Advancing rehab in First Nations communities 

Two major wellness initiatives launched in the spring through a partnership between First Nations communities and UM’s College of Rehabilitation Sciences. 

Wiiji Bimoseyang Binesi (Thunderbird Helping Them Walk), a 10-unit housing complex in Sagkeeng First Nation, supports adults who have lived with disability and homelessness. 

Grow Our Own Specialists through Education (GOOSE) addresses the shortage of rehabilitation health-care professionals in northern Manitoba and the underrepresentation of Indigenous people in rehab careers. Read more 

Dr. Kellie Thiessen, Dr. Hope Anderson and Dr. Josée Lavoie

Three new leaders take the helm 

Dr. Kellie Thiessen – an associate professor, midwife clinician-scientist and registered nurse – was appointed dean of the College of Nursing on Feb. 1. She previously led the development of UM’s midwifery program and directed it from 2015 to 2023. Read more 

On July 1, Dr. Hope Anderson became dean of the College of Pharmacy. A professor and principal investigator with the Canadian Centre for Agri-Food Research in Health and Medicine at St. Boniface Hospital, Anderson brings expertise in cardiovascular health and academic leadership. Read more 

As of Aug. 1, Dr. Josée Lavoie leads the new College of Community and Global Health as its inaugural dean. A professor of community health sciences, she directed Ongomiizwin Research – Indigenous Institute of Health and Healing from 2014 to 2023. Read more 

Drs. Henry Friesen and Estelle Simons

Remembering health pioneers 

The Rady community paid tribute to two influential figures from the Max Rady College of Medicine. 

Dr. Henry Friesen, a UM medical alum and visionary leader, died April 30 at age 90. His work led to the founding of the Canadian Institutes of Health Research 25 years ago. Read more 

Professor emerita Dr. Estelle Simons died Nov. 5 at age 80. A pioneer in pediatric allergy research, she was renowned for her groundbreaking research on allergic diseases. Read more 

Mpox virus

Mpox on the move 

Dr. Jason Kindrachuk, Canada Research Chair in molecular pathogenesis of emerging viruses and associate professor at the Max Rady College of Medicine, is part of an international team tracking the rapid spread of mpox in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). 

The research team had a study featured on the cover of the prestigious journal The Lancet. It found that mpox has now spread to nearly every region of the DRC, with cases rising from 18 provinces in 2010 to 24 provinces in 2023. Read more 

(From left to right) Terry Duguid, Dr. Anastasia Kelekis-Cholakis and Dr. Doug Eyolfson

$6.1M for better access to dental care 

The Dr. Gerald Niznick College of Dentistry received more than $6.1 million in federal funding to improve access to care for marginalized Manitobans and give students experience in caring for underserved populations.  

The funding supports four UM projects through Health Canada’s Oral Health Access Fund, which supports initiatives that reduce barriers to care for groups including children, Indigenous Peoples, newcomers and seniors. Read more

Dr. Sabine Mai gives a tour of the Nano and Cell Imaging Facility during its grand opening.

New home for Nano and Cell Imaging Facility 

The Rady Faculty’s Nano and Cell Imaging Facility (NCIF) has a new home on the Bannatyne campus. 

After three years of planning and renovations, the facility moved from CancerCare Manitoba to the department of physiology and pathophysiology on the fourth floor of the Basic Medical Sciences Building. 

NCIF is open to students, faculty and researchers from across Canada and beyond. Read more 

Elder Charlotte Nolin

Honouring transgender lives 

More than 60 people attended the first Transgender Day of Remembrance ceremony held on the Bannatyne campus. 

The day is observed on Nov. 20 to remember transgender people who have been lost to transphobic violence, suicide and other violent deaths. Speakers called for safety for all trans people. 

Elder Charlotte Nolin, a two-spirit Elder-in-residence at Ongomiizwin, urged those in attendance to speak out when they witness discrimination toward trans people. Read more 

Md. Abdul Aziz, Deanne Nixie Miao and Barrett Monchka.

