Fraser Mustard Institute for Human Development€¦ · 4 Fraser Mustard Institute for Human Development 5 The Fraser Mustard Institute for Human Development THE REMARKABLE STRENGTH

Fraser Mustard Institute for Human Development

For more information: Fraser Mustard Institute for Human Development252 Bloor Street West Toronto, ON M5S 1V6 Canada416-978-8325humandevelopment@utoronto.cawww.humandevelopment.utoronto.ca

To support the Fraser Mustard Institute for Human Development contact:

Selina EstevesDivision of University [email protected]

Fraser Mustard Institute for Human Development 1

“I want all disciplines to integrate the best of what we know about human development into their research, teaching and mentoring of graduate students. I want them to build new bridges between and among their disciplines that go beyond the old-fashioned interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary approaches. It is time to think ‘trans-disciplinary’ if we are to make headway in meeting tomorrow’s big challenges.” DR. J. FRASER MUSTARD

THE FRASER MUSTARD INSTITUTE FOR HUMAN DEVELOPMENT HONOURS the trailblazing work of Dr. J. Fraser Mustard (1927-2011) in early human development and his leadership role in the conception and creation of an institute to advance this critical field. He was nothing less than a force of nature in his passionate belief that interventions in the early years of life offer tremendous potential for improved quality of life.

One of the final projects of his remarkable career was to help plan and establish a trans-disciplinary institute devoted to human development with the capacity to advance knowledge and influence policy and practice. Dr. Mustard recognized that to accelerate understanding of how humans develop and ensure that findings are quickly mobilized, researchers must come together to focus on common challenges. The Fraser Mustard Institute for Human Development (FMIHD) is dedicated to his memory and the boldness of his vision.

The University of Toronto is determined to honour Fraser Mustard’s legacy and continue his vitally important work. To that end, we have launched a $20 million campaign for the Fraser Mustard Institute for Human Development that will help to secure key unifying and catalytic initiatives as part of Boundless: The Campaign for the University of Toronto.

With its mission to enable the healthy development of all children, the Fraser Mustard Institute for Human Development epitomizes the University’s driving ambition to prepare extraordinary leaders and channel the immense power and talent of our community to address the most urgent global challenges. We hope you will join us in this vital effort.


AN OVERWHELMING BODY OF RESEARCH INDICATES THAT THE FIRST 2,000 DAYS OF LIFE ARE CRITICAL TO OUR LONG-TERM WELL-BEING. The evidence shows that a child’s early social environment “gets under the skin,” literally shaping the architecture of the brain and other developing biological systems. The influences of early childhood reach far into adulthood and into future generations.

Despite these insights, a great many children experience a start in life that is far from optimal. The widespread effects of such beginnings may manifest later in behavioural problems, learning disabilities, health issues, lifelong relationship struggles, addiction and criminality.

Beyond the individual scale of suffering, the results could be felt more broadly through sharply-elevated health costs due to chronic physical and mental illness, lost productivity due to unemployment or under-employment, unstable households, policing and legal costs, and other stresses to the social fabric.

In the face of these distressing trends, however, tremendous optimism is found in our growing understanding of how human beings develop.

Early childhood is a period of rapid development for the brain and other biological systems. Early life experiences affect how genes are expressed and how brain connections are built. Children exposed to positive experiences, relationships and environments at the earliest stages of life are much more

likely to develop the neural and biological pathways that lead to healthy and productive lives as adults. Conversely, children subjected to poverty, violence, poor education or poor nutrition are much more likely to develop “wiring” which can have serious implications for health well into adulthood.

This complex interplay between our genes and our envi-ronment brings us back to the age-old question of nature vs. nurture. Both, in fact, appear to work together to make us who we are. What we don’t fully grasp yet is how this interplay occurs and how we can intervene to promote the best possible outcomes. When we gain this understanding, we will then be much better equipped to help each and every child reach his or her full potential.

In this endeavour, the Institute will go beyond conventional single disciplinary approaches to encompass renowned trans-disciplinary expertise, state-of-the-art infrastructure, and one of the world’s most ambitious maternal-infant and paediatric studies.

We are honoured to lead the Fraser Mustard Institute of Human Development. Its trans-disciplinary approach and dynamic translation of ground-breaking early childhood science into direct work with children make the Institute unique in the world. We are confident that the resulting innovative science, training, and knowledge mobilization will be important steps toward realizing the next great leap in human development.

