the wall papers

PUBLIC HEALTH SLEEP DISORDERS IN CHILDREN SOCIAL MEDIA TO PROMOTE HEALTH EXERCISE TO PREVENT DIABETES

CULTURAL CONTINUITY IN ABORIGINAL COMMUNITIESTHE UNDERBELLY OF THE MEXICAN DRUG TRADE

ISSUE 2SPRING 2013PRINTED IN CANADA

THE PETER WALL INSTITUTE MAGAZINE SPRING 2013

PAPERS

FEATURESSPRING 201303 Social media may offer ways to promote health

04 HIV-exposed but uninfected infants face higher than expected morbidity and mortality rates

05 Sleep disorders in children often undetected in Canada

07 Researchers suggest prescriptions for exercise to prevent diabetes

08 Enhancing safe access to medical cannabis for patients

MESSAGE FROM THE DIRECTORThis issue of The Wall Papers highlights some of the innovative and important research being undertaken by Peter Wall Institute scholars in health and well-being. Dr. David Speert, Dr. Tobias Kollmann and a team of African scholars lead a Peter Wall Institute Major Thematic Grant project addressing the high rates of morbidity and mortality among HIV exposed but uninfected infants, having found specific differences in the molecular level between these infants and infants not exposed to HIV. Their research will be transformative in future protection of these infants through vaccinations and other strategies. Also featured is the research of Dr. Kendall Ho and his colleagues at the Peter Wall Institute and faculties across The University of British Columbia (UBC) and Canada, examining how to better serve the millions of people that use social media for health-related information. Dr. Ho observes that social media offers an unprecedented opportunity to foster knowledgeable and activated health consumers, given proper research and evaluation. In this issue, Dr. Bruce Carleton, UBC Department of Pediatrics and Peter Wall Institute Faculty Associate discusses his innovative research into the significant numbers of children with neurodevelopmental disabilities who have sleep problems that may be exacerbated by undetected conditions and inappropriate medication. The magazine’s “Writings on the Wall” features the research underlying two important and timely upcoming public lectures. Peter Wall Distinguished Professor Dr. B. Brett Finlay discusses the role of microbes in human health, disease and society, which will be the subject of the spring Wall Exchange and British author, playwright and Yale Professor Caryl Phillips will discuss how the “DNA” of cities influences the lives of newcomers. The research of Peter Wall Institute International Visiting Research Scholar Dr. Raina Elley, University of Auckland, is also featured. Her work with UBC’s Dr. Martin Dawes is developing programs that use exercise and lifestyle prescriptions, recognizing that physical inactivity is currently the fourth leading risk factor for global mortality. This issue profiles the research of three of the Institute’s Early Career Scholars, who are working in diverse areas such as the social and economic effects of living in border regions; analyzing the epigenome and its associated proteins; and the study of plant genetics and their importance to multiple ecosystems. The Institute’s current Distinguished Scholars in Residence discuss their highly interdisciplinary research, including: where human concepts come from and how we develop our ability to understand the world; the benefits of pharmacogenetics to potentially save lives; examination of the contribution of cultural continuity to shaping the health and well-being of First Nations communities; and research into how scholars can deepen their understanding of embodied events such as spoken expressions and gestures. As this issue of the magazine illustrates, the Institute’s Faculty Associates are making significant contributions to basic and advanced research to address some of the most pressing issues we face today. The Institute is honoured to provide opportunities to foster collaborations among scholars in the sciences, humanities and the arts, partnering with policy makers, artists and the community to undertake innovative and timely research. Please enjoy.

Dr. Janis SarraProfessor of Law, Institute Director

EARLY CAREER SCHOLARS10 Anthropologist exposes economic underbelly of Mexican drug trade

11 Genes affected by environment

12 Researcher looks for links between multiple ecosystems

DISTINGUISHED SCHOLARS IN RESIDENCE

13 Peter Wall Institute scholar believes we are not just blank slates

14 From epigenetics to safer drugs, Peter Wall Distinguished Scholar is always ahead of the game

15 Cultural continuity key to the health and well-being of Aboriginal communities

16 There is more to communication than language

WRITINGSON THE WALL17 Tiny microbes play huge role in human history

18 DNA of cities influences the lives of its newcomers

WALL ART

19 Fostering social change through the arts

19 Theatre used to heal wounds in post-war Serbia

20 Performing healing acts: A New York playwright seeks social justice

20 Wall Soundscape No. 1 takes over Vancouver’s Fountain Square

THE BACK PAGES21 Bookshelf

21 The Wall of Fame

The Wall Papers is published twice per year in the fall and spring by the Peter Wall Institute for Advanced Studies at The University of British Columbia. Since its founding two decades ago, the mission of the Peter Wall Institute for Advanced Studies has been to create collaborative, interdisciplinary, basic research programs for scholars at all stages of their career. It is one of only 30 similar institutions worldwide devoted to the pursuit of learning and research at the highest levels.

Institute Director: Dr. Janis Sarra; Editor: Nicola Johnston; Art Director: Gregory Ronczewski; Photography: Arne Von Delft, Martin Dee, Dr. Shaylih Muelmann, Dr. Gregory Crutsinger,Angelique Crowther, Jim McCartney, Nicola Johnston. Stock; Contributors: Erin Morawetz, Samantha Green, Bernadette Mah, Jimmy Thomson, Nicola Johnston. Program Managers: Joanne Forbes, Samantha Green, Emma MacEntee, Bernadette Mah. Please write to us at: Peter Wall Institute for Advanced Studies, University Centre, University of British Columbia, 6331 Crescent Road, Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z2. Phone: 604 822 9575 or contact us by email [email protected]. Printed at Hemlock Printers.

THE WALLPAPERS MAGAZINE SPRING 2013 2

SOCIAL MEDIA MAY OFFER WAYS TO PROMOTE HEALTH

Millions of users search for health-related information on the Internet on a daily basis. In 2010, an estimated 64 per cent of Canadians searched for medical or health-related information and 58 per cent used social networking sites, according to the 2010 Statistics Canada Internet Use Survey. In addition, a recent study by the Pew Research Centre reported that 35 per cent of adults surveyed in the United States have gone online to find information about their medical condition. Google’s Flu Trends feature tracks search terms to map out flu activity around the world. Researchers at Johns Hopkins Hospital in the United States published a paper showing a strong correlation between a rise in Internet searches for flu information compiled by Flu Trends, and a rise in the number of patients coming to the hospital with flu-like symptoms. Digital tools and social networks are increasingly used by patients and health care professionals for support and information-sharing on a variety of medical conditions. Online communities such as PatientsLikeMe.com have created a health data-sharing platform through which individuals can record and share data on their specific condition and learn to manage their health through learning about the experience of others. These platforms are then able to capture first-hand patient information on treatment and outcomes, providing valuable real-time data to researchers on aspects of patient care. A group of researchers from five faculties and schools at The University of British Columbia (UBC), including the Faculty of Medicine, the iSchool@UBC, the School of Nursing, the Faculty of Applied Sciences, and Sauder School of Business, recently conducted a Peter Wall Institute Exploratory Workshop on Harnessing the Social Web – Communities for Health and Wellness. “The ability to empower a person to live healthily and have timely support by health professionals and peers to gain the knowledge, skills and understanding about wellness is exciting”, asserts Dr. Kendall Ho from the Faculty of Medicine eHealth Strategy Office and the Principal Investigator of this workshop. “Knowledge is now easily within reach to help individuals to measure how their own bodies behave through

biosensors such as pedometers or smart phone Apps. These measurements give people insightful and immediate biofeedback to understand how they respond to sleep, diet, exercise, or medications, thereby aiding them and their health professionals to support optimal health and wellness.” Dr. Ho says that his faculty colleagues and researchers from the workshop hope to implement social media approaches in British Columbia (BC). “Our aim is to rigorously evaluate their utility in improving health access and quality outcomes, and cost effectiveness of health services offered. These initiatives and findings will help influence the evidence-based incorporation of social media into our health system to benefit our citizens in BC and beyond”, adds Dr. Ho. The workshop hosted a public event at UBC Robson Square on Social Media for Health: The Good, the Bad and the Possible. “We were very pleasantly surprised by the tremendous response, as individuals indicated a strong interest to know more, learn more and share more with us. People want to see the evidence that social media approaches bring positive results to health care services, and we hope that the research and evaluation efforts that spring from the Peter Wall Institute of Advanced Studies workshop will help us build that evidence”, adds Dr. Ho. Dr. Ho says that social media offers an unprecedented opportunity in this generation to foster knowledgeable and activated health consumers. “We need to engage the general public, health professionals, researchers, and innovators to work together to unleash the power of social media and modern information technologies”, he claims. “Proper research and evaluation can help us understand how these new and exciting approaches can truly help us live healthier lives, and to improve our health system’s ability and capacity to support each of us in wellness and sickness alike.”

