We are pleased to announce that one of our senior faculty members, Dr. W. Thomas Boyce, has been appointed Interim Director of HELP. Tom is an internationally known developmental paediatrician and scholar. He holds the Sunny Hill Health Centre/BC Leadership Chair in Child Development at the University of British Columbia and is also Co-Director of the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research (CIFAR) Child and Brain Development Program and a member of Harvard University's National Scientific Council on the Developing Child. Tom’s experience as a scientific leader, teacher and team builder provides us with the stability and vision to keep HELP solidly on course. Additionally, Joanne Schroeder is continuing in her role as Deputy Director. She will continue providing all aspects of operational leadership at HELP. Joanne has worked at HELP for over a decade, in a variety of community development and management roles. She has an extensive history and breadth of knowledge about all aspects of HELP’s research. As a leadership team, Tom and Joanne will provide the foundation as HELP moves into a new phase of development.
All of our core projects are continuing. We are currently in the process of transferring principal investigative responsibilities to other faculty members. We have seven additional faculty, and associate faculty members, here at HELP: Jim Frankish, Martin Guhn, Lori Irwin, Paul Kershaw, Brenda Poon, Kim Schonert-Reichl, and Ziba Vaghri; we also have a half dozen faculty research associates and over thirty five staff to support the research. It is a strong, comprehensive and committed team. Collectively, we came to HELP because of our determination to use research to improve the life chances of all children. This vision is what we shared most deeply with Clyde and what now guides us to the future.
We are collectively renewing our strategic vision with an eye to both sustaining and growing our work. Plans are underway to recruit a new long term director at HELP and we are happy to have the support of our colleagues at the School of Population and Public Health and the Faculty of Medicine as we build a package that will attract the highest quality of candidate.
Our individual and community partnerships are foundational to the work we do at HELP. We have sincerely appreciated all of the support and kindness that so many of you have shown us over this last, most challenging, month. We look forward to soon connecting with you all, to celebrate Clyde’s work together and to dream big towards the future.