The Long Reach of Childhood

MARLA SOKOLOWSKI Academic Director

BARBARA FALLON ACT NOW Director

STEPHEN LYE Executive Director

STEPHEN MATTHEWS Research Director


The Fraser Mustard Institute for Human Development

THE REMARKABLE STRENGTH OF THE FRASER MUSTARD INSTITUTE FOR HUMAN DEVELOPMENT STEMS FROM ITS POSITION within the vast network of education, health care, social services and other key resources in Toronto, anchored by the University of Toronto.

Its Directors and lead researchers are a who’s who of global leading thinkers in human development. These researchers and practitioners are embedded within the University of Toronto faculties of education, social work, medicine, public health, arts and science, nursing, kinesiology and others, with cross-appointments to cutting-edge institutions and broader clusters such as the Toronto Academic Health Science Network.

This deep pool of expertise is bolstered by the highly sophisticated infrastructure of the University and its affiliated hospitals and research institutes. Taken together, this concentration of knowledge and resources is one of the most advanced in the world and enables the Institute to embark upon an ambitious three-fold mission: to generate knowledge in human development; to transmit this knowledge to effect change; and to grow research and academic capacity in the field through education.

These three pillars of activity—expressed thematically as Research, ACT NOW and Educate—are described in further detail on the following pages.

A GROWING UNDERSTANDING

The Early Years Study, released in 1999 and written by Fraser Mustard and Margaret McCain, articulated a scientific explanation for a phenomenon of which primary school teachers, for one, were well aware.

Teachers had long noted that for many students, their educational future seemed to be predeter-mined. Children who were less verbally adept and attentive were far more likely to struggle in school and develop a host of behavioural, psychological and health problems—outcomes that seemed to persist regardless of intervention.

Such observations and the revolutionary growth of knowledge in genomics drew scientists to a model that meshed genetics and childhood experience. This model held that a child’s experiences in the early years of life are pivotal for how genes governing aspects of neurobiolog-ical development are expressed.

The vast potential of these findings continues to grow, buoyed by ongoing breakthroughs in human genomics and an increasing sophistica-tion in our ability to tie behaviours to variation in certain genes.

NetworksLocalNationalInternational

ACT NOWCommunity EngagementPolicy and PracticeKnowledge Mobilization

EducateUndergraduate Programming Graduate Programming Professional Development

ResearchDevelopmental Paths and InterventionsHealthy KidsDeveloping Brain and Human PotentialAboriginal Health and Well-BeingThe World’s Child

3 Strategic Pillars of FMIHD


“The Institute represents an unprecedented opportunity to unravel the mysteries of human development.”

Research


THE QUESTIONS THE FRASER MUSTARD INSTITUTE SEEKS TO ANSWER ARE CENTRAL TO THE HUMAN CONDITION AND ARE MANY. Why do some children fare so well in school while others struggle? Why do some children make friends effortlessly while others fail to connect? Which children will become obese or suffer cardio-metabolic illness? Why do some go from carefree childhood to depression or addictive behaviours in later years?

Such questions have posed a tremendous challenge in years past because the dynamics at play transcend individual disciplines. For example, scien-tists now realize that parts of the brain responsible for cardio-metabolic function are closely related to those areas that regulate learning, memory and other neurodevelopment. Consequently, metabolic problems in children, including obesity, are often closely linked to behavioural problems.

Such interconnections demand an alignment of leading thinkers across education, child care, medicine, psychology, social work, genetics and other key areas. FMIHD’s research platform has therefore been organized into four theme areas: Healthy Kids; the Developing Brain and Human Potential; Aboriginal Health and Well-being; and The World’s Child. These themes explore cardio-metabolic health, brain development, and the impact of diverse environments and cultures on human development.

In addition to its trans disciplinary approach, FMIHD’s research activities are even more remarkable because they are fuelled by a comprehensive resource platform called Developmental Paths and Interventions. Among its offerings, this platform will yield extremely robust data through ongoing mother and child cohort studies upon which many of the Institute’s inquiries will be founded.

