Congratulations!
Setting the Standards in Research
Congratulations Dr. Merilee Brockway
on receiving the 2019 Molly Towell Perinatal Research Foundation Fellowship Award!
Meredith performed her doctoral studies with Dr. Karen Benzies in the Faculty of Nursing at the University of Calgary. Her studies there involved the translation of biomedical information to the clinical practices related to breast milk feeding of infants, infant morbidities and associated costs.
Her postdoctoral studies will be performed under the supervision of Dr. Meghan Azad, an assistant professor and Canada Research Chair in the Developmental Origins of Chronic Diseases at the University of Manitoba. Her proposed research will explore the hypothesis that in the absence of mother’s own milk, the use of donor milk matched to the mother’s secretor status (for the a-1, 2-fucosyltransferase-2 gene) will result in significantly more favourable microbiome diversity in the infant compared to those that were fed usual donor milk composed of multiple donors regardless of secretor status.
Congratulations Dr. Allan Becker
on receiving the 2018 Dr. John M. Bouwman Memorial Winnipeg Rh Institute Foundation Award!
This award is amongst the most prestigious career awards given by the University of Manitoba. There will be a lecture and reception honouring Dr. Allan Becker on April 29 from 7:00-9:00 in Marshal McLuhan Hall, 204 UMSU University Centre, Fort Garry Campus. Dr. Allen Becker will deliver his presentation titled Clinical Scientists: Critical for the evolution of healthcare. Admission is free and all are welcome. For more information about the celebration, click here.
Congratulations
Drs. Meghan Azad and Nathan Nickel on
receiving funding for the Manitoba Interdisciplinary Lactation Centre (MILC)
Through the Canada Foundation for Innovation’s (CFI) John R. Evans Leaders Fund (JELF), Drs. Azad and Nickel are receiving $165,464 for the Manitoba Interdisciplinary Lactation Centre (MILC). MILC is a provincial infant feeding database and human milk biorepository.
Funds will be used to establish this new one-of-a-kind research centre. MILC will combine a provincial infant feeding database and a human milk biorepository that will be linked with a wealth of health and social services data at the Manitoba Population Research Data Repository. MILC will provide unrivaled opportunities to conduct interdisciplinary research on the impact of policies on breastfeeding, the biology of human milk, and the influence of social factors on breastfeeding biology and behaviours.
Congratulations
Dr. Kozeta Miliku
Dr. Kozeta Miliku from the Azad Lab was one of the 27 CRRN trainees nominated and invited to present her work during "Lightning Rounds" at the Canadian Respiratory Research Network had this annual meeting in Ottawa. She received a "Trainee Lightning Presentation Award”! Congratulations!
Congratulations
Dr. Laetitia Guillemette
A big congratulations to DEVOTION trainee, Dr. Laetitia Guillemette for defending and graduating with a PhD in Applied Health Sciences. Her thesis was focused on the "Impact of Intrauterine Exposure to Diabetes and Social Determinants of Health on Offspring Cardiovascular Disease Risk in Youth and Early Adulthood". Laetitia's advisor was Dr. Jon McGavock. We will miss you here at CHRIM, Laetitia!
New Canada Research Chair
Meghan Azad
A big congratulations to DEVOTION population pillar co-lead, Meghan Azad, for becoming a Tier 2 Canada Research Chair in the Developmental Origins of Chronic Disease (DOHaD). Meghan's work within the DEVOTION Network, the CHILD study, and breastfeeding has been invaluable to understanding DOHaD and improving maternal and child health. More information can be found here.
Congratulations Laetitia Guillemette!
Laetitia received 1st prize for Oral presentation at the Applied Health Sciences 10th Annual Research Day for her presentation: “Intrauterine exposure to diabetes, risk of cardiovascular disease, and social determinants of health: Insight from a 35 years longitudinal population-based study in Manitoba”
Laetitia was awarded a CIHR Post-doctoral fellowship for her proposed project “Social, behavioral and biological determinants of dysmetabolism among Canadian children and adolescents with obesity” with PI Dr. Katherine Morrison at McMaster University ($40, 000/year for 2 years).
