Hosted by Dr. Deborah Kennett, director of the Centre of Health Studies and psychology professor, the event revealed Trent’s interdisciplinary strengths with health research presented by faculty in Geography, Nursing, and Psychology. A recent Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR)-funded study by assistant psychology professor Dr. Liana Brown about the movement affects vision garnered a great deal of interest. She described her work with a cortically-blind subject who could “see” objects displayed in his blind field if the stimulus was presented near his hand. Her findings supported the hypothesis that multi-sensory neurons are recruited for visual processing when the hand is placed near the target. Dr. Brown noted other research conducted with amputees who report an easier time adapting to prosthetics when they have experienced a phantom sensation in their absent limb. Through future studies she is planning to examine how motor learning drives visual adaptations, Dr. Brown hopes that one day this knowledge can be used therapeutically to help people with various visual and other conditions.

Other presentations during the event included Dr. Jacqueline Whittingham’s study called “A Multi-disciplinary Approach to Child Health”, Dr. Mark Skinner and Gavin Andrew’s talk entitled “Geography and Gerontology: Mapping a Disciplinary Intersection”, and Ann MacLeod’s examination of community-based participatory research in support of hospice volunteers and caregivers. Rounding out the day were presentations by Kim English from the Trent/Fleming School of Nursing on “The Benefits and Challenges of Rural Nursing” and psychology professor Dr. Hugo Lehmann’s study called “Amnesia and the Hippocampus: What Are We Learning from Rats?”.

For more information about the Centre for Health Studies at Trent, please visit their website.