PETER WALL INSTITUTE FOR ADVANCED STUDIES3

Why do some children get sick and others do not? This question is one that parents and doctors alike often ask, and that a group of researchers from South Africa and The University of British Columbia (UBC) have decided to address under a major research initiative of the Peter Wall Institute for Advanced Studies. The research team, which is based at UBC and within several South African hospitals, is working on the project, titled HIV-Exposed but Uninfected Infants: Exploration of the Causes of Enhanced Morbidity and Mortality. The project’s research team, led by Dr. David Speert, recipient of the Peter Wall Institute’s 2010-2014 Major Thematic Grant, decided to look at why certain children suffer from infectious diseases where others do not. For Dr. Tobias Kollmann, an Associate Professor of Pediatrics at UBC and one of the team’s primary researchers, the project really began from a clinical experience in British Columbia, which determined that not every child exposed to certain pathogens suffers from the disease of those pathogens. To understand this pattern further, Dr. Kollmann, Dr. Speert and the research team chose to examine infants in South Africa, gathering local and international experts to help with the study. Once onsite, what they saw was a much greater set of problems than what they had expected. The team found that uninfected infants with HIV-infected mothers suffer a morbidity and mortality rate much higher than expected, when compared to children who are born to uninfected mothers. A pilot study run by members of the team noted that the difference is not in the number of infections that an infant suffers from, but rather, the severity of the infections. “These children get the same infections…but they suffer from these infections to a degree that the HIV-infected children do not suffer from”, Dr. Kollmann says. “It tells us it’s not likely about the exposure, but the response of the host that is the difference.” Based on this research, Dr. Kollmann and his team have found specific differences at the molecular level between HIV-exposed but uninfected infants and those infants that are not exposed to HIV at all. They hope this research will ultimately be able to help identify why some

children get sick, not only more often than others, but also with greater severity. They plan to apply these findings beyond the realm of HIV-related issues. In a recently published paper, Dr. Kollmann and Dr. Speert reported that the development of the human immune system is very dynamic over the first year of life and that geography may play a role in this development. The publication noted differences in research findings between infants from resource-rich and resource-poor countries. In particular, Dr. Kollmann says they found very distinct differences in their results from South Africa compared to other countries.

“There is something very different with the population in general in South Africa”, he says. “We’re setting up studies that will help to identify why South African infants go through a different immune development than children elsewhere in the world.” Dr. Kollmann notes that data suggest the difference is likely not based on genetics, but rather, on exposure. The only connection between most of the subjects is the fact that they were born, raised and currently living in South Africa. While this research on immune development will be published in the coming months, Dr. Kollmann says the clinical research on HIV-exposed but uninfected infants will be ongoing for at least the next few years. The results of this research could have a serious impact on future plans to protect these infants, including vaccinations. Dr. Kollmann’s outlook is positive. “Hopefully, we’ll be able to identify the exact cause and exact relationship between differences in the immune systems of the HIV-exposed versus unexposed infants, and how that relates to a more severe infection.”

HIV-EXPOSED BUT UNINFECTED INFANTS FACE HIGHER THAN EXPECTED MORBIDITY AND MORTALITY RATES

THE RESULTS OF THIS RESEARCH COULD HAVE A SERIOUS IMPACT ON FUTURE PLANS TO PROTECT THESE INFANTS, INCLUDING VACCINATIONS

Much of Dr. Speert and Dr. Kollmann’s research on HIV-exposed but uninfected infants is conducted in South Africa’s Townships.


SLEEP DISORDERS IN CHILDREN OFTEN UNDETECTED IN CANADA

Kirsten and Rob Graham, with their children Darek, Emmy and Rachel.


When Kirsten Graham was told that her daughter Emmy’s sleep and behavioural issues stemmed from an attachment disorder, common in foster children who have lost their parents and do not have a support network to calm and centre them, she was completely bewildered. “It didn’t resonate”, Ms. Graham says. “We knew Emmy had been surrounded by nothing but love.” But as Emmy’s problems expanded from sleepless nights to the inability to maintain social connections, Ms. Graham wondered what the truth was. She finally found it, more than five years after Emmy’s birth. Willis Ekbom Disease is a relatively common sleep disorder stemming from the brain. The disorder occurs as a result of sleep deprivation and presents itself as a neurodevelopmental disability. Dr. Bruce Carleton, a senior clinician scientist at the Child and Family Research Institute in Vancouver, Professor in the Department of Pediatrics at The University of British Columbia (UBC), and Peter Wall Institute Faculty Associate has been studying adverse drug reactions in children for more than 20 years. Together with colleague Dr. Osman Ipsiroglu, who investigates sleep patterns in children with neurodevelopmental disabilities, they conducted an Exploratory Workshop at the Peter Wall Institute for Advanced Studies in October 2012, titled Phenotyping Sleep Behaviours: Lessons from the Past, Directions for the Future. Both researchers note that up to 75 per cent of children with neurodevelopmental disabilities have sleep problems; however, they usually go undetected. “They are often missed in normal work-ups in healthcare”, Dr. Ipsiroglu says. Furthermore, sleep deprivation-related challenging behaviours are often seen as primarily attributable to the child’s underlying neurodevelopmental condition. As a result, these children are often inappropriately medicated, sometimes resulting in deterioration of behavioural challenges. Dr. Carleton investigates such behavioural challenges that result from adverse drug reactions. These challenges usually go undetected, and such was the case with Emmy. Seeing her daughter’s behavioural deterioration from medication and not having answers that would help her daughter was one of the hardest parts of the last five years for Ms. Graham. “We felt orphaned by the system”, Ms. Graham says. “We were constantly seeking interventions and solutions and nothing seemed to work. The only thing that was clear to us was that ADHD medications are not the solution, but we didn’t know what the future held for Emmy or for our family.” As parents of three children, Ms. Graham and her husband realized that dealing with Emmy’s sleep problems was all encompassing; it

affected the whole family. Dr. Carleton and Dr. Ipsiroglu agree that the experiences of the Graham family are not uncommon. The Peter Wall Institute workshop aimed to bring together international researchers to establish a theoretical framework for identifying sleep disorders, to implement appropriate therapeutic-related interventions as early as possible, and to identify adverse drug reactions for children. Dr. Carleton points out that a lot of these steps start at the community level through the passionate observations and strong advocacy skills of parents. “Physicians need to listen carefully to families’ stories, to understand the full story behind adverse reactions or so-called side effects”, he explains. “If you didn’t ask about sleep disorders and do not examine both night and daytime behaviours, even significant adverse drug reactions are missed.” Ms. Graham says Emmy’s daytime behaviours were previously diagnosed as a whole array of disorders, including Developmental Coordination Disorder, Sensory Processing Regulatory Disorder, ADHD, Attachment Disorder, and Anxiety. But now, with treatment for Willis Ekbom, she no longer exhibits the symptoms associated with many of these disorders, leading Mrs. Graham to believe her problems came almost exclusively from her sleeping disorder. “That is the primary diagnosis,” she explains, and now “these things are starting to peel back like layers.” Dr. Carleton and Dr. Ipsiroglu both emphasize that care for patients should be individualized. They are looking at ways to incorporate personalized medicine into the world of neurodevelopmental disabilities. In Emmy’s case, pharmacogenomic investigations - such as looking at a specific child’s genetic makeup and examining drug reactions - in combination with a social science-based qualitative approach to clinical investigations, helped to overcome current systematic barriers. “I like to start these investigations with individual patients”, Dr. Carleton says. “How can we bring personalized medicine to children with disabilities and sleep disorders?” Ms. Graham says there are still many scary unknowns in Emmy’s future. “It’s not an easy journey”, she says. But for now, despite her concerns, Ms. Graham says she is in a hopeful place. “There’s just a sense of calm now in our family”, she says. “Being able to see Emmy smile, and relax, and being able to enjoy life is so special.”

To listen to a podcast interview with Dr. Bruce Carleton, please visit: http://www.pwias.ubc.ca/podcasts/interviews/carleton.mp3.

PHYSICIANS NEED TO LISTEN CAREFULLY TO FAMILIES’ STORIES TO UNDERSTAND THE FULL STORY BEHIND ADVERSE REACTIONS OR SO-CALLED SIDE EFFECTS. IF YOU DIDN’T ASK ABOUT SLEEP DISORDERS AND DO NOT EXAMINE BOTH NIGHT AND DAYTIME BEHAVIOURS, EVEN SIGNIFICANT ADVERSE DRUG REACTIONS ARE MISSED.

Dr. Bruce Carleton with a patient.


Researchers at The University of British Columbia (UBC) are working on a program that uses exercise and lifestyle prescriptions to prevent diabetes, supported by the Peter Wall Institute for Advanced Studies. Dr. Raina Elley is an Associate Professor and Director of Research in the Department of General Practice and Primary Health Care at the University of Auckland, New Zealand. Her research involves exercise and other lifestyle or medical interventions to improve health, particularly in the areas of cardiovascular health and diabetes. In New Zealand, she helped spearhead the “Green Prescription” program, which called on general practitioners to prescribe written advice on physical activity to patients, as a form of intervention and health management. As an International Visiting Research Scholar at the Peter Wall Institute for Advanced Studies, Dr. Elley has collaborated with Dr. Martin Dawes and other colleagues in UBC’s Department of Family Practice to bring a similar program to Canada called, Preventing Diabetes with Facilitated Lifestyle Intervention Prescription (FLIP). The FLIP study is underway to examine whether or not a ‘lifestyle prescription’ for exercise and a healthy diet from the family physician, and a follow-up telephone call from a community-based lifestyle facilitator, can help these patients reduce their risk of developing diabetes. Research has shown that regular exercise, a healthy diet and a modest five per cent weight-loss can reduce the risk of developing diabetes by more than one half. FLIP is being piloted in six family practices in British Columbia. Results of the pilot will be available in 2013 and a larger trial involving many more family practices is planned for the future. Physical inactivity is currently the fourth leading risk factor for global mortality - on par with smoking at about five million deaths per year. In addition, non-communicable diseases, such as Type-2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease, have over taken infectious diseases as causes of death on a global scale. “Exercise and diet together can prevent diabetes and have been shown to be better than medication”, says Dr. Elley. Similarly, exercise-based cardiac rehabilitation following a heart attack halved the odds of reoccurrence, which was “just as good as pharmaceutical interventions, if not better”, suggests Dr. Elley.

