2008 International Society for Urban Health Board Elections

Candidate for Secretary

Pat O'Campo, Ph.D.

In my current position I hold the Alma and Baxter Ricard Chair in Inner City Health and am Director of the Centre for Research on Inner City Health, St. Michael's Hospital in Toronto.  I am also Professor of Public Health Sciences at the University of Toronto and Adjunct Professor at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.  I am a social epidemiologist and have been conducting policy relevant and community partnered research in urban settings on the social determinants of health and well-being among women and children for over 20 years.

I am seeking the position of Secretary of the International Society of Urban Health.  As a society that is only six years old, ISUH is still a developing organization.  While there have been a number of successes of this young organization including an excellent journal and a successful and ever growing annual meeting inside and outside of North America, there is room for further improvement.  Two areas in particular require further attention: the need to establish the ISUH as an even stronger international society and the need to ensure that the ISUH society is relevant for non-academic communities such as policy makers and community organizations. ISUH is uniquely placed as a society that can bring together diverse disciplines and academic and non-academic stakeholders to address the most pressing problems facing urban communities globally. 

Having served as ISUH President-elect, President and Past-President for the past three years, as well as Chair of the 2005 Annual meeting of the ISUH in Toronto,  I have a solid understanding of the strengths and challenges of the society.  This provides a strong foundation from which to draw upon to execute Secretarial responsibilities such as those concerning organizational incorporation and by-law monitoring.  I wish to continue serving on the Executive Board to ensure strong growth of the Society.  Thank you for your support.

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