Anita Palepu (Health Education and advocacy)
Anita Palepu
Current Roles:
Internal Medicine specialist, St. Paul’s Hospital
Program Director for the General Internal Medicine Fellowship Program, University of British Columbia
Researcher – Dr. Palepu is a researcher at the Centre for Health Evaluation and Outcome Sciences at St. Paul’s Hospital. Her research interests include: urban health, substance use, harm reduction, addiction treatment, social determinants of health such as housing and homelessness, and quality of life
Description:
Through her research, Dr. Palepu advocates for populations affected by homelessness/underhousing, poverty and addictions. As Program Director for the General Internal Medicine Fellowship Program at the University of British Columbia, she has also worked to create better integration and availability of research and community engagement opportunities within traditional postgraduate training.
Dr. Palepu’s other areas of interest are: Health and Underhousing, Addictions and substance use, and Access and resources to Health care.
Get involved – Dr. Palepu is interested in connecting with students, practitioners, and members of the community to provide mentorship, opportunities in advocacy work, research, academic conversations, idea generation, and knowledge translation. She invites all the relationships that may come from the Social Medicine Network and is excited to see what develops.
Contact:
apalepu@hivnet.ubc.ca
Telephone: 604-682-2344 ext 63194
Annalee Yassi (Health Education and Advocacy)
Annalee Yassi
Current roles: Health Professional – Physician with specialties in Public Health, Preventative Medicine and Occupational Medicine , Researcher – MSc, Tier 1 Canada Research Chair in Global Health and Capacity Building, Professor – School of Population and Public Health
Description:Dr. Yassi obtained her medical degree from McMaster University and then trained as a medical specialist in Public Health, Preventative Medicine and Occupational Medicine.
She is often involved in health advocacy, especially for worker rights and environmental justice. She is also now involved in “Arts for social change”.
Her other areas of interest are: Environmental and Occupational Health; Aboriginal Health; Health, Human rights and Liberation Medicine;
Get involved: She can provide mentorship, research opportunities (as summer student research projects going abroad (South Africa, or Ecuador), and/or literature review and synthesis projects; Students with a background in statistics and questionnaire development skills would be especially welcome), educational opportunities (Eg. lectures), volunteer opportunities and global health student electives in areas of my work
Contact:
Room 430 – 2206 East Mall, School of Population and Public Health, UBC, Vancouver
T: 604-822-6962
Ruth Elwood Martin (Health Education and Advocacy)
Ruth Elwood Martin
Current roles:
Health Professional – Family Physician; Director, Collaborating Centre for Prison Health and Education
Researcher – MPH; Lead research faculty for UBC family practice residency program
Clinical Professor – UBC Department of Family Practice
Description:
Dr. Martin has advocated for health and maintenance of mother-infant contact in BC prisons. She was involved in the making of documentary “Bonding through Bars”. She has also been a tireless advocate for “through-care” of prison inmates, where prison health is responsibility of Ministry of Health and the health authorities rather than Ministry of Justice and there is continuity of care when incarcerated women are released into the community. Dr. Martin is also involved with College of Family Physicians of Canada project, “Giving voice to the stories of family medicine.”
In addition, Dr, Martin supervises a Prison Health Advocacy Education elective for family practice residents and undergraduate medical students. Through this elective, participants experience the complexities of the correctional health system from ‘inside the gates’, and develop an understanding of the responses of prison health care practitioners, community organizations and individuals with incarceration experience to prison health determinants and inequities, in order to become more effective health advocates for prison health.
Dr. Martin’s other areas of interest are: Access and Resources to health care, Health education and advocacy, Maternal and Child health
Get involved – Dr. Martin is interested in connecting with students, practitioners, and members of the community to provide mentorship, opportunities in advocacy work, research, academic conversations, idea generation, and knowledge translation. She invites all the relationships that may come from the Social Medicine Network and is excited to see what develops.
Contact:
ruth.martin@familymed.ubc.ca
T: 604-822-2496
Sarah Dobson
Sarah Dobson
sarah.c.dobson@gmail.com
Twitter: @sarahcdobson
LinkedIn: ca.linkedin.com/in/sarahcdobson
Researcher
Community Organization member
Research administrative staff
Population and public health (MSc)
Areas of Interest:
• Access and Resources to Health Care
• Health Education and Advocacy
• LGBT
• Youth and Children’s Health Inequity
• Health professions education
Highlighted work:
Sarah Dobson has been researching how physicians see their role as health advocates and what can be learned from physician health advocates to train the next generation of doctors. She is also working with colleagues to establish a community-based organization that connects low income patients to community resources through volunteers in medical clinics. Currently, the organization is in the analysis and writing phase of a advocacy research project.
Opportunities for Involvement:
• Educational lectures
• Students interested in becoming involved in an advocacy research project at the organization can contact Sarah Dobson at sarah.c.dobson@gmail.com
Todd Sakakibara (Health Education and Advocacy)
Todd Sakakibara
Current roles:
Health Professional – Family Physician at Three Bridges Community Health Clinic and Raven Song Community Health Clinic – He provides care to vulnerable populations including those dealing with poverty, mental health, addictions, HIV, and the LGTB communities;
Researcher – He is involved in community based research for gay men’s health;
Clinical Assistant Professor – UBC Department of Family Practice, Site faculty for Curriculum St. Paul’s Hospital Family Practice Residency Program
Description:
Dr. Sakakibara is the site faculty for curriculum for the St. Paul’s Family Medicine Residency Program, where he mentors and facilitates advocacy projects for Family Medicine residents. Dr. Sakakibara is also the mentor for Community Health Initiative by University Students, which is an interdisciplinary group of health discipline residents and students that addresses community health needs through community engagement and through this process offers experiential learning to residents and students. Dr. Sakakibara also actively advocates for the health of transgender and other vulnerable populations
Dr. Sakakibara’s other areas of interest are: Addictions Health, LGBTQ Health, Maternal and Child health (Youth Health), HIV/AIDS, Cultural safety
Get involved – Dr. Sakakibara is interested in connecting with students, practitioners, and members of the community to provide mentorship, opportunities in advocacy work, research, academic conversations, idea generation, and knowledge translation. He invites all the relationships that may come from the Social Medicine Network and is excited to see what develops.
Contact:
T: 604.736.9844