The recently announced grants from the Fall 2022 funding round went to faculty members in medicine, nursing and pharmacy.

“This outstanding result reflects the high calibre of our health researchers,” said UM Vice-President (Research and International) Dr. Mario Pinto.

“This funding will enable UM laboratory scientists to advance knowledge in areas such as cardiovascular health, spinal cord injury, rheumatoid arthritis, asthma, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and Rett syndrome. Rady Faculty investigators will also conduct cutting-edge data research, as well as vital studies aimed at supporting mental health and well-being.”

The largest grant of more than $1.4 million went to a team led by Dr. Linda Larcombe, an associate professor of internal medicine, community health sciences and medical microbiology/infectious diseases.

Larcombe is an anthropologist whose research focuses on First Nations history, health and collaborative research. Her grant will fund a three-year project called “Connecting with cultural heritage: Land-based learning and healing through archeology in northern Manitoba.”

The study team will create and evaluate a land-based healing and cultural heritage program that will enable youth to explore archeological sites and artifacts reflecting the thousands of years of Inuit, Dene and Cree presence along the coast of Hudson Bay at Churchill, Man.

“We will determine if cultural heritage in land-based healing programming can contribute to wellness and leadership development of Inuit, Dene and Cree youth,” the researchers wrote.

Here’s a look at the other funded projects. More information on the studies and research teams is available here.

Dr. Harvey Max Chochinov, distinguished professor, psychiatry, Max Rady College of Medicine

Grant: $100,000 (one year)

In Chochinov’s study, health-care professionals will hold conversations with cancer patients, guided by the Patient Dignity Question: “What do I need to know about you as a person to take the best care of you possible?” The study will measure how this affects the experiences of both patients and care providers.

Dr. Ian Dixon, professor, physiology and pathophysiology, Max Rady College of Medicine; principal investigator, Institute of Cardiovascular Sciences, St. Boniface Hospital

Grant: $1,040,400 (five years)

Dixon’s project centres on proteins and processes involved in skin wound healing, with the goal of developing treatments to speed wound closure and reduce scarring. The study will investigate how age and sex affect dermal healing. It will also examine the healing of skin damage caused by chemotherapy and radiation.

Dr. Soheila Karimi, professor, physiology and pathophysiology, Max Rady College of Medicine; researcher, Children’s Hospital Research Institute of Manitoba (CHRIM)

Grant: $1,136,025 (five years)

Neural stem cell therapy has exciting potential for patients with spinal cord injury, but it currently faces the challenge that the cells die after they are transplanted. Karimi’s project will test an experimental treatment aimed at optimizing the use of neural stem cells for repairing spinal cord injury.

Dr. Jason Kindrachuk, assistant professor, medical microbiology and infectious diseases, Max Rady College of Medicine; Canada Research Chair in molecular pathogenesis of emerging viruses; researcher, CHRIM

Grant: $750,000 (five years)

Kindrachuk’s team will investigate the circulation and transmission of the monkeypox virus in wildlife in regions of Africa where the virus is endemic, as well as surrounding areas. They will also assess the potential impact of the virus on Canadian wildlife.

Dr. Lorrie Kirshenbaum, professor, physiology and pathophysiology, Max Rady College of Medicine; Canada Research Chair in molecular cardiology; director, Institute of Cardiovascular Sciences, St. Boniface Hospital Albrechtsen Research Centre

Grant: $853,931 (five years)

Kirshenbaum’s project builds on the growing evidence of a link between body-clock disruptions – like those experienced by shift workers and people with health issues such as sleep apnea – and cardiac dysfunction. He will investigate the relationship between circadian disruption and heart attack.

Dr. Lisa Lix, professor, community health sciences, Max Rady College of Medicine; Canada Research Chair in methods for electronic health data quality

Grant: $508,725 (three and a half years)

Lix’s study focuses on using anonymized health-care databases to construct personal and family disease histories for chronic illnesses, such as heart disease. Researchers will compare two methods for creating disease histories, using data from Manitoba and Denmark, and assess their value for predicting disease risk.

Dr. Suresh Mishra, professor, internal medicine, Max Rady College of Medicine

Grant: $100,000 (one year)

Mishra will explore the role of cholesterol in the body’s production of steroid hormones. He aims to develop new ways to treat altered steroid hormone levels, which can lead to infertility and illnesses such as inflammatory diseases.

Dr. Neeloffer Mookherjee, professor, internal medicine; researcher, CHRIM

Grant: $100,000 (one year)

Mookherjee’s team will look at differences in how rheumatoid arthritis (RA) develops in males and females. In addition to using a mouse model, her team will study human samples from close relatives of RA patients, who may show changes in their blood before the appearance of clinical RA symptoms.

Dr. Christopher Pascoe, assistant professor, physiology and pathophysiology; researcher, CHRIM

Grant: $100,000 (one year)

Pascoe’s project aims to better understand how diabetes in pregnancy increases the risk of asthma in offspring. He will examine how maternal diabetes increases the twitchiness of airway smooth muscle in the lungs of offspring, and whether a specific enzyme co-ordinates changes in this muscle.

Dr. Mojgan Rastegar, professor, biochemistry and medical genetics, Max Rady College of Medicine; researcher, CHRIM

Grant: $990,675 (five years)

Rastegar has been working for more than 10 years to understand the pathobiology of Rett syndrome, a severe neurodevelopmental disorder in young children. This study will investigate the molecular and cellular abnormalities of the brain in this syndrome. The goal is to pave the way for therapeutic strategies.