Research

DR. STEPHEN MATTHEWS is Chair of U of T’s Department of Physiology and Director of Research at the Fraser Mustard Institute. He is an internationally renowned expert in fetal development and how it relates to life-long health. His research is focussed on development of systems in the brain that regulate hormonal and behavioural responses to stress. His research team investigates how different fetal environ-ments can alter the developmental trajectory of these brain systems, leading to lifelong changes in their function. His group has shown that these effects are epigenetically modulated and can be present for multiple generations.


Developmental Paths and Interventions (Resource Platform) The research activities of the Fraser Mustard Institute benefit from one of the most comprehensive long-term studies in the world: the Ontario Family Health Study (OFHS). The aim of the study is to support research on pregnancy complications, maternal and infant health, and the develop-mental trajectories of health, learning and social function of our children.

OFHS tracks a mother and child through pregnancy and childhood in a seamless, interdisciplinary fashion that is a hallmark of the FMIHD. The study is particularly valuable and unprecedented because it is open-ended, following an ever-growing cohort over time. Such an ambitious study is only feasible because it works in partnership with the health care system—surveys and samples are taken during regular medical appointments.

The benefits of this ground-breaking study include a common and vast data pool to which researchers from across disciplines have access; long-term analyses of environmental influences that are essential for tracking lifelong trajectories; and state-of-the-art technology to ensure integrity of data and bio samples.

In the future, additional platforms may be added to Developmental Paths and Interventions to support additional areas of research, as needed.

That is how DR. ALAN BOCKING describes the circumstances that have come together to make the Ontario Family Health Study (OFHS) a reality.

Genetic breakthroughs, big data, computational power, robotics, and complex mathematical modelling have come together within an academic and research consensus across disci-plines that we must advance knowledge in early human development.

“It’s big, but it’s exciting and we’re very encouraged by the response we’ve gotten from women who are willing to enroll.”

Dr. Bocking, a renowned expert in fetal physiology, preterm labour and fetal alcohol syndrome, is co-lead of Developmental Paths and Interventions along with DR. JONATHON MAGUIRE, who explores nutritional issues in young children.

“An alignment of the stars.”

Research


Research

Healthy KidsThis research theme will seek to identify those specific environmental and genetic influences in early childhood that impact the life course. The immediate focus is to look at factors that determine whether a child will eat healthy food, be physically active and whether they have resilience to adverse circumstances. An additional focus will look at what factors influence weight gain and cardio-metabolic disease such as diabetes.

Investigators have come together from the Faculty of Medicine, the Lawrence S. Bloomberg Faculty of Nursing, the Dalla Lana School of Public Health, the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (OISE), and the Faculty of Kinesiology and Physical Education to join with researchers and clinicians from Mount Sinai Hospital, the Hospital for Sick Children, St. Michael’s Hospital and the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health.

This remarkable collaboration will result in trans-disciplinary research targeting those fundamental aspects contributing to the health and well-being of a child: his or her nutrition, activity level, and ability to cope with life’s challenges, big and small.

“I think that understanding the science behind why people gain weight will help us to reduce its stigma,” she says. “Particularly for children, this discrimination can be heartbreaking.”

DR. JILL HAMILTON is co-lead of the Healthy Kids research stream along with DR. GUY FAULKNER of the Faculty of Kinesiology and Physical Education.

Dr. Hamilton’s clinical and research interests focus on childhood obesity. One study examines women who develop diabetes during pregnancy. Long-term studies show that if a mother has diabetes, then the baby is also more at risk to have diabetes and is more likely to be obese—but it’s not understood how this occurs.

Working with a team of endocrinologists, Hamilton’s five-year study will compare outcomes between mothers and their babies who experienced gestational diabetes with those who did not.


The Developing Brain and Human PotentialThe brain is the most crucial organ governing child development and well-being throughout the life course. Research shows that there are critical windows of brain development that can be positively and negatively affected by a child’s physical and emotional environment.

Among the questions addressed within this research theme is how adverse early environments impair brain development and can lead to behavioural and mental health disorders. Conversely, this theme will also analyze the benefits to the brain’s development of optimal environments and whether these positive influences can mitigate brain damage.

Researchers spanning the areas of science, neuroscience, clinical care, social science, education and genetics will come together to address these and other questions regarding the developing brain.

Research

DR. JENNIFER JENKINS, a social scientist, and DR. ALISON FLEMING, who works in neuroscience, are co-leading a study into “contingent parenting.”

This style of caregiving involves being highly responsive to both a child’s interests and her emotional needs by, for example, commenting on what an infant is looking at or acknowl-edging when a child is upset.

