“Musician… Singer… Songwriter...” is what Dr. Helen Novak Lauscher would be if she were not the assistant director of research at the UBC eHealth Strategy office. Although her current profession may be considered radically different from being a musician, the response given came as no surprise. The overlapping elements in this interview suggest that she is, in fact, that musician, but in a different regard.

With a Bachelor degree in Arts and in Education focused on theatre and literature, Helen’s career path seemed more aligned with the arts than with healthcare. “It was a long and circuitous one.” She described her career path. “One where I made some terrific decisions based on <snaps twice> ‘Gee it would be very interesting to move to Vancouver! It would be very interesting to move to Smithers B.C. to visit some people there.’” And move to Smithers she did. On a trip to visit her sister, she inadvertently got offered a job while visiting a newly built theatre at a local school. “I talked to the principal in the hallway and struck up a conversation and found that the drama teacher was on leave. So I got a job. I stayed. I lived in a van <brief pause>… for a couple of weeks and then got a place.” Musician? Singer? Songwriter? It definitely is not a stretch.

During her time in Smithers, Helen became involved with the sociological and psychological side of education and worked with at-risk kids in the context of extracurricular activities such as theatre and music. This sparked her interest in pursuing her Masters and PhD in educational psychology at UBC. She was interested in investigating “what we can learn from the ways that young people use communication tools to express themselves or do very sophisticated literacy practices on their own” and “how we can use that to mobilize those who are not engaged in school and are marginalized.”

Grad school proved to be the defining point in Helen’s career as it helped her realize that “research and education were inextricably intertwined. As an undergraduate, I’d get the textbook; I’d get the prof, and think ‘oh this is knowledge and the truth’. You know how you skip over all the names and years in the paragraphs and research really was only on the surface? But by going to grad school, I realized that it was really important that this evidence gets translated into the education system; into the curriculum; and into practice.” It was with this new frame of mind where Helen felt that she really began to understand knowledge. Research was no longer surface level, but served as a medium to generate more research questions to further inform change in the system. It was at that juncture of her life where she became more passionate about research than teaching. It was also at this same juncture that Helen describes as when she made her “fortuitous” connection with eHealth.

“It was accidental in a way. I was in the middle of my PhD and got the opportunity to work with Sandra (Jarvis-Selinger) and Kendall (Ho) on a part time basis. Quickly after that I saw the links between the types of educational research, the communications research that I had experience with, and research in Telehealth. We looked at Telehealth as an education and clinical service delivery tool. We saw the connections quickly - how there are tools that you use for education but how it is the principles of education that underlie them to determine whether it is successful and whether learners have a voice in those kind of things. So interesting enough, eHealth helped inform my own PhD research and added a technology component to the work that I was doing and so after that you develop a love affair of working in the area and working within the health context.”

If working in a context which amalgamates her educational background with healthcare developed her passion for eHealth, then it is the creative aspects that continue to inspire her. When asked about her influences she mentions her colleagues Kendall and Sandra and elaborates, “I think creativity is what underlies what a lot of the work we do here (at the office). Its not narrowly defined, and not what my view of what health research was before I got in to health as there is an openness with the creativity and learning from other disciplines.”

Similarly, with TEKTIC, Helen is excited about the different types of projects – divergent in scope/reach of populations but convergent in the theme of connecting people through technology while discovering the best methods through evidence. She enthusiastically cites the music workshop with the Ktunaxa Community Learning Centre, funded in TEKTIC’s Year 3 Call for Proposals, as an example. “It looks at how technologies developed for one thing can be creatively used for another reason and how it can contribute to the bigger picture of health. Empowering youth and giving people an outlet for expression contributes to community health. It’s neat to see that come full circle - so the convergences of themes to generation of more reach in communities and populations.”

Another factor that has sustained Helen’s excitement for TEKTIC is diverse expertise of the TEKTIC group and nurturing environment which allows for creativity in the development of its projects. She explains, “It is a good opportunity to bring forward some of the ideas that you may have thought ‘oh I don’t know if it was relevant’ or ‘I don’t know it’s kind of a weird off the wall idea’. But having the opportunity to have a group of people with diverse experience and being able to throw those ideas out and to see how that can form it into something meaningful, I’d like to be able to continue to do that.”

As for future TEKTIC projects, Helen would like to see something expand out of the “grass root” level. She would like to see more community researchers, community members such as youth, and people who do not necessarily see nor define themselves as “researchers” engage the public in generating some research questions. “It is always challenging to engage people in formal academic processes because of different bureaucratic requirements. That is why TEKTIC is really great because through the Michael Smith Foundation for Health Research funding it is really open with the projects we develop under it.”

Creativity? Empowerment? The voice of the people? These are all things that artists are passionate about and strive for in their craft. These are the same very things that drive Helen in what she does. She is that musician with academia as her stage. After all, when asked how she copes with the daily pressures associated with work, she responds “I feel the work is a part of me and is not an intrusion.” Spoken like a true artist.