Vanier Scholars from Rady Faculty 

Three of the four UM PhD students awarded Vanier Canada Graduate Scholarships in 2025 – each worth $150,000 over three years – hail from the Rady Faculty.  

Md. Abdul Aziz, College of Pharmacy, is studying patterns of antidepressant use in Manitoba, and why some patients discontinue treatment. Read more  

Deanne Nixie Miao, Max Rady College of Medicine, is researching the genetics of permanent hearing loss caused by cisplatin, a common cancer drug. Read more 

Barrett Monchka, College of Community and Global Health, is improving data-linkage techniques to enhance research reliability, efficiency and privacy. Read more 

Nitesh Sanghai

New hope for ALS patients 

Nitesh Sanghai, a PhD candidate in the College of Pharmacy, and his supervisor, Dr. Geoffrey Tranmer, co-invented a promising new drug candidate for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), earning Sanghai the Mitacs Innovation Award. 

The drug, borsantrazole, offers an improved version of edaravone, one of the few treatments currently available in North America to slow ALS progression. 

Still in pre-clinical testing, borsantrazole has shown strong safety and efficacy in lab mice engineered to mimic the disease. Read more 

Dr. Tamara Taillieu will study population data to understand the effects of legalization on vulnerable children and youth in Manitoba.

Funding boost for early-career researchers 

Five assistant professors from the Rady Faculty were among 24 recipients of nearly $1.8 million in New Investigator Operating Grants from Research Manitoba.  

The program supports researchers within four years of their first academic appointment, providing up to two years of funding to help establish research programs, build collaborations and generate results for future national-level grants. Read more 

For him, the two roles complement each other.

“To be an effective researcher, it helps if you do clinical work. I don’t think you can guide research the same way if you don’t understand what’s on the ground,” says Bullard, a professor of pediatrics and child health who is cross-appointed in medical microbiology and infectious diseases.

Bullard, a UM faculty member since 2010, is a pediatric infectious disease specialist and medical microbiologist. What motivates him, he says, is answering research questions that arise through his work with patients at the Children’s Hospital.

Very early in the COVID-19 pandemic, Bullard wanted to know how long people stayed infectious with the virus. At the time, he was associate medical director of Manitoba’s Cadham Provincial Laboratory. He assembled a research team and discovered that people with COVID were contagious for seven or eight days.

Bullard’s team was one of the first in the world to report this finding. His results were published in the journal Clinical Infectious Diseases and used to inform self-isolation guidelines by the Public Health Agency of Canada, the United States’ Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and public health agencies in the United Kingdom.

Bullard also published research in the Canadian Medical Association Journal showing that children were less infectious than adults. “Our lab findings correlated well with what we were observing clinically,” the scientist says.

Congenital syphilis, which occurs when syphilis passes to a baby during pregnancy, is another area of expertise for Bullard. He leads a national surveillance study that has confirmed a known high rate of the disease in Manitoba. Provinces such as British Columbia and Ontario are now seeing increasing rates, he says.

“I can help those provinces by suggesting actions they can take to get on top of the disease while the case numbers are still small.”

Bullard, who is also affiliated with the Children’s Hospital Research Institute of Manitoba, is currently working on a project about vaccine-preventable diseases and hopes to join a study focused on measles.

“Seeing kids suffering in hospital with diseases that are preventable through vaccines, including measles, really motivates me to understand these infections –  and just as importantly, the thought process for why caregivers would opt not to provide vaccines.”

Bullard was born in Nassau, Bahamas and moved to Winnipeg with his family at age three. His mother, who is from Winnipeg, and his father, from the Bahamas, met while attending UM.

Bullard, who held his leadership role at the Cadham lab for 12 years and also served as director general of medical and scientific affairs at the National Microbiology Laboratory, says he has a long list of UM professors who guided and influenced him.

One of those mentors was Dr. Joanne Embree, a professor of pediatrics and child health who told Bullard that he didn’t have to enter internal medicine to pursue a sub-specialty in infectious diseases, but could do it through pediatrics. That changed the course of his career.

As a pediatrician, Bullard gets to see firsthand the impact his research has on children.