The study builds on findings that such respon-siveness greatly aids cognitive development such as language skills and supports mental health.

The physical impact on the brain itself will also be examined both in terms of development and function.

Dr. Jenkins is a co-lead of the Developing Brain and Human Potential research theme with DR. STEVEN MILLER who is a senior scientist in neurosciences and mental health.


Research

Aboriginal Health and Well-BeingCanada’s Indigenous population is a vulnerable group in the health care system, with specific healing needs that are not being widely met. Indig-enous peoples face certain historical, cultural-linguistic, socioeconomic, and system barriers to access to health care that researchers, government, health care organizations, and social agencies must work to overcome.

Current health indicators present a dim and dismal view of Canadian Indigenous health status, including the health and well-being of children. Indigenous health and healing information and practices for children are practically non-existent through the mainstream health care system, which is dominated by Western approaches. To address some of these inequities in health care, Indigenous health organizations and researchers, including the FMIHD faculty and community collaborators, have developed services that include traditional Indigenous knowledge approaches to health and well-being and will continue to collaborate to further impact the Cana-dian Indigenous population.

As an Aboriginal person whose mother and younger siblings were forcibly removed to Canada’s infamous residential schools, DR. SUZANNE STEWART has powerful insights into the experience of Indigenous people in this country.

Now, from her vantage point as a Canada Research Chair, psychologist, associate professor in OISE, and Special Advisor to the Dean on Aboriginal Education, she is in a position to advance knowledge and promote healing.

Dr. Stewart will bring this expertise to her role as a leader of Aboriginal Health and Well-Being. This research theme will contribute key findings around resilience and ingenuity in the face of adversity along with the universal benefits to be shared from Indigenous culture.


The World’s ChildChildren in low- and middle-income (LMICS) countries often face particular challenges in terms of nutrition, health and educational resources. Increasing rates of internal and international migration of millions of people further complicate the picture.

The World’s Child theme will include, but move beyond, traditional questions of global health and early childhood education to consider the enormous stresses surrounding migration. It will look at the impact of migration within LMICs (from rural to urban settings) and from LMICs to high-income countries (such as Canada). Child health, cultural dynamics, and behavioural and learning expectations will be explored.

Toronto offers a remarkably rich opportunity to examine these issues. This theme will provide opportunities to integrate activities both within LMICs and within our own multi-cultural community in Toronto, focusing on the health, learning and well-being of children from around the world in their early years.

Research

The scope of issues contained within The World’s Child research theme is prodigious. Consider, for example, that malnutrition is known to be the underlying cause of death for approximately three million children worldwide every year.

In the face of such challenges, however, DR. ZULFIQAR BHUTTA is undaunted. “That we have reduced the burden of extra child deaths by an average of 200,000 every year is a remarkable testament to the fact that change can happen,” he says.

Dr. Bhutta, who recently chose to move to Toronto, is one of the world’s foremost experts on maternal-child health and will co-lead this research theme with DR. KAREN MUNDY, who explores educational policy issues around the world.

He has well over 450 peer-reviewed articles to his name, including a landmark series on malnutrition in the Lancet in 2008 that is seen as a major influence behind actions by the G8 to support worldwide nutrition efforts.


“Breakthroughs discovered within the Institute are moved into the community where every child can feel their benefits”

ACT NOW


ACT NOW

ACT NOW REPRESENTS THE CRUCIAL PHASE of ensuring that research findings and policy and practice recommendations generated by the Fraser Mustard Institute are put into action to directly influence people’s lives. ACT NOW (an acronym for Achieving Change Through KNOWledge) is a strategic pillar for the Institute aimed at the integration of knowledge mobilization, policy development and community engagement.

The area of knowledge mobilization, in particular, is a major focus of the Institute’s trans-disciplinary approach. Researchers, faculty members and students will work directly with policy makers and community members such as those involved in child care, teaching, social work, and front line health care in order to strengthen our understanding and approach to optimal human development.

Policy development is a critical outcome for the FMIHD. The Institute is committed to engaging government and stakeholders in new and collaborative ways. Connecting policy makers with researchers to develop policy briefs and data dissemination will help break down boundaries between research evidence and real-world impact.