Dr. Emily Rimmer, assistant professor, internal medicine, Max Rady College of Medicine

Grant: $307,530 (three years)

Rimmer’s project is a pilot study in preparation for an international randomized controlled trial of therapeutic plasma exchange as a treatment for septic shock. The researchers see potential for this treatment to save lives by removing harmful substances from the blood and replacing missing blood components.

Dr. Zulma Rueda, associate professor, medical microbiology and infectious diseases, Max Rady College of Medicine; Canada Research Chair in sexually transmitted infection – resistance and control

Grant: $100,000 (one year)

Rueda’s team will look at the incidence and impact of methamphetamine use and concurrent sexually transmitted and blood-borne infections in people living with HIV in Manitoba and Saskatchewan. One of the study’s goals is effective knowledge-sharing among people living with HIV, service providers and communities.

Dr. Geoffrey Tranmer, associate professor, College of Pharmacy

Grant: $100,000 (one year)

Tranmer will focus on edaravone, one of the few drugs approved to treat amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. In its current form, this medication has many limitations. Tranmer’s team plans to develop improved versions of edaravone and test them in order to optimize the drug and prepare it for advanced clinical trials.

Dr. Sonia Udod, associate professor, College of Nursing

Grant: $450,000 (three years)

Udod’s research will examine how health system leaders have adapted in response to the pandemic. She aims to determine how leaders can build their own and nurses’ psychological health and well-being to ensure a healthy workforce and organizational resilience at hospitals during and after the COVID-19 crisis.

Dr. Roberta Woodgate, distinguished professor, College of Nursing; Canada Research Chair in child and family engagement in health research and healthcare; researcher, CHRIM

Grant: $776,475 (five years)

Woodgate’s youth-centred, mixed-methods study aims to understand the impacts of COVID-19 on the mental health and well-being of Manitoba youth who have come of age during the pandemic. The findings will inform recommendations to improve services and supports for this population.

Grant: $100,000 (one year)

Woodgate’s team will also conduct a youth-centered, arts-based longitudinal study that will result in the creation and evaluation of a toolkit. This toolkit, co-created by youth, will be designed for use in schools to foster social connectedness and optimize youth mental health and well-being.

The postdoctoral fellow in physiology is one of 10 faculty members, students or trainees in the Rady Faculty of Health Sciences who have received 2020 leadership development awards through The Winnipeg Foundation’s Martha Donovan Fund.

Rabinovich-Nikitin’s award will fund her to take the online Laboratory Leadership Course offered by the European Molecular Biology Organization.

“It’s a career-development program to help advance a postdoctoral fellow’s next career step in becoming an independent investigator with their own laboratory,” said Rabinovich-Nikitin, whose long-term goal is to lead cardiovascular research on women’s heart health.

“I anticipate learning techniques and tools for leading teams, tailored specifically to the lab and research setting.”

The $250,000 Winnipeg Foundation Martha Donovan Fund was established in 2019 to provide leadership development opportunities for women in the Rady Faculty of Health Sciences. Up to $50,000 will be awarded annually for five years.

“In this second year of the awards, we received 16 exceptional applications from women at all stages of their academic careers,” said Dr. Sara Israels, vice-dean, academic affairs of the Rady Faculty.

“I was struck by the diversity of academic interests of our awardees, extending from biomedical science to health professions education. We look to these women as future leaders across the full scope of activity in the Rady Faculty of Health Sciences.”

In light of the pandemic, many of the award recipients will enrol in online leadership programs.

DR. JOANNE PARSONS

Dr. Joanne Parsons, assistant professor of physical therapy in the College of Rehabilitation Sciences, will use her award for online training through Academic Impressions, which offers programs for faculty and staff in higher education.

“I anticipate that the training will improve my understanding of leadership styles and principles, with the intention of ensuring that I’m a collegial, effective and efficient leader,” Parsons said. “It will elevate my ability to contribute to service within the university and the physiotherapy profession.”

Dr. Sonia Udod, assistant professor of nursing, will enrol in the Certified Health Executive Program and LEADS Inspired Leadership Program offered by the Canadian College of Health Leaders.

DR. SONIA UDOD

Udod foresees that by expanding her own leadership capabilities, she can disseminate more leadership knowledge to graduate students and build research capacity in the area of leadership.

“I want to learn more about creating a culture of innovation in the master of nursing leadership stream, and about leading organizational and system change to improve patient care,” she said.

Any woman who is a full- or part-time academic faculty member with a primary appointment in a college of the Rady Faculty, or a student, postdoctoral trainee or resident in the Rady Faculty, can apply to the fund to support her pursuit of academic leadership training.

2020 RECIPIENTS:

FACULTY MEMBERS

• Ming-Ka Chan, Pediatrics and Child Health, Max Rady College of Medicine
• Jessica Hartley, Biochemistry and Medical Genetics, Max Rady College of Medicine
• Joanne Parsons, Physical Therapy, College of Rehabilitation Sciences
• Chau Pham, Emergency Medicine, Max Rady College of Medicine
• Christy Pylypjuk, Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Sciences, Max Rady College of Medicine
• Sonia Udod, College of Nursing

STUDENTS/TRAINEES

• Jocelyn Elias, College of Nursing
• Kathleen Glover, Medical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases, Max Rady College of Medicine
• Inna Rabinovich-Nikitin, Physiology and Pathophysiology, Max Rady College of Medicine
• Andrea Toews, College of Nursing