On the Pacific Rim

For the past week I have been in Victoria, British Columbia, participating in a workshop that ought to lead to major centre for health services research on the Pacific Rim. Led by Mary Ellen Purkis and Lynn Stevenson the workshop focused on how a university and a health authority can build a genuine partnership to answer questions that have both a scholarly and a policy edge. In lots of ways, it was a thrilling meeting because of the Vancouver Island Health Authority’s initiative to redesign patient care . This is a major, data driven, enterprise founded on more than 30,000 hours of observational work, and recording about 1.5m episodes of patient care. It’s a very exciting resource for research and it will be at the centre of the new centre.

While I was there, I had the opportunity to renew my acquaintance with Chris Ceci of the University of Alberta, as well as Mary Ellen, and ended up writing an Introduction for their edited volume of papers presented at In Sickness and in Health 2009. While I was in Victoria I had a chance to eat at the inestimable Café Brio - one of my favourite restaurants in the world. They served a fantastic Fig and Goats cheese salad to start (it’s going to figure prominently on my Menu this winter) and a truly excellent roast duck on pureed Jerusalem Artichoke.