How are we solving the greatest challenges facing health?

With almost 50 cents of every tax dollar currently going to health care, the system is simply not sustainable. Canada’s health care system has many strengths, but without evolving to meet critical challenges like spiraling costs, access to services and waiting times, it will shatter.

The answers lie within the work of the O’Brien Institute for Public Health at the University of Calgary. Solutions are being developed by more than 400 academics and professionals, including research scientists, clinicians, health system decision-makers and other experts. Together, we are building better health and better health care.

Better health is about ideas and actions to improve the health of individuals and populations, like reducing obesity or increasing vaccinations. Better health care is about improving the systems we use to deliver health by cutting waste, getting better value for money, finding greater efficiency of services, reducing wait times, boosting safety and improving patient outcomes.

The O’Brien Institute’s work is key to the Cumming School of Medicine’s focus areas of precision medicine and precision public health – the understanding provided through research, data and unique health characteristics that can lead to personalized treatments and therapies for individuals and communities.

Your support of the O’Brien Institute will fuel expertise to innovate and improve the system. We are changing the future of health in three key areas:

• health, wellness and disease prevention
• health systems performance and innovation
• big data and smart analytics

Advances in medical care and public health policy in the last century have helped increase the average life span by 25 years. From delivering immunization programs, improving care for people with chronic conditions to addressing underlying factors such as poverty, education and food security, pioneers in public health are identifying solutions and advocating for action.

The well-being of our society depends on the health of the people in it. Countries and economies cannot be healthy and thrive when our people are sick. We know that children, youth and adults from socioeconomically disadvantaged backgrounds are most vulnerable to gaps in health.

The O’Brien Institute for Public Health has the skill and the will to have enormous impact here and around the world. Our expertise, combined with strong partnerships with Alberta Health Services (AHS), provincial and federal health ministries and the City of Calgary position us to develop solutions and policies that will benefit our city, province, nation and the world.

Poor diet and unhealthy lifestyles are major contributors to cardiovascular disease, stroke, cancer and obesity. Obesity alone costs the Canadian economy $4.3 billion annually, and decreases the life expectancy of Canadians by an average of seven years per person. O’Brien Institute members Norm Campbell and Charlene Elliott have conducted research and developed policy recommendations on marketing foods to kids and reducing salt and trans fat content in processed foods. They are also looking at how food marketing affects the health of our populations. The development of national food and nutrition policies will help reduce the burden of health conditions caused by poor diets.

Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) is a potentially debilitating and incurable disease of the gastrointestinal tract affecting 233,000 Canadians, and can lead to lifelong pain. Institute member Gil Kaplan was the first to find a link between IBD and air pollution, after conditions including heart and lung disease, stroke, and diabetes were also correlated to the air we breathe. By understanding the cause, we can develop solutions to help those with these diseases.

Health providers record a lot of information about a patient while they are in the hospital — diagnosis, medications, care recommendations — that the patient’s regular doctor needs to continue their care.  Without that continuity of care, patients can take the wrong medication, be re‑admitted to hospital or suffer other serious health problems. Researchers in the O’Brien Institute for Public Health’s W21C (Ward of
the 21st Century) Program developed the Electronic Transfer of Care Tool, a secure, web-based application that gives community health care providers access to a patient’s critical information. This tool has been implemented in all adult acute care facilities in Calgary, and the project will be adapted for use across Alberta and nationwide.

Public health research has produced major advances globally, including increased life expectancy, decreased maternal and neonatal death rates and decreased hospital complication rates.  The O’Brien Institute for Public Health is contributing to this transformative work through an exciting new partnership with the World Health Organization in the domain of health information. By developing data systems that enable the measurement of worldwide health trends, we can reduce disease, extend lives and improve health.

The experiences of others can be used to make better health decisions, thanks to the ability of precision medicine to personalize treatment.  Procedures used to visualize cardiac events like artery blockages – while vital to helping save a person’s life – can also wreak havoc on the kidneys.  Researchers like Matt James use health data to evaluate a patient’s risk so that important steps can be taken to carry out these procedures safely.  The information collected through big data, and the insights it provides, is helping physicians make informed decisions to save lives.