The Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), along with the new Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) and the University of Toronto, are pleased to announce the part-time secondment of Dr. John Frank, founding Scientific Director of the CIHR Institute of Population and Public Health (IPPH), to the PHAC. 

Dr. Frank's involvement will strengthen the scientific basis for the activities of the network of National Collaborating Centres in Public Health, which were announced in May 2004.

Specifically, Dr. Frank will ensure that these six new Centres operate according to the latest scientific thinking, that they together result in a coherent national research program, and that they reflect the need to renew public health infrastructure in Canada. 

Dr. Frank will work with stakeholders to develop a national scientific advisory structure for the Centres. Through his duties as Scientific Director of CIHR's IPPH, he will assist with the smooth integration of the Centres' applied research, training and knowledge exchange activities into the broader field of population and public health training, research and its application into policies, programs and practices across Canada.