“I know that what I’m doing benefits them. That’s the main part of what drives my research.”

Training people with lived experience of these illnesses will help the research team to formulate questions about patients’ needs, said study leader Dr. Yoav Keynan, a professor of internal medicine and medical microbiology and infectious diseases at the Max Rady College of Medicine in the Rady Faculty of Health Sciences.

It will also give people from marginalized communities a voice in designing clinical trials that test the effectiveness of different approaches to care.

For example, Keynan said, a trial could look at improving engagement and retention in care by providing sexually transmitted infection care together with opioid agonist therapy, used to treat opioid addiction.

People with lived experience could include those with HIV, experiencing homelessness or struggling with injection drug use, Keynan said.

“This is a first-of-its-kind project in Canada, in that we are combining people with lived experience and researchers to be part of clinical trials training and co-creation,” he said.

“This project is so important right now because Manitoba has the highest rate of new HIV diagnoses in Canada. And HIV and STBBI rates in the Prairie provinces have been the highest in the country for more than a decade and show no signs of slowing down.”

The project recently received a four-year grant of $800,000 from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) Pan-Canadian Network for HIV/AIDS STBBI Clinical Trials Research.

Keynan said the project is building on and leveraging the success of Increasing Capacity for Maternal and Pediatric Clinical Trials (IMPaCT), a clinical trials training program funded by the CIHR.

“We are excited to partner with IMPaCT and get this project rolling,” he said. “There will be opportunities for people who are community-based researchers, front-line workers and people with lived experience to work together to define what the most important priorities are for them, and it’s bringing more people to the table.”

The funding will help train more than 12 people from Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta. The one-year immersive training program will include how to develop responsive and respectful clinical research.

The trainees will form the foundation of what is being called the Strengthened Prairies Integrated Knowledge Exchange (SPIKE).

Keynan said that people with lived experience will help researchers and care providers better understand the relationship between HIV and STIBBI transmission rates and systemic factors, such as colonialism, mental health and substance dependency.

“We believe that this type of participatory research is needed to make sure that the questions asked, and the answers we receive, are meeting the needs of the community,” Keynan said.

“It grounds the research in the needs of the people that it’s supposed to serve, and it makes sure that the clinical research is relevant to those who need it most.”

When researchers analyzed the prevalence (number of existing cases) and incidence (new cases) of chronic illnesses – including arthritis, heart disease, congestive heart failure and dementia – diabetes was the only one to see a significant increase.

“Over the 20-year period from 2004 to 2023, Manitobans’ health improved overall,” said study leader Lindsey Dahl, an epidemiologist at MCHP.

“But the number of Manitobans living with diabetes and the number who are diagnosed each year climbed to an alarming degree. We’re not seeing progress with the diabetes epidemic the way we are with other conditions.”

In the decade from 2013 to 2023, there was a 46 per cent increase in the number of Manitobans living with diabetes. “People are being diagnosed at a younger age and living longer with diabetes,” Dahl noted.

Comparing the three-year period 2020 to 2023 with the period 2015 to 2018, the number of new cases of diabetes rose by 21 per cent. “That represents more than 6,000 additional Manitobans newly diagnosed, compared to the previous period,” Dahl said.

The study, The 2024 Regional Health Authorities (RHA) Indicators Atlas, marks the sixth time that MCHP, part of UM’s Rady Faculty of Health Sciences, has taken a broad look at Manitobans’ health status and health-care use, at intervals of about five years.

The researchers studied de-identified (anonymous) health data stored in the Manitoba Population Research Data Repository at MCHP. They analyzed more than 110 health indicators, from doctor and nurse practitioner visits to hospitalizations, procedures such as hip replacements and cataract surgeries, and tests such as CT scans and MRIs.

The nearly 400-page study report includes a 20-year trend analysis for almost all the indicators.

“Keep in mind that while the rates of many diseases dropped, the actual number of Manitobans living with these conditions continues to rise because of population growth, and because the proportion of the population that is elderly is growing,” Dahl said.

