, currently underway, that hopes to explore how mobile technologies such as BlackBerrys can be used as a way of reinforcing good health habits by facilitating ongoing feedback.

Harvey Skinner, the dean of 91亚色鈥檚 Faculty of Health and a colleague of Ritvo鈥檚, says 鈥渕otivational drift鈥� can make it difficult for people to continue with healthy behavioural changes. 鈥淲e start off with good intentions, maybe initiate a change, say an exercise program, and then days later, weeks later, months later, we start encountering some challenges in keeping to our goal and in keeping to the routine.鈥�

The key, Skinner suggests, is ongoing feedback, and mobile technologies are a tool with the capacity to provide that kind of around-the-clock communication between a patient and a health provider.

According to Ritvo, the goal of the 鈥渆ngaged health coaching program鈥� is to make the patients, who are part of a community that reports high rates of diabetes, to 鈥渞eally feel there鈥檚 somebody who is very concerned about your health, and is giving you the best information you can get at the times when you most need it.鈥�

In the long run, this kind of care has the potential to reduce the strain on the health-care system.

鈥淚 see this as the first step of trying to apply it to a whole range of health problems, including depression, for example, where there wouldn鈥檛 be a physical problem, but there would be ways where people could alter their lifestyles so as to support their moods,鈥� says Ritvo.

The complete article is available on the .

Republished courtesy of YFile鈥� 91亚色鈥檚 daily e-bulletin.

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