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Laetitia was successful in obtaining a Fonds de Recherche en Santé du Québec (FRQS – Québec’s provincial health research funding agency) post-doctoral fellowship for the same project ($45,000/year for 2 years), and has been ranked 3rd in her committee!
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She also received the McMaster Michael DeGroote Post-Doctoral Fellowship for the project “Social, behavioral and biological determinants of dysmetabolism among Canadian children and adolescents with obesity” with PI Dr. Katherine Morrison at McMaster University ($50,000).
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Laetitia is currently PhD student with Dr. Jon McGavock.
Congratulations to Dr. Nathan Nickel, recipient of the Terry G. Falconer Memorial Rh Institute Emerging Researcher Award
Congratulations to Dr. Nathan Nickel for being a recipient of the 2017 Terry G. Falconer Memorial Rh Institute Foundation Emerging Researcher Award. A ceremony and reception will be taking place on April 10th from 7-9 pm at Robert Schultz Lecture Theatre, St. Johns College, 92 Dysart Road. All are welcome to attend. Free admission.
CHILD Study
CTV Winnipeg Medical Watch
Check out CTV Winnipeg's Medical Watch on the results of the CHILD Study around the impact of exclusive breastfeeding during the first few days of life. Findings show that newborns breastfed in hospital after birth were on average breastfed for 11 months. Watch the full clip here. The study, entitled "Exclusive breastfeeding in hospital predicts longer breastfeeding duration in Canada: Implications for health equity" can also be accessed here.
Dr. Andrew Halayko
American Thoracic Society Fellow
Congratulations to Dr. Andrew Halayko on recently becoming an American Thoracic Society (ATS) Fellow. The mission of ATS is to improve health worldwide by advancing research, clinical care, and public health in respiratory disease, critical illness, and sleep disorders. For more information on the American Thoracic Society, please visit their website.
Video Highlight on HCEO
Dr. Meghan Azad
Dr. Meghan Azad was recently featured on Human Capital and Economic Opportunity (HCEO) Global Working Group on her work studying the Developmental Origins of Chronic Disease in Children! Click here to see the full interview.
Welcome new staff member
Natalie Rodriguez
Introducing the newest DEVOTION staff member, Natalie Rodriguez! Natalie comes from the University of Manitoba department of Surgery (section of Neurosurgery Pediatric Orthopedics, and Surgery Education). Come and say hi in our new office in JBRC 501B!
CHILD study celebrates 5 years!
Celebrating families and successes in asthma/allergy research
The CHILD study recently celebrated their 5 year anniversary with a celebration and information session for families involved in the study. Over 150 people showed up (during a snow storm!) to join the research team for discussion, cake, prizes and conversation. Congratuations to the CHILD team and all families involved!
CIHR-IHDCYH Video Talks Competition 2017
Vote for the iCARE video!
iCARE is a contender is the 2017 CIHR-IHDCYH Video Talks Competition! The video, entitled "The realities of living with type 2 diabetes: fact and fallacies" highlights shame, stigma and misconceptions youth living with T2D can feel. Vote by 'liking' the video on the CIHR youtube channel.
DEVOTION research highlight
CIHR Celebrates Canada 150
The work of the DEVOTION Network and DEVOTION member Dr. Neeloffer Mookherjee was recently highlighted in CIHR Celebrates Canada 150 "Celebrating Health Research". Check out their website to learn more about the work of other great research currently happening in Manitoba!
Congratulations to Dr. Jon McGavock for receiving grants over $1M from HSFC and CIHR
HSFC ($220,000) Operating grant 2017-2020 – If you build it, will they come?...and live longer? Urban trail expansion and cardiovascular health outcomes in Winnipeg.
CIHR ($100,000) Bridge grant 2017-2018 – If you build it, will they come?...and live longer? Urban trail expansion and cardiovascular health outcomes in Winnipeg.