While the atlas doesn’t reveal the reasons for trends, it’s likely that the decline in most chronic diseases reflects better prevention, earlier diagnosis and improved treatment, the scientist said.

“We assume diabetes is the exception because of risk factors that include unhealthy diet, obesity and physical inactivity, as well as socioeconomic factors such as food insecurity that put residents of lower-income communities at greater risk.”

The study used census data to determine income levels by area, confirming the relationship between lower income and poorer health.

Other 20-year trends identified in the study include:

• The rate of hospital use decreased. The causes of hospitalization remained stable.
• The rates of cardiac catheterizations, percutaneous coronary interventions (coronary angioplasties with stenting), hip replacements, CT scans and MRIs increased, while the rate of coronary artery bypass surgery decreased significantly.
• Looking at primary care, the report highlights three negative trends: the percentage of people with asthma receiving appropriate care dropped in recent years; the percentage of people with diabetes undergoing eye examinations also decreased; and the percentage of heart-attack patients receiving appropriate beta-blocker medications decreased.
• On a positive note, prescribing of benzodiazepines for older adults (not recommended because these sedating drugs carry risks for that age group) decreased significantly.
• The number of different prescription drugs dispensed per user increased significantly. Residents of lower-income areas received more types of drugs.
• The percentage of Manitobans dispensed an opioid decreased. Lower-income areas had a higher percentage of people dispensed an opioid.

“A key conclusion is that reducing health gaps related to income and the social determinants of health – such as nutritious food and stable housing – should remain a priority in Manitoba,” Dahl said.  

Manitoba’s five regional health authorities will use the findings in the atlas to help them assess the health of their communities and create strategic and operational plans.

The full study is available online.

The assistant professor of community health sciences has traced the transmission of infections such as COVID-19 and mpox in specific populations.

But his greatest interest is in sexually transmitted and blood-borne infections (STBBIs), such as HIV and gonorrhea. As a social epidemiologist, Shaw aims to understand how social structures influence people’s health in ways that are not equitable.

“STBBIs are infections of inequity,” he says. “They are far more prevalent in groups that are marginalized by factors such as poverty and racism. Examining these inequities and partnering with those most affected can illuminate the public health policies that we need to ensure no one is left behind.”

In a study published in the Journal of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndromes, Shaw found that female sex workers in Kenya had widely varying rates of HIV infection, depending on which area of Nairobi they worked in.

“With this kind of knowledge, we can target the specific places with higher prevalence to make the most impact,” says Shaw, who joined the UM faculty in 2021 and holds a Canada Research Chair in program science and global public health.

“Program science” is an approach that embeds research into public health programs so findings can quickly be translated into better care. “This is why we do research, so it doesn’t just sit on a dusty shelf,” he says.

Shaw was five years old when he and his family fled Laos for Canada as refugees. He grew up in Winnipeg and is a three-time UM alum.

As a member of UM’s Institute for Global Public Health, he has collaborated on research in countries such as Colombia, India, Pakistan and Nigeria.

In Manitoba, he has formed relationships and conducted research with non-profits such as Nine Circles Community Health Centre, Sunshine House and Ka Ni Kanichihk.

In a study in the International Journal of STD & AIDS, he compared data from two Winnipeg gonorrhea outbreaks, in 2012 and 2016.

The first outbreak was in areas where gonorrhea was historically recorded. The second took place in those hotspots, but also spread to different areas of the city.

“It was a sign of things to come. We’re now seeing exploding HIV and syphilis rates.”

Shaw is now working with Indigenous partners on a study that focuses on decolonizing gonorrhea epidemiology. Indigenous people in Manitoba have gonorrhea rates eight to 10 times higher than the general population, he says.

“This study has Indigenous community members asking the questions and interpreting the results,” says the professor, who worked for 10 years as an epidemiologist with the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority.

Shaw says one of the best aspects of his job is drawing on multiple fields for his research.

“My work involves understanding history, politics, policy and sociology, which shape the health of individuals.

