“These 10 cutting-edge projects highlight the impressive diversity of health research at UM,” said Dr. Peter Nickerson, dean of the Rady Faculty of Health Sciences.

“Some are lab studies that will advance knowledge of conditions like heart disease and cancer. Two projects focus on Indigenous health. Three studies are randomized controlled trials to be conducted at hospitals, with the potential to influence treatment protocols in the areas of kidney transplant rejection, pneumonia and stroke.”      

Dr. Christine Kelly, an associate professor in the College of Community and Global Health with expertise in home care and the care workforce, received nearly $1 million for a four-year study.

She and her team aim to learn more about the lives of health-care aides (HCAs) in Manitoba. The goal is to uncover why so many leave the field, and what can be done to recruit, support and retain these employees who do essential work in home-care programs and personal care homes.

“Research shows that as many as 40 per cent of recently graduated HCAs will leave their job within the first year of employment,” Kelly said. “The period during and immediately following training is a key time for understanding what is happening with these workers, who are mostly women and are often new Canadians.”

All five public colleges that train HCAs in Manitoba – RRC Polytech, Assiniboine Community College, Université de Saint-Boniface, Manitoba Institute of Trades and Technology and University College of the North – will be involved in the provincewide study, titled “Care workers of tomorrow: Health-care aide experiences and education-to-work pathways to support retention and workforce planning.”

The project will follow HCAs from the start of their training and into their first year of employment, documenting why they stay at or leave their jobs. Based on the findings, Kelly’s team will make recommendations for educational institutions, policy-makers and employers.

Here are the other UM recipients of CIHR grants in the Spring 2025 round of funding: 

Dr. Michael Czubryt, professor of physiology and pathophysiology; executive director of research, St. Boniface Hospital

Grant: $1,149,414 (five years)

Czubryt will investigate how a protein, scleraxis, controls the conversion of heart cells called fibroblasts into myofibroblasts – a process that drives cardiac fibrosis, or stiffening of the heart, in cardiac disease. With greater insight into the role played by this protein, Czubryt’s team aims to help identify new targets for anti-fibrosis drug development.

Dr. Julie Ho, professor of internal medicine

Grant: $2,757,826 (five years)

Ho’s team will lead an international, multi-centre, randomized controlled trial to define the optimal steroid therapy for T-cell mediated rejection (TCMR) of kidneys after transplant. This trial aims to resolve the longstanding question, “What is the minimally acceptable, safe and effective steroid dose for the treatment of acute TCMR in kidney and simultaneous kidney pancreas transplant recipients?”

Dr. Jennifer Kornelsen, associate professor of radiology

Grant: $623,476 (five years)

Seeking to understand depression and anxiety in people with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), Kornelsen will use magnetic resonance imaging to investigate the brain and spinal cord activity of patients who have IBD with depression/anxiety; those who have IBD without those conditions; and healthy people. The study will also test how the spinal cord carries information between the brain and the gut in IBD.

Dr. Sylvain Lother, assistant professor of internal medicine

Grant: $180,000 (three years)

Lother is leading a pilot randomized controlled trial of 120 patients across Canada in preparation for a much larger trial involving thousands of patients with community-acquired pneumonia. The goal is to establish whether one antibiotic strategy is better than others for certain groups of patients hospitalized with pneumonia.

Dr. Jonathan McGavock, professor of pediatrics and child health

Grant: $100,000 (one year)

McGavock’s project continues his research on how urban trails in Canadian cities rarely reach or serve the needs of urban-dwelling Indigenous people. This study will provide evidence-based policy and practice recommendations co-created with First Nations families and Elders/Knowledge Keepers for how to implement urban trails in an equitable way for First Nations people.

Dr. Kirk McManus, professor of biochemistry and medical genetics

Grant: $1,208,700 (five years)

McManus’s project will use cutting-edge techniques to study the expression of a gene, SKP2, that appears to play a role in the development of tubo-ovarian high-grade serous carcinoma, the most common and lethal form of ovarian cancer. The team hopes to gain knowledge that will lead to new therapeutic options for people with this cancer.

Dr. Claudio Rigatto, professor of internal medicine

Grant: $765,000 (three years)

Rigatto’s team will develop a small, easy-to-use, low-cost test for rapid, accurate assessment of kidney function in settings such as clinics, pharmacies, schools, and potentially homes. The test will use a new method for measuring kidney function, called cystatin C. The team aims to make kidney testing as widely available as possible to improve access to chronic kidney disease diagnosis.

