Twenty-eight projects led by Faculty of Medicine researchers have received new funding from Michael Smith Health Research BC through the 2024 Convening & Collaborating (C2) and Reach programs.
Both programs bring together collaborative teams of researchers and health professionals, patients and policymakers to help ensure that evidence is used to improve health and health care across B.C.
The funded teams, announced Nov. 26, are working on solutions to pressing health challenges, including population aging, women’s health, the health impacts of climate change, health human resources challenges and public health emergencies.
A total of 91 knowledge translation teams across all regions of B.C. were funded through these two competitions, including 43 UBC-led projects. Projects led by Faculty of Medicine researchers are listed below.
Faculty of Medicine C2 Recipients
The C2 program promotes knowledge exchange and meaningful collaboration by supporting researchers, trainees and research users in co-developing research that can have direct impacts on people, including patients, health practitioners and policy makers.
Learn more about this year’s C2 recipients and their projects.
- Recipient: Lori Brotto, Obstetrics & Gynaecology
Project: Better Aging in BC: Mapping Menopause Research Priorities
Co-Lead: Stephanie Rhone, Obstetrics & Gynaecology/BC Women’s Hospital & Health Centre
Research Location: Women’s Health Research Institute - Recipient: Trisha Chakrabarty, Psychiatry
Project: XR Technology to Support Students with Mood Disorders: Co-Developing a Research Agenda
Co-Lead: Tracy Windsor, University of British Columbia
Research Location: Djavad Mowafaghian Centre for Brain Health - Recipient: Astrid Christoffersen-Deb, Obstetrics & Gynaecology
Project: Seizing the Window of Opportunity: Co-creating an Enhanced Prenatal Care Program to Build Resilience among Socially Vulnerable Populations
Co-Lead: Stefi Orta, South Community Birth Program
Research Location: Women’s Health Research Institute - Recipient: Jennifer Coelho, Psychiatry
Project: Early Intervention for Eating Disorders in British Columbia: Co-Development of a Research Strategy
Co-Lead: Kim Williams, BC Children’s Hospital
Research Location: BC Children’s Hospital Research Institute - Recipient: Mark Gilbert, School of Population and Public Health
Project: Co-developing research priorities to address digital determinants of health among historically marginalized populations disproportionately affected by sexually transmitted and blood-borne infections
Co-Lead: Sarah Chown, Ribbon Community
Research Location: BC Centre for Disease Control
Partner(s): Pacific Public Health Foundation - Recipient: Matthias Görges, Anesthesiology, Pharmacology & Therapeutics
Project: Co-developing a needs-derived research strategy toward forming a Digital Health Research Centre at BC Children’s and Women’s Hospitals
Co-Lead: Lori Brotto, Obstetrics & Gynaecology/BC Women’s Health Research Institute
Research Location: BC Children’s Hospital and Sunny Hill Health Centre for Children - Recipient: Devon Greyson, School of Population and Public Health
Project: Healthy Aging Among Trans People Using Hormone Therapy: Setting the Research Agenda
Co-Lead: Jerilynn Prior, Medicine
Research Location: University of British Columbia – Vancouver Campus - Recipient: Denise Jaworsky, Medicine
Project: Engaging rural community members in building a rural clinical trials program
Co-lead: Christine Hoechsmann, East Kootenay Hospital Foundation
Research Location: Interior Health Authority - Recipient: Lorienne Jenstad, School of Audiology & Speech Sciences
Project: Help BC Hear Better: Identifying gaps in knowledge and setting our research agenda
Co-Lead: Grace Shyng, Network Hearing
Research Location: University of British Columbia – Vancouver Campus
Partner(s): Tai Hung Fai Charitable Foundation and Edwin S.H. Leong Healthy Aging Program - Recipient: Margaret McGregor, Family Practice
Project: Indigenous, community and research partnership to collaboratively explore environmental justice, unconventional gas development (UGD), wildfires, and health in Northeast British Columbia
Co-Lead: Ulrike Meyer, Family Practice
Research Location: Vancouver Coastal Health Research Institute - Recipient: Heather McKay, Orthopaedics
Project: Engaging ethnocultural communities in health-promoting programs: the role of trust
Co-Lead: Diya Chowdhury, University of British Columbia
Research Location: Vancouver Coastal Health Research Institute
Partner(s): Tai Hung Fai Charitable Foundation and Edwin S.H. Leong Healthy Aging Program - Recipient: Kimberly Miller, Physical Therapy
Project: Building a practice-based research learning community in British Columbia to strengthen learning health systems and health human resources
Co-Lead: Miranda Amundsen, BC Children’s Hospital
Research Location: University of British Columbia – Vancouver Campus
Partner(s): BC Nurses’ Union - Recipient: Wendy Norman, Obstetrics & Gynaecology/Family Practice/School of Population and Public Health
Project: Beyond Pills: Exploring Pharmacists’ Role in Long-Acting Reversible Contraception Services
Co-Lead: Cheryl Davies, BC’s Women’s Hospital & Health Centre
Research Location: BC Women’s Hospital & Health Centre
Partner(s): Pacific Public Health Foundation - Recipient: Heather Palis, School of Population and Public Health
Project: Identifying research priorities relating to stimulant use in the context of the unregulated drug poisoning emergency in British Columbia
Co-Lead: Beth Haywood, Island Health Research Location: University of British Columbia – Vancouver Campus - Recipient: Anurag Singh, Medicine
Project: Co-creating a research roadmap for an innovative virtual health delivery model to recruit and retain health workforce in rural, remote, and Indigenous communities.