“As a refugee from war-torn Southeast Asia, I’ve witnessed how forces out of our control can determine our well-being. Through my research, I hope to extend the lifeline that was given to my family and find ways to achieve a more just society through public health policy and programs.”

Season’s Greetings, everyone, and congratulations on all the hard work you have put in this year across the Rady Faculty of Health Sciences. In the past year we’ve seen a lot of our programs expanding. We’ve also seen transformative leadership changes, with new deans bringing their vision to the College of Nursing, the College of Pharmacy and the College of Community and Global Health.

Among our highlights in 2025, in September more than 280 alumni from all the Rady colleges gathered for our Homecoming Breakfast, filling the Brodie Centre atrium with energy and excitement. We organized and hosted many other significant events, including a symposium on the recruitment and retention of Indigenous scholars in the Rady Faculty — something that’s critical to fulfilling our obligations under the Calls to Action made by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.

Another productive event was a workshop on the Learning Health System, sponsored by the George & Fay Yee Centre for Healthcare Innovation. It focused on finding solutions to the issues facing the health system today, which is a goal we all share in the Rady Faculty. I am proud to be part of a multi-disciplinary UM community that invests so much in caring for Manitobans. I am also proud of all our efforts to advance equity, access and participation. 

As the year comes to a close, I sincerely thank you for all your dedication. I wish you a peaceful and restful holiday season, and I look forward to working with you in the new year.

Now imagine that a blood test could, by detecting certain genetic variants, predict whether your child will experience this damage from the drug.

In a recent breakthrough published in the journal Human Genomics, Dr. Britt Drögemöller, assistant professor of biochemistry and medical genetics and Canada Research Chair in pharmacogenomics and precision medicine, has taken the first steps toward developing that test.

Her lab team is the first in the world to harness two kinds of unique large-scale data to develop a polygenic risk score for cisplatin-induced hearing loss.

“We designed a predictive model based on human genetic variants associated with hearing loss,” she says. “We also generated the first data measuring how treatment with cisplatin changes the activity of genes in tens of thousands of specific cells in the inner ears of mice.”  

Currently, many cancer patients have to take cisplatin because it’s highly effective, the geneticist says. But a hearing-protectant drug can be added for some patients.

“The polygenic score will be an additional piece of the puzzle that can be used to guide treatment decisions.”

Drögemöller was born and raised in South Africa. After earning her PhD at Stellenbosch University, she came to Canada in 2014 for a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of British Columbia.

In 2020, she and her husband, fellow South African geneticist Dr. Galen Wright, were both hired as UM Canada Research Chairs. Drögemöller is also a researcher with the Children’s Hospital Research Institute of Manitoba and the CancerCare Manitoba Research Institute.

She arrived at UM with a broad aim to identify genetic variants that contribute to adverse drug reactions. But she has now honed in on the genetics of hearing loss – both drug-induced and age-related.

One of her recent findings is that losing your hearing from exposure to loud noise involves very different genetic pathways from losing it because of age-related deterioration of inner-ear cells. And it’s the latter that overlaps with genes that are known to be involved in dementia. 

“Is there a common genetic pathway that’s dysregulated in both hearing loss and dementia? We’re working on that now.”

Drögemöller’s lab is analyzing genomic, hearing and dementia data from about 27,000 participants in the Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging. She focuses her work on older adults and children, she says, because they have traditionally been excluded from genetic research.

The scientist and her husband – whose genetic expertise is in neurological disorders – recently obtained funding with pharmacy prof Dr. Kaarina Kowalec for a suite of cutting-edge lab equipment that generates spatial transcriptomics data.

“It’s the first of its kind in Manitoba,” Drögemöller says. “It not only allows you to look at the expression of genes in each cell of a tissue – such as inner-ear tissue – but it also tells you exactly where in the tissue that cell is located.

“If there’s something wrong in the cell, how does that affect the cell next to it? It gives you a better idea of how cells are communicating with each other. So this is super exciting.”

“We believe POCUS could be the next stethoscope – a device physicians have relied on for decades,” said Dr. James Butler, associate dean of Undergraduate Medical Education (UGME). 