CIHR ($997,682) Indigenous Mentorship Network 2017-2022 - PI= Josee Lavoie; The Prairie Indigenous Knowledge Exchange Network (PIKE-Net)
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CIHR ($24,999) SPOR Collaboration Grant 2017-2018 – PI = Marie Claude Tremblay; Plateforme stratégique pour faciliter l'engagement dans la recherche de patients autochtones vivant avec le diabète (translation: Strategic platform to facilitate engagement in research by francophone Indigenous peoples living with diabetes)
Congratulations
Award recipients - Research Manitoba Health Research Competition
Congratulations to our PIs and trainees who received awards at this year's Research Manitoba Health Research Competition:
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Dr. Saeid Ghavami
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Prasson Agarwal
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Stephanie Kereliuk
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Elizabeth Wall-Wieler
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Gabriel Brawerman
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Matthew Martens
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Shirin Moossavi
A full list of the award recipients can be found here.
Congratulations
CIHR Doctoral Research Award
Congratulations to Laetitia Guillemette for winning a CIHR Doctoral Research Award for 3 years ($35,000/year) for her PhD thesis entitled “Impact of exposure to diabetes in pregnancy on offspring cardiovascular disease risk in adolescence and early adulthood”. Laetitia is supervised by Drs. Jonathan McGavock and Todd Duhamel.
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Winner
Allen Rouse Basic Science Career Development Research Award
Congratulations to Dr. Vern Dolinsky. His work in gestational diabetes has earned him the Allen Rouse Basic Science Career Development Research Award from the Manitoba Medical Service Foundation (MMSF). The Clinical Research Professorship award is valued at $170,000. A $20,000 grant-in-aid during the first year of the appointment has also been awarded. For details, please click here.
Congratulations
CIHR and IHDCYH award
Congratulations to Dr. Meghan Azad. A multi-institutional CHILD Study research team involving the University of Manitoba and the University of Calgary has been awarded $75,000 by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) Institute of Human Development, Child and Youth Health (IHDCYH), to investigate how consuming artificial sweeteners during pregnancy influences infant weight gain. Details of the award can be found here, and you can watch the CHILD Study video here.
Congratulations to Dr. Celia Rodd on herCIHR and IHDCYH award
Congratulations to Dr. Celia Rodd and her team for the $75,000 CIHR and IHDCYH award to investigate the efficacy of Manitoba’s insulin pump program for children with Type 1 Diabetes mellitus (TIDM), which is a common chronic disease in children requiring daily insulin injections, and Canada has one of the world’s highest rates of T1DM. Dr. Rodd, a DEVOTION member, and her team will work in collaboration with researchers in Quebec to assess which families are obtaining insulin pumps through its pump program, what the control is, and if children using the pump have a different rate of hospitalizations. Since Quebec has a more comprehensive plan to financially support families, the team will also compare these outcomes across both provinces. The findings will be shared across the country with the aim to optimize outcomes for children with TIDM across Canada.
Top cited papers
James (Jim) Davie
Congratulations to Jim Davie, whose 2006 paper in Molecular Biology is among the top cited papers published that year, becoming a “Classic”. Classic papers are highly-cited papers in their area of research that have stood the test of time. For each area, Google Scholar lists the ten most-cited articles that were published ten years earlier. Read Jim's paper here.
Congratulations
2017 Alan Ross Award recipient
Congratulations to Dr. Heather Dean for being recognized by the Canadian Pediatric Society (CPS) for her accomplishments. Dr. Dean is the recipient of the 2017 Alan Ross Award, the most prestigious award given by the CPS in recognition of excellence in the field of pediatric research, education, healthcare and advocacy. Dr. Dean was recognized on Wednesday, May 31st at the CPS Annual General Meeting in Vancouver. Dr. Dean's vision contributed to the DREAM theme and the DEVOTION Network. We thank her for years of dedication and service to the children of Manitoba.