Research by Dr. Elley and colleagues has shown that prescribed physical activity is an inexpensive way of increasing levels of activity and can improve a patient’s quality of life over 12 months, with no evidence of adverse effects. Additionally, in New Zealand, for every ten Green Prescriptions written, one person achieved and sustained 150 minutes of moderate or vigorous leisure activity per week, using up an additional 1000 kcal during that week. This level of activity is associated with a 20 to 30 per cent risk reduction in all-cause mortality, compared with sedentary individuals. Governments often spend a fraction of the amount on exercise prescription and exercise-based cardiac rehabilitation programs that they spend on single drugs, like statins, despite the exercise programs being just as cost-effective. Undeniably, some forms of physical activity can be expensive. However, walking, exercise groups or brief exercise advice on prescription delivered in person, or by phone or mail, appeared to be more cost-effective than supervised gym-based exercise classes or instructor-led walking programs. “We have known that exercise is good for us and that it has many short and long-term health benefits”, says Dr. Elley. Yet, it has rarely been formally incorporated into the medical system until it was adopted in the United Kingdom in the 1990s and was later implemented by New Zealand in the early 2000s. Part of the problem is that medical students are not yet trained in medical schools on the importance of prescribing physical activity as part of health management. A lot more could be done to incorporate such training into their education, maintains Dr. Elley. There is considerable epidemiological evidence to suggest the multiple health benefits of exercise. There are adverse effects, concedes Dr. Elley, such as injuries and falls; but overall, the benefits outweigh the risks. Emphasizing the benefits of physical activity, Dr. Elley reiterated a quote by epidemiologist from Harvard’s School of Public Health, Dr. I-Min Lee, who once said, “Everything that gets worse when you grow older gets better when you exercise.”

RESEARCHERS SUGGEST PRESCRIPTIONS FOR EXERCISE TO PREVENT DIABETES

EVERYTHING THAT GETS WORSE WHEN YOU GROW OLDER GETS BETTER WHEN YOU EXERCISE. ~DR. I-MIN LEE


ENHANCING SAFE ACCESS TO MEDICAL CANNABIS FOR PATIENTS

With the proposed regulations to the way Canadians access medical marijuana, announced by Health Canada in December 2012, there is renewed interest in ensuring that patients who require medical cannabis are able to maintain or gain improved access to a safe and high quality product. The Peter Wall Solutions Initiative is supporting Dr. Zach Walsh at The University of British Columbia Okanagan (UBCO) campus to conduct the Medical Cannabis: Standards, Engagement, Evaluation and Dissemination (SEED) project. This project is a collaborative effort between UBCO, the Canadian Association of Medical Cannabis Dispensaries (CAMCD) and Canadians for Safe Access. Medical cannabis dispensaries have existed in Canada for over 15 years, providing community-based access to thousands of patients, but are currently not included in the Health Canada national regulatory framework for medical cannabis. They remain unregulated, operating in a ‘grey market’ and are at risk of abuse and exploitation. “A legal context for cannabis in Canada would greatly reduce the stigma and barriers faced by patients”, says Rielle Capler, Advisory Board member at CAMCD. “Medical cannabis dispensaries would continue to focus their service on the needs of patients, which often go beyond the provision of medicine alone. Like other health care organizations, dispensaries interested in improving the quality of care they provide patients would benefit from the certification program. CAMCD was established to support dispensaries to transition into a legal regulated framework.” Capler, who is also a Co-investigator on the SEED project, adds that the self-regulation of dispensaries is a necessary step to integrate a patient-centred health delivery model into the national regulatory framework. “The grant from the Peter Wall Solutions Initiative will increase the capacity of CAMCD to develop a self-regulatory program for dispensaries”, says Dr. Walsh. Prior to the new regulations announced last year, CAMCD was involved in Health Canada’s stakeholder consultation process. “I was encouraged to see that a number of its recommendations were adopted in proposed Marijuana for Medical Purposes Regulations (MMPR)”, notes Rade Kovacevic, President of CAMCD. “CAMCD will

continue to engage with Health Canada on the proposed regulations and remains committed to supporting dispensaries move forward into the new program.” In its first year, the project team held two sets of consultations with stakeholders involved in the industry to survey their views on certification and draft regulatory protocols. “The consultations in Vancouver last June were attended by the vast majority of medical cannabis dispensaries from across the province. The standards and certification program were well received and there was a general agreement that this program would help improve the quality of patient care, increase stakeholder acceptance of dispensaries and integrate dispensaries into the larger health care context”, says Capler. A draft regulatory protocol and certification process has been developed and ratified by CAMCD. The documents were posted online in November 2012 for members to begin to apply for certification. The CAMCD website states that the “Certification Program is a rigorous accreditation program for medical cannabis dispensaries, the first of its kind in Canada”. “There has been significant interest about how best to ensure and regulate safe access to medical cannabis through dispensaries from multiple stakeholders, including public health officials, policy-makers, and most importantly, patients”, adds Philippe Lucas, Co-Investigator on the SEED project and Director of Canadians for Safe Access. During the upcoming year, the team will continue its work on implementation of the certification program, establishing an assessment protocol to determine the impact of certification on dispensaries, patients and health care providers, and publishing a finalized CAMCD Standards and Certification document. Individual consultations with regulators and policy makers, accreditation bodies in the United States and Canada are planned. Success will be achieved if they are able to generate widespread acceptance of the CAMCD certification program by dispensaries and patients, as well as recognition of the program by government regulators and health care providers, according to Dr. Walsh and Capler. “The ultimate goal is to improve the health and well-being of people living in Canada by enhancing safe access to medical cannabis”, concludes Dr. Walsh.

Left: Philippe Lucas, Canadians for Safe Access, Rielle Capler, Canadian Association of Medical Cannabis Dispensaries, and Dr. Zach Walsh, The University of British Columbia Okanagan campus, at the community consultation meeting on Regulation of Medical Cannabis Dispensaries in Vancouver, June 2012.


Beyond its ability to provide basic economic opportunities, northern Mexico’s drug trade has infiltrated the lives and culture of the country’s people, providing one of the only options for upward mobility in a region suffering economic devastation, according to anthropologist Dr. Shaylih Muehlmann. “The particular forms of ‘narco-culture’ that have emerged in the last few decades on the border reach into every facet of life”, explains Dr. Muehlmann, Professor of Anthropology at The University of British Columbia (UBC), Canada Research Chair and 2012 recipient of the Peter Wall Institute’s Early Career Scholars award. She is currently working on a book entitled When I Wear my Alligator Boots, which tells the story of the ordinary people whose everyday lives are impacted by the drug trade. Dr. Muehlmann’s research in northern Mexico first began as a study of water conflicts in the Colorado River, where environmental degradation has left the local fishing economy barren. The book that resulted from this research, Where the River Ends, will be available in May 2013 through Duke University Press. It was what she discovered in a region faced with tragic financial hardship that led her to work with the rural poor, who are often involved in the lower levels of the narco-industry. “The kinds of economic hardship that have emerged as a result of the proliferation of very low-wage factory jobs and the collapse of local fishing and agricultural economies in the region has been one of the

FEATURING THE PETER WALL INSTITUTE’S EARLY CAREERSCHOLARS

THE INSTITUTE PLAYS A UNIQUE ROLE IN PROVIDING TRULY INTERDISCIPLINARY OPPORTUNITIES FOR UBC SCHOLARS, EARLY ON IN THEIR CAREERS, WHO ARE LIKELY TO MAKE BREAKTHROUGH DISCOVERIES OVER THE LONG-TERM. IT FUNDS INTERDISCIPLINARY PROJECTS THAT MIGHT OTHERWISE FAIL TO MEET THE CRITERIA OF REGULAR AWARD PROGRAMS.


ANTHROPOLOGIST EXPOSES ECONOMIC UNDERBELLY OF MEXICAN DRUG TRADE

Above: People and victims of drug violenceprotesting drug war policies in Los Angeles in August 2012.

Left: Road through the Sonoran desert, also known as the narco-corridor or narco-lands of northwestern Mexico.

reasons that many of the rural poor end up working in the lower echelons of the narco-economy”, says Dr. Muehlmann. However, financial livelihood is only one piece of a larger picture where the drug trade has become a way of life. Fashion now mimics the “narco” style of alligator boots, cowboy hats and “narco-bling”. The culture of trafficking is even evident in the way people pray. As Dr. Muehlmann points out, “even the saints that many people pray to are associated with narco-traffickers, most famously Jesús Malverde, who is the unofficial patron saint of smugglers and trafficking”.

Through her research, Dr. Muehlmann has found a way to provide an outlet for the stories of the people living amidst the dangerous conflict between powerful cartels and the government. “When I Wear my Alligator Boots is not a story of the powerful capos, but of...the women who make them their sandwiches; the businessmen who launder their money and the “mules”, or smugglers, who carry their money and drugs through borders and military checkpoints”, she explains. “I want to provide a

different perspective than one emphasized by the body counts...by focusing on the experiences of low-level actors in the drug economy.” Using her Early Career Scholar award, Dr. Muehlmann plans to take a follow-up trip to northern Mexico, where she will complete her current research and explore new possibilities for future comparative studies. Working in this field often poses risks that many scholars do not face in the course of their fieldwork; however, Dr. Muehlmann is not deterred. “As a Canadian with dual citizenship with the United States, there is something deeply disturbing about the extent of social suffering experienced on the Mexican side of the border as a result of US policies”, she says. “There is an inequality that has come about as a result of US government policies, as well as an ideological dehumanization of the Mexican population on the part of the United States”, she suggests. By shedding light on the economic and social issues faced on a daily basis by rural, northern Mexicans, Dr. Muehlmann hopes to draw attention to the disparity of the region’s poorer populations. In the process, she gives hope to the people whose stories and social injustices often get lost in the shadows of the “war on drugs”.