The faculty recently acquired 80 new handheld ultrasound probes for student use – an expansion from two handheld devices. Medical students also continue to share three cart-based ultrasound systems. 

Butler said the goal is to expose students to handheld ultrasound technology from the start of their education. 

The initiative is a collaboration between UGME and the Clinical Learning and Simulation Program (CLSP). Funding from the Manitoba government supported the equipment purchase, part of a broader expansion that increased enrolment in the MD program from 110 to 140 students.  

Hands-on learning with new tech 

Dr. Tomislav Jelic, co-director of the POCUS curriculum and director of ultrasound in the department of emergency medicine, said the technology is unique. 

“This handheld ultrasound uses one probe for different types of scans,” he said. “Instead of using separate probes for areas such as the abdomen, heart, lungs and muscles, this single device tackles it all. Clinicians can check many areas without switching equipment.” 

Dr. Terry Li demonstrates the use of a POCUS probe during a train-the-trainer session.

Dr. Terry Li, POCUS co-director and assistant professor of human anatomy and cell science, said the new probes offer several advantages over traditional models.  

“It offers better durability and image quality, is easier to clean and safer to handle,” he said. 

Students practice with the devices in simulation labs at UM’s Bannatyne campus. They work with standardized patients – actors trained to portray patients – and volunteers during their pre-clerkship years, the first two years of medical school before the final two years of clerkship featuring a series of clinical rotations.  

“We plan to integrate POCUS into clinical training with real patients during clerkship,” said Jelic, referring to the hands-on phase of medical education in hospitals.  

“Training students with modern technology to enhance their understanding of anatomy and diagnostic techniques is essential. Ultrasound paints a different picture and helps students better understand what they’re learning from textbooks.” 

Supporting rural health 

Jelic said the handheld probes are more than just a compact alternative to cart-based systems – they also have the potential to improve care in remote and underserved communities. 

“These areas often lack access to imaging equipment such as X-rays,” he said. “When working in isolated communities, giving students a probe that can provide critical imaging in situations where X-rays aren’t available is powerful. It means they can deliver better care to Manitobans.” 

Leading the way in Canada 

The Max Rady College of Medicine is the first medical school in Canada to make this kind of investment, Li said.  

“We’re focused on preparing future physicians to use this technology safely and responsibly,” he said. “It’s exciting that the University of Manitoba, together with the province, is leading this advancement – putting us ahead of the curve nationally.”  

Participants may be receiving care in hospitals, outpatient clinics, long-term care facilities or through their family doctor. A physician referral is required to join. 

This study aims to address a common problem many patients face: finding the right medication. 

Why finding the right medication is challenging 

More than 25 per cent of Manitoban adults live with mental illness, according to a Manitoba Centre for Health Policy study. 

Many people with moderate to severe mental illness are prescribed psychotropic drugs such as antidepressants, antipsychotics or anti-anxiety medications, either alone or in combination with therapy. 

“Imagine taking a medication you’re hoping will improve your mental health, but then you start getting unwanted side effects or it doesn’t work at all,” said Dr. Jitender Sareen, professor and head of psychiatry at the Max Rady College of Medicine in UM’s Rady Faculty of Health Sciences.  

“Many get frustrated and give up on taking medications. That frustration can delay recovery and, in some cases, lead to more serious outcomes such as hospitalizations or suicidal thoughts. It can take months or even years to find the right medication.” 

How genetic testing can help 

“Pharmacogenomic (PGx) testing analyzes genes to help predict how a person’s body may respond to certain medications,” said Dr. Abdullah Maruf, assistant professor in UM’s College of Pharmacy and researcher at the Children’s Hospital Research Institute of Manitoba. 

“Specifically, it looks at how genetic differences may affect the way the body metabolizes medications, which can influence drug levels in the body.” 

That’s where the PGx-SUPPORT (Pharmacogenomics-Supported Psychotropic Prescribing Trial) study, led by Maruf and Sareen, comes in. The goal is to bring PGx testing into Manitoba’s public health-care system and improve mental health support across the province. 