New Project Grant
$424,575 from CIHR​
Congratulations to Dr. Garry Shen for receiving a 3 year grant from CIHR for his project entitled "Promotion of breastfeeding for preventing type 2 diabetes and obesity in First Nations mothers and children in communities". Other DEVOTION members involved in this project include Rhonda Campbell, Jonathan McGavock, Margaret Morris, Nathan Nickel, Wanda Phillips-Beck, Elizabeth Sellers and Brandy Wicklow.
Congratulations to Dr. Andrew Halayko to the renewal of his Chair in Chronic Lung Disease Pathology and Treatment. This Chair’s research will support the identification of unique markers of lung disease and the development of new therapies for chronic lung diseases, such as asthma. Asthma is the primary reason children attend emergency rooms, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease – called COPD or emphysema – is becoming the fourth leading cause of death globally. Current therapies are not effective for all patients, nor do they reverse disease. As Chair, Andrew Halayko’s research is uncovering the molecular and cellular basis of asthma pathobiology, and he uses this information to identify new treatments.
CRC Chair Renewal
Chair in Chronic Lung Disease Pathology and Treatment
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Congratulations Robert Schroth, Rhonda Campbell and Frances Chartrand on $675,000 from CIHR​
Their 3 year grant from CIHR for their project entitled “Scaling up the Healthy Smile Happy Child initiative: tailoring and enhancing a community development approach to improve early childhood oral health for First Nations and Metis children”. The intent of our multidisciplinary Implementation Research Team (IRT) is to work with First Nations and Metis partners in the spirit of Reconciliation to strengthen the effectiveness and scalability of a community development approach promoting early childhood oral health (ECOH) to prevent early childhood caries (ECC). The Healthy Smile Happy Child (HSHC) initiative has relied on community development principles to promote ECOH and prevent ECC in Manitoba. Our First Nations and Metis team members and stakeholders will guide the tailoring and enhancements of this promising intervention to improve the oral health and well-being of young First Nations and Metis children.
New Grant
$287,702 from the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada
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Congratulations to Dr. Vern Dolinsky's new funding from the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada for his project entitled “Regulation of cardiac mitochondrial homeostasis in heart failure by SIRT3.” Current heart failure therapies are focused on treating the symptoms of heart failure and not the underlying causes of the disease. His work will address some of the fundamental questions about the pathological processes involved in heart failure and whether targeting SIRT3 to increase cardiac energy production and reduce reactive oxygen species levels is a viable treatment of heart failure.
New Operating Grant
$298,366 from the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada
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Congratulations to Dr. Grant Hatch as the recipient of a $298,366 Operating Grant from the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada for his project entitled “Regulation of cardiolipin biosynthesis in the heart” from 2017 to 2020.
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Congratulations
Manuscript accepted
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Congratulations to Laetitia Guillemette for her DEVOTION-related manuscript, titled "Intensive gestational glycemic management and childhood obesity: A systematic review and meta-analysis", has been accepted by the International Journal of Obesity. Laetitia is a PhD Candidate in Applied Health Sciences at the University of Manitoba and the Children’s Hospital Research Institute of Manitoba, under the supervision of Dr. Jonathan McGavock and Dr. Todd Duhamel. The manuscript can be accessed here. Dr. McGavock and Dr. Brandy Wicklow are the two other authors that are part of the DEVOTION network.
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New Grants
Primary and integrated health care grants awarded to MB researchers
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Two research grants have been awarded to research teams led by University of Manitoba researchers with the George & Fay Yee Centre for Healthcare Innovation (CHI). The grants, awarded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) Pan-Canadian SPOR Network in Primary and Integrated Healthcare Innovations, total more than $275,000. Additional partnership funding is being provided by Research Manitoba. Bhupendrasinh Chauhan, a research associate with CHI Knowledge Synthesis and an assistant professor in the U of M, received a $25,000 grant for the project, “Interventions and Policies Influencing Primary Healthcare Professionals Managing Chronic Diseases: An Evidence Synthesis”. Bhupendrasinh is also involved with the Children’s Hospital Research Institute of Manitoba’s Biology of Breathing network. Please click here for the full article.