Dr. Shaylih Muehlmann is a recipient of the Peter Wall Institute 2012Early Career Scholar award and a Professor of Anthropology at UBC. She can be reached by email at [email protected].

I WANT TO PROVIDE A DIFFERENT PERSPECTIVE THAN ONE EMPHASIZED BY THE BODY COUNTS...


“How do early life experiences get under our skin?” This question sounds like one for a psychiatrist, but Dr. Michael Kobor thinks the answer could be in the shape of our DNA. Dr. Kobor, a Peter Wall Institute Early Career Scholar, is analyzing the epigenome - the structure of the DNA molecule and its associated proteins - to find out how our lives can be reflected in the most basic element of our biology. “There is tremendous evidence out there, very convincing data, that show that early life environments - for example early life poverty, stress and things like that - literally can affect your health across the lifespan, independently of how well you do later as an adult. That’s well known”, he says matter-of-factly. “What we have shown is that the mechanism by which these experiences can get under the skin clearly involves changes in gene expression and epigenetic patterns”. His study has used data from a cohort of over 200 subjects first studied as infants. Even at 18 years old, the subjects’ epigenomes showed traces of the stress their parents reported when they were infants. This study is just one of over 30 studies Dr. Kobor has underway with people all over the world, measuring different effects of the environment on the epigenome. “It is a very fruitful time for us”, he observes. Dr. Kobor is highly aware of the way these types of conclusions can be perceived by outsiders. Jean-Baptiste Lamarck, a contemporary of Darwin, had a competing theory of evolution, in which traits acquired throughout an organism’s life are passed down to the next generation. The theory was never adopted as a real mechanism for evolution. “It does have a Lamarckian flavour to it”, Dr. Kobor admits. “We know from cell-line work that there is a certain level of ‘inheritance’ in a statistical sense between the methylome, modifications in the DNA strand with methyl groups, of children and their parents”. Dr. Kobor has been in Canada for nearly two decades, since coming across the Atlantic to do his post-graduate work. Recently married, he jokingly laments that his wife refuses to let him do any epigenetic work on his toddler. “My wife is a privacy lawyer”, he laughs. “She would say, ‘He can’t consent to anything yet’.” Dr. Kobor seems to carry this jovial attitude with him into his laboratory. His graduate students are at ease around him and say that he encourages them to follow whatever path their interests may offer. Dr. Kobor has an open-door policy in his office, which is decorated with birthday cards and photos of his young son. Dr. Kobor believes there has not been a direction he has pursued recently in his research that has not worked out as planned. As he points

out, in “everything we have touched, we have found something. I can’t think of anything we have regretted doing”. He attributes such success to the kind of interdisciplinary approach fostered at the Peter Wall Institute for Advanced Studies. His collaborators are all over the world, yet they share the Institute’s passion for fresh approaches using multiple perspectives.

“We have been extremely blessed, and I think part of that is because we do have a wonderful set of interdisciplinary collaborators that allow us to move in directions that are a little bit more out of the mainstream. Truth be told, the things we do – to look at social environments and genes – isn’t as obvious as looking at cancer and genes”, Dr. Kobor observes. The Peter Wall Institute award has given Dr. Kobor a forum to discuss important issues surrounding his research - issues that science alone may not be able to answer. “We are already very interdisciplinary, but the more we learn about the epigenome, the more questions we ask ourselves”, he concedes. “Say, for example, your epigenome tells us something about your personal life history – to what extent do we need to consider those things in terms of privacy? The Peter Wall Institute is an ideal forum to discuss those kinds of questions.”

Dr. Michael Kobor is a recipient of the Peter Wall Institute 2012 Early Career Scholar award. He is an Associate Professor in the Department of Medical Genetics and Principal Investigator at the Centre for Molecular Medicine and Therapeutics at UBC. He can be reached by email at [email protected].

GENES AFFECTED BY ENVIRONMENT: INSTITUTE RESEARCHER

THERE IS TREMENDOUS EVIDENCE OUT THERE, VERY CONVINCING DATA, THAT SHOW THAT EARLY LIFE ENVIRONMENTS...LITERALLY CAN AFFECT YOUR HEALTH ACROSS THE LIFESPAN, INDEPENDENTLY OF HOW WELL YOU DO LATER AS AN ADULT.


Dr. Gregory Crutsinger has dedicated his academic life to looking at the links that exist between multiple ecosystems. As an Assistant Professor in the Department of Zoology at The University of British Columbia (UBC) and researcher at the Biodiversity Research Centre, his role as a field ecologist is to study plant genetics and their importance to multiple ecosystems. “We look at the concept of genetics in plants, but at higher levels, so at the level of animals that are associated with plants or at the level of a whole ecosystem”, Dr. Crutsinger explains. “We’re interested in how genes affect traits and how traits ripple through an ecosystem.” An Early Career Scholar at the Peter Wall Institute for Advanced Studies, Dr. Crutsinger organized a one-day symposium in September 2012 called Crossing Ecosystem Boundaries. The purpose was to bring researchers and students together to discuss the ways that ecosystems interact with each other. It also provided a way for scientists of different fields to converge and discuss their respective projects, while expanding their thinking. “Scientists really like to specialize”, Dr. Crutsinger said. “Clearly everything’s connected, so the symposium was about connecting those boundaries.” Dr. Crutsinger’s current research looks specifically at a collection of ponds on the UBC campus and the point of interaction between multiple ecosystems. In this case, the effects on genetic diversity are being identified when different genotypes of trees drop their leaves on the pond ecosystems. “What happens on land affects what happens on water, and what happens above ground that you can see affects what happens below ground”, he explains. “Even though both elements are individually complicated, how do they affect each other and how is that important for how an ecosystem works?” Dr. Crutsinger, who received his doctorate from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, calls his lab group ‘g2e’, which stands for ‘genes to ecosystems’. “Over the next few years, our hope is to strengthen the links, the connections…from the gene to the ecosystem”, he explains. “I think you need a pretty holistic approach to an ecosystem, because even though we put our imaginary boundaries on a system, it’s not so compartmentalized.” “Biodiversity is made up of lots of different levels. You can have genes, which can be linked to traits, which can be linked to species, which can be linked to communities, which can be linked to ecosystems”, he describes. “You have this kind of nested nature of biodiversity from a molecular level up to a forest.”

RESEARCHER LOOKS FOR LINKS BETWEEN MULTIPLE ECOSYSTEMS

Left: Dr. Crutsinger conducts research on ecosystems and genetic diversity in these ponds at the Arboretum greenhouse on the UBC farm.

Dr. Gregory Crutsinger is a recipient of the Peter Wall Institute 2012 Early Career Scholar award. He is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Zoology at UBC and researcher at the Biodiversity Research Centre. He can be reached by email at [email protected].


OUR DISTINGUISHED SCHOLARS IN RESIDENCE ARE OUTSTANDING UBC FACULTY MEMBERS WITH DISTINGUISHED RESEARCH RECORDS AND COMMITMENT TO INTERDISCIPLINARITY. SCHOLARS IN RESIDENCE GIVE A RESEARCH TALK DURING THEIR YEAR IN RESIDENCE AND TYPICALLY PLAN A RESEARCH-RELATED EVENT, WHILE HAVING AMPLE TIME TO PURSUE THEIR OWN RESEARCH.

FEATURING THE PETER WALL INSTITUTE’S DISTINGUISHED SCHOLARS IN RESIDENCE

PETER WALL INSTITUTE SCHOLAR BELIEVES WE ARE NOT JUST BLANK SLATES

Dr. Eric Margolis wants to know how we develop our ability to understand the world, so in describing how his experience with the Peter Wall Institute as a Distinguished Scholar in Residence is affecting his own thinking, the scholar cannot help but be true to his research. “I don’t think we can actually say how our personal views develop”, he says. “I think we can tell ourselves stories. A part of why you want to throw yourself into a richer intellectual environment is to be part of that mix, and see how things happen much later.” However, he does admit to one specific impact of his residency and the weekly meetings shared with other Institute scholars: “It’s very easy to become insular”, he explains. “In talking to people from outside of your area — people who come at things from a different angle — it keeps you honest. You can’t assume things. You really have to defend them.” Dr. Margolis’ current work is organized around two large projects — one that asks where human concepts come from, and one that looks at the ability to think about numbers. He is writing books on both topics and hopes to publish the book on concepts later this year.

A debate has long raged in philosophy and psychology, posing the question: are we born with innate ways of representing the world, or are our concepts and patterns of thought mostly a reflection of our experience? The former idea of innate knowledge is known as nativism, and Dr. Margolis has spent considerable time thinking about it lately. “When people think about this”, he says, “they tend to have a nativistic approach towards other animals. They are happy to accept that spiders are good at building webs because they have special innate web-building capacities. Then they get to humans and find themselves holding that things have to be different for us”. Dr. Margolis’ most recent paper, “In Defense of Nativism”, argues that this often-dismissed concept of human instincts and pre-programmed knowledge has considerable validity after all. “Nativists have this idea that human behaviour and cognitive capacities are surprisingly rich if you attend to the details. They see things, even on the surface, as being enormously complex”, he explains.Unravelling how humans conceptualize numbers is another of his passions, and the subject of another book he has in the works. “In the most basic way, number is part of all modern life”, Dr. Margolis muses. “It’s integral to our technology and our science, to our commerce, and to our relationship with just about every aspect of the manufactured world.” His eyes light up when he talks about the complexity of human thought. Sitting in his office, which is bare except for the high stacks of books on philosophy, language and cognition piled next to his Canadian-made Seagull guitar, Dr. Margolis points out, “Almost everything that we’re talking about right now, these exact sentences, have probably never been uttered before in the history of the world”. Dr. Margolis’ studies do not fall squarely into the realm of science or philosophy, but rather, they “fall between the cracks”, as he describes it. He doesn’t flinch at the thought that his work is hard to categorize. “I see it as going where the world requires you to go.”

