On September 12, 2018 at 11:03 AM "Frank, Lawrence" <lawrence.frank(a)ubc.ca> wrote: Hello - I second Jenny's Congratulations to Adrian for this wonderful new position! To add a bit of history - there are other positions and even joint degree programs (e.g. Portland State and U Michigan and others) have at various levels integrated transportation and health for quite some time and this one contributes significantly to the ongoing formalization of the links between transportation and health within academia. My position linking transportation and health at the University of British Columbia has been cross appointed for well over a decade between the School of Population and Public Health in the Faculty of Medicine and the School of Community and Regional Planning in the Faculty of Applied Science which is where Engineering and Architecture and Landscape Architecture are located. It is partially funded through a transportation endowment from the Bombardier Foundation currently managed by a Faculty of Medicine. The sole purpose of my position is to research (http://health-design.spph.ubc.ca) and teach on the links between planning and health. Some history - I have worked at the nexus between transportation and health for 30 years starting with my dissertation research in Seattle linking active transportation with land use mix and density which eventually led to Walkscore after we published the results in the form of a map in the Seattle Times newspaper. This was one of the first studies of its kind (Susan Handy and Ruth Steiner also had some work on this topic around that time and that was about it). I was told at the time by senior planning colleagues that studying non-motorized travel was a bad idea and going nowhere and too "pedestrian" and there would be no money or resources in it. Five years later the U.S. Surgeon General came out with the report on the population level health benefits of moderate physical activity (aka walking) and the rest is history. I am happy I looked past this well intended advice and have seen this field grow from literally nothing to where it is today. It is a true delight to see more and more of this type of formal integration taking place between planning and health and I think there are others out there with positions that make this connection directly through their academic appointments. It is now timely that we share our experiences and help one another navigate what is true interdisciplinary experience - which has many important trade-offs to consider. These include having two homes in disparate parts of universities that otherwise are often not well connected dealing with resources and funding, accountability and service, promotions and raises, where you publish and are visibility or not, and many other considerations. Universities tout interdisciplinarity - yet are poorly equipped to help those that try. and there are new positions emerging trying to achieve this same thing. Perhaps we can work on ways to help maximize the success of these early efforts to make this linkage a success! Honestly, it is not as easy as it sounds ... but it is worthwhile. Cheers, Larry Frank, UBC ________________________________________ From: H+T--Friends [h+t--friends-bounces(a)chrispy.net] on behalf of Mindell, Jenny [j.mindell(a)ucl.ac.uk] Sent: Wednesday, September 12, 2018 8:58 AM To: 'h+t--friends(a)chrispy.net' Subject: [H+T--Friends] New (world first?) Professor of Transport and Health Congratulations to Adrian Davis, new Professor of Transport and Health at Napier University, Edinburgh, Scotland, UK Adrian will be well known to most people in the transport and health field, as he has combined transport planning and public health as both a practitioner and an academic (truly multi- and inter-disciplinary work). He will continue working with colleagues at the University of Western England and his roles as Co-Chair (Science) of the Transport and Health Study Group (THSG) and as Associate Editor of the Journal of Transport and Health. We think this is a world first and shows our 'niche' specialty is becoming mainstream. Jenny Mindell Dr Jennifer Mindell Professor of Public Health Health and Social Surveys Research Group Research Dept of Epidemiology & Public Health UCL 1-10 Torrington Place London WC1E 6BT Tel: 020-7679-1269 Twitter: j_mindell Web: http://iris.ucl.ac.uk/iris/browse/profile?upi=JMIND63 Editor-in-chief Journal of Transport and Health: https://www.journals.elsevier.com/journal-of-transport-and-health/ _______________________________________________ H+T--Friends mailing list H+T--Friends(a)chrispy.net https://www.chrispy.net/mailman/listinfo/h+t--friends _______________________________________________ H+T--Friends mailing list H+T--Friends(a)chrispy.net https://www.chrispy.net/mailman/listinfo/h+t--friends