Community engagement strategies will ensure efficient broadcasting of the Institute’s findings, including white papers, robust websites to access materials, “push” capabilities to disseminate breaking news and a yearly program of presentations not only to academic forums but to a broad slate of community organizations.

This strategic pillar for the Fraser Mustard Institute transcends the world of academia to ensure the breakthroughs discovered within the Institute are moved into meaningful, tangible results in the community where every child can feel their benefits.

DR. BARBARA FALLON has devoted her career to the important issue of child abuse and neglect. “An estimated seven percent of infants in Ontario are identified to the child welfare system each year for a maltreatment-related concern,” she says, giving an indication of the scale of the problem.

Dr. Fallon is the Factor-Inwentash Chair in Child Welfare in the Factor Inwentash Faculty of Social Work. She has led both national and provincial studies of reported child abuse and neglect. Her research has informed front-line child welfare workers and policymakers in how risk is understood and assessed. She has also identified other opportunities for early interven-tion and prevention for young children.

Her expertise in the direct translation of research into hands-on practice to benefit children is a powerful model for her leadership of the ACT NOW strategic priority.


“Ensure that current and future generations of leading experts have the knowledge and skills to continually advance understanding…”

Educate


Educate

EDUCATE THROUGH THE FRASER MUSTARD INSTITUTE IS A TRANS- DISCIPLINARY PROGRAM that is breaking down academic silos to create a new generation of graduates who are able to seamlessly integrate new understanding of early human development. It will ensure that current and future generations of leading experts have the knowledge and skills to continually advance understanding in the complex field of early human development with its many consequences for life-long health, learning and social functioning.

Students must be equipped to understand the current state of findings in human development and be armed with the skills and resources to further efforts in this field. Furthermore, they must develop the capacity to work effectively within trans-disciplinary teams and ultimately, to have the ability to translate findings in order to bridge the gap between basic research and public policy and practices. These skills and resources will not only be targeted at current students, but also to those already prac-ticing within their various fields.

Specific efforts underway range from the development of undergraduate curricula to a collaborative graduate program in human development. An advanced training program for graduate students, post-doctoral fellows and clinician researchers will enable them to participate in the ongoing work of the Fraser Mustard Institute. Finally, continuing education programs are in development for those who work in the field of human development including early child-care workers, teachers, doctors, nurses, policy workers and social workers.

Through these efforts, the Educate pillar will foster translational skills in order to disseminate this research most effectively to educators, policy makers and other key stakeholders as well as contribute to cutting-edge research on the ways in which early childhood experiences become embedded in our biology.

DR. MARLA SOKOLOWSKI’s expertise in genetics combined with her passion for communicating ideas makes her the ideal lead for the Educate pillar.

“We need to be able to clearly articulate these issues to people from all backgrounds and walks of life.”

She’s referring to the principles of early human development and gene-by-environment interactions.

Dr. Sokolowski is the Academic Director of the Fraser Mustard Institute for Human Development. As a researcher within U of T’s Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, she is well known for her investigations into fruit flies and the discovery of the foraging gene.

She will lead an ambitious platform that will see early human development integrated into undergraduate and graduate curricula and also introduced to professionals, such as judges and teachers, responsible for the welfare of families and children.


Giving Opportunities

Big ideas and transformative change require visionary leadership and investment.


THE COMMUNITY WILL PLAY A CRITICAL ROLE IN ACHIEVING THE VISION OF FRASER MUSTARD AND THE OBJECTIVES OF THE FRASER MUSTARD INSTITUTE FOR HUMAN DEVELOPMENT. Outlined on the following pages are strategic funding opportunities that will bolster and cut across the Institute’s strategic pillars of Research, ACT NOW and Educate. There has never been a better time to galvanize our remarkable assets in the burgeoning field of human development, building on the strengths found at the University of Toronto. With our community partners, we will change the future of human development.

Funding Opportunities

As the inaugural Executive Director of the Fraser Mustard Institute, STEPHEN LYE is acutely aware of the powerful benefits of bringing together diverse disciplines and streams of activity within the Institute.

“In academia, the tendency has been to focus on disciplinary elements. We are getting away from that. We are breaking down these silos to create sparks of innovation.”

Dr. Lye is a world-renowned expert in women’s and infant’s health and pioneered investigations into the mechanisms underlying preterm birth. He is a Professor of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Physiology and Medicine at the University of Toronto and Associate Director of the Samuel Lunenfeld Research Institute of Mount Sinai Hospital.