Through PGx-SUPPORT, 200 Manitobans can receive a free PGx test – valued at about $500 if done privately – that may help personalize their treatment. Participants and their doctors will get a report showing how genetic differences may affect medication response. 

Why it matters 

Sareen said precision medicine approaches like PGx testing could play a vital role in improving – and potentially saving – the lives of people living with mental illness.  

“PGx testing can make medicine more personalized,” Sareen said. “It could help guide physicians on which medications may be safer or better tolerated, and what steps to take next.” 

Beyond improving care, PGx testing could also reduce costs. Depression care costs an average of $8,244 per person per year in Manitoba.  

“Much of that comes from trial and error – trying different drugs until something works,” said Mahin Hasan, a PhD student at the College of Pharmacy and research assistant on the study. “PGx testing can help reduce health-care costs.” 

A study in British Columbia estimated PGx testing could save the health system $956 million over 20 years.  

Inspired by such potential benefits, Maruf said PGx-SUPPORT could pave the way for Manitoba’s first publicly funded PGx testing facility.  

“While PGx testing is already in use in health-care systems in the United States and Europe, it has not yet been implemented in Canadian public health settings,” Maruf said. 

“We want to show policymakers why this will benefit Manitobans. Will physicians use it to personalize medication for their patients? Will it reduce hospitalizations and rehospitalizations? Improve patient outcomes? Shorten inpatient stays?” 

How to participate 

Manitobans aged 18 and older who are starting or changing mental health medication may be eligible.  

To join: 

1. Ask your physician to send a referral to pharmpgxlab@umanitoba.ca 
2. Complete a consent form and short survey 
3. Provide a saliva sample 
4. Receive personalized test results for free within two weeks of the research team receiving the saliva sample 

Learn more about PGx-SUPPORT at maruf-lab.org/pgx-support or call 431-294-7781. 

Dr. Peter Nickerson, distinguished professor of internal medicine and immunology, is a transplant nephrologist (kidney specialist) at Health Sciences Centre (HSC) and medical consultant to the transplant immunology lab located there, which evaluates compatibility between kidney donors and recipients.

He is internationally recognized for groundbreaking research that has significantly improved patients’ access to life-prolonging kidney transplants and reduced their risk of organ rejection.

The Lifetime Achievement Award honours “extraordinary, world-class impact” in transfusion or transplantation science or medicine.

“What I’m most proud of is that we’re achieving better outcomes for patients,” Nickerson said. “Not only are we getting more transplants done, we’re having better outcomes, with those transplants lasting longer.

“I am extremely grateful to Canadian Blood Services for this award. The fact that CBS had already established a national network for blood and blood products in 1998 provided us with the framework to create the inter-provincial organ-sharing network in 2008.”

Nickerson, a 1986 UM medical alum, has held many leadership roles at the university. He has served since 2022 as vice-provost (health sciences) and dean of the Max Rady College of Medicine and the Rady Faculty of Health Sciences.

Reflecting on more than 30 years of innovative research, he recalled that HSC’s transplant program was the first in Canada to make flow cytometry-based crossmatching of kidney donors and recipients a standard of care. It subsequently became the national standard.

Nickerson and his team then advocated for a nationwide kidney-sharing network. Through their efforts, Canadian Blood Services now operates the National Living Donation Program and the Kidney Paired Donation Program, which have enabled thousands of Canadians to give and receive transplanted organs beyond their home provinces.

Nickerson’s research team has also been a world leader in developing precision medicine for kidney transplant immunosuppression, meaning that the dose of medication given to prevent organ rejection is tailored to the recipient’s genetic profile.

Over the course of his distinguished career, Nickerson’s roles have included medical director of Transplant Manitoba, medical advisor to Canadian Blood Services and Flynn Family Chair in Renal Transplantation at UM.

His honours include the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Canadian Society of Transplantation, the Medal for Research Excellence from the Kidney Foundation of Canada and the Rose Payne Distinguished Scientist Award from the American Society for Histocompatibility and Immunogenetics.

Watch the CBS video about Nickerson’s award.