She wasn’t fighting crime, but instead, she was raising money for the department of clinical health psychology’s new endowed professorship in child psychology.

Dr. Jo Ann Unger (wearing a purple cape) rappelled down the side of HSC Children’s Hospital five times. (Photo courtesy of The Children’s Hospital Foundation of Manitoba)

Unger, an assistant professor of clinical health psychology at the Max Rady College of Medicine, Rady Faculty of Health Sciences, took part in The Children’s Hospital Foundation of Manitoba’s Suspended Superheroes event on Oct. 3.

Dressed as Bat Girl, she rappelled down the side of HSC Children’s Hospital five times. Joined by soldiers, firefighters, police officers and other costumed participants, Unger got over her dislike for heights and rappelled the six storeys from the roof.

At each floor, she waved to children gathered at the windows to get a glimpse of their favourite superheroes. Unger played rock, paper, scissors with one child, and some kids took selfies with her through the glass.

Dr. Jo Ann Unger dressed as Bat Girl for the Suspended Superheroes event.

“It was super fun. Oh my gosh, I kept standing with my hands on my hips. It’s like, this is my new pose,” said Unger, who is also the specialty lead and section head, child and adolescent service clinical health psychology, Shared Health.

 “I thought, ‘Well, what a great way to launch our fundraising efforts to have the lead of the child and adolescent clinical psychology service rappel down a building.’”

Dr. Lesley Graff, professor and head of clinical health psychology, Max Rady College of Medicine, said the professorship will protect up to 50 per cent of a faculty member’s time for research, which complements their clinical time, and moves forward innovation in clinical care. This would double or triple the time that professors in the department might otherwise be able to direct to their research.

“Manitoba has one of the lowest per capita rates of psychologists in the country, and we have some of the greatest needs for mental health support, particularly for children,” said Unger, also a researcher with The Children’s Hospital Research Institute of Manitoba.

“So, we really need more child psychologists. This is one way the department of clinical health psychology is supporting the effort to attract and train more child psychologists in Manitoba.”

Dr. Jo Ann Unger about to rappel down the side of HSC Children’s Hospital. (Photo courtesy of The Children’s Hospital Foundation of Manitoba)

Graff said that Unger’s leadership to raise awareness for children’s mental health in this creative way literally took her commitment to a new level.

“Investing in clinical research to improve care for children is investing in a better future for all of us. Our department is grateful for every dollar of support as we work toward the $1.5 million goal to establish this professorship,” Graff said.

While Unger got a taste of life as Bat Girl, she said that not all superheroes wear capes.

“Child psychologists and mental health professionals who work with kids really are heroes in the sense that they are working with families to help children find a healthier path, improve their quality of life and help them engage more with their friends and family,” Unger said.

Donate today on Unger’s Suspended Superheroes page by the end of October. To give to the campaign for a new professorship in child psychology after that, please contact Priyanka Singh, senior director, major gifts, Rady Faculty of Health Sciences, at priyanka.singh@umanitoba.ca or 431-323-8247.

Fifty-five years later, the revered Max Rady College of Medicine residency program is one of Canada’s largest, with 12 residents, 30 training sites and funding support to continue expanding to meet the ongoing need for psychologists in Manitoba.

Dr. Patricia Furer

“We’re proud of the contributions our residency program has made in terms of training psychologists to provide services within Manitoba and across the country. We’ve trained close to 400 psychologists and the program has been highly impactful over the past 55 years,” said Dr. Patricia Furer, clinical health psychology (CHP) residency program director and associate professor of CHP at the Max Rady College of Medicine, Rady Faculty of Health Sciences.

The program was set to celebrate its 50th anniversary in 2020 but the event had to be cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. So, during the 2024-25 academic year, events were held to celebrate the program’s 55th anniversary.

The department’s grand rounds series featured former residents as invited speakers throughout the year.

Members of the clinical health psychology residency program’s 2000-01 cohort travelled from across Canada to attend the 55th anniversary dinner.

On the afternoon of May 9, 2025, Dr. Lisa Feldman Barrett, a UM clinical health psychology resident in 1991-92 and currently a distinguished professor at Northeastern University in Boston, gave a special grand rounds presentation. She is among the top 0.1 per cent most-cited scientists in the world for her groundbreaking research in psychology and neuroscience.

