October 12, 2005 Source: Carleton University:
http://www.carleton.ca/duc/News/news10120502.html Carleton University Professor Awarded $88,000 To Research Scientific Debates About the Impact of Holocaust on French Jews (Ottawa)--Carleton University Professor Michael Dorland has been awarded a $88,000 grant by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) to examine scientific debates about the physical and psychological effects of the Holocaust on the 3,500 French Jews who survived incarceration in Nazi concentration camps. The grant covers a five-year period. Dorland, who is a professor in Carleton's School of Journalism and Communication, says his work is distinguished by the fact that it examines scientific work in the immediate post-war period, thanks to the writings of medical doctors who themselves were often deportees. "The case of France is unique," he adds, "because it would not be until the 1980s that France's ignominious collaboration with the Nazis became a widely discussed topic. And yet the role of doctors – or medical resistance – was in many ways the complete opposite of that of their notorious German colleagues." A former journalist and novelist, Dorland is the author of numerous articles and books dealing with the transmission of cultural practices. His 2003 book, co-authored with Maurice Charland of Concordia University, Law, Rhetoric and Irony in the Formation of Canadian Civil Culture was awarded the G.J. Robinson Prize of the Canadian Communication Association as the best book published in Canada in the field of communication that year. "CIHR support to humanities research is vital to the health of humanities research in this country," says Dorland. "I'm very grateful for CIHR of this project and would encourage them to do even more." As well, Anne Millar, a Masters candidate in Science, was awarded a Canada Graduate Scholarship worth $17,500 from CIHR for her work on social phobia. Millar notes that people with this kind of anxiety disorder tend to pay more attention to what they perceive to be threatening stimuli. This is called an "attentional bias." Millar wants to establish whether a less common form of gene is associated specifically with social phobia, and whether this gene is related to attentional bias. Ultimately, this could provide a more complete understanding of this disorder which in turn could lead to the development of more effective preventative and treatment strategies. "These strategies are crucial, as social phobia is associated with significant individual and societal costs," notes Millar. CIHR also awarded $132,000 to Psychology professor Michael Poulter and the Institute of Neuroscience at Carleton University for their continuing research on epilepsy. -30- For more information:
Lin Moody
Media Relations
Carleton University
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