Dr. Leslie E. Roos, associate professor of psychology

Grant: $489,600 (three years)

Roos’s team has developed an app-based mental health and parenting support program called BEAM (Building Emotional Awareness and Mental Wellbeing). In this project, the team is working with Indigenous researchers, Elders, community members and organizations to build, test and evaluate a cultural adaptation of BEAM that meets the expressed needs of Indigenous families.  

Dr. Nishita Singh, assistant professor of internal medicine; Heart & Stroke & Research Manitoba Chair in Clinical Stroke Research

Grant: $768,826 (three years)

Singh’s study aims to determine whether it’s safe for patients who take blood thinners called direct oral anticoagulants (DOACs) to receive a clot-busting medication (tenecteplase) when they are having an ischemic stroke. Currently, guidelines say patients who are on DOACs should not be given clot-busting medication. This randomized controlled trial will test different doses of tenecteplase.

“Congratulations to the U of M applicants who were successful in this highly competitive national funding process,” said Dr. Peter Nickerson, vice-dean research of the Rady Faculty of Health Sciences.

“These projects represent a number of colleges and departments across the Rady Faculty. They demonstrate innovative and collaborative approaches to health research. Each of these exciting studies has the potential to advance health care in meaningful ways.”        

Here’s a look at the projects:

Dr. Allan Becker, professor, pediatrics and child health, Max Rady College of Medicine; researcher with Children’s Hospital Research Institute of Manitoba (CHRIM)

Dr. Meghan Azad, Canada Research Chair in Developmental Origins of Chronic Disease; assistant professor, pediatrics and child health; researcher with CHRIM

Project Grant: $1,220,940

Becker and Azad seek to understand why asthma is more common in boys than girls, but shifts to being more common in women than men. The researchers will assess 1,000 children who are part of an ongoing cohort study, measuring whether changes in body fat, inflammation or sex hormones in puberty explain the “sex shift.” This knowledge will contribute to better prevention and treatment of asthma in all children.

Dr. Christine Kelly, assistant professor, community health sciences, Max Rady College of Medicine

Project Grant: $726,750

Kelly will study directly funded (also known as “self-managed”) home care, which is expanding across Canada. Under this model, individuals receive government funds to pay for their own home care. Kelly will examine policy issues such as the role of home-care agencies in delivering these services and how this kind of home care can best be adapted to rural contexts. The aim is to generate insights about how directly funded home care can most equitably serve users, their families/supporters and home-care workers.

Dr. Gilbert Kirouac, neuroscientist; professor, oral biology, Dr. Gerald Niznick College of Dentistry

Project Grant: $707,625

Kirouac will study how a region of the brain called the paraventricular nucleus of the thalamus interacts with other brain regions to produce excessive anxiety. Using rodent models, Kirouac will apply innovative techniques to better understand the neural circuitry of stress-induced anxiety. The goal is to gain knowledge that will lead to new treatments for anxiety disorders.

Dr. Lily Lim, assistant professor, pediatrics and child health, Max Rady College of Medicine; researcher with CHRIM

Project Grant: $321,300

Lim will study employment experiences and challenges among young adults aged 18 to 30 who have lupus. People with lupus often deal with fatigue, chronic pain and mental health issues that can make working difficult. Lim’s findings will contribute to developing new ways to help young people with lupus obtain and keep employment. Dr. Eleanor Pullenayegum of the University of Toronto is co-principal investigator.

Dr. Jillian Stobart, assistant professor, College of Pharmacy

Project Grant: $504,900

Stobart will use advanced fluorescence microscopes and genetic tools to study pericytes – blood vessel cells – and blood flow in animal models. Blood flow in the brain decreases with age, and this may cause cognitive decline and Alzheimer’s disease. Abnormal pericytes may account for these blood flow changes. Stobart’s objective is to understand how pericyte signaling changes with age or during Alzheimer’s disease, and how this affects blood flow.  

Dr. Dan Chateau, assistant professor, community health sciences, Max Rady College of Medicine; research scientist, Manitoba Centre for Health Policy

Priority Announcement Bridge Grant: $100,000

Chateau will use anonymized health data to investigate the effects of prescription opioid and psychotropic medication use during pregnancy. The study will look at patterns of prescription opioid use among pregnant women, short-term effects on children exposed in the womb (such as neonatal abstinence syndrome) and longer-term outcomes for these children, such as readiness for school.