And that evening, a gala dinner took place at The Leaf at Assiniboine Park to celebrate the program’s 55th anniversary. Close to 200 alumni, faculty, current residents and distinguished guests attended.

Dr. Lesley Graff

Looking around the room at the dinner, Dr. Lesley Graff, professor and head of clinical health psychology, observed the striking number of national leaders who had trained at UM.

“Some alumni have served as vice-presidents of hospitals. Others have been president of the Canadian Psychological Association, and many are well-known internationally for their clinical research. This typifies the exceptional quality of trainees we’ve been attracting to our program for decades,” said Graff, who was in the residency program’s 1991-92 cohort.

Leaders in the field

The clinical health psychology residency program was launched in 1969 by Dr. Robert Martin, the chief psychologist of the constellation of hospitals which later became Winnipeg’s Health Sciences Centre (HSC).

In 1978, residency training expanded from HSC to include St. Boniface Hospital.

The program was the first CHP residency program in Canada to be accredited by the American Psychological Association. In 1988, it obtained dual accreditation once the Canadian Psychological Association began accrediting residency programs.

“We’ve been continuously accredited since our very first accreditation. This is a remarkable accomplishment,” Graff said.

In 1990, Dr. John Arnett was appointed section head for psychology. Arnett and residency training director Dr. Bob McIlwraith worked with the deputy minister of health, Dr. John Wade (UM dean emeritus), to fund the Rural and Northern Program. It has since trained 66 residents.

Graff said the innovative program challenged the status quo of fly-in service, instead placing psychologists in rural and northern communities to live and work, along with residents doing clinical rotations.

“It was a groundbreaking model at the time. What we’ve been doing for 30 years is really just being picked up as an ideal model more recently by other specialties” Graff said.

In 1995, the department of clinical health psychology was established. Arnett served as the inaugural department head for a decade.

“The residency program was originally under the section of behavioral science. It was a really significant milestone that we became a full department at UM’s medical school, and this year we’re proud to be celebrating our 30th anniversary,” Graff said.

In 2000, Winnipeg Regional Health Authority (WRHA) CEO Dr. Brian Postl (UM dean emeritus), established clinical health psychology as a full regional clinical program. This led to the expansion of resident training opportunities in areas such as cardiac sciences, bariatric surgery, pediatric diabetes and chronic pain.

McIlwraith was appointed head of the department and medical director of the regional program from 2005 to 2015.

In 2016, Graff was appointed CHP department head and WRHA program medical director. In 2019, she became first provincial lead for clinical health psychology, and has worked closely with the province and health leadership to increase the residency program training seats and clinical positions to meet the need for psychologists across the health system.

Continuing the legacy

Today, the program’s training streams include child psychology, adult psychology, medical psychology, neuropsychology and rural practice.

“The breadth and range of training opportunities that we offer within our residency program and the way we are positioned within a medical school sets us apart from other Canadian programs,” Furer said.

The clinical health psychology residency program’s current cohort.

The Max Rady College of Medicine residents are also exposed to the innovative clinical research being conducted by UM faculty members. The department is close to reaching its fundraising goal of $1.5 million to establish an endowed professorship in clinical health psychology and will be launching a campaign to establish an endowed professorship in child psychology.

The most recent residency accreditation, which took place in 2024, earned high praise from the national reviewers. Graff said they described the program as “truly outstanding and could be considered a model program for psychology residency training in Canada.”

Looking to the future, Furer said the program is committed to strengthening diversity in professional psychology.

“We look forward to continuing to provide the stellar level of training that we do now and to remain on the leading edge of new areas of practice for psychologists and innovations in clinical care for years to come,” Furer said.

Launched in 2016, the Crohn’s and Colitis Canada PACE network is the first national network of IBD Centres of Excellence, with each centre housing a multidisciplinary team that specializes in the treatment and management of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD).

The teams at five leading IBD centres – Sinai Health System, McGill University Health Centre, McMaster University Medical Centre, University of Calgary and University of Alberta – work to advance best practices for health-care professionals and elevate the standard of care received by Canadians living with IBD.

Bernstein, director of the Inflammatory Bowel Disease Clinical and Research Centre at UM, and Graff, professor and head of the clinical health psychology department at UM, are joining the PACE network to find a way to make essential, personalized mental health, diet and nutritional care accessible to Canadians living with IBD. 

