MPH student receives Isabel Loucks Foster Public Health Bursary Fund

MPH student Manvir Aujla was recently named the recipient of the Isabel Loucks Foster Public Health Bursary Fund. The Health Officers’ Council awards this to students who demonstrate excellence in performance and leadership ability.

Aujla aims to contribute to the Public Health Agency of Canadians strategic initiatives focused on promoting and protecting the health of Canadians, through partnership, innovation, and action in public health.

“I am grateful to have been named the recipient of The Isabel Loucks Foster Public Health Bursary Fund and honoured to carry forward the tradition of making a difference at the local public health level within British Columbia,” Aujla says. “Through my postgraduate studies at the Faculty of Health Sciences, I hope to continue to add skills in future efforts, both academically and professionally, in supporting the growth of healthy communities and the disease portfolio.”

The award will help fund Aujla’s current studies in the MPH program, including his upcoming research and capstone project. Having worked for the City of Surrey as a Community Services Assistant, he hopes to focus his capstone work on the development of surveillance systems to monitor public health events.

“I aim to work with a local health authority on a project in the domain of surveillance, involving risk factor identification, interventions to reduce chronic disease burden, synthesis of individual studies, and economic studies to help inform public policy,” he explains. “I am specifically interested in the creation of a case study collecting relevant data, establishing data governance, and [providing] quality assurance for cancer incidence within ethnic demographics here in British Columbia.”

After completing the MPH program, he hopes to continue epidemiologic research on the etiology and prognosis of cancers with an emphasis on proposing preventive practices.

“I hope such research and work can help inform public health policy here in British Columbia, as well as the rest of Canada.”