Training doctors in rural and remote communities and embedding First Nations knowledge and leadership in medical education could be key to improving healthcare access and workforce sustainability in Australia, the United States and other underserved communities worldwide.

“Our language carries our history, our knowledge and our connection to these lands. Seeing these names reflected across Simon Fraser University’s Burnaby campus is an important recognition of the enduring presence of its Host Nations.”

These words from Chief Wayne Sparrow of the Musqueam Indian Band speak to the significance of the four Host Nations gifting Indigenous place names for the campus and four more culturally significant locations on Burnaby Mountain – believed to be the most extensive collaboration with Host Nations – during a naming ceremony today.

Working in partnership with the kʷikʷəƛ̓əm (Kwikwetlem), səlilwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh Úxwumixw (Squamish) and xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam) Nations and Indigenous members of the university community, SFU is grateful to receive and uphold Indigenous names in the two languages spoken by the Host Nations: hən̓q̓əmin̓əm̓ and Sḵwx̱wú7mesh.

“These names are gifts that carry meaning and responsibility, and we hope they encourage students, faculty, staff and visitors to learn more about the lands they are on and the Nations who have cared for them since time immemorial,” says Sparrow. “We appreciate SFU’s commitment to working in relationship with the Host Nations and to ensuring our languages and histories have a lasting and visible place on campus.”

In two Indigenous communities living pre-industrial lifestyles in the Bolivian Amazon, dementia is remarkably uncommon. However, a new longitudinal study reveals why earlier estimates told only part of the story.

Among the Tsimané and Mosetén communities, dementia incidence, or the rate of new cases, didn’t dramatically differ from rates in U.S. and northern European populations, especially for individuals under 80 years old. Shorter survival after dementia develops appears to play a significant role in why dementia prevalence – the total proportion of people living with the disease at a given time – in the Tsimané and Mosetén populations is unusually low.

“The surprising finding was that there weren’t big differences in dementia incidence,” said lead author Margaret Gatz, a professor of psychology and gerontology at USC and a senior scientist at the USC Center for Economic and Social Research. “That challenges us to identify the risk factors for developing dementia in the Tsimané population.”