Dr. Robert Lorway, Canada Research Chair in Global Intervention Politics and Social Transformation; associate professor, community health sciences, Max Rady College of Medicine

Dr. Lyle McKinnon, assistant professor, medical microbiology/infectious diseases and community health sciences; researcher with CHRIM

Dr. James Blanchard, Canada Research Chair in Epidemiology and Global Public Health; professor, community health sciences

Dr. Marissa Becker, associate professor, medical microbiology/infectious diseases and community health sciences

Priority Announcement Bridge Grant: $100,000

Lorway’s team will study human papillomavirus (HPV) infection among men who have sex with men in Nairobi, Kenya. Members of this group are stigmatized and are often diagnosed with HPV-related disease, including anal cancer, at a late stage of illness. This research will provide evidence to support a community-led early screening, prevention and treatment program.

Dr. Frederick Zeiler, assistant professor, neurosurgery, Max Rady College of Medicine

Dr. Jai Jai Shankar, professor, radiology, Max Rady College of Medicine

Priority Announcement Bridge Grant: $100,000

Zeiler and Shankar will research the use of an advanced type of brain scan, computed tomographic perfusion, to diagnose brain death in patients with severe traumatic brain injury at the time of hospital admission. Currently, patients with this kind of injury often receive intensive treatment because it is not recognized that their injuries are fatal. The goal is to better understand patients’ prognosis and optimize the use of health-care resources.

The Government of Canada is the country’s largest investor in health research through the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR).

“Some of Canada’s most important health discoveries are being made right here in Winnipeg. This announcement highlights the bright minds and the strong support for research and innovation at the University of Manitoba,” said Ouellette.

Health research leads to discoveries and knowledge that helps improve the health of Canadians through new treatments, health services and health promotion and disease prevention programs.

The funding will support the work of researchers at the University of Manitoba across the spectrum of health research areas, ranging from microbiology and nanoparticles, to healthcare delivery and population-based wellness strategies.

Two U of M researchers shared snapshots of their collaborative research projects.

Dr. Julie Ho, associate professor of internal medicine and immunology in the Max Rady College of Medicine (Rady Faculty) and a team of researchers at the U of M will lead a new clinical trial led that could change the current standard of care for monitoring kidney transplant patients and potentially increase the longevity of successful kidney transplants.

Ho, Principal investigator on the study, says many Canadians don’t realize that kidney disease is a silent killer. “It’s actually really sad.… When patients tell their families they have kidney disease, it doesn’t have the same implication as if they were to say ‘I have cancer.’ But the mortality rate with kidney disease is actually just as bad as with many cancers, although there is less public awareness about it.” [Read more about this study.]

Marissa Becker [MD/99], an associate professor in community health sciences (U of M) with cross-appointments to internal medicine and medical microbiology,  will lead a project designed to understand how the consequences of conflict, migration and disrupted health services affect risk in the context of HIV, sexually transmitted infections (STIs) and hepatitis C virus (HCV). The study is being conducted by an international, inter-disciplinary team in order to understand this complex public health issue.

The study will generate important information for its Ukrainian partners, who provide HIV prevention programs in Dnipropetrovsk, and address an important knowledge gap globally.
“We’re working with local program partners, researchers and policy makers,” Becker says. “We’ve been doing work in Ukraine for a number of years now. It’s important to us to sustain and further develop those partnerships for impactful work.” [Read more about this study.]

The following researchers also received funding:

Christopher Anderson | Rady Faculty of Health Sciences
Keith Fowke | Rady Faculty of Health Sciences
Spencer Gibson | Rady Faculty of Health Sciences
Richard Keijzer | Rady Faculty of Health Sciences
Christine Kelly | Rady Faculty of Health Sciences
Ayush Kumar | Brian Mark | Faculty of Science
Josée Lavoie | Rady Faculty of Health Sciences
Brian Mark | Faculty of Science
Lyle Mckinnon | Rady Faculty of Health Sciences
Donald Miller | Rady Faculty of Health Sciences
James Nagy | Rady Faculty of Health Sciences
Abdelilah Soussi Gounni | Rady Faculty of Health Sciences
Jude Uzonna| Rady Faculty of Health Sciences