Dr. Eric Margolis is a 2012-2013 Distinguished Scholar in Residence at the Peter Wall Institute and a Professor of Philosophy at UBC. He can be reached by email at [email protected].


Dr. Tom Grigliatti is something of a science hipster. It is not just the colourful fish tie he wears or his slightly chaotic office, Dr. Grigliatti only enjoys working on projects when someone tells him it will never work. His work on epigenetics is no exception. “We started this stuff many years ago before it was popular – in fact, I was told I was crazy for doing it. I told people this is the way developmental decisions were made and passed on”, Dr. Grigliatti recounts. As it turns out, he was right. Epigenetics, the study of how DNA molecules are put together – as opposed to the sequence of genes – and how those arrangements affect the way genes are expressed, has become central in our understanding of genetics. Traditionally, we think of genetics in terms of which genes are present in living organisms. Epigenetics has changed that understanding to include which genes can be physically accessed by RNA polymerase and therefore which genes will be expressed as proteins. It is a relatively new field in which Dr. Grigliatti is at the forefront. Fellow Peter Wall Institute scholar and Associate Professor in UBC’s Department of Medical Genetics, Dr. Michael Kobor, describes him as one of its “founding fathers”. Epigenetics has opened new doors in studies of inheritance and cell biology. Dr. Grigliatti, who is a 2012-2013 Peter Wall Institute Distinguished Scholar in Residence, now hopes to also make an impact in medicine - a prospect he presented in a lecture hosted by the Institute last fall. Using a person’s genetic makeup to predict how they will metabolize a particular drug can help doctors better prescribe drugs without the current trial-and-error approach. “Many people who are on a drug are not deriving a great deal of benefit from it. It’s the metabolizing enzymes that are really important”, Dr. Grigliatti explains. “If you’re a poor metabolizer, I want to give you less of it. One of the things to do is to choose the right drug, at the right dose, the first time.” True to form, his work has shifted from epigenetics to the emerging field of pharmacogenetics. His reasoning? “Now everybody in the world is doing it”, he says. “Only three drugs out of ten ever earn enough money to pay for their R&D and make a profit”, he explains. Much of that money is spent on clinical trials that often make it to a large, expensive round of testing

where the drug fails as a result of too many patients having adverse reactions. “For the drug companies the question is, can I identify the people for whom this drug is not going to be effective and not put them in my clinical trial?” Dr. Grigliatti muses. The potential benefits of pharmacogenetics go beyond making drugs more affordable for everyone. The science could also save lives. “There are 106,000 deaths from adverse drug effects in the US per year”, Dr. Grigliatti says quietly. “It’s now listed as the number four killer in the world. My niece was in the hospital a couple of months ago, coded twice. She was in for two weeks, and they finally got her off these drugs, and that’s what it was.” Working within the Peter Wall Institute as a Distinguished Scholar in Residence has provided Dr. Grigliatti with a unique opportunity to challenge himself by taking a step back and looking at his work from the perspective of other resident scholars at the Institute. “To me, it’s really important because… the simple answer to how you might address or approach this problem that is supposed to be so difficult, comes from, really, the big picture”, he explains. This approach comes from a respect for nature. Dr. Grigliatti believes in a rounded approach to science, which is provided by getting off his floor and interacting with researchers outside of his own field. “Mother Nature has done more experiments than all of the scientists who have ever lived, or are currently living, and have ever even thought about doing”, he marvels, “and most of hers have failed, too”. His refusal to be afraid of failure is what has kept Dr. Grigliatti at the forefront of emerging fields for decades. His career has been marked by sudden leaps into a new terrain; as answers were becoming clear in one area of study, he has always quickly found a new puzzle to work on. “One of my colleagues said that ‘You know you live your life with one foot over the cliff – if you’re not careful, you’re going to fall off!’” he laughs. “If you’re not having fun, what’s the point?”

Dr. Tom Grigliatti is a 2012-2013 Distinguished Scholar in Residence at the Peter Wall Institute and Professor in the Life Sciences Institute at UBC. He can be reached by email at [email protected]. To listen to a podcast of his recent lecture at the Institute, please visit www.pwias.ubc.ca and click on “Podcasts”.

FROM EPIGENETICS TO SAFER DRUGS, PETER WALL DISTINGUISHED SCHOLAR IS ALWAYS AHEAD OF THE GAME

THE POTENTIAL BENEFITS OF PHARMACOGENETICS GO BEYOND MAKING DRUGS MORE AFFORDABLE FOR EVERYONE. THE SCIENCE COULD ALSO SAVE LIVES.


CULTURAL CONTINUITY KEY TO THE HEALTH AND WELL-BEING OF ABORIGINAL COMMUNITIES

For one Peter Wall Institute Distinguished Scholar, individual and cultural identity are intimately linked. Professor Emeritus in The University of British Columbia’s Department of Psychology, Dr. Michael Chandler has spent the past 15 years studying the contribution of ‘cultural continuity’ to shaping the health and well-being of British Columbia’s (BC) First Nations communities. Although he and his colleagues are examining a range of health outcomes, including diabetes, obesity and tuberculosis, the bulk of his work has focused on the variable rates of youth suicide in BCs more than 200 First Nation communities. “What separates cultural communities from mere collections of people”, states Dr. Chandler, “is their ownership of a common past and commitment to a common future”. He refers to this ownership as cultural continuity. Colonialism in Canada and around the world, he argues, regularly took the form of discounting the traditional ways-of-being for Indigenous groups, stripping them of civic control over their own future. Stripped of their past and future, life becomes cheap and people tend to act with a lack of care and concern about their own well-being. He says that suicide is the most extravagant example of what it would mean to live in a world in which a person felt he or she had no ownership of their past or future. “Suicide is a coal miner’s canary of identity collapse”, he adds. In BC, overall suicide rates are three, four or even five times higher among Indigenous than non-Indigenous people, and higher still for Indigenous youth. Elevated suicide rates are not the case in all First Nation communities, emphasizes Dr. Chandler. Such statistics obscure the fact that there are many First Nation communities with no suicide at all, he continues. Dr. Chandler and his colleagues have spent most of two decades measuring the extent to which communities’ efforts to regain ownership of their own past and future relate to various health outcomes, including suicide rates. Through multiple waves of data collection, Dr. Chandler and his colleagues have identified nine proxy measures of cultural continuity within each of BC’s 200 plus First Nation Bands. These ‘cultural continuity markers’ include the preservation of Aboriginal languages; regaining a measure of self-government; the ability of communities to exercise a degree of control over educational and health delivery; the dispensation of justice through Aboriginal policing; rebuilding facilities for the preservation of culture; and a traditional place for women in community governance.

Over the course of their ongoing project, Dr. Chandler and his colleagues identified new markers that were not previously available, such as the control of child protection services. This marker is important for cultural continuity, reports Dr. Chandler, particularly in light of the 1960s’ “scoop”, when large numbers of First Nation children were forcibly taken from parents that had too easily been deemed unfit by the state. Dr. Chandler adds that there is a strong relationship between the presence of cultural continuity factors in communities and suicide rates. “Every community that can be marked as having all of these cultural continuity markers has no suicides”, he says. “To the extent that they (communities) have fewer of these cultural continuity factors, as each one drops out, the suicide rate goes up”, explains Dr. Chandler. “So when you have none of these protective factors, then suicides are hundreds of times the national average.” As his research demonstrates, the more than 200 First Nation groups in BC are not only culturally diverse, but also exhibit radically different levels of health and well-being. Variable suicide rates, he adds, are only one expression of such community differences. The lesson for policy makers is that there is no one-size fits all, top-down policy for suicide prevention programs. It would therefore be wise to focus available resources on those communities that are most in need, suggests Dr. Chandler. He also notes that the striking differences in the well-being of different Indigenous communities, and the fact that many of these groups have suicide rates and other markers of good health, equal to or better than those present in the general population, underscores that these groups have retained important Indigenous knowledge about how to create a community in which life is seen to be worth living. Identifying such Indigenous knowledge, and harnessing it for ‘lateral’ transfer to other less successful communities may constitute a better alternative strategy than the ‘top-down’ approach most commonly employed with Indigenous groups. “There ought to be an undertaking to capitalize on Indigenous knowledge and share it”, he concludes. “It is a better way forward than a one-size fits all intervention strategy.”

Dr. Michael Chandler is a 2012-2013 Distinguished Scholar in Residence at the Peter Wall Institute and can be reached by email at [email protected]. To listen to a recent Institute lecture by Dr. Chandler, please visit www.pwias.ubc.ca and click on “Podcasts”.

Totem poles behind the Museum of Anthropology at UBC, with Vancouver’s North Shore mountains in the distance.


