Identity area
Type of entity
Corporate body
Authorized form of name
Department of Community Health Sciences
Parallel form(s) of name
Standardized form(s) of name according to other rules
Other form(s) of name
Identifiers for corporate bodies
Description area
Dates of existence
1987-
History
Community Health Sciences 1987- Sanitary Science / Med Jurisprudence 1883-1887, then Hygiene, then Hygiene / Public Health until 1937 when it became Social & Preventive Med; this, in Apr '87 (Board of Governors, May 21), was joined with the Northern Medical Unit and the Office of International Health as the Dept of Community Health Sciences. In 1990 the Centre for Health Care Policy & Evaluation was established. As of 1999, specific units were: Alcohol & Tobacco Research, Biostatistical Consulting, Hildes Northern Medical, Health Policy & Evaluation, Northern Hlth Research, Occupat'l & Environmental Medicine.
SPM had existed as a small department within the medical school since the 1950s but had no full-time faculty members until the mid-1960s. Its first full-time Head, the late Dr. David Fish, was appointed in 1973. He began the recruitment of research scholars and scientists supported by career awards and lay the groundwork for SPM as a research-intensive department. A parallel development during the 1970s was the establishment and growth of the Northern Medical Unit (NMU) under the leadership of the late Dr. Jack Hildes. The NMU provided medical services to Aboriginal communities in the Keewatin region of the NWT and northern Manitoba. It was due to Dr. Hildes' foresight and energy that the University of Manitoba became an international leader in Aboriginal health care.
Dr. Hildes held the title of Associate Dean responsible for the Division of Community Medicine, which incorporated the NMU, the community medicine residency program and also undergraduate teaching in family and community medicine. It changed its name to the Division of Community and Northern Medicine (CNM) in 1984.
The creation of CHS in 1987 recognizes the confluence of interests and activities between the two units and aims to create a well-rounded department which excels in all three areas of teaching, research and service. Dr. Brian Postl became the first Head of the new department, a post he held until 1993. He was succeeded by Dr. Michael Moffatt, who served from 1993-1998, Dr. Kue Young from 1998 to 2002, Dr. John O'Neil from 2002 - 2007, Dr. Lawrence Elliott from 2007 to 2008 and Dr. Sharon MacDonald from 2008 to present.