Co-led by Drs. Shelina Babul and Ian Pike, Active & Safe BC: Injury Prevention for Sport and Physical Activity was officially launched on August 22. The purpose of this initiative is to promote physical activity during leisure time by providing information on how to safely engage in structured physical activity and active recreational activities in order to improve the health and well-being of British Columbians.

A central online resource will be developed containing resources that will support schools, community organizations, and individual British Columbians to safely promote and engage in sport and recreation activity. This work will be informed by the team’s stakeholder collaborators, including SportMedBC, BC Recreation and Parks Association, viaSport, and Parachute.

The stellar research team for Active & Safe BC is comprised of:

• Dr. Jack Taunton, Professor Emeritus, Sports Medicine Special Interest Focus Program, Department of Family Practice, Faculty of Medicine, UBC
• Dr. Carolyn Emery, Associate Dean Research and Professor in the Faculty of Kinesiology and Cumming School of Medicine, University of Calgary
• Dr. Shahzan Amed, Clinical Assistant Professor, Department of Pediatrics, UBC, and Affiliate of the Centre for Health Services and Policy Research, UBC
• Dr. Tommy Gerschman, Director of Sport Medicine at Fortius Sport & Health with special interest in Pediatric Sport and Exercise Medicine
• Dr. Sarah Richmond, founder and Chair of the Canadian Injury Prevention Trainee Network, and Post-Doctoral Fellow at York University and the Hospital for Sick Children

Physical activity is one of the recommended strategies for maintaining a healthy weight and the prevention of a number of health-related conditions including cardiovascular disease, diabetes and certain types of cancer. This initiative is addressing identified gaps in the availability of sport and physical activity injury prevention resources in the published literature and digital space. This project is funded by the BC Healthy Living Alliance.