The Arctic Exploits of Dr. Octave Pavy

Dr. Octave Pierre Pavy served as the physician for the ill-fated Lady Franklin Bay Expedition of 1881 – 84, one of two expeditions supported by the United States during the First International Polar Year. He was one of 18 members of the expedition who died at the tragic camp at Cape Sabine while awaiting a relief party. Unlike the other members of the expedition, who volunteered from frontier outposts in the American West with no Arctic experience, Pavy joined the expedition with considerable knowledge and first-hand experience in living and traveling the Arctic regions. For him, the Lady Franklin Bay Expedition was the culmination of a two-decade obsession with polar exploration and a fervent desire to make a name for himself in the far North. However, Pavy’s personality shortcomings and his long-running feud with his commander, Lieutenant Adolphus W. Greely, which featured prominently in Greely’s narrative and official reports and in subsequent published accounts, have overshadowed nearly all other aspects of Pavy’s character, as well as his accomplishments. Although those negative aspects cannot be overlooked in any assessment, a more thorough examination of Pavy’s Arctic endeavors reveals a mixed record of performance that included laudable service in his primary role as physician and also in varied tasks in support of the expeditions with which he was involved.Le Dr Octave Pierre Pavy était le médecin de l’infortunée expédition de la baie Lady Franklin entre 1881 et 1884, soit l’une des deux expéditions appuyées par les États-Unis pendant la première année polaire internationale. Il faisait partie des 18 membres d’expédition qui ont trouvé la mort au tragique campement de cap Sabine en attendant la relève. Contrairement aux autres membres de l’expédition, des volontaires des fronts pionniers de l’Ouest américain sans expérience de l’Arctique, le Dr Pavy possédait beaucoup de connaissances et d’expérience pratique en matière de vie et de déplacements dans les régions arctiques. Pour lui, l’expédition de la baie Lady Franklin constituait le point culminant d’une obsession d’une vingtaine d’années avec l’exploration polaire et un ardent désir de se faire un nom dans le Grand Nord. Toutefois, les lacunes inhérentes à sa personnalité et sa querelle de longue date avec son capitaine, le lieutenant Adolphus W. Greely – querelle dont il est souvent question dans les textes et les rapports officiels d’Adolphus Greely et dans des récits publiés ultérieurement – ont éclipsé presque tous les autres aspects du personnage de Pavy et de ses réalisations. Bien que ces aspects négatifs ne puissent être négligés, l’examen plus poussé des entreprises du Dr Pavy dans l’Arctique laisse entrevoir un rendement contrasté, assorti d’un service louable en tant que médecin, son rôle principal, ainsi que dans le cadre des diverses tâches où il a prêté main-forte pendant les expéditions dont il a fait partie

Proceedings of the 3rd Biennial Conference of the Society for Implementation Research Collaboration (SIRC) 2015: advancing efficient methodologies through community partnerships and team science

It is well documented that the majority of adults, children and families in need of evidence-based behavioral health interventionsi do not receive them [1, 2] and that few robust empirically supported methods for implementing evidence-based practices (EBPs) exist. The Society for Implementation Research Collaboration (SIRC) represents a burgeoning effort to advance the innovation and rigor of implementation research and is uniquely focused on bringing together researchers and stakeholders committed to evaluating the implementation of complex evidence-based behavioral health interventions. Through its diverse activities and membership, SIRC aims to foster the promise of implementation research to better serve the behavioral health needs of the population by identifying rigorous, relevant, and efficient strategies that successfully transfer scientific evidence to clinical knowledge for use in real world settings [3]. SIRC began as a National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)-funded conference series in 2010 (previously titled the “Seattle Implementation Research Conference”; $150,000 USD for 3 conferences in 2011, 2013, and 2015) with the recognition that there were multiple researchers and stakeholdersi working in parallel on innovative implementation science projects in behavioral health, but that formal channels for communicating and collaborating with one another were relatively unavailable. There was a significant need for a forum within which implementation researchers and stakeholders could learn from one another, refine approaches to science and practice, and develop an implementation research agenda using common measures, methods, and research principles to improve both the frequency and quality with which behavioral health treatment implementation is evaluated. SIRC’s membership growth is a testament to this identified need with more than 1000 members from 2011 to the present.ii SIRC’s primary objectives are to: (1) foster communication and collaboration across diverse groups, including implementation researchers, intermediariesi, as well as community stakeholders (SIRC uses the term “EBP champions” for these groups) – and to do so across multiple career levels (e.g., students, early career faculty, established investigators); and (2) enhance and disseminate rigorous measures and methodologies for implementing EBPs and evaluating EBP implementation efforts. These objectives are well aligned with Glasgow and colleagues’ [4] five core tenets deemed critical for advancing implementation science: collaboration, efficiency and speed, rigor and relevance, improved capacity, and cumulative knowledge. SIRC advances these objectives and tenets through in-person conferences, which bring together multidisciplinary implementation researchers and those implementing evidence-based behavioral health interventions in the community to share their work and create professional connections and collaborations