For cognitive linguist Dr. Barbara Dancygier, what happens beyond language - in gesture, in the mind, in the context - is often as important as what language alone can tell us about communication. While words are often considered to be solely responsible for meaning, this aspect of communication is only one part of a larger story, she suggests. “We tend to assume that language alone is responsible for communicating meaning, but in fact, it is only one of the players in a complex cognitive game. Other modalities take some of the burden and the viewer has to construct, rather than simply receive, the meaning of an utterance”, she explains. In 2012, Dr. Dancygier received the Peter Wall Institute’s Distinguished Scholar in Residence Award in support of her research, which focuses primarily on the interaction between language and other aspects of communication. Examples of these interactive modalities include spontaneous co-speech gesture, spatial orientation, body posture, and visual viewpoint. Dr. Dancygier’s current project looks at theatre and how its use of language allows the audience to understand a play’s story. She describes theatrical narratives as “built into the way characters talk to each other. It’s not just imitation of spontaneous speech, it is also storytelling”. This form of narrative means actors use more than their words to convey a story. An effective plot relies on “how the spatial organization of the stage works, how the theatrical gesture works...also where the actors are facing and how they use their bodies”, describes Dr. Dancygier. In comparison to her prior work involving fiction, she describes theatre’s use of language to convey a story as “a very peculiar form of communication, geared into the very stable viewpoint of the audience sitting...and watching the performance”. “The language is organized around the idea that a play has to tell a story...it has to be able to sound like it is just a conversation between characters, but it also has to be allowing the viewers to figure out the story”, Dr. Dancygier muses. It is this interaction between characters and the audience that makes the visual aspects of a play - the stage setting, movement and dramatized action - as pivotal to the plot as the dialogue itself. From the perspective of a cognitive linguist, Dr. Dancygier notes that her main goal is “to uncover how all these modalities on the stage are contributing to the fact that what the viewer gets out of the whole thing is the complete story”. Her recent book, The Language of Stories: A Cognitive Approach, focused on the meaning of fiction and the study of how people construct meaning from the words in a novel. This research led her to the development of a new language-based model for analyzing meaning in

fiction. The model addresses the gap between the basic level of a novel’s linguistic form and the higher level of literary meaning. As Dr. Dancygier puts it, “the words of the novel have to be contributing to the higher end of things, but how?...How do they participate in a story’s construction?...What does the lower level of a novel give the reader to prompt an understanding of the story as a whole?”. From these questions, a new research path emerged. “My theatre project is a continuation of this analysis of meaning, with more modalities added. How do you go from the embodied level of events - spoken expressions, movement, gestures - to the actual understanding of what happened?”

As a Peter Wall Institute Distinguished Scholar in Residence, Dr. Dancygier has found new insight into how she approaches these questions. She says that the interdisciplinary environment at the Institute has fostered “excellent conversations, not directly perhaps about my scholarly questions, but rather, about the context of these questions and how to best answer them”. Through discussions of what is methodologically valid with fellow Distinguished Scholars, Dr. Dancygier says, “I see myself now better as a linguist, as a participant in a scholarly community that has different expectations...it is allowing me to better situate my research in a broader context, which I find very valuable”. Whether delving deeper into her study of theatre, or engaging with colleagues from different disciplines, Dr. Dancygier attributes her inspiration to a common theme of creativity. “We creatively work with the resources we have, and almost every utterance you hear poses some new and interesting research questions because of the way in which it exploits the cognitive and linguistic mechanisms”, says Dr. Dancygier. “That is what really fascinates me...how ingenious and creative people are every day, in every sentence they say.”

Dr. Barbara Dancygier is a 2012-2013 Distinguished Scholar in Residence at the Peter Wall Institute and a Professor in the Department of English at UBC. She can be reached by email at [email protected].

THERE IS MORE TO COMMUNICATION THAN LANGUAGE

WE TEND TO ASSUME THAT LANGUAGE ALONE IS RESPONSIBLE FOR COMMUNICATING MEANING, BUT IN FACT, IT IS ONLY ONE OF THE PLAYERS IN A COMPLEX COGNITIVE GAME.

Dr. Dancygier says actors use more than their words to convey a story.


The latest in microbial science may be able to improve our health, says Dr. B. Brett Finlay. A bovine vaccine for E. coli 0157, the microbe responsible for the latest beef recall in Canada, is one example of how our understanding of microbes can promote health and prevent disease. As Canada recently experienced the largest beef recall in its history, a vaccine to prevent E. coli 0157 outbreaks has already been developed, tested and licensed for commercial use in cattle, but is not being used in Canada. Dr. Finlay, Peter Wall Institute Distinguished Professor and Professor in the Michael Smith Laboratories, Departments of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, and Microbiology and Immunology, at The University of British Columbia, is the man behind the vaccine. He and colleagues in his lab discovered several years ago how E. coli 0157 adheres to intestinal cells. “With this knowledge, we considered the unorthodox concept of vaccinating cattle to prevent human disease”, says Dr. Finlay, who will give the spring 2013 Wall Exchange lecture entitled, Bugs ‘R Us: The Role of Microbes in Human Health, Disease and Society.

Approximately one half of all cattle carry E. coli 0157 in their intestines, although it causes no disease in cattle. Human disease comes from direct contamination in processed meat, and by irrigation using water that contains cattle fecal matter, or when fecal matter contaminates the drinking water supply, as it did in the Walkertown case. Despite testing the vaccine and licensing it for use in Canada, it is not currently implemented, says Dr. Finlay. Each dose costs three dollars and two doses must be given to each cow to prevent E. coli 0157 contamination. There are no incentives for farmers to use the vaccine as it will not prevent the cow itself from becoming ill – it will just prevent humans from contracting the disease, explains Dr. Finlay. Implementing the vaccine will take political will and an understanding that in the long run, vaccinating cattle against E. coli 0157 would save the government millions in health care costs.

The government currently spends $200 million a year on health care associated with E. coli 0157 disease, while vaccinating every cow in Canada would cost $50 million. For Dr. Finlay, the latest beef recall is just one example of how microbes continue to play an extensive role in our lives. “We can’t see them, so we don’t necessarily think of them”, he states. Yet historically, they have influenced how we function as a society, he adds. “Microbes that cause disease have played a major role”, Dr. Finlay says. “For example when Napoleon invaded Russia, he didn’t really lose militarily, he lost because all his soldiers had dysentery (a bacterial diarrheal disease); they lost their health and were very sick and couldn’t fight.” Microbes have not only played a major role in military history, but also in human history, he adds. When the bubonic plague raced through Europe in the dark ages, it affected society and our abilities to follow established trade routes, Dr. Finlay explains. Over the last few years, scientists have come to the realization that microbes impact all aspects of our health and they play a critical role in humans as a living organism, explains Dr. Finlay. “Now we are hitting a new golden era in terms of microbes”, explains Dr. Finlay. “With advances in new DNA technology, we are able to sequence these microbes and figure out what they actually encode, and are able to type them and realize what our microbial composition is. With these new technologies, we have been able to understand that they play an underappreciated role in how we live our lives.” Microbes encode 100 times more genes than Homo sapiens do, and they outnumber human cells by a factor of ten in the body, cites Dr. Finlay. In addition, scientists are now beginning to understand what microbes do, and that they are in fact responsible for a range of diseases from asthma to Type-1 diabetes and inflammatory bowel disease. Each disease is associated with a different composition of microbiota, explains Dr. Finlay. “We are now figuring out which microbes are associated with these types of diseases, and we are trying to think, knowing this, how we can aim for more healthy type compositions”, he enthuses. “As we understand these microbes, I think the future will be that we can then tailor a healthier microbiome, which can really promote human health and prevent diseases”, concludes Dr. Finlay.

To listen to a podcast lecture by Dr. Finlay on the “hygiene hypothesis”, please visit: http://www.pwias.ubc.ca/podcasts/view-by-date.php#39

TINY MICROBES PLAY HUGE ROLE IN HUMAN HISTORY

Writings on the Wall

AS WE UNDERSTAND THESE MICROBES, I THINK THE FUTURE WILL BE THAT WE CAN THEN TAILOR A HEALTHIER MICROBIOME, WHICH CAN REALLY PROMOTE HUMAN HEALTH AND PREVENT DISEASES.


DNA OF CITIES INFLUENCES THE LIVES OF ITS NEWCOMERS

For British author and playwright, Professor Caryl Phillips, England never truly felt like home. “I felt that I personally belonged to England, by virtue of nationality, by virtue of my accent, familiarity with everything from the pub to football”, says Professor Phillips. “Yet on so many levels of society on a daily basis, I was looked upon because of race and a bit because of class, as someone who didn’t belong.” Born in St. Kitts, Professor Phillips moved to Leeds at the age of four months and spent most of his life in England, often feeling like an outsider. This feeling of exclusion has inspired much of his career’s work. “Sitting down to write the first plays and books, these themes of belonging and exclusion were very personal themes to me and seemed to have some resonance with society as a whole”, he explains. Professor Phillips, who will be in Vancouver with the Peter Wall Institute on May 9, 2013 to deliver a lecture on cities and immigrant populations, maintains that often a city’s history will bear an influence on those who arrive as newcomers. “All cities have a history, like individuals, they have lineage, they have DNA, they have patterns of formation, which suggest an individual personality”, he points out. Leeds for instance, a Northern industrial city in England, is often suspicious of outsiders and does not necessarily welcome them with open arms, he explains. There is a strong class divide between the North and the South of England, which is partially responsible for the sense of exclusion he felt as a child in Leeds. “This division made Northerners suspicious of everybody”, he claims. In contrast, Professor Phillips says that London is a place with a long history of welcoming people with dreams and aspirations of becoming writers and playwrights. As a colonial centre for the British Empire, London also felt like home to Professor Phillips as a young aspiring writer. “As a child of the colonies, London is very much the colonial centre for the Empire, and you know all colonial children to some extent have a sense of wanting to go home – and home in this sense was London”, Professor Phillips recalls. “So in a double way, as a child of the colonies and as a young, aspiring writer, London felt very comfortable and very familiar.” Currently a Professor in the Department of English at Yale University, Phillips has spent the better part of the last 20 years in New York. “New York is a remarkable 20th century city of migration and a lighted-candle to millions of people from different corners of the world”, he says.

According to Professor Phillips, many people go to New York to reinvent themselves for a variety of reasons, including for economic, political or artistic reasons. Often people will go there to experience anonymity, he adds. “One of the great things about New York City is that it doesn’t give a damn about anybody, and somehow that is liberating for a lot of people, to go to a place where you won’t be under any kind of scrutiny.” Professor Phillips moved to New York at a crucial time in his life and career, when he felt the need to distance himself from London. New York enabled him and his writing career to flourish. But for some newcomers, true anonymity in New York is a myth, warns Professor Phillips.

