James Sallis, 2012 prize winner

Q&A with James Sallis

Location, location, location
Where we live has an impact on our level of physical activity.

Professor James Sallis, a distinguished professor in Family and Preventive Medicine at the University of California, San Diego, is a leading expert in the field of policy and environmental influences on physical activity, nutrition and obesity. His groundbreaking work and commitment to promoting active health through practical interventions and advocacy earned him the 2012 Bloomberg Manulife Prize for the Promotion of Active Health. In advance of his visit to McGill to receive his award, we spoke with Prof. Sallis about his research and its impact.

(McGill) How did your background as a trained psychologist lead you to your current research?

(James Sallis) During the early years of my research, I was interested in understanding the role peoples’ motivations and other psychological factors play in an individual’s ability to adopt and maintain a physical activity regimen. These studies led me to conclude that a complex set of psychological and environmental factors are at play and that if we are to be successful in changing behaviour over the long term, we must modify how we plan and build our neighbourhoods. In recent years, I have focused my energies on studying how the design of our communities, transportation systems and parks can help people re-integrate fitness into their daily lives and have worked to gain buy-in for change from government agencies and industries. My goal is not to use my research to point the finger, but to point the direction to solutions.

(M) Why has our environment only recently been recognized as a contributing factor to physical inactivity?

(JS) As members of the human species, we are living the dream of our ancestors: to eliminate back-breaking work. The inventions we have made and the industries we have created have all been aimed at making our lives easier. Consider all the labour saving devices we have in our homes and the high-tech toys that provide us with entertainment. And the neighbourhoods we have built have been designed around the automobile, rather than around walking and other forms of physical activity. We have now reached a point where what we have created is literally killing us! Chronic disease related to physical activity is now a global pandemic that is responsible for about 5 million deaths every year. Since we are not going to reverse this trend by eliminating computers and washing machines, or by making other changes at our homes and workplaces, we must re-think our transportation and recreation infrastructures and make them more conducive to physical ativity.

(M) Are there communities that are successfully working to move in this direction?

(JS) Yes there are. Northern European countries such as Sweden, Denmark and Finland have been pioneers in developing alternatives to an automobile-centric urban infrastructure. In fact, there are now so many bicyclists that some cities are having problems with bike path congestion. Here in North America, New York City has made impressive headway. Its mayor convenes an annual summit, where various departments (Health, Parks etc.) outline initiatives that have included the creation of more parks and the introduction of protected bike paths. Even in car-dominated Los Angeles, neighbouring Long Beach has been named the most bicycle-friendly city in America.

(M) What can the average person do to help make their community more conducive to physical activity?

(JS) There are many things you can do. If your neighbourhood doesn’t have sidewalks or lacks park facilities, I encourage you to lobby your local government. And if you are a parent, you can find out what types of physical activities your children are involved in at school. If the school hasn’t already done so, suggest that it implement the SPARK (Sports, Play, and Active Recreation for Kids) program, which conducts a popular series of workshops for teachers and physical activity experts. There is no one solution to the problem of inactivity, but when many people make themselves heard, change does come.

(M) What does it mean to have been named the winner of the Bloomberg Manulife Prize?

(JS) For someone involved in research related to physical activity, I consider this award to be the equivalent of the Nobel Prize.

McGill student wins prize for initiative to fight obesity

We are extremely proud to announce that a talented McGill undergrad has won a young entrepreneur's prize for her unique business premise.

Alyssa Fontaine Reid's idea would be impressive if it were simply aimed at fighting the worrying obesity trend, but this ambitious McGill Nutrition student has gone one step further, and hopes to address the planet's "weight problem"; namely, that a portion of the world's population is experiencing epidemic obesity, while in other parts of the globe, people are experiencing starvation and malnutrition.

Her unique goal is to help defeat both extremes of malnutrition (the overfed & the underfed) with a new concept in weight loss: those interested in losing pounds raise funds through sponsorship, and pledge those funds to a charity aimed at eliminating world hunger.
 

Alyssa believes that with positive peer pressure, people are more motivated to lose weight, and that the added element of fundraising provides another positive incentive to achieve the goal.

 In a recent interview, she said, "In my McGill University nutrition classes the teachers always talked about two extremes of nutrition: overfed and underfed. The healthy population of our world seems to be a minority. I decided to take both extreme malnutrition and create a win-win visionary solution to reduce the global epidemic of malnutrition."

 The contest, 'Start Something with Alesse' has awarded Alyssa $5,000, and will pair the young entrepreneur with a mentor who has experience in her field to provide guidance as her worthy project gets off the ground.
 

The prize money will allow her to launch her website, with an online sponsorship system that will empower those ready to push off the pounds to get started. She hopes that the online community will provide motivation and a support mechanism to those participating.

 Alyssa graduates next year as a dietician, and plans to pursue a masters degree in business.


 

Founders, partners and guests join to launch prize

The Faculty Club at McGill University was abuzz yesterday morning even before the arrival of the university's principal, Heather Munroe-Blum, Mr. Lawrence Bloomberg and representatives from Manulife Financial.

Guests took advantage of a healthy breakfast buffet as university staff, media and corporate partners gathered to officially launch the ambitious 10-year incentive. The morning began with a screening of our official video, which had people both tapping their feet and hopefully thinking about active health and research.

First to the stage was vice-president of Development and Alumni Relations at McGill, Marc Weinstein. He noted that "The generosity of Lawrence Bloomberg and Manulife Financial reminds us all that philanthropy encompasses far more than just dollars. It reflects a true desire to bring about positive change and make concrete impacts in society."

Next, Heather Munroe-Blum echoed his sentiments with a very personal speech, where she commended the vision and generosity of her friends Lawrence and Fran Bloomberg, and explained that this prize had a committed partner in McGill, and that it would be an undertaking that would help the university go from strength to strength.

Mr Bloomberg followed the principal to the podium, and spoke about the impetus for creating this prize fund, mentioning recent findings on the declining health of North Americans and saying, " There is so much innovative research in this field taking place at McGill and at universities and hospitals across North America. But without a vehicle to reward and publicly recognize this work, it rarely gets beyond the pages of scientific and academic journals and into the public domain, where it can have a significant impact on the population."

Speakers who followed included Dawn Marchand of Manulife Financial, and Dean Hélène Perrault of the McGill faculty of Education, who both praised the project and underlined their ongoing support. The event also marked the official launch of our online media sites: facebook, twitter, blog, YouTube and flickr.


After both co-founders were presented with commemorative plaques and official photos were snapped, a VIP group retired to a private lunch.

Check out photos from the day here

McGill researchers identify blood test for Alzheimers

Great news from the Research Institute of the McGill University Health Centre (MUHC). Scientists there have developed a blood test which they believe could diagnose Alzheimer's disease in its early stages.

"We demonstrated we could accurately and repetitively detect Alzheimer's disease with small samples of blood", said Dr Vassilios Papadopoulos,  director of the institute. 

"This test also allowed for differential diagnosis of early stages of Alzheimer's disease, suggesting this can be used as a test to diagnose the disease in its infancy." Until now, there had been no way of definitively diagnosing Alzheimer's disease besides post-mortem analysis of brain tissue. 

Read the full story in The Independent here, or check out the MUHC website