2010 International Society for Urban Health Board Elections

Candidate for Member at Large

Anita Palepu, MD, MPH, FRCPC

The International Society of Urban Health has a growing and diverse membership of scholars, practitioners and community representing different countries, health systems and disciplines. The yearly conferences have provided attendees with unique perspectives and information that one does not readily find in other venues. I have been involved with the organization since its inception, and served a two-year term as Treasurer was President from 2007-8 and Past-President 2008-9. Additionally, I was the Organizing Chair of the 7th International Conference on Urban Health, in Vancouver, British Columbia, October 29-31, 2008. This was a wonderful experience and it was a honor to bring together so many scholars and practitioners interested in urban health to dialogue and forge productive interdisciplinary relationships.

I am currently a Professor of Medicine, Division of Internal Medicine at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver. I conduct my research at the Centre for Health Evaluation and Outcome Sciences with many colleagues at the British Columbia Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS. I have been fortunate to be part of a network of Canadian researchers examining issues pertaining to housing, homelessness and health. I am the Vancouver site PI of the Housing and Health in Transition Study, which is a longitudinal study of homeless and vulnerably housed persons in Toronto, Ottawa and Vancouver.

I graduated from McMaster University medical school in 1991, completed my Internal Medicine residency at Queen's University and then went to Boston University for my GIM fellowship and research training from 1994-1996. I earned a MPH from the BU School of Public Health during my GIM fellowship. I joined the UBC Division of Internal Medicine at St Paul's Hospital in 1996. In 2004, I assumed co-directorship of the UBC Department of Medicine Clinical Investigator Program and was awarded a Michael Smith Foundation for Health Research Senior Scholar. As an Internal Medicine specialist at St. Paul's Hospital, which is an inner-city tertiary care centre, I am active in teaching residents and medical students in both the inpatient and clinic setting. I am a founding editor and the current co-editor of Open Medicine, an open access, peer-reviewed, general medical journal committed to academic freedom.

I view it as an honor to serve as a Member at Large and continue my involvement on the ISUH Board.

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