Co-lead(s): John Pawlovich, Family Practice
Research Location: University of Northern British Columbia
Partner(s): Pacific Public Health Foundation - Recipient: Marie Westby, Physical Therapy
Project: Making moves towards active living after hip and knee replacement surgery: A consensus meeting of healthcare providers, fitness leaders and people with lived experience
Co-Lead: Cheryl Koehn, Arthritis Consumer Experts
Research Location: Centre for Hip Health and Mobility (CHHM)
Faculty of Medicine Reach recipients
The Reach program supports teams of researchers and research users to disseminate research evidence with those who can directly benefit from it in order to impact health and care in B.C.
Learn more about this year’s Reach recipients and their projects.
- Recipient: Skye Barbic, Occupational Science and Occupational Therapy
Project: Reaching youth, caregivers, service providers, decision-makers, and researchers in diverse communities in BC to co-develop and implement youth-centered models of care for unregulated opioid use
Co-Lead: Steve Mathias, Foundry
Research Location: University of British Columbia – Vancouver Campus - Recipient: Lori Brotto, Obstetrics & Gynaecology
Project: Mobilizing Menopause Research in BC: Disseminating Results of the HER-BC Study with the Public and Practitioners
Co-lead(s): Shirley Weir, Menopause Chicks
Research location: Women’s Health Research Institute - Recipient: Liam Brunham, Medical Genetics/Medicine
Project: Genetic Lipid Disorders and Premature Atherosclerotic Cardiovascular Disease: Raising Awareness to Save Lives
Co-Lead: Darren Ali, Patient Partner
Research Location: Providence Health Care; St. Paul’s Hospital; St. Paul’s Hospital Healthy Heart Centre (HHC)
Partner(s): Genome BC - Recipient: Rachel Carter, Medicine
Project: Supporting the effective provincial implementation of the Serious Illness Conversation Program (SICP) through a quality improvement toolkit
Co-Lead: Vicki Kennedy, Interior Health Authority
Research Location: BC Centre for Palliative Care - Recipient: Alison M. Elliott, Medical Genetics
Project: Developing Educational Tools for Neonatal Intensive Care Staff Regarding Rapid Genome-wide Sequencing
Co-Lead: Horacio Osiovich, Pediatrics
Research Location: BC Children’s Hospital Research Institute
Partner(s): Genome BC - Recipient: Nichole Fairbrother, Family Practice
Project: Improving new parents’ mental health via an educational video about infant-related harm thoughts
Co-Lead: Katherine Moore, University of British Columbia
Research Location: University of British Columbia – Vancouver Campus - Recipient: Stefan Grzybowski, Family Practice
Project: Supporting Youth-Physician Networks in Response to the Health Effects Climate Change and Environmental Disruption
Co-Lead: Mark Neufeld, Claremont Secondary School
Research Location: University of British Columbia – Vancouver Campus - Recipient: Femke Hoekstra, Medicine
Project: Disseminating the Best Practices for Spinal Cord Injury Physical Activity Counselling in rural and remote areas in British Columbia
Co-Lead: Chris McBride, SCI BC
Research Location: Centre for Chronic Disease Prevention and Management
Partner(s): Chiropractic Research Foundation - Recipient: Andrea MacNeill, Surgery
Project: Lancet Commission on Sustainable Healthcare: Global, multidisciplinary mobilization toward low-carbon, sustainable, and resilient health systems transformation
Co-Lead: Jessica Yu, University of British Columbia
Research Location: University of British Columbia – Vancouver Campus - Recipient: Melanie Murray, Medicine
Project: What healthy aging means to me: a community-collaborative knowledge mobilization initiative with, by, and for, women living with HIV
Co-Lead: Sarah Chown, Ribbon Community
Research Location: BC Women’s Hospital & Health Centre
Partner(s): Tai Hung Fai Charitable Foundation Edwin and S.H. Leong Healthy Aging Program - Recipient: Farah Shroff, Family Practice
Project: Creating Educational Materials to Teach the Sympto-Thermal Method to Newcomers
Co-Lead: Joy Abasta, MOSAIC
Research Location: University of British Columbia – Vancouver Campus - Recipient: Fidel Vila-Rodriguez, Psychiatry
Project: Enhancing Public Understanding of Interventional Brain Medicine through Lay Abstracts and Social Media Education
Co-Lead: Vijay Seethapathy, Psychiatry/Provincial Health Services Authority
Research Location: University of British Columbia – Vancouver Campus