Attention
We are currently updating our website. Please excuse any inconsistencies in our content or temporary disruptions during this time. Thank you.
We are currently updating our website. Please excuse any inconsistencies in our content or temporary disruptions during this time. Thank you.
Happy holidays from all of us at the BCIRPU! We hope you have a healthy and joy-filled holiday season, and feel rejuvenated going into the new year.
Please note that BCIRPU offices will be closed starting Wednesday, December 25, 2024, and will reopen on Thursday, January 2, 2025.
Here are five things we’d like to highlight from 2024. Happy holidays!
BCIRPU welcomed a new leader in March: Dr. Shelina Babul became Director of the BCIRPU, as Dr. Ian Pike stepped down from the role after 20 years.
Dr. Babul brings with her a distinguished career at BCIRPU as the Associate Director, demonstrating commitment to improving the health and well-being of children and youth, their families and communities through injury prevention initiatives. Her expertise in injury prevention, coupled with her extensive work in the field, positions her to lead BCIRPU as an authority in the quest to mitigate the impact of preventable injuries on individuals and families.
Dr. Pike will continue to be an investigator with the BCIRPU and UBC Department of Pediatrics.
Dr. Ian Pike received funding to continue his work to develop and implement a social marketing campaign to increase the use of child booster seats in Japan. In the Spring of 2025, Dr. Pike will travel to Japan and collaborate with colleagues at the National Research Institute for Police Science and the Japan Automobile Association. Funding comes from the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS). Dr. Pike travelled to Japan in 2019 and 2023 to work on this project.
We’d like to welcome Dr. Allison Ezzat, BCIRPU’s new Implementation Scientist. A Clinical Assistant Professor in the Department of Physical Therapy at UBC, Dr. Ezzat is a trained physiotherapist and completed her PhD in School of Population and Public Health, UBC in 2019, followed by postdoctoral training at UBC Centre for Health Services and Policy Research and La Trobe University, Melbourne, Australia. She received a Health Professional-Investigator Award from Michael Smith Health Research BC.
New research published by BCIRPU in March 2024 found that on average, firefighters are almost twice as likely to develop cancer than the general population. Cancer is the leading cause of death for firefighters at 84.6%, with traumatic injury the second leading cause of death (6.5%).
The study used workers’ compensations claims to describe injury and death among firefighters in Canada.
Learn more about this study:
The Guidelines and Protocol Advisory Committee (GPAC) released a new BC clinical practice guideline for concussion and mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) in November 2024. Dr. Shelina Babul served on the advisory committee that assisted in the creation of the guideline.
The Concussion Awareness Training Tool (CATT) e-learning courses and resources are recommended for use throughout the guideline. CATT launched its new online platform at the end of June, informed by evidence-based research and international concussion experts. All of the CATT materials have been updated to reflect current recommendations from the 2023 International Consensus Statement on Concussion in Sport, as well as other evidence-based resources (e.g., guidelines, position statements).
Access the guideline on BCGuidelines.ca.
The BC Injury Research and Prevention Unit is a leader in the production and transfer of injury prevention knowledge and the integration of evidence-based injury prevention practices in the daily lives of those at risk, those who care for them, and those with a mandate for public health and safety in British Columbia.
F508 – 4480 Oak St.
Vancouver, BC, V6H 3V4
Email: bcinjury@bcchr.ca
