Dr. Stephen Bornstein

Dr. Stephen Bornstein is the founding director of the Newfoundland Centre for Applied Health Research (NLCAHR). The Centre was established in September, 1999, as a partnership among Memorial University, the Department of Health and Community Services of Newfoundland and Labrador, and the Health Care Corporation.

As an umbrella group for applied health research, the mandate of the NLCAHR is to increase the capacity of the province of to carry out high-quality research on applied health issues. This includes facilitating relationships between university-based researchers and the private sector, in particular the pharmaceutical industry.

One of the major projects of the NLCAHR is SafetyNet, a community research alliance studying health and safety issues in marine and coastal work environments. The program consists of nine interrelated research projects on workplace health and safety. Initially funded with $2.1 million from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), SafetyNet recently received a CIHR interdisciplinary capacity enhancement that will allow it to help develop an East Coast Consortium on Workplace Health and Safety in collaboration with the Université de Sherbrooke and the IRSST (Institut de recherche Robert-Sauvé en santé et en sécurité du travail) in Montreal.

The five-year grant of $200,000 per year also includes partial funding for a chair in workplace health and safety to be located at Memorial University. The chair will be co-funded by private sector matching funds.

In addition to the major success of SafetyNet, the NLCAHR has funded many studies and development grants as well as providing fellowship support for graduate speakers and financing visiting speakers.

Projects funded by the NLCAHR include:

• A strategic plan for services for people with autism
• The impact of regionalization on the provincial health system
• The ethics of commercially-sponsored research
• Low back pain in pregnant women
• Prediction of nursing needs in the Atlantic region
• A profile of prescription medication in Newfoundland and Labrador
• Optimizing the quality of drug therapy
• Neonatal intensive care research
• Menopause research
• Athletic performance

Dr. Bornstein came to Memorial from McGill University where he was a Professor of Political Science and also served as Associate Dean of Graduate Studies and Research. From 1990 to 1995 he worked for the Government of Ontario as Assistant Deputy Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs. He did his undergraduate degree at the University of Toronto and his graduate work at Harvard University. His fields of expertise include comparative public policy, health policy and health services, and workplace health and safety.

For further information, please contact Dr. Stephen Bornstein using the Email contact form or by phone at 709 777-6768