Public Health Association of BC Public Health Association of BC

News

Public Health Summer Institute 2025: Building Wellbeing Societies – Registration Now Open!

Posted on May 8, 2025

#PHSI25: Building Wellbeing Societies

Wednesday, June 25th, 2025 – ONLINE!

Registration is Now Open, Click Here to Register!

 

The Public Health Association of British Columbia is proud to host the 2025 Summer Institute, a virtual event that will explore what it means to build a Wellbeing Society—one that prioritizes people, planet, and future generations. Drawing inspiration from the World Health Organization’s Geneva Charter for Well-being (2022), this year’s Institute invites public health professionals, researchers, academics, policymakers, and advocates to reimagine the role of public health in shaping a fairer, healthier, and more sustainable world.

The 2025 Summer Institute offers more than dialogue—it is a space for strategic thinking, systems exploration, and cross-sector collaboration. Through keynote discussions, facilitated conversations, and interactive sessions, attendees will reflect on how the public health field can lead in co-creating communities that are just, regenerative, and deeply rooted in wellbeing.

Join us as we imagine—and begin to build—a future in which public health is a driving force for societal transformation.

Summer Institute Details

Dates: June 25th, 2025
Venue: Online via Zoom
Price: $40 +GST
Member/Student/Retiree Price: $30 +GST

 Register Today!

Summer Institute Goal

The goal of the 2025 Summer Institute is to convene a diverse group of public health professionals and practitioners, students, researchers, scholars, academics, thought leaders, intersectoral partners, activists, and allied organizations to collaboratively explore and advance the concept of Building Wellbeing Societies & Communities.

The Institute will aim to introduce this theme through the prioritization of health and equity, cross-sector collaboration, holistic solutions, and inclusive approaches, while emphasizing methods for addressing social and structural determinants of health and translating ideas into actionable public health strategies.

Scientific Program Committee Co-Chairs

Dr. Trevor Hancock

Retired Professor & Senior Scholar
School of Public Health & Social Policy
Associate Member of the Faculty of Graduate Studies, University of Victoria

Dr. Trevor Hancock is a public health physician and health promotion consultant. He ‘retired’ in 2018 from his role as Professor and Senior Scholar at the School of Public Health and Social Policy at the University of Victoria.
He is one of the founders of the (now global) Healthy Cities and Communities movement and co-founded both the Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment and the Canadian Coalition for Green Health Care, and was the first leader of the Green Party of Canada in the 1980s.
His recent focus has been the combination of his two main areas: The relationship between human health and the natural environment – among other things he led a major CPHA report on the Ecological Determinants of Health, released in 2015 – and linking the healthy and sustainable community approaches through the concept of a ‘One Planet’ region.
In ‘retirement’ he has started a new NGO, Conversations for a One Planet Region, to explore and popularise these ideas locally; works with Doctors for Planetary Health in BC; is the interim Convenor of the emerging Canadian Coalition for Planetary Health and a Wellbeing Society, and is a member of the IUHPE’s Global Working Group on Waiora Planetary Health.

Dr. Lindsay McLaren

Professor, Department of Community Health Sciences, University of Calgary
Research Associate, Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives

Lindsay McLaren PhD is a Professor in the Department of Community Health Sciences at the University of Calgary where her scholarship and teaching focus on social determinants and political economy of health. She is also a Research Associate with the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (National Office).
For her research in dental public health, Lindsay held a CIHR/PHAC Applied Public Health Chair award (2014-19) and received the 2019 CIHR-IPPH Trailblazer Award (mid-career category) which is a career achievement award that recognizes exceptional contributions in population and public health research.
Lindsay is past-president (2014-18) of the Alberta Public Heath Association and currently serves as Senior Editor for the Canadian Journal of Public Health. She also serves as Co-Editor in Chief for the Journal of Critical Public Health, which is a community non-profit journal formed following a mass editorial board resignation from corporate publishers.

#PHSI25: Building Wellbeing Societies & Communities

Click Here to Learn More

PHABC expresses our deep sorrow to the Filipino community

Posted on April 30, 2025

The Public Health Association of BC (PHABC) expresses our deep sorrow to the Filipino community for the tragic loss of their loved ones during a peaceful celebration.

