The University of New Brunswick is changing the way people look at health-care through the new Jarislowsky Chair in Interprofessional Patient-Centred Care. The chair, located at UNB Saint John, will be held by assistant professor Dr. Shelley Doucet (BN’05, PhD’10) of the faculty of science, applied science and engineering.
Dr. David Burns, Vice-President (Research); Mr. Michael Doyle, Governor, Sir James Dunn Foundation; Dr. Bruno Battistini, CEO, NBHRF; Dr. Shelley Doucet, Jarislowsky Chair in Interprofessional Patient-Centred Care; Dr. Roy Heenan, Director, The Jarislowsky Foundation; Dr. Robert MacKinnon, Vice-President Saint John
Dr. Doucet will lead an ongoing research initiative aimed at developing and evaluating new interprofessional community-based primary health-care models that are patient-centred. This growing field of study encourages collaboration among health and social care providers across multiple settings to improve patient care and better manage public health resources to sustain the delivery of health-care in the future.
The announcement of the chair was made today at UNB Saint John to recognize the support from the Jarislowsky Foundation, the New Brunswick Health Research Foundation (NBHRF) and the Sir James Dunn Foundation.
The chair was made possible through a $1 million endowment from The Jarislowsky Foundation. A renowned supporter of education and fundamental research projects, Dr. Jarislowsky’s philanthropy has helped establish twenty-six endowed chairs in a variety of disciplines across the country including medicine, public sector management and business. Dr. Jarislowsky is chairman of the Board of the Montreal-based investment firm Jarislowsky, Fraser Limited.
"This is not only a unique opportunity to engage in groundbreaking research in the health sciences, but also an opportunity to directly impact the lives of Canadians through better health-care delivery and patient care," said Dr. Jarislowsky.
Two New Brunswick-based organizations also came forward to help establish the chair by matching Dr. Jarislowsky’s contribution. The New Brunswick Health Research Foundation (NBHRF) and the Sir James Dunn Foundation both pledged contributions of $500,000.