After the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, it became clear that the notion of everyone being welcomed without judgment in New York would no longer be true. According to Professor Phillips, many people who appeared to be associated with Islam were vilified and attacked. “After September 11th, I feel there was an entirely different New York and a different type of New York that we are still dealing with today”, he explains. He adds that living abroad has somehow made him more interested in Great Britain. “I find myself looking and thinking about areas to write about that just seem to be much more connected to Britain perhaps than they were 20 years ago, when I was much more excited and giddy about the possibility of thinking beyond Britain.”

Writings on the Wall

ALL CITIES HAVE A HISTORY. LIKE INDIVIDUALS, THEY HAVE LINEAGE, THEY HAVE DNA, THEY HAVE PATTERNS OF FORMATION, WHICH SUGGEST AN INDIVIDUAL PERSONALITY.


FOSTERING SOCIAL CHANGE THROUGH THE ARTS

THEATRE USED TO HEAL WOUNDS IN POST-WAR SERBIA

Artists, practitioners, community workers, and scholars from around the world gathered in Vancouver in October 2012 for the Peter Wall Institute’s International Roundtable, Breathing Life into the Ashes: Resilience, Arts and Social Transformation, to brainstorm and discuss ways that the arts can positively impact societal change. The Principal Investigators, Professor Michelle LeBaron, from the Faculty of Law at The University of British Columbia and Dr. Cynthia Cohen, Director of the Program in Peacebuilding and the Arts at Brandeis University in Massachusetts, gathered a group of scholars and artists from around the world, whose ground-breaking work was shared during the roundtable. The field of social transformation through the arts takes a critical look at what the arts — music, theatre, dance, visual art, and expressive arts — can do in each stage of the violence cycle, including the aftermath of traumatic events such as armed or violent conflict. “Any sort of violence, whether structural or enacted violence using weapons, can really shatter the fibre and the health of a community”, Professor LeBaron stresses. “Social transformation and arts is a field where scholars, artists and members of civil society are coming together to ask, how can we build resilience in communities, so that when something happens there’s more suppleness and ability to respond?” According to Dr. Cohen, the arts are effective in contributing to social transformation because of the way they link the rational cognitive mind with our senses. They work at the level of the individual, the community, and in some cases, the society as a whole. “The arts reach beneath the defenses that people have built up”, Dr. Cohen says. “They are able…to engage us in imagination, so we’re not stuck in our old habitual ways of thinking, the old categories through which we perceive the world…the arts invite us to perceive, think, imagine, feel, and relate in new ways.” Professor LeBaron and Dr. Cohen’s roundtable design involved artists and scholars exploring the complicated nuances of resilience through collaborative arts-based work. They also sought to further the development of a global network of practitioners in this area. According to Professor LeBaron, engaging through artistic processes is a very effective way to create change. “The arts help us enact our capacities for resilience, and learn more about how to deepen and advance resilience in partnership with others”, Professor LeBaron concludes.

To listen to a podcast interview with Professor LeBaron and Dr. Cohen, please visit: http://www.pwias.ubc.ca/_files/pdf/Lebaron%20and%20Cohen.mp3.

WALL ART

When war broke out in Serbia, the former Yugoslavia, in 1991, Dijana Milosevic had just co-founded the Dah Theatre Research Centre in Belgrade. In 1992, the theatre’s first performance was born: The Babylonian Confusion was a montage of four actors performing as angels, who spoke out against war, nationalism and destruction. “We realized that our main purpose in this situation, because we didn’t want to add to the violence, was that we wanted to create and to be the voice of concerns, fears and questions for the public…[to] vocalize that our government initiated the war and that we didn’t want to accept that situation”, says Milosevic, who was a participant in the Peter Wall Institute’s recent International Roundtable Discussion on the Arts and Social Transformation. Later in 1996 and 1997, members of the Dah Theatre participated as citizens in protests against Slobodan Milosevic’s regime. Thousands of protestors took to the streets, many using peaceful means of protest, by orchestrating fashion shows and playing music. The theatre was not founded as a direct cause of civil war; however, the war that broke out in the 1990s continues to inform and shape the work of the Dah Theatre today. “This performance absolutely determined the destiny of Dah Theatre, forming the main postulates of its practice. The themes through which Dah Theatre expresses its poetics are always connected to the position of an individual in dark times and history”, the theatre’s website states. Since 1991, Milosevic explains that the theatre has taken on a role of opposing violence by creating meaning in its performance rather than taking sides in conflict. “Artists have the ability to move from the centre of society to the margins of society, and to move vertically and horizontally through society. This ability is an incredible advantage and privilege, and that privilege gives us the opportunity and responsibility to create during dark times and to contribute to transformation out of hard times”, explains Milosevic. More recently, the Dah Theatre has performed the play, Crossing the Line, based on texts from the book, Women’s Side of War - a collection of women’s authentic testimonies about war stories that occurred in the former republic of Yugoslavia from 1991 to 1999. “This is the first book in our region where women’s voices are presented in full authenticity”, adds Milosevic. “In Bosnia, the performance had a tremendous healing power because for the first time, their loss was publicly acknowledged.” “Many times women in the audience would approach us and tell us their stories, which they had never told before. To be able to talk and to open up had tremendous healing power for these women”, affirms Milosevic. But the work of the Dah Theatre is not without challenges. Their work has provoked anger by some who disagree with their views. Their offices have been robbed and set on fire. “This is the reality of where we live, but also this is what we choose”, concedes Milosevic. “From the beginning we wanted to create theatre. We were artists, not activists. But we now collaborate with activists.”

Right: Protestors play music in front of soldiers in Belgrade during the 1990’s protests.


For New York playwright Catherine Filloux, theatre provides a safe place for communities to listen and experience the stories of injustice told through her plays. “Plays provide a safe environment”, says Filloux, “the possibility of talking, remembering and telling stories can sometimes raise awareness that eventually leads us closer to understanding and healing.” Filloux is an award-winning playwright who has been writing about human rights and social justice for the last 20 years in New York City. She was a participant of the Peter Wall Institute’s International Roundtable Discussion on the Arts and Social Transformation at The University of British Columbia last fall. At the International Roundtable public event, Rising from the Ashes: Resilience, Art and Social Transformation, held at Vancouver’s Yaletown Roundhouse, Filloux showcased work she has done with the Cambodian opera, Where Elephants Weep, for which she wrote the libretto. The opera told a story about a refugee from the Khmer Rouge genocide, who leaves the United States and returns to his homeland of Cambodia, committed to finding his roots and native culture.

As described in Filloux’s featured documentary, Acting Together, the Communist Party of Kampuchea, otherwise known as the Khmer Rouge, took control of Cambodia in April 1975, “closing its borders and enslaving its population, which experienced destruction at every level of society, especially in art and education.” “My inspiration lies with the survivor. The survivor is the person who has managed to find the hope and the spirit within them to continue despite the memories, the trauma, the injustice”, explains Filloux. The act of remembering can be a revolutionary act, she contends. The duality of memory means that memories can replay themselves and potentially re-traumatize people who, for instance, have survived genocide. Yet there is also the hope that the violence will not be repeated – the survivor holds that power, adds Filloux. Filloux typically writes fictional stories about a historical context and never tells any one person’s story. “What I want to do is to understand the context of a situation and put myself into that situation, and always have an entry point to that story as someone from the west. I create a canvas with stories, characters and themes that is not based on one person.” In the case of Cambodia, she explains that one of her plays, Photographs From S-21, opened up a discussion between actors and the audience and encouraged people to tell their own stories. “In that case, it opened up a safe space that wasn’t something that anyone had brought up on their own and it stood outside the political

PERFORMING HEALING ACTS: A NEW YORK PLAYWRIGHT SEEKS SOCIAL JUSTICE

WALL SOUNDSCAPE NO. 1 TAKES OVER VANCOUVER’S FOUNTAIN SQUARE

MY INSPIRATION LIES WITH THE SURVIVOR. THE SURVIVOR IS THE PERSON WHO HAS MANAGED TO FIND THE HOPE AND THE SPIRIT WITHIN THEM TO CONTINUE DESPITE THE MEMORIES, THE TRAUMA, THE INJUSTICE.

situation as a piece of art”, she suggests. One of her passions, she says, is about playing an active part in the international issues she writes about as an American citizen. “How can we be a player in this world if we don’t participate?” she asks.One way she engages in these issues, is by telling the stories that urgently need to be told. “By showing those stories on stage, one can involve audience members as well as the artistic team in a mission to feel something that will then empower change”, she explains. “I think the key is that we are so implicated. A lot of times, Americans don’t know a lot about these countries, but the thing we do know is that we carpet-bombed Cambodia and that created an imbalance.” Creating awareness can be paradoxical, and according to Filloux, many people are aware of current and past injustices, but there is so much information that makes it difficult for anyone to know where to place their attention and focus. “I am also more and more interested in the grey areas”, she explains. “I hope to encourage people to look at the areas where opposing forces can converse and actually find change together.”

