New Public Health School To Prevent Disease Outbreaks

Main Category: Public Health
Also Included In: Medical Students / Training
Article Date: 30 Jan 2009 - 0:00 PDT

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Dr. Richard Masse is working hard to have the Ecole de sante publique de l'Universite de Montreal (ESPUM) take shape. The school will have a very precise mandate: disease prevention and population health.

"It's the branch of health sciences that addresses groups rather than individuals," says Dr. Masse. "These groups can vary. It can be a village, a region, or an entire population of Quebec, or even broader."

It's a new school that will unite existing Université de Montréal units. The school already comprises of 120 regular professors, as many clinicians, and 600 graduate students. Dr. Massé has been working day and night since he took office last August. "We are currently scattered on seven different sites, yet I am confidant we will find a home soon," he says.

Since the 1980s, public health has become multidisciplinary. The ESPUM will be a fine example and will bring together researchers in medicine, nursing, social sciences and veterinary medicine. "More and more, we realize that animal diseases can be a threat to human populations, such as the avian flu, West Nile virus and listeriosis. That is why veterinary medicine is an indispensable partner in a project like ours," says Dr. Massé.

Dr. Massé faces many challenges ahead as the first director of the ESPUM, but he has the credentials to take them head on. He graduated from the Université de Sherbrooke medical school in 1976 and acquired a diploma in family medicine in 1977. He also did a Masters in epidemiology at McGill in 1989. His career began in Africa where he worked on many cooperation projects. In the 1990s, he was Director of the Agence de la santé et des services sociaux de Montréal.

In 1997, he was invited by Health Minister Jean Rochon to be Deputy Minister and national director of public health. In 2003, he became President and Director of the Institut national de santé publique du Québec.

Université de Montréal

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