Guest: Sylvain Charlebois (food systems researcher)
For Dr. Sylvain Charlebois, his job is connecting the dots in food systems. For example, how do flavours, labels, prices exist the way that they do? To him, there is a story behind the data of food and it is his job to make it available to the public.
“If you’re going to give yourself any job title in the world, you might as well make it a fun one.” That is why Ali Binazir turned his mental health therapy career into becoming a happiness engineer. This is an area that has fascinated him, living in affluent areas that are seemingly filled with miserable people. His research dives into how that happened and whether there is a physical or psychological reason for this. Despite having a small team, much of his work is done solo – and that is one of the biggest challenges to his success that he had to overcome.
Did you know there is a World Happiness Report? That is what John Helliwell devotes his professional life to, creating metrics and analyses to measure happiness around the world in order to influence decisions that promote personal wellbeing – a far cry from where he thought he would end up.
Problem solving – that is how lawyer Bruce McIvor describes his job. To him, that is why people come to lawyers. It is about identifying the problem, the solution, and barriers to the solution. “It’s often not about the law,” he claims. “It’s about relationships” and how legal issues tend to come up when a relationship has failed in some way. That is also something he teaches his students at the University of British Columbia, helping shape the next generation of lawyers.
Many doctors are also business owners. That is something that Brian Day points out, as leader of the Cambie Surgery Centre, a private surgery clinic in Vancouver. As the CEO, he leads a small team and also promotes ideas and ways to improve the healthcare system in Canada. In addition, his experience with sports medicine earned him a spot in British Columbia’s Sports Hall of Fame – the first orthopedic surgeon to be inducted – and his reputation has led him to treat some of the famous celebrities who work in Vancouver’s film industry.