We send you our love and strength.

Please know that we grieve with you in this unbearable loss of life and security.

Public Health Week 2025

Posted on April 9, 2025

“Public health professionals provide essential programs, services and guidance that keep us and our loved ones safe. Through actions such as disease and injury prevention, health promotion and health protection, our public health professionals empower people to live healthy lives.”

-Josie Osborne, Minister of Health. Read the full statement here.

PHABC celebrates this historic investment in healthy school food.

Posted on March 9, 2025

British Columbia announced a deal with the federal government as part of the National School Food Program. The deal was announced on March 7th, 2025. British Columbia will receive approximately $39 million over 3 years, further enhancing school food programs in British Columbia.

The Public Health Association of British Columbia (PHABC) has served as the secretariat for the BC Chapter of the Coalition for Healthy School Food for the past five years. PHABC is encouraged by this commitment on behalf of the federal and provincial government’s dedication to support school meal programs.

Every aspect of childhood development is impacted by the food they eat and the environment in which they’re supported. This announcement demonstrates a meaningful shift forward for children in the province.

Thank you to our federal and provincial governments for their incredible leadership on this significant public health strategy.

British Columbia now joins Northwest Territories, Quebec, Nunavut, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, Ontario, Manitoba, Newfoundland and Labrador.

2025 Maurice R. Hilleman Essay Contest

Posted on November 29, 2024

Dr. Maurice R. Hilleman was a virologist who developed more than half of the vaccines that young children receive today. His work, credited with saving 8 million lives every year, was cutting edge. Even though not everyone will be a scientist like Dr. Hilleman, everyone should understand how science works because the resulting discoveries and advancements shape daily life. To celebrate Dr. Hilleman’s legacy, students in grades 6 to 12* from the U.S. & Canada have an opportunity to learn about Dr. Hilleman and reflect on a particular scientific advancement, its role in daily life and how it demonstrates the importance of all citizens understanding what science enables us to do and how.

New for 2025! Essay Contest Resources

Visit these pages to find helpful essay contest-related resources:

Student Resources 
Educator Resources 

The Maurice R. Hilleman Essay Contest is a program of the Vaccine Makers Project (VMP), presented by the Vaccine Education Center at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (VEC). The VMP provides free school-based materials about the immune system, diseases, vaccines, STEM careers, and evaluating information.

Visit the VMP website.
Visit the VEC website. 

Thank you to the co-sponsors of the 2025 Maurice R. Hilleman Essay Contest:

2025 essay contest co-sponsor logos

Find information about our co-sponsors on their websites:

Public Health Association of BC
Kids Boost Immunity
Society for Intelligence Management
National Association of Biology Teachers (NABT)

We would also like to thank Mrs. Lorraine Hilleman for her ongoing support and participation in the contest. 

Who?

Students in grades 6 to 12* living in the United States (including District of Columbia and U.S. Territories) or Canada and enrolled in a public, private, cyber, religious or charter school or who attend a home school pro­gram can participate. First and second place will be awarded in the high school and middle school categories in each country.
*Grades 6 to 11 in Quebec  

What?

Learn about Dr. Hilleman, and write a 500- to 1,000-word essay that responds to this prompt: “Not everyone will be a prolific scientist like Dr. Hilleman, but all citizens need to understand how science works. Use an example to discuss why this understanding is important given the role of science and technology in society today.” Essay should be written in English for U.S. submissions and English or French for Canadian submissions using complete sentences and appropriate grammar. One entry per person. See “Official Rules” for complete details. 

Winners will receive:

Cash prize: 1st place US$500; 2nd place US$250

Winner certificate 

Recognition at a virtual award event in May, 2025
Event will be hosted by Dr. Paul Offit – VEC director, vaccine inventor and Hilleman biographer. The event will also include special guests and student winners reading their essays. 

 

How?

Completed entries must be submitted online by 11:59 p.m., Eastern Time, February 6, 2025, or postmarked by February 6 if mailed. Submissions that are incomplete, do not address the prompt, do not follow the contest rules, or are not received by this time will not be considered.

Click on your country of residence to find out more and enter.