“In Canada, the mental health, diet and nutritional needs of individuals living with Crohn’s or colitis are not included in a typical care plan. The best way to provide care is with a qualified team that is able to address an individual’s unique needs through a holistic and personalized approach based on evidence,” says Susan Cowan, CEO of Crohn’s and Colitis Canada.

“We are proud to expand the PACE network to include the important research work of Dr. Bernstein and Dr. Graff to increase the accessibility of mental health, diet and nutritional care.”

Bernstein and Graff will develop an online screening tool that enables an individual to communicate their personal needs in regards to mental health, diet and nutrition. The health-care provider will use this information to deliver clinical education and interventions tailored to the disease-related needs identified by the individual.

Clinical education materials and mental health and nutritional approaches most commonly used during the pilot will be distributed to IBD clinics across the country to improve the overall approach to integrated patient care.

“Though people living with IBD and their health-care providers increasingly recognize the importance of the connection between the disease and mental health, too often these needs are not integrated as part of the IBD care, and there continue to be gaps in fully assessing and addressing them,” says Graff.

“Similar to mental health, people with IBD would benefit from expert guidance to address their nutritional health in the context of IBD. The project will determine the extent to which routinely identifying and responding to mental health and nutrition needs in the IBD clinic using a tailored approach can improve outcomes and quality of life,” says Bernstein.

Every project incorporated into the PACE network is selected after undergoing a competitive peer-review process, and aligns with Crohn’s and Colitis Canada’s promise to discover cures and improve quality of life for everyone affected by IBD. 

To learn more about the PACE network, please visit crohnsandcolitis.ca/PACENetwork.

About Crohn’s and Colitis Canada

Crohn’s and Colitis Canada is on a relentless journey to find the cures for Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis and improve the lives of children and adults affected by these chronic diseases. We are the country’s largest volunteer-based organization with this mission and are one of the top two health charity funders of Crohn’s and colitis research in the world, investing over $130 million in research to date. We are transforming the lives of people affected by Crohn’s and colitis through research, patient programs, advocacy, and awareness. For more information, visit crohnsandcolitis.ca and follow us @getgutsycanada on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.

“The rates of IBD in Canada are among the highest in the world,” says lead author Heather Carney, a third-year pharmacy student, who was supervised by Dr. Kaarina Kowalec, assistant professor, College of Pharmacy, Rady Faculty of Health Sciences. “Separately, IBD and substance use disorder have a significant impact on quality of life. Our research is among the first to investigate substance use disorder in IBD and provides a foundation for future research of the burden and harms of comorbid IBD and substance use disorder.”

IBD is an inflammatory condition, encompassing ulcerative colitis and Crohn’s Disease, where the body launches inflammatory responses against the gastrointestinal tract, resulting in symptoms such as severe diarrhea, abdominal pain, weight loss and fatigue.

The study, conducted by Carney through a College of Pharmacy-funded Undergraduate Summer Research Award, also identified that people with IBD and who are men, smokers, those who have past or current anxiety disorders, and those with more pain are at greater risk for experiencing a substance use disorder.

For the study, Carney evaluated the prevalence and risk factors of substance use disorders in those with IBD using data collected from 247 individuals in Manitoba with IBD, recruited as part of a larger study investigating psychiatric comorbidities in immune-mediated inflammatory diseases.

Carney says that while it has been established that there is a strong association between IBD and several psychiatric disorders, including depression, anxiety and bipolar disorder, there was minimal prior research of the association between substance use disorder and IBD.

Carney says they hope to see more resources allocated for prevention and harm reduction to help decrease the burden of substance use disorder in those with IBD as well as in the general population. She also hopes to see future research on the effect of substance use disorder on outcomes in IBD, which are still unknown.

“The prevalence of substance use disorder in those with IBD suggests an opportunity for screening and targeted interventions. We know substance use disorder can have a profound effect on the individual and the community – including issues at school or work, relationship difficulties, behaviour changes and legal problems,” she says.

The study’s co-authors are University of Manitoba faculty members/researchers Ruth Ann Marrie, MD, PhD; James M. Bolton, MD; Lesley A. Graff, PhD; Charles N. Bernstein, MD; Kaarina Kowalec, PhD and University of Calgary faculty member Scott B. Patten, MD, PhD.