Drs. Adrian West and Joe Gordon
CFI Grant
Cutting-edge infrastructure for our researchers
Congratulations to Drs. Adrian West and Joe Gordon, two recipients of the Canada Foundation for Innovation’s (CFI) John R. Evans Leaders Fund (JELF) infrastructure grant from the Government of Canada. The funding will be used to purchase a 3D Bioprinter and Tissue analysis platform. For more information, click here.
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Dr. Cheryl Rockman-Greenberg
Medal of Honour
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Congratulations to Dr. Cheryl Rockman-Greenberg for being recognized by The Rx&D Health Research Foundation (HRF) for her accomplishments with the Medal of Honour.
Dr. Rockman-Greenberg knew that she would pursue an academic medical career when she was still a medical student. Over her career Dr. Rockman-Greenberg served as Director of the Metabolic Service in the Program of Genetics and Metabolism, Winnipeg Regional Health Authority (WRHA), Medical Director of the Child Health program, WRHA, and Head of the Department of Pediatrics and Child Health, University of Manitoba, from 2004-2014. She is currently working with the Metabolic Disorders Clinical Trials Research team that she helped develop.
Her research has focused on the identification of the molecular basis for genetic disorders that are over-represented in Manitoba’s unique populations. Subsequently, in direct collaboration with community leaders, she and her colleagues have translated research discoveries into relevant patient care programs including the development of new diagnostic tests, expanded newborn screening programs and carrier testing initiatives. Most recently she has been the principal investigator for Canada of an industry-sponsored clinical trial of a new drug called asfotase alfa for the treatment of a rare metabolic bone disorder called hypophosphatasia which has dramatically changed its natural history from an untreatable disorder to one that is now treatable. Over the course of her esteemed career, Dr. Rockman-Greenberg has received a variety of awards including being named to the 2012 list of Canada’s Most Powerful Women: Top 100, in the Trailblazers and Trendsetters category.
Dr. Andrew Halayko
Awards of Distinction
Setting the Standard for Scientific Research
Congratulations to Dr. Andrew Halayko on his induction into the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences at the 2016 CAHS Forum in September 2016. Fellows are elected to the Academy by their peers nationally and internationally for their contributions to the promotion of health science. CAHS recognizes those who are marked by a record of substantial accomplishment, have demonstrated leadership, creativity, distinctive competencies and a commitment to advance academic health science.
Congratulations to Dr. Andrew Halayko, Leader of the Biology of Breathing Theme and co-Lead of the DEVOTION cluster, for his selection to receive the 2016 American Thoracic Society Joseph R. Rodarte Award for Scientific Distinction. The award was established by the Respiratory Structure Function Assembly in recognition of outstanding international scientific achievement in respiratory physiology and pulmonary medicine, based on invaluable contributions to the scientific and medical communities. Dr. Halayko received this award for his contributions in understanding the roles of structural cells of the lung in airway pathobiology in obstructive lung diseases, as well as his leadership in research, career development and education with the American Thoracic Society.
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Dr. Jon McGavock
2016 Canadian Diabetes Association Award
New Network Launched to Address Diabetes Complications
Congratulations to Dr. Jon McGavock, Leader of the Diabetes Research Envisioned & Accomplished in Manitoba Theme and co-Lead of the DEVOTION cluster, for his selection to receive the 2016 Canadian Diabetes Association Frederick G. Banting Award. The purpose of this award is to recognize an individual or group that has significantly contributed to preventing diabetes and chronic diseases and to improving the life of individuals affected by diabetes nationwide.
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New Network Launched to Address Diabetes Complications - Dr. Jon McGavock is a member of a new Strategy for Patient-Oriented Research (SPOR) Network in Diabetes and Related Complications launched in March 2016. A focus for the network will be the impact diabetes has on vulnerable groups, including Indigenous peoples, immigrants, women and lower socio-economic groups. See their website for more information http://diabetesaction.ca/ .