EDUCATE GIVING OPPORTUNITIES

A multi-level curriculum will be embedded into undergrad-uate and graduate programs across the University, emphasizing the importance and diversity of early-life experiences that contribute to optimal human development. The Institute seeks philanthropic support for the following program offerings:

ACT NOW GIVING OPPORTUNITIES

Strategic investments will support the essential function of the Fraser Mustard Institute to share information and translate findings into the professional and public realms in order to influence policy and practice related to the healthy development of children. The following key initiatives will help ensure that the Institute builds strong communication channels with broad audiences.

Funding Opportunities

RESEARCH GIVING OPPORTUNITIES

Discoveries will lead to new diagnostic and prevention tools as well as novel education models and transformative interventions to enhance lifelong health and well-being. All knowledge generated will be efficiently communicated to wider networks through the Institute’s sophisticated ACT NOW programming.

Philanthropic support in the areas, below, can have a tremen-dous catalytic effect by helping to launch groundbreaking research studies, attracting and retaining leading thinkers in key research areas, and funding research positions to carry out essential day-to-day laboratory work.

• SEED FUNDING is the unsung hero of any comprehensive research program. It gives research directors the ability to support and advance promising areas of inquiry to ascertain whether further funding is warranted. Seed funds therefore play an essential role in fostering innovative, dynamic research directions.• The ONTARIO FAMILY HEALTH STUDY is central to the success of the Institute’s research efforts. Considering its importance, support is needed to ramp up initial recruitment numbers to the level needed to provide scientifically rigorous results within a necessarily urgent time frame.• LEADERSHIP SUPPORT will be aligned with the key roles of Institute Executive Director and the leadership of the three strategic priorities of Research, Educate and ACT NOW. These funds will ensure that a top thinker of global stature can be supported in these roles on an ongoing basis, comple-mented by the vast networks of international collaborations that they have built up over distinguished careers. • The CHAIR IN EARLY DEVELOPMENT OF INDIGENOUS CHILDREN working within OISE will focus on the link between traditional Indigenous knowledge and community mental health care research, policy, models, and services. These activities reflect the fact that mental health within Canadian urban and reserve Indigenous communities is increasingly considered vital for individuals to heal from the legacy of colonization.

• The CHAIR IN DEVELOPMENTAL HEALTH will advance studies in this area in the Department of Physiology in the Faculty of Medicine. Research undertaken by the Chair will determine how maternal health and early experience, through genetic and epigenetic mechanisms, shape human development and drive a trajectory toward life-long health and away from disease.• The CHAIR IN CHILD AND HUMAN DEVELOPMENT, working within the Factor-Inwentash Faculty of Social Work, will be a leader in creating and advancing successful approaches and interventions targeting children at risk of poor cognitive, emotional, behavioural and social outcomes, particularly those in challenging environments.• Established through a generous gift from the former captain of the Toronto Maple Leafs, the MATS SUNDIN FELLOWSHIPS are a highly prestigious postdoctoral training and scientific exchange in collaboration with the Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm. The program, which requires sustainable funding, will support the brightest minds in human development and mold future health leaders in Canada and Sweden.• INTEGRATED GRADUATE RESEARCH SCHOLARSHIPS will advance the careers of exceptional graduate students in human development by exposing them to the world-leading research in this field being conducted by the allied institutions of the University of Toronto and Stockholm’s Karolinska Institutet.• A set of POST-DOCTORAL FELLOWSHIPS, tied solely to the FMIHD, will attract promising minds in early human development at the outset of their careers. A critical resource for the Institute, the fellowships will also play an important role in nurturing the next generation of lead researchers in this field.

As the work of the FMIHD progresses, further Chairs will be created in other related divisions with strengths in early human development, namely the Lawrence S. Bloomberg Faculty of Nursing, the Dalla Lana School of Public Health and the Faculty of Arts and Science. Chairs will also be created within University of Toronto Mississauga and University of Toronto Scarborough to anchor academic and research strengths within those two campuses.

