At Universitas 21 Annual Meeting 2017 – Johannesburg

While summer gave way to autumn in the northern hemisphere, we (Carla Hilario and Allie Slemon) made our way to the southern tip of the African continent where Johannesburg was saying farewell to its winter. Our destination was the University of Johannesburg – to join the annual meeting of the Universitas 21 Health Sciences Group, a global network of researchintensive universities working collaboratively toward innovations in health science education and research.

Together with Dr. Suzanne Campbell, we were introduced to an exciting spectrum of initiatives and research around the world, such as the Melbourne Poche Centre for Indigenous Health and the impacts of mental health service policies in South Africa.

Working from the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), we engaged in discussions about the challenges, constraints, and potential implementation models – locally, nationally, and globally – for promoting well-being for all at all ages (SDG #3) while addressing broader determinants of health such as achieving gender equity (SDG #5), promoting inclusive and sustainable employment and decent work for all (SDG #8), and reducing inequalities within and among countries (SDG #10).

Beyond the annual meeting, we presented our respective dissertation work at the U21 Health Sciences Doctoral Student Forum. Carla shared findings from her research on the mental health experiences of immigrant and refugee young men in Canada. Allie shared her ideas and plans for her upcoming doctoral study on how an emergency department intervention promoting health equity impacts nurses’ everyday practices. This experience provided us with invaluable feedback on our current and future research from a global audience of fellow students and faculty, in addition to a now wider network of colleagues.

We look forward to hearing about the experiences of UBC SoN students in the future and hope to stay connected with this community!

Submitted by Allie Slemon and Carla Hilario