You can watch Catherine Filloux and Dijana Milosevic’s presentations at the Roundhouse in Vancouver by visiting the Institute’s YouTube Channel, WallInstitute: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SAvRNtrKL7g

In early November 2012, the Sheraton Vancouver Wall Centre’s Fountain Square filled with musicians and dancers from Ballet BC and Arts Umbrella for a flash-mob style performance. Demonstrating a public intersection between music and dance, as well as art and urban space, this outdoor experimental presentation re-imagined the way we engage with the performing arts. Embracing the unique context of the plaza outside the Sheraton Wall Centre, the Wall Soundscape No. 1 incorporated the acoustical and spatial properties of the surrounding area to activate the public space and transform it into a temporary performance stage. Commuters, hotel guests and bystanders experienced an extraordinary encounter with music and dance away from professional stages and pre-determined formats of performance. The music was composed by Peter Wall Institute Composer in Residence, Dr. Alfredo Santa Ana. The performance was organized by Emily Molnar, Artistic Director of Ballet BC.

You can watch the performance online by visiting the Institute’s YouTube Channel, WallInstitute: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SAvRNtrKL7g


Visualizing Climate Change: A Guide to Visual Communication of Climate Change and Developing Local Solutions

Routledge, December 2012By Dr. Stephen Sheppard

Carbon dioxide and climate change are largely invisible. This book, by University of British Columbia (UBC) Professor and Peter Wall Institute Faculty Associate, Dr. Stephen Sheppard, demonstrates new ways to make carbon and climate change visible where we care the most, in our own backyards and local communities. Using compelling visual imagery, we can learn to interpret the science, recognize local implications, and imagine future solutions through a new climate change lens. The book provides comprehensive guidance on new visual media tools for community engagement and mobilizing climate action on the world’s greatest crisis.

Listen to a podcast interview with Dr. Sheppard online: http://www.pwias.ubc.ca/_files/pdf/Sheppard.mp3

The Materiality of the Past: History and Representation in Sikh Tradition

Oxford University Press, November 2012By Dr. Anne Murphy

The Materiality of the Past explores representations of the Sikh past, showing how objects, as well as historical sites and texts, have played a vital role in the production of the Sikh community as an evolving historical and social formation from the eighteenth century to the present. Drawing together work in religious studies, postcolonial studies and history, Dr. Murphy explores how ‘relic’ objects such as garments and weapons have, like sites, played dramatically different roles across political and social contexts—signifiers of authority and even sovereignty in one; collected, revered, and displayed with religious significance in

another—and are connected to a broader engagement with the representation of the past that is central to the formation of the Sikh community. By highlighting the connections between relic objects and historical sites, and how the status of sites changed in the colonial period, she also provides crucial insight into the circumstances that brought about the birth of a new territorial imagination of the Sikh past in the early twentieth century, drawing on existing precolonial historical imaginaries centered in place and object. The life of the object today and in the past, she suggests, provides unique insight into the formation of the Sikh community and the crucial role representations play in it.

An Exploration of Fairness, Interdisciplinary Inquiries in Law, Sciences and the Humanities

Carswell, 2013 Edited by Dr. Janis P. Sarra

An Exploration of Fairness, Interdisciplinary Inquiries in Law, Sciences and the Humanities examines a concept that is simultaneously simple and extraordinarily complex – fairness. Simple in that we often intuitively understand situations to be fair or unfair. Complex, in that the notion of fairness is very much grounded in where we are situated, including race, gender, class, economic status, country, and life experience. There is considerable scholarship on the concept of fairness, but this volume is unique in the broad range of research disciplines that have come together to examine in depth what is meant by fairness, how it can be achieved, measured, shared. From its application in law, economics and business to how it can be interpreted in cognitive neuroscience, developmental psychology and kinesiology, it integrates the visual and performing arts as essential features of fairness. Through this interdisciplinary lens, the ethical and normative dimensions of fairness are understood, drawing on its historical and philosophical origins and its role in citizenship and political obligation. Each discipline, each chapter, informs the others, to deepen our understanding of fairness.

BOOKSHELF THE WALL OF FAME

Peter Wall Institute Associate inducted into American Academy of Arts and Sciences

Dr. Dolph Schluter, former Peter Wall Distinguished Scholar in Residence and Canada Research Chair at The University of British Columbia’s (UBC) Department of Zoology, was inducted into the American Academy of Arts and Sciences at a ceremony on October 6, 2012. Dr. Schluter’s lab studies recent adaptive radiation — the evolution of ecological diversity in groups of organisms that are multiplying rapidly. He and his team investigate the ecological forces that drive the rapid origin of new species and allow them to persist; the genetic basis of species differences; and the wider ecological impacts of adaptive radiation.

Former Peter Wall Institute Early Career Scholar wins Killam Award

Dr. Joanna McGrenere, 2010 - 2011 Early Career Scholar and UBC Associate Professor in the Department of Computer Science, is the recipient of the 2012 Killam Award for Excellence in Mentoring. Dr. McGrenere was commended for her exemplary record in providing supervision, inspiration and support for graduate students.

Peter Wall Institute Faculty Associate appointed Aldo Leopold Leadership Fellow

Dr. Kai Chan has recently been appointed one of the Aldo Leopold Leadership Fellows for 2013. The Leopold Leadership Program at the Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment provides researchers with the skills, approaches and theoretical frameworks for


translating their knowledge to action and for catalyzing change to address the world’s most pressing sustainability challenges. Dr. Chan is Canada Research Chair (Tier 2) and Associate Professor in the Institute for Resources, Environment and Sustainability at UBC. His research team performs modelling and empirical research to improve the management and governance of social-ecological systems to foster justice in decision-making.

Peter Wall Institute Faculty Associate receives honorary doctorate

Dr. John O’Brian received an honorary doctorate degree from Trinity College at the University of Toronto as well as the Thakore Award in Human Rights, Peace Studies and Environmental Ethics from Simon Fraser University. Dr. O’Brian is a Professor in the Department of Art History, Visual Art and Theory at UBC. He has published on modern art history and on theory and criticism, particularly on the institutionalization of modernism in North America. He has published more than a dozen books and seventy articles.

Dr. Joseph T. Tennis wins ALISE/Bohdan S. Wynar Research Paper Competition

Dr. Joseph T. Tennis’ paper, The Strange Case of Eugenics: A Subject’s Ontogeny in a Long-Lived Classification Scheme and the Question of Collocative Integrity, was awarded best research paper in the annual competition conducted by the Association of Library and Information Science Education (ALISE). In his winning paper, Dr. Tennis examines the Dewey Decimal Classification System of classification noting that, “while many theorists have concerned themselves with how to design a scheme that can handle the addition of subjects, very little has been done to study how a subject changes after it is introduced to a scheme.” Dr. Tennis uses eugenics as an example of a subject that has changed over Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.

time. Eugenics, which was once classified under biological science, is now absent from that classification and found instead under a policy of thought or an ideology akin to racism. Dr. Joseph T. Tennis is a Peter Wall Faculty Associate and is currently an Assistant Professor at the University of Washington’s iSchool.

Six Peter Wall Institute Faculty Associates elected Fellows by Royal Society of Canada

On September 5, 2012, the Royal Society of Canada announced its 71 new fellows for the year. The Royal Society of Canada recognizes scholarly research and artistic excellence across the country. For 2012, six Peter Wall Institute Associates were elected as Fellows by the Society: Professor Susan Boyd, Professor of Law at UBC, Chair in Feminist Legal Studies. Dr. Anne Condon, Head of the Department of Computer Science at UBC. Dr. Judy Illes, Professor of Neurology in the Department of Medicine at UBC. Dr. Michael Doebeli, Professor in the Department of Zoology and Department of Mathematics at UBC. Dr. Alan Kingstone, Head of the Department of Psychology at UBC.

Three Peter Wall Institute Associates appointed to the Order of Canada

Two Peter Wall Institute Associates and one Peter Wall Solutions Initiative committee member were appointed to the Order of Canada in January 2013.

Michael Harcourt, (Hon. D. Law: Royal Roads University), Peter Wall Solutions Initiative committee member and former premier of British Columbia

and mayor of Vancouver, was named an officer of the Order of Canada for his involvement in sustainable community development initiatives since retiring from politics in 1996.

Jane Coop, Peter Wall Institute Faculty Associate and world-renowned pianist, was named a member of the Order of Canada for her

contribution to the arts. From 1980 until 2012, Coop was a faculty member of the UBC School of Music. She was also the founding Artistic Director of the Young Artists’ Experience, a summer chamber music camp for youth held at UBC. Coop has performed in 28 countries around the world.

In Memoriam

The Peter Wall Institute and its Faculty are saddened by the sudden passing of Dr. Clyde Hertzman while in London, UK. He was a Peter

Wall Institute Faculty Associate and was the Principal Investigator of an Exploratory Workshop in 1998. In 2005, he gave a lecture on early childhood development at an Institute Associates’ Forum. He was Director of the Human Early Learning Partnership (HELP), Canada Research Chair in Population Health and Human Development and Professor in the School of Population and Public Health at UBC. He was recently named an officer of the Order of Canada in recognition of his contributions to population health and early childhood development in Canada and abroad. He will be remembered by the Institute as an exceptional scholar, a pioneer in the field of early development and an advocate of social equality. He will be sadly missed.


“We are entering a golden era in our understanding of microbes… new technologies give us unprecedented insights into health and disease.”

Bugs ‘R Us: The Role of Microbes in Health, Disease and Society

Dr. Brett Finlay, award-winning microbiologist, examines how bacteria live in the human body and help maintain good health. Tuesday May 21, 2013, 7:30 pm, at the Vogue Theatre, 918 Granville Street. Doors open at 6:30 pm. Come early to hear the Oscar Hicks jazz sextet! Tickets are free but must be reserved and are in limited supply.Contact www.pwias.ubc.ca

PETER WALL DOWNTOWN LECTURE SERIES SPRING 2013

The Wall Exchange is a community program created by the Peter Wall Institute for Advanced Studies at The University of British Columbia to provide a public forum for the discussion of key issues that impact us all.

Presented by the Peter Wall Institute for Advanced Studies.Join the conversation.

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