• An INTERNATIONAL SYMPOSIUM will bring together basic, biomedical and social scientists with policy makers and the community. Activities will include presentations on the current state of research and how collaborations across disciplines, approaches and paradigms can synergize to impact new thinking.• The FMIHD SEMINAR SERIES will be an important forum for sharing information across disciplines and audiences possessing differing levels of expertise. The series will broaden knowledge among undergraduate and graduate students, faculty, and the public outside their areas of research, study, or general knowledge.• A DISTINGUISHED VISITING SCHOLARS program will attract leading experts in human development from around the world to the Institute. While hosted by U of T, they will participate as valuable contributors to the teaching, research, and outreach mission of the Fraser Mustard Institute for Human Development.• The KNOWLEDGE PLATFORM will encompass various methods to exchange information and help enact policy and program change. Approaches will include both an easily accessible resource for academics, professionals, policy makers, and the community as well as online and offline tools to push information out to our stakeholders.• The POLICY BENCH is a knowledge mobilization vehicle that will connect government investment to the cutting-edge research taking place within the FMIHD. This platform will help ensure that investments of public funds are based on the strongest and most sound evidence from across a multitude of disciplines—ranging from health and learning to economics and statistics—to deliver the most powerful results where they matter most.

• UNDERGRADUATE SUMMER PLACEMENT AWARDS will allow the brightest students from a variety of disciplines the opportunity to work in a laboratory or group supervised by a leading researcher in human development.• Through UNDERGRADUATE COURSES, human development will be introduced to students across a broad range of disciplines, establishing a trans-disciplinary approach.• A COLLABORATIVE TRAINING PROGRAM for PhD students and fellows will empower the next generation of researchers to move seamlessly across disciplines. This program will include an advanced training program for PhD students, post-doctoral fellows and clinicians and a more general collaborative program for PhD students.• A SUMMER TRAINING INSTITUTE will add immeasurably to the education of future generations of human development scholars and researchers. It will instill trans-disciplinary and translational skills as well as provide exposure to top scholars and diverse research methods, among other benefits.• The SUMMER EXCHANGE PROGRAM between University of Toronto and the Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm annually will provide 40 graduate students, post-doctoral fellows and clinical fellows access to some of the world’s leading faculty in the areas of developmental biology, pregnancy and child health, and regenerative medicine.• GRADUATE FELLOWSHIPS will be especially important for populating the collaborative training program; carrying out research; and for translating knowledge through subsequent teaching and practice.


The potential to achieve great advances in human develop-ment is abundantly evident but tremendously challenging. The Fraser Mustard Institute for Human Development, centred in the heart of Toronto’s Discovery District and anchored by the University of Toronto, represents one of the best opportunities anywhere in the world to realize this potential.

Within the Institute, renowned academic and research leadership has convened to launch ambitious, expansive and integrated initiatives across research, education and knowledge translation (ACT NOW). This alignment of effort and expertise and the inclusion of entire disciplines straddling health care, education, child care, social work and other key fields is nothing short of remarkable. We are confi-dent that this trans-disciplinary approach steered by influential leaders and built upon massive research studies is necessary to effect change across the landscape of human development.

The missing ingredient to catalyze this sweeping effort is philanthropic support from the community. As with so many truly transformational philanthropic efforts, these are visionary gifts whose effect will be felt almost immediately but whose full impact will be seen most clearly over the course of generations. With a sense of urgency, we will accelerate efforts to build knowledge and understanding and translate it to effect change.

Ultimately, our joint accomplishment will be seen in the lives of children as they grow and become adults. The signs will first be evident in improved results in school and more attentive and responsible behaviour. From there and over time, they will extend to better physical and mental health, sounder relation-ships, better employment prospects, stronger family dynamics and many other benefits that accrue to individuals who are well equipped for life.

This is how a healthier, more equitable and prosperous society is built—from the ground up, by supporting all children, everywhere, to reach their full potential. Furthermore, in support of core Canadian values, Fraser Mustard himself believed strongly that instilling broad-based understanding of how human beings develop would lead to a more pluralistic society—one in which our vast commonalities and potential are understood and supported and therefore our comparatively minor differences are accepted and welcomed.

At the highest level, this is the vision pursued by all those engaged in advancing Fraser Mustard’s vision. We invite you to help realize these great, transformative outcomes through the opportunity presented at this very moment by the Fraser Mustard Institute for Human Development.

Conclusion


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Fraser Mustard Institute for Human Development€¦ · 4 Fraser Mustard Institute for Human Development 5 The Fraser Mustard Institute for Human